Of staples and scarcity…

From the past few months, there has been increased talk on food scarcity. Apparently, a very few countries in the world account for a majority of the supply of our staple foods, and a couple of these countries are now at war.

Staples aside, as a species, we have been eating much more than ever before in our history. And eating all the wrong things, in increasing amounts. From processed foods, to excess meat and sugar, even our fruits have been reduced to high-calorie sweetened juices. I did also read somewhere that the fruits that we have nowadays are much sweeter than they used to be say a couple of hundred years ago.

And then we go spend more money on expensive gymnasiums, pilates classes and pop yoga. And diets and first-world ‘health foods’ such as quinoa and kale.

Good to be back to basics?

Here is what I wrote a few months ago. Resonates even more in the face of a looming food crisis.

See you tomorrow!


Can you guess the most eaten vegetable in the United States?

Well, I can safely say that whatever you guessed, was wrong. The answer, and winner by a wide margin, is the French fry.

It accounts for a quarter of their entire vegetable intake.

And if this surprised you, try guessing the second most consumed vegetable…it is the tomato, largely driven by the pizzas they consume.

The States is paradoxically the world’s most overfed nation and also one of it’s most nutritionally-deficient ones, at the same time.

Not only this, they have exported this paradox all over the world, and the concept of fast food is fast eating into our otherwise-nutritionally rich diet.

And so we have people eating cereal and milk for breakfast, instead of millets. Grab your oversized coffee, instead of making it at home in a minute (or settling for tea, a much healthier alternative), pair it with a blueberry muffin (more sugar) or a croissant, and have burger for lunch.

Of course, don’t forget your evening walk on the treadmill, that is supposed to offset all this damage. News flash – it doesn’t.

Instead, call up your parents and ask them what they had for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And try it out for a month. See the change.

Sometimes, sticking to the basics helps much more than sophisticated methods and costly fitness classes. It’s that simple!