Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Hunger Pains

Recently at work, I experienced a terrible stomach ache. It started as a bloated feeling with cramping, only I was bloating in reverse. My stomach looked like it was being sucked in, which was actually kind of nice, if not for the cramps. I tried taking a chewable form of relief, but the cramping persisted. Away flew my cheerful demeanor, I could barely concentrate. Break time arrived, and I sat down to a nice portion of my daughter's gluten-free macaroni and cheese with spinach and green beans. The pain stopped, almost immediately. 
You know that little light bulb that appears over people's heads? It's real. At that moment, I had a visit from the light bulb fairy. "Holy cow" I thought, "Was that a hunger pain?"
I haven't been hungry in so long, that I forgot what it was, and didn't recognize it when it hit me. If that was just from being mildly hungry, I can't imagine how awful it must be for someone who is truly starving. Here are some facts:
In round numbers, there are 7 billion people in the world. Thus, with an estimated 925 million hungry people in the world 13.1 percent or almost 1 in 7 people are hungry.  Women make up over 60 percent of the world's hungry.
Also, 1 in 6 people lack safe drinking water. I personally believe that count is higher, I can't believe that city water is safe to drink.
So why is there a problem with obesity? To me, the answer to that is simple: people eat far too much crap that doesn't contain nutrients. The body will remain hungry until you get enough nutrients. So you can consume a bazillion calories in junk and still be hungry. But if you eat mostly fruits and vegetables, you will give your starving overweight body everything it needs. Don't say I never told you anything useful. 
Now go drop some money in a charity box and stop judging those poor obese people with food cards. 
What we really need to do is protect our natural food supply. Buy local when you can. Don't vote for crooked politicians who sign "bad" bills that hurt our rights. There is only one thing that I can think of that is worse than hunger, and that is not being able to breathe. We'll get to that one later.

6 comments:

texlahoma said...

I totally agree with you about not enough nutrients in the food.

Smaller cities may have fairly safe water. The powers that be like to put the poison known as fluoride in water of large populations. There is BPA in bottled water in plastic bottles. (recent FDA? ruling - companies can't label types of plastic, so you can't avoid BPA) (Also ruling can't label GMO foods)
Now there's that Codex Alimentarius
limiting the vitamins that we can get - so stock up on vitamin C and other essentials while you still can.

diane said...

Tex, thanks for the info. :)

Joanna Jenkins said...

Those are staggering numbers Diane, and I agree-- I think all the numbers are very low compared to the real truth.

There is so much junk food (and don't get me started on the crap they serve in cafeterias in public schools) that some kids have no idea what fresh food really is.

There's a big tv campaign in Southern California promoting fresh fruit and begs. for kids. I wish they'd take the millions they are spending on advertising and actually put the food in kids hands.

xo jj

diane said...

We pack Babyzilla's lunches. I heard on the radio that congress is trying to make it mandatory for kids to eat lunches prepared in the cafeteria, completely taking away the parent's choice.
I think advertising money spent on waking up our sleeping society as to the benefits of good wholesome food might not be completely wasted. If we don't wake up soon, we may all be eating "soyent green".

Dominica said...

totally agree on buying local and on bio markets ! They did a survey on how reliable bio food is and it turned out to be really ok. So glad.
I easily pay a few cents more for my bio apple or whatever. If you see how labour-intensive bio food is, I just cannot buy the other stuff anymore. Some guy told me, the pre-packed meat in supermarkets is really old ; I mean, REALLY OLD ! If I would say, 7 years - would you believe me ? I believe it, 'cause there is a big difference in taste when you compare to something you bought from a local store or bio farm.
Glutenfree is also good for people (like myself) who suffer from that bloaty feeling. Worst case, I take a pill for the pain/cramps in my lazy bowels. But the best thing is to listen to your body and see how it reacts to some food. You body will usually tell you more than any doc can.
Thanks for sharing your info Diane. Always great to read your posts.

diane said...

Domi, when you talk about bio food (please excuse my ignorance on this), are you talking about bio-chemically engineered food?