BY GUEST BLOGGER WENDY RIPMEESTER
Source: http://nutricomminc.com/national-junk-food-dayreally/ |
In the Baltic Sea, young European
perch don’t know they are filling their tummies with junk food. And so the
perch are finding themselves in a nutritional lurch.
While these fry (baby fish) are not actually eating ‘fries,
they’re eating microplastics
– microbeads from health and beauty products, and particles from degraded polystyrene
coffee cups, meat trays and other types of marine litter that clutter our
oceans.
LARVAL
EUROPEAN PERCH (PERCA FLUVIATILIS)
WITH A BELLY FULL OF MICROPLASTICS (Photo Credit: Oona Lönnstedt) Source: http://www.cbc.ca/radio/quirks/quirks-quarks-for-jun-18-2016-1.3640113 |
Because of their “zero” nutritional value, it’s safe to say microplastics
qualify as “junk food”. But as they’re found in increasing supply in perch habitat,
these tempting morsels have become the go-to food for fish when a snack attack
hits – and part of their normal diet.
Here in
North Amercia we’re also surrounded by poor food choices: fast food
outlets, and highly processed, packaged foods with white flour, white sugar or
artificial sweeteners, trans fats, preservatives, fillers and plenty of
unpronounceable additives – often disguised as healthy food. And studies have shown that when we eat fast food,
we’re eating plastics, too. Like the perch, we’re drawn away from
nutritious whole foods to empty substitutes. And it’s no wonder the acronym for the Standard American Diet
– our norm – spells S.A.D.
It’s probably fair to say that, for us, poor eating habits are
mostly self-imposed. Nutrition labels are prominently displayed on packages,
menus, and web sites. And we have vast choice when it comes to filling our
plates (often to overflowing). But still, we often choose increasingly tasteless
and less healthy options – I know I’m not immune to the siren call of the donut.
But in countries like
Guatemala, the poor have little choice but to eat “junk food”. Not junk
food in the sense of fast or processed convenience foods, but foods of such limited variety – and often
in such limited supply – that basic nutritional needs aren’t met. Not just
for a day or two, but for weeks, months, and even years.
According to the study, The Normalization of Childhood Disease: An
Ethnographic Study of Child Malnutrition in Rural Guatemala, in many
places, people just aren’t aware their daily diet isn’t good for them. But a
long history of eating the same thing, and without many or any other choices, it’s
“normal”.
Like perch used to eating plastic – or people whose daily routine
includes a trip to the drive thru – it’s their standard: “We’ve always eaten frijol (beans) and tortillas, and drink coffee.
Babies get sick and mothers die in childbirth – it has always been this way.”
So it seems odd that with junk food served up as the daily special (in meager or
super-sized portions depending on where you live) we “celebrate” Junk Food Day on July 21, and not something out of the ordinary:
like a whole day without junk food.
And though the specific foods and portion sizes vary, the short
and the long term effects of regularly eating junk food are not great, to say
the least. Let’s take a look at why, starting with those fish fry …
The Short of It – Too Much Junk Food Can Stunt Your Growth
It’s something I can hear my mom saying, and – if they could
speak – it could be the anthem of perch moms across the Baltic: “Eating junk food
will stunt your growth!”
But starting well before they’ve learned to selectively tune
out their mother’s voice, perch eggs exposed to microplastics have lower hatch
rates. And once they’re old enough to eat – because their diet has the
nutritional value of Styrofoam (because it is Styrofoam) – the fish are smaller.
They spend more time motionless and swim shorter distances than fish that eat a
protein-rich diet of zooplankton.
The same goes for kids who mostly eat a high carbohydrate, low
protein diet. It leaves them hungry.
Thanks
to Snickers, we know “you’re not you when you’re hungry”. Just as “hangry”
people wear their mood on their sleeve, Snickers’ latest ad campaign
showed hunger symptoms on the chocolate bar wrapper. With names like Spacey,
Cranky, Loopy, Snippy, Sleepy, Goof ball, and Curmudgeon, they sound suspiciously
like a new roster of seven dwarves for Snow White.
Source: http://creativity-online.com/work/snickers-hunger-bars/43344 |
It’s easy to “undo” these short term symptoms: “Call Them Out With A Snickers Hunger Bar”,
the ad says, and your hungry friends will go back to normal. But keep eating
nutritionally poor food by need or by habit, and you’ll probably find yourself
with a case of Feel Like
Crap (FLC) Syndrome.
Often a side effect of S.A.D. with symptoms like insomnia,
fatigue, headaches, brain fog, depression – with possible autoimmune and
chronic diseases on the side – FLC has a lot in common with malnutrition. Which
goes to show: it doesn’t matter if your
tummy’s full; if it’s full crap, you’ll probably feel like crap, too.
Even so, in many cases FLC is reversible: stop eating junk
foods (detox), and get on the path to better health by changing eating habits. Sure,
it sounds like a simple enough solution, but according
to USAID, this takes at least two ingredients hard to come by among
Guatemala’s rural poor to pull this off: 1) understanding that that food is the biggest factor affecting
long-term health and development, and 2) the ability to access and prepare more
nourishing meals.
Sadly, some communities that grow carrots, onions,
strawberries and squash choose to sell them for income instead of eat them, because
they don’t know they’re more nutritious than tortillas and beans. But the
problem is, “[a] diet of little more than tortillas does
permanent damage”. And like
our perch on a steady diet of microplastic, many Guatemalan children, are more
passive and less responsive to the world around them because of their junk food
diet.
And another thing: they’re really, really short. In fact, a whopping 43% of Guatemalan kids between 3
months to 5 years old – are
stunted. But until they were
told, people in rural villages didn’t know this was a problem, “We didn’t know we were malnourished. We
thought it was normal to have short children, and no one told us differently …
[a] little sweater for a 6-month-old baby in the United States is what fits a
1-year-old child here.”
Unfortunately, there’s a lot more to being short from
malnutrition than being height challenged. Stunting
has long term, irreversible effects that cast a long shadow throughout
children’s lives, their communities, and broader society.
The Long of It – Malnutrition has Chronic and Spillover Effects
As if being a small fish in a big ocean wasn’t enough of a
disadvantage, the perch’s junk food diet sabotages their sense of smell.
Combined with slower reaction time, this makes them easier prey. And as the perch
are eaten by predators higher in the food chain, the stockpile of plastics and
toxins in their bodies are transferred to other fish, animals – and ultimately
– humans who eat them. In this way, researchers believe the impact of plastic
on young fish could have "profound effects" on ecosystems.
In the same way, malnutrition
imposes long term effects on Guatemalan children: “[I]rreversible stunting dooms children to repetitive illness, inhibits
them intellectually and physically, reduces their productivity as adults by
roughly a third.” These kids also suffer from learning difficulties
and end up poorer, which translates into political instability, social
conflict, and violence when they’re teens or adults; spillover
effects felt beyond borders by citizens, neighbouring countries, trading
partners and tourists.
In economic terms, if you add up costs related to student
failures, dropouts and the need to repeat grades in the first 3 years of
primary school; frequent illnesses that require hospital stays; and low productivity
at work, UNICEF estimates that chronic malnutrition costs Guatemala $8.4
million each day. At a global scale, costs associated with preventable,
diet-related chronic diseases over the next 20 years are estimated at $47
trillion.[i]
I don’t know about you, but I can’t imagine what $47
trillion looks like. And given the long-term costs of malnutrition, I can’t
grasp why junk food is something to celebrate.
But a Junk Food Free Day? Now that’s
something I can get behind. The more of them the better. And I’m pretty sure Food for the Hungry Canada (FH) feels the
same way.
Whether it’s microplastics for fish, or tortillas for kids –
a regular diet of junk food shouldn’t be the norm. And while fish travel in
schools, my hunch is they’re not great learners when it comes to nutrition. But
for FH communities it’s another story – a good one, too – and full of hope.
FH is equipping families in Guatemala to change up their daily diet.
They’re teaching them how to plant kitchen gardens to grow a local, fresh
supply of healthy fruits and veggies for their families so they don’t have to
choose between family nutrition and selling cash crops for income. And through FH Cooking Classes, women are learning about the links between health and nutrition, and
practical ways to prepare balanced meals; knowledge they pass on to friends
and neighbours.
The short of it? Happy, growing kids that stay in school.
The long of it? Healthy, self-sustaining communities and stable societies.
Whaddaya think? Worth the investment? Help a family go junk-food free by joining FH as they provide health and nutrition education to parents, and in some cases even relief aid in the form of dried soup mix and other supplies. Help out today!
[i]
Mark Hyman, “Eat Fat, Get Thin: Why the Fat We Eat Is the Key to Sustained
Weight Loss and Vibrant Health”, (Little, Brown, 2016), p. 4.