#7: Here It Goes…

This is way, way, unacceptably late, but here me out. It’s almost 1 am, and I’m about to make my pitch. Bear with me, please, even though my thoughts are sort of frazzled like split ends. Gosh, I hate split ends…

*yaaaaawn* So! Nutrition. Nutrition is why we eat. We eat to be nourished. Whether if we become nourished in the end actually is up to the individual. You can eat whatever you want, but at what cost or benefit? This is the question nutritionist ask.

Why we eat is vitally important for one particular reason: every living organism has to eat. It’s a qualification that makes us alive, biologically speaking. Need I say more? Let’s assume you suddenly stop eating for a number of possible reasons. What would then ensue? Eventually you’d die, and that’s an obvious indicator that nutrition is so gosh darn important.

Then why are some people healthier than others? Again, it boils down to the nutritious choices everyone makes. People who are healthy are healthy because they fulfill their bodies needs via optimal food sources. In turn those who do not have or choose not to provide themselves with nutritiously dense foods tend to be unhealthy.

Which brings me to answering “Why am I explaining this common sense?” Easy, it’s so common no one gives it a second thought. Unless the idea of taking extra time to re-check food labels and start stocking up on fresh produce is already instilled, most people do what they think is right. They blindly trust health claims and deceivingly good looking nutrition labels with out doing the math.

This is VERY concerning. It shouldn’t be a select few who have the motivation to be healthier citizens that care to research what they put into their bodies. Everyone needs to be more educated about their nutrition.

The trouble with preaching “Do’s and Don’ts” for what people should eat is that no one jumps at the idea of being told they’ve been doing it wrong. It meaning: choosing what to buy at the grocery store, knowing each ingredient’s impact on your body, and asking why the heck does beta-carotene matter? Children from young ages and up to the early to late teen years are more likely to switch tactics than a thirty-something truck driver who’s been living off McDonalds and other fast food chain restaurants out of convenience and cheapness.

It’s hard. You can’t press the CHANGE button and wake up to eating celery stalks and organic peanut butter and be happy with it. That’s unlikely and not as satisfying as going through a journey of adjustments.

How do we get people to care and to listen about why they should get educated about nutrition then?

So much is at stake if they don’t care.

Death, obesity epidemics, piling health care bills racking up thousands, the start of each generation getting farther and farther from the truth about what they need to eat versus what they are shown to eat.

Just to name a few.

A lot of organizations are already in movement to fight this unsettling ignorance globally. They’ve accomplished many things, but there is malnutrition both in wealthy countries as well as developing countries because malnutrition goes either way on the scale.

However for us to focus on Vermont singularly is not easy feat. Although compared to other places around the world, Vermont isn’t the worst. It’s also not the best. It could do better, and improvement is never a bad idea.

Nutrition is a core issue with everyone and anyone of all shapes and stories, addressing it can only bring people together.

 

For this project I have discovered a narrowed topic I’m passionate about delving into: School nutrition and what it says about the education system revolving around nutrition. Other branches can spring off that topic alone but that’s more focused than simply “nutrition”. Though it’s probably not quite as refined of a topic as I’d like it to be it’s somewhere I’d be happy to start at. On the other hand I don’t mind converging into another group with a different topic because nutrition can apply almost anywhere else. Least to say I’m flexible with where the pitch goes because I’m invested in this unique and exciting path.

 

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Keira Thorpe

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