Posts Tagged ‘diet’

Article from Reuters on October 5, 2009

Meatless Monday, the idea that one day a week you enjoy a vegetarian diet as a way of cutting the carbon footprint of your food supply, has only slowly made its way into the public consciousness. Until recently, the list of signers-on to the Meatless Monday idea was sort of slim: some expected figures like Colin Beavan (aka “No Impact Man”), Michael Pollan (of “the Omnivore’s Dilemma” and “In Defense of Food” fame), and the city of Ghent, Belgium.

I’m certainly not intending any knock to the city of Ghent, but Europe is often well ahead of the U.S. in this as well as with so many other environmental activities. So it was a bit of a boost, domestically at least, for the Meatless Monday movement when the Baltimore Public School District last week announced it would adopt a Meatless Monday menu for all 80,000 the students it serves.

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Article and photo from Civil Eats, September 16, 2009

A true beacon of creating community through food, the Ceres Community Project in Sebastopol, California, brings teens into the kitchen to learn about healthy foods and cooking skills while providing organic meals to individuals and families battling cancer and other serious illnesses. Named for the Roman goddess, Ceres—who rules the growing and preparing of food as well as the natural cycles of birth, death, and renewal—the nonprofit’s 100-plus volunteers currently cook meals for more than 40 families a week and, since launching in 2007, have provided nearly 45,000 meals to Sonoma County families.

According to Ceres, cancer now affects one in three people before the age of 75 and one in four will die from complications caused by the disease. More than 50 percent of all deaths in the U.S.—from heart disease, cancer and diabetes—are directly related to the combination of poor nutrition, obesity and inactivity. An estimated one-third of the 565,000 cancer deaths annually—or 188,000—are believed to be directly related to these dietary and lifestyle choices.

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Article from the University of Windsor Public Affairs & Communications, September 8, 2009:

Sarah Woodruff Atkinson is hoping her research will help send a much clearer message to Canadians about what it means to be a healthy eater.

“If someone says you have a healthy diet, what does that mean?” says the new assistant professor in human kinetics. “Depending on your definition, it can mean many things.”

Woodruff Atkinson, who until now had been living near Cambridge and teaching sessionally and at Wilfrid Laurier University, will continue her work here on developing a healthy eating index. Based on the recommendations in Canada’s Food Guide, she and her colleagues from Waterloo and Mount St. Vincent in Halifax want to develop an “easy to use composite score” that would help people determine if they’re getting the right amount of nutrients.

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