Our Food System: The Biggest Cause and Cure
Our food system is the biggest driver of most of the problems on the planet. The foods they produce are designed to create addiction and hijack your brain chemistry, metabolism, and taste buds. People need to understand that our food system is driving challenges for most of the things that matter most to us- our health, our economic ability to thrive, the climate change that’s happening, environmental destruction, poverty, violence, depression, poor academic performance, national security- they’re all connected by food. No one’s told the story. Not only do people not understand that it’s all one problem, but they don’t understand that there are elegant and simple solutions that can fix all of it. While it’s depressing to think about it, it’s also highly hopeful because we can change this by leveraging policy change, grassroots movements, business innovations, and citizen action- all of it is critical for our future. It’s an existential threat, and it all makes sense when you lay it out and tell the story as one story.
One of the most eye-opening things about the food system is that food is the number one cause of death today. In 1960, only 5% of our population was obese, whereas now, in most states, it’s 40%. That’s an eight-fold change. That’s obese, not just a little overweight. Over the last 40 years, we’ve seen staggering rates of diseases – obesity, diabetes, and all the related complications. People just had it coming out of nowhere, and we’re not equipped to deal with it.
Food is the most significant cause and extensive cure for our problems. Eleven million people die every year from eating bad food. We’re not eating enough good food, and 600 Americans are sick with a chronic illness. One out of two have pre-diabetes or type-2 diabetes. 75% are overweight. This is all caused by food. It’s the most significant cause but also the most significant cure for our problems.
Food is a global epidemic. Over 2.3 billion people go to bed overweight, and about 800 million go hungry. Yet, we have more than enough calories to feed 10 billion people on the planet even today, even though we have 7 billion. We waste 40% of our food. The right food isn’t getting to the right people in the right places, and too much is getting to the people who don’t need it. We have to solve this problem because never before has food been responsible for so many deaths.
Food waste is a significant contributor to climate change. We waste 40% of the food we grow, and we would need the entire land mass of China to grow that food every year. Food waste is about $2 trillion, about $1,800 per person in America. It’s about a pound a day for every person in America. When we throw it out, it goes into landfills, creating a massive contribution to climate change. If food waste were a country, it would be the third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases after the US and China.
We must solve this food-based problem, and the thing is, we all can do something about it. For example, when Gavin Newsom was the mayor of San Francisco, he put in a mandatory composting law that mandates food waste composting. In the state of Massachusetts, they eliminated any ability of a company to throw out their garbage if their food waste was more than a ton a week. Places like Whole Foods, grocery stores, and food service companies can now utilize composting technologies.
In conclusion, the food system is vital in multiple issues, from health to the economy to climate change. Food is a significant cause of the problems, but food can also cure those issues, which is the most significant advantage. Solving the issues starts with individual effort, having a healthy diet, minimizing food waste, and supporting eco-friendly food companies.
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Summary of Transcript:
The food system is the primary driver of many problems facing our planet, such as health issues, economic struggles, climate change, violence, environmental destruction, poverty, poor academic performance, and national security. The foods produced by our food system are designed to create addiction and hijack our brain chemistry and metabolism. However, elegant and simple solutions are available to fix these problems through policy change, grassroots movements, business innovations, and citizen action. The food system is also the most significant cause of death and the most significant cure for our problems. There are more than enough calories to feed 10 billion people on the planet, but still, over 800 million people suffer from hunger, while over 2.3 billion are overweight. Moreover, we waste 40% of the food produced, contributing to climate change, and we must work to solve this significant issue. We can all do something about it, such as mandatory composting laws and reducing food waste.
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Summary of Description:
The video discusses how the food system impacts climate change, poverty, and violence and how food waste and soil health are also connected to these issues. Dr. Hyman also discusses the connection between the food industry and corrupt science, the truth about saturated fat, and how dietary fats influence cholesterol levels. He then discusses the impacts of consuming factory-farmed animal foods and what you need to know about meat consumption and cancer risk. Finally, he outlines five critical principles for the most popular diets.
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Source Description
The Foods You Need To STOP EATING & How The Food Industry LIES TO YOU! | Dr. Mark Hyman
In this episode, you’ll discover the following:
* How our food system impacts climate change, poverty, violence, and more.
* The statistics on obesity in the US and worldwide.
* Why food waste is a contributor to greenhouse gases
* The connection between soil health and microbial health.
* How Big Food corrupts science and preys on children.
* What the achievement gap is.
* The definition of structural violence.
* What the biggest nutrition myth is.
* The truth about saturated fat.
* Why dogma has no place in science.
* How dietary fats influence cholesterol levels.
* The number one hormone that causes you to gain fat.
* What nutritionism is.
* The most commonly consumed vegetables in America.
* How the human body processes fructose.
* The impacts of consuming factory-farmed animal foods.
* What you need to know about meat consumption and cancer risk.
* Five critical principles that apply to most popular diets.
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