It now appears that at least part of the world food crisis is because we are making bio-fuels from the crops that would normally find their way to the table, but that may not be the full story.We have an obesity crisis of gargantuan proportions in the United States. We are ballooning up at an unprecedented rate, transforming ourselves into human manatees.You may have already guessed where this is going. If we modify our eating habits in this country, we can accomplish two things: we begin to reverse the obesity trend and we take some of the pressure off the world's food supply. With 300 million people in this country, we are consuming unbelievable amounts of food.According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, from 1970 to 2003, food consumption in America increased by 16 percent. We increased our daily caloric intake by 523 calories. That equals almost an additional 5 ounces of steak every day if you're a big steak eater, or 114 pounds of beef a year.On a per capita basis, we increased from 53 pounds of fats and oils annually to 86 pounds. We increased our sugar and sweetener intake from 117 pounds to 142, and meats, eggs and nuts from 226 lbs to 242. On the upside, we increased our intake of vegetables and fruits by 24 percent and 12 percent, respectively.The Centers for Disease Control reports that from the 1970s to 2004, the prevalence of obesity increased from 15 percent of the population to 32.9 percent, more than double.Now for a little math exercise. If roughly one-third of us, that would be 99 million people, are obese - defined as a body mass index (BMI) more than 30, or about 30 pounds overweight - we have a lot to lose. Stay with me - this gets a little complicated.You have to reduce your caloric intake by a cumulative 3,500 calories to lose one pound. You might do this over a month's time, or a couple of months. That many calories in a month means you have to drop around 117 calories a day from your diet or add enough exercise to burn that much. If you want to lose two pounds a month, double that number to 234 a day.If we assume the average person eats a diet of 30 percent fat - I'm being generous here - then of the 234 calories, 70 are from fat and the other 164 are from carbohydrates and protein. You could give up approximately four ounces of ground beef each day and achieve that goal, which incidentally is about half the amount of calories that we added between 1970 and 2003.If 99 million people all gave up four ounces of beef a day, as a nation we would reduce our consumption of ground beef by 24,750,000 pounds every single day, or just more than 9 billion pounds a year - that would help feed a lot of people.Obviously, we aren't all going to cut out hamburger; some of us will cut out bread, pasta, sweets, etc., but the cumulative effect of reducing our food intake in this country could have a profound affect on the availability of food in the world.It's not hard to do. We need to buy smaller cuts of meat at the store - a six-ounce steak instead of 10 ounce; eat open-faced sandwiches with one slice of bread instead of two; cut out some desserts; eat one egg for breakfast instead of two, etc. We don't have to go on a starvation diet to begin to move in the right direction.Restaurants could immediately reduce portion sizes by 30 percent and reduce prices accordingly. This will have the affect of reducing our consumption, and with lower food prices, it would be possible for more people to eat out. Restaurants would likely see an increase in volume and profits.If, as a nation, we could come to a consensus on this approach, and it has to be sooner rather than later, we accomplish several things: we begin to reverse the obesity trend in the country; we all become healthier; if we're healthier the cost of health care and insurance goes down; and there's more food available for the rest of the world.It seems like a no-brainer to me, and as decent human beings it seems like the moral thing to do for our fellow humans and ourselves.[[In-content Ad]]
