Malnutrition and Hunger: Day 7 for World Hunger

I am still doing the world hunger diet. Despite the five and a half hours of sleep I had last night, my energy level was quite good today.  It almost seems as if my body has crossed a line.  In some ways, it appears as if I am starting to adapt to one meal a day.  While I still thought about food several times today, I didn’t have the same yearning feel.  Acceptance, I suppose, is a good way to describe it.  A resignation of sorts.  At least, that’s for today.  If you’ve been following the posts, you will find that I’ve been weaving in and out of various mood states.  But for now, one week into the World Hunger Diet, a calm has settled over me.

My resolve today was tested, and I’m pleased to say that I overcame and conquered!  It was hard as hell.  Tomorrow I’m going to a birthday potluck – that will be a curious experience all to its own.  So, several weeks ago I tasked myself to bringing fudge.  This is what we call in the business, poor project management.  As a result, I had to go back to the grocery store, purchase the ingredients, and prepare nearly two batches of chocolate peanut butter fudge.  I think it’s the best fudge in the world, and I have the testimonies of omnivores from all ranks of life to verify that notion.  This fudge recipe comes from Colleen Patrick Goudreau’s Joy of Vegan Baking.  Fabulous.  Creamy.  Delightful.  It was so hard not to lick the bowl – that’s one of my favorite parts!  Such a challenge to not instantly gratify the need to taste.  But I did it.  Fortunately for me, I had a willing bowl cleaner-outer by way of the husband who was oh-so-happy to get the entire bowl to himself.  This might have been the first time in my life that I prepared a sweet treat without testing the goods in progress.  There have been instances in which I would eat entire bowls of cookie dough batter even before they made it to the oven.  The next test will be cutting the fudge squares; toting them to the party and watching everyone else revel in these delightful goodies.  I will work really hard at simply witnessing everyone else’s joy. Okay, I’m not that big of a person.  I’ll probably be seething with envy.  Okay, not seething.  Just covetous.

On a typical week, tonight, Friday, would be pizza night.  Sure, I’m aware that I won’t be able to indulge in the glory of Amy’s Organics Rice Crust Spinach Pizza. Six pieces.  That’s how much I would normally eat in one sitting – saving two pieces for lunch the next day.  In retrospect, six pieces of pizza is a lot of food.  For now, I am okay about shunning the fun of Friday night pizza even if I’ve already plotted to make pizza my first meal upon returning to my Western-based yet vegan reality.

And then came Day 7.  Hard to believe I’m one week into this Souljourn.  Only a week ago I was dreading these 21 days, and now I’m resolved to dealing with it.  I’m okay.

In summary, I am four pounds less than when I started – weighing in today at 116.  I spent a total of $50.75 on groceries for two people and we have enough leftover dried goods for about four more meals and a few leftover cooked goods worthy of one meal.  Dinner has become easier to prepare with each passing day, because I made big batches of black-eyed peas, posho and lentils. For the last three nights, I’ve only had to sauté spinach (or whichever vegetable we’re eating) in garlic and then add one of those core staples to it for a complete meal.  Tonight’s meal consisted of sautéed spinach with garlic, black eyed peas and lentils (red and green).

While my caloric intake has been more than halved these past seven days, the foods I am eating are incredibly nourishing (not necessarily including the high fat intake).  Whole foods.  Each having many nutrients including high calcium, ample protein, good carbohydrates, loads of potassium, vitamins and minimal sugar with zero cholesterol (plant-based diets have no cholesterol). My body, generally accustomed to some processed foods on a daily basis, seems to be efficiently processing the wholesome goodness.  This leads me to talking more about nourishment and malnourishment.

Nutritional Intake for Day 7:

Looking again at my total intake for the day and knowing that 1 gram of fat = 9 calories, 1 gram of protein = 4 calories and 1 gram of carbohydrates = 4 calories, I am getting slightly more aligned with what some of the leading experts consider to be a well-balanced diet.  Remembering, of course, that my diet is still waaaaaay too low in calories.  While I continue to have a slightly higher fat intake than what is recommended, I have increased my carbohydrates to reflect more of what is necessary to maintain my energy level.  Taking into consideration that my overall energy level is lower, but then again, that’s due to the overall decreased calories.  My protein intake went a little higher today too.  That’s because I had more lentils – they were just so darn good!

Both Dr. McDougall and Dr. Roba of International Fund for Africa (IFA) continue to be supportive of my countless questions.  Upon my inquiring about the appropriate ratios of fat, protein and carbohydrates, Dr. McDougall shared that a natural diet for people is about 10% fats and proteins and 80% carbohydrates. You can learn more about the history and science behind his thinking by going to his February 9, 2009 newsletter entitled The Starch Solution, which also happens to be the first chapter and shares the same name of his new book.  Here he describes how the proper diet for human beings is based on starches. The more rice, corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and beans you eat, the trimmer and healthier you will be — and with those same food choices you will help save the Planet Earth too.

He continues to illustrate this claim that the natural human diet is based on starches from a simple observation that you can easily validate for yourself: All large populations of trim, healthy people, throughout verifiable human history, have obtained the bulk of their calories from starch. Examples of once thriving people include Japanese, Chinese, and other Asians eating sweet potatoes, buckwheat, and/or rice, Incas in South America eating potatoes, Mayans and Aztecs in Central America eating corn, and Egyptians in the Middle East eating wheat. And outside of a few small isolated populations of primitive people, such as the Arctic Eskimos, living at the extremes of the environment, humanity has thrived on starches.  Starches are abundant in carbohydrates – the energy that keeps us going.

Dr. Roba, who was sure to communicate the disclaimer of not being a nutrition expert, shared his thoughts that a human should be consuming up to 20% protein, and up to 25% fats, which would leave the remaining percentage, 55, for carbohydrates.  All of these figures based on ideal body weight.  Opinion alert: With all due respect to Dr. Roba’s disclaimer and given what I’ve learned about his experience, I would consider him to be quite knowledgeable on the matter of nutrition.

Comparing these figures to McDougall’s 10% fats, 10% proteins and 80% carbohydrates, you’ll see there’s a reasonable difference between the two.  My non-expert guess is that well-fed Westerners, who are often off the charts with those numbers, would be healthy to strive for Roba’s numbers and ultimately (ideally) land closer to McDougall’s – something for which to strive.

Roba added the current recommendations for fiber suggests that adults consume 21 to 38 grams of dietary fiber a day. Fiber needs vary with age. He added, I don’t know the exact percentage but it is or should be higher than 30%.

Malnutrition

Dr. Roba also shared some of his knowledge about malnutrition.  Malnutrition boils down to lack of nutrient-rich foods resulting from a general lack of food (not enough food) or consumption of foods lacking vitamins, minerals, and proteins.

Basically malnutrition is a lack of nutrients needed by the body to survive. An example would be people in Africa who do not have enough to eat.  It would also include people who have enough to eat or too much but consume nutrient deficient foods.  A prime example are a lot of Americans who eat sugar laden foods with little vitamins, minerals etc.  The third example would be when people have enough to eat but eat an imbalanced diet with very little vitamins, minerals essential proteins etc.

It is virtually impossible to become malnourished on a plant-based diet that is loaded with whole foods and enough calories to sustain a person.

Roba continued on to say how most obese people are usually very malnourished, because they eat the above foods (sugar laden foods) that lack antioxidants, phyto-nutrients and are lacking nutrient dense foods like dark leafy greens that are called super foods.

Those living with hunger are definitely malnourished like the obese (mostly Westerners and mostly Americans), but unlike the obese, they are malnourished because they are eating imbalanced foods that are lacking in minerals, vitamins, antioxidants etc, and because they do not get enough of the proteins, fats, carbohydrates, minerals, vitamins etc. their bodies need to function well.

I have also had the fortunate opportunity to connect with another organization that works diligently to alleviate world hunger.  Plenty International, a nonprofit with a mission to assist in the protection, stewardship, and sharing of the world’s resources to promote the well being of the communities and environment we share.

Peter Schweitzer, Executive Director, Lisa Wartinger, Associate Director, and Mark Miller, Executive Director of their Belize program, have each taken time to answer my questions.  I will be talking more about Plenty in future posts.

Regarding malnutrition, the Plenty team shared their input and here’s how they responded to my question:

What are the main causes of malnutrition?

One of the factors contributing to malnutrition in poor communities is the need for cash (to send kids to school for example) requires that the village farmer sell his beans and other protein sources leaving less nutritive foods for the family. Another factor is intestinal parasites as a result of limited access to potable water.

Another factor is that many fathers leave the home for extended periods to find cash work such as construction, leaving their staple crops to grow, but not allowing them the time and energy needed to grow the vegetables and other crops needed for a balanced diet.  As a diet that is not balanced has become the norm, the knowledge of what is balanced is lost.

According to the FAO, in Sub-Saharan Africa an estimate 265 million people are suffering from chronic hunger in the Near East and North Africa 42 million people.

Thomas Cole, Livelihoods Advisor for Save the Children, shared that The Sphere humanitarian guidelines have the basic caloric intake needed to be 2100 Kcal for those experiencing the global hunger crisis.  This number was arrived at over a number of years of debate.

Here is an excerpt from a paper that Cole wrote a few years back and while the focus was on refugees, he states it is relevant to starving people, in general:

In humanitarian crises the first stage of emergency nutritional response has been to prevent starvation and protein-energy malnutrition through the provision of general food aid rations and targeted interventions such as supplementary and therapeutic feeding.  The goal of general food aid rations – predominantly composed of cereals, oil, and legumes – has been to meet an internationally-set standard supply of kcal/person/day; early recommendations were 1200-1800 kcal, though by 1989 the minimum level rose to 1800 kcal.  Central to this evolving understanding of the protein-energy nutrition needs of refugees was widespread acknowledgement that the composition of most general rations had been deficient in a range of essential nutrients; most food aid policy was concerned more with the overall quantity of the food delivered than it was about the quality or diversity of the food itself.  By 1995, however, most UN agencies including WFP, WHO and UNHCR had raised the minimum target to 2100 kcal in recognition that previous levels were inadequate in providing adequate nutrient and energy needs.  Since that time, this has been the accepted standard, though some agencies such as ICRC advocate higher ration figures to accommodate the anticipated sale or trade of some of the ration by refugees to cover other basic human needs.

Calorie, Fat and Protein Comparisons

Some statistics from the FAO’s 2009 report on World Hunger portray the grave disparity between nations and their caloric intake. While the report is dated 2009, the data is from 2005.  I took the liberty to only outline those countries that have an average caloric intake of approximately 2,150 or less and 3,150 or more.  It was a challenge for me to delete rows of countries that I know are fraught with hunger, because while these are average figures, the real caloric intake is still unknown to me.  I have as of yet to find that specific data, and I know those numbers are considerably less for starving people.

You will see there is a grave discrepancy between the wealthier and developing nations.  Just as there exists a disparity between poor and wealthy nations; within the boundaries of each nation listed below, there exists an inequality thus turning the average into a number that is unrealistic for those starving individuals in these countries.

For example, Linda Cole of Community Action Fund for Women in Africa (CAFWA), shared with me her thoughts about statistics from the FAO I posted previously:

I was a bit curious about the Uganda statistics, doesn’t seem right to me as both northern and eastern Uganda struggle with hunger issues.  Last time I was there northern Uganda had just gone through a 3-4 month hunger period.  People did not necessarily die from hunger but rather from simple diseases as their immune system couldn’t take it.  In some of my groups, out of 20-25 women, five or more lost children.

You will notice that Uganda is not on the table below, because according to the FAO, the average caloric intake for a Ugandan is 2,385 calories per day. We know that those Ugandans living in hunger are not consuming that amount of calories – not even close.  My recommendation is to take this table this table (data from 2005) with a grain of salt and see it for a proportional comparison between nations.

I am so incredibly grateful to everyone that has given me the opportunity to connect and inquire.  Thank you for your support!

Many things made me become a vegetarian, among them, the higher food yield as a solution to world hunger.
- John Denver

To support the organizations I write about in this series, purchase a World Hunger: Be the Solution Tee.  Proceeds from the shirt will go to the Small Planet Institute Fund and the International Fund for Africa.  All tees are sweat free and available in organic cotton.  To see the selection of World Hunger tees at Conducive’s Humanitarian & Human Rights Tee store, click here

To follow this Souljourn from the beginning, you can follow the links below:

21 Days for World Hunger:  Day 1

21 Days for World Hunger:  Day 2

21 Days for World Hunger:  Day 3

21 Days for World Hunger:  Day 4

21 Days for World Hunger:  Day 5

21 Days for World Hunger: Day 6

21 Days for World Hunger: Day 8

21 Days for World Hunger: Day 9

21 Days for World Hunger: Day 10

21 Days for World Hunger:  Day 11

21 Days for World Hunger: Day 12

21 Days for World Hunger: Day 13

21 Days for World Hunger: Day 14

21 Days for World Hunger: Day 15

21 Days for World Hunger: Day 16

21 Days for World Hunger: Day 17

21 Days for World Hunger: Day 18

21 Days for World Hunger: Day 19

21 Days for World Hunger: Day 20

21 Days for World Hunger: Day 21

Solutions for World Hunger: Part I

Solutions for World Hunger: Part II

Solutions for World Hunger: Part III