This year, World Food Day marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) – founded with a view to looking towards the future we need to build together. The theme this year is “Grow, Nourish, Sustain, Together. Our actions are our future.”
World Food Day promotes global awareness and action for those who suffer from hunger, and for the need to ensure healthy diets for all.
Food is something that provides nutrients. Nutrients are substances that provide energy for activity, growth, and all functions of the body: such as breathing, digesting food, and keeping warm; materials for the growth and repair of the body; and for keeping the immune system healthy.
The World Food Day celebrations call for global cooperation and solidarity to make sure that the threats COVID-19 are posing to food security and agricultural livelihoods are confronted, and the most vulnerable are able to get back on their feet. The celebrations also provide an occasion to sensitise the public on how everybody has a role to play in transforming our food systems by changing the way we produce, transform, consume, and waste our food.
There is enough food for everyone on the planet today, yet about 800 million people are undernourished. Hunger today is not caused by a lack of supply, but because hundreds of millions of people simply cannot afford to buy enough food. At the same time, almost 80% of the world’s poor live in rural areas – where people depend on agriculture, fisheries, or forestry as their main source of income and food. Vulnerable to climate change and other shocks, they are disproportionately affected by crises, and are often the first victims of disasters and the degradation of natural resources. We need to produce most of the food we eat by working the land, raising animals, harvesting fish, and managing forests. As stewards of the planet’s natural resources, our daily management decisions are key to global food security and the health of the world’s ecosystems. To help nourish the theme, we need to increase farmers’ access to resources, employment, income, and investment; which will, in turn, improve food and nutrition security, the sustainability of natural resources, raising productivity, and national growth.
Remember: everybody has a role to play from farm to table, to ensure the food we consume is safe, and will not cause damage to our health. Even during this COVID-19 pandemic, we are being reminded daily to wash our vegetables and fruits with warm salt water.
Fuelling your body with whole foods, which have been scientifically proven to boost your health, will help to support insulin regulation, reduce inflammation, optimise digestion, and may even promote fat loss, thereby helping your body to function at its best.
Never underestimate the importance of food and nutrition.
References
●https://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/hygiene/emergencies/em2002chap9.pdf
● food safety procedures, see: World Health Organization (1984a), World Health Organization (1989b), World Health Organization (1991d), Bryan (1992), World Health Organization (1992a);
● supplementary and therapeutic feeding, see: Sphere Project (2000), World Health Organization (2000a);
● breastfeeding and breast-milk substitutes, see: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (1989), Savage-King (1992), World Health Organization(2000b), Sphere Project (2000);
●food storage, see: Walker (1992)s
●https://www.cellnutrition.com/blogs/journal/the-importance-of-food-and-nutrition
●https://www.fsinplatform.org/sites/default/files/resources/files/a-i7454e.pdf
● https://www.foodforcenetwork.eu/events/