Middle Class Seeking Help From Food Bank

It's tough to decide whether you would rather live with a roof over your head or have a full stomach. Middle class people now are seeking more help from food banks to keep their stomachs from roaring.

Coping with soaring prices for the basics
LA Times, DAVID LAZARUS:CONSUMER CONFIDENTIAL 27, 2008

Steven James, 43, works in finance, has multiple cellphones clipped to his belt and projects the air of a hardworking, successful sort of guy. And yet there he was last week, buying day-old bread at the Oroweat thrift store in South Pasadena.

"Food's just so expensive," James said. "It's going up faster than salaries." He said he now seeks bargains like day-old bread wherever he can find them. More...

Sleep Off Obesity

There is mounting evidence that lack of adequate sleep is associated with obesity and possibly other physical ailments.

Children: Study Ties Too Little Sleep With Too Much Weight

New York Times, By NICHOLAS BAKALAR,Published: January 1, 2008

A study of 7-year-olds has found that sleeping less than nine hours a night was associated with being overweight or obese, even after accounting for amounts of television watching and physical exercise.

Stuart Goldenberg

The study, being published Tuesday in the journal Sleep, also found that short sleep duration was associated with mood swings. The researchers had followed the subjects — 519 children in New Zealand — since birth, making periodic health and developmental assessments and interviewing their parents. More...

U. K. National Obesity Knowledge Week

Childhood Obesity: Surveillance and Prevention National Knowledge Week 2008 - Content page, 8th April - 2nd May 2008

Some In Africa See US as The Problem

In this opinionated article, the author, from Africa, squarely pins the blame for world food price increase, food shortage and starvation squarely on the Americans. While not completely agreeing with her perspectives, many of the issues she eluded to ranging from U. S. energy policy, Wall Street greed to how people in America taking food for granted all resonate with many hungry people outside of the United States.

America causing world food crisis and starvation
Penny Hess — Opinion, The Zimbabwe Guardian, Fri, 25 Apr 2008 10:31:00 +0000

IN AMERICA—especially in white America—we take food abundance for granted. From sushi to steak to salad and smoothies, countless food choices are part of our daily routine and a key component of our leisure and fun. One hundred and thirty-four million of us—75 percent of the adult U.S. population—are obese or overweight.
Even the choice to be slim and fit based on a healthy diet is an option not available to most of humanity. For the majority of us hunger is no more than a momentary pang endured until the next refrigerator, restaurant, deli or grocery presents itself. More...

High Food Prices Hurt More Than Just Africa

There will be more blood:

New Zealand Herald, 5:00AM Saturday April 26, 2008, By Catherine Masters

Starvation in African countries often stems from food shortages caused by war. Now people in some of the poorest countries in the world fear starvation for another reason - globally spiralling food prices.

Already there have been riots in the streets and high-level warnings of massacres to come.Africa is not alone. Strife has broken out over pasta prices in Italy, tortilla prices in Mexico and tofu products in Indonesia.  More...

Wonders of the Animal World

Just for fun... be amazed!

A Short Glossary

How do people define obesity? Starvation? Here's a list of definitions.

From Merimam-Webster:
Obesity: A condition characterized by the excessive accumulation and storage of fat in the body
Starve: To perish from lack of food; to suffer extreme hunger

From Wikipedia:

Obesity is a condition in which the natural energy reserve, stored in the fatty tissue of humans and other mammals, exceeds healthy limits. It is commonly defined as a body mass index (weight divided by height squared) of 30 kg/m2 or higher.

A BMI less than 18.5 is underweight

A BMI of 18.5–24.9 is normal weight

A BMI of 25.0–29.9 is overweight

A BMI of 30.0–39.9 is obese

A BMI of 40.0 or higher is severely (or morbidly) obese

A BMI of 35.0 or higher in the presence of at least one other significant comorbidity is also classified by some bodies as morbid obesity

While India's School Children Gain Weight, Others Die of Starvation

World's starvation problem appears not due entirely to food shortage.  From the same news source, The Times of India, where one article discussed the dawning obesity problem among school children, another article described a woman's death from starvation.  The mal-distribution problem happens not only in parts of the world but can also occur in different parts of the same country.  Even a wealthy country like the United States still has pockets of people suffering from starvation.

Another Paharia woman dies of starvation
THE TIME OF INDIA, 23 Apr 2008, 0539 hrs IST,Rajesh Kumar Pandey,TNN

DUMKA: The visit of the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, coincided with the starvation death of a Paharia community woman thus putting a question mark on the tall claims being made by the UPA government to have introduced different social security schemes for the downtrodden. 

One Kaiti Pujaharin of the village Thari under Ramgarrh block of the district and belonging to the one of the most primitive tribal groups, Paharia, died in Dumka Sadar Hospital on Sunday as she was admitted here in a critical situation due to starvation for the last several days.   More....

India Facing Childhood Obesity

18 % Delhi school kids are overweight 

TIMES OF INDIA, 25 Apr 2008, 0015 hrs IST,Risha Chitlangia,TNN 

DELHI: Obesity among children is growing and needs to be checked at the earliest. A study has revealed that 18% of schoolchildren in Delhi, between 10 and 14 years, are overweight and prone to various health problems like high blood pressure, insulin resistant diabetes, cardiac problems etc. To address the issue, the ministry of women and child development organised a seminar on Thursday. 

"Obesity in children is growing alarmingly and it is high time we act. We have to take the initiative to ensure our children eat healthy and exercise daily," said Renuka Chowdhury, minister of state for women and child development.   More....

Obesity Costs U. S. Economy $45 Billion Annually

CNBC "Big Bottoms and the Bottom Line" Video

Discussing the cost of obesity, with Glenn Gaesser, University of Virginia; Linda Barrington, The Conference Board and CNBC's Mark Haines

Brazil Halts Rice Exports to Boost Domestic Supply

Brazil Halts Rice Exports to Boost Domestic Supply

FOXBusiness Apr. 24 2008

Brazil has temporarily stopped rice exports in order to preserve domestic supply in the face of rising worldwide prices for food and grain.  More....

Video Contest To Help Fight Childhood Obesity

Help Fight Childhood Obesity
Wednesday, April 23, 2008; 3:26 PM

Washington Post - Welcome to the Public Service Announcement ("PSA") Contest 2008, sponsored by Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive ("WPNI" or the "Sponsor"), 1515 North Courthouse Road, Floor 11, Arlington, VA 22201, through which eligible entrants may submit videos that highlight the problem of childhood obesity, and/or possible solutions. By mailing your video submission to WPNI and complying with the rules and conditions below, your video will become eligible win the PSA Contest 2008 and, if selected, will be posted for public viewing on WPNI's website, www.washingtonpost.com (the "Site"), subject to the rules and conditions described below. Please read these rules carefully BEFORE sending your video. More....

Egypt Faces Food Crisis

Haiti Food Riot; Poor Resort to Eating Dirt

4 killed as Haitians riot over soaring food pricesViolent protesters storm U.N. compound and open fire on peacekeepers
MSNBC, updated 1:09 a.m. PT, Sat., April. 5, 2008

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Reuters) - Four people were killed in Haiti when demonstrators protesting the high cost of living clashed with security forces, a local official said on Friday.The United Nations said protesters rioted in the southern town of Les Cayes on Thursday, burning shops, shooting at peacekeepers and looting containers at a U.N. compound. More....


Haiti’s poor resort to eating mud as prices riseCookies made of dried yellow dirt become sustenance, livelihood, concern
MSNBC, updated 3:43 p.m. PT, Tues., Jan. 29, 2008

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - It was lunchtime in one of Haiti's worst slums and Charlene Dumas was eating mud.With food prices rising, Haiti's poorest can't afford even a daily plate of rice, and some take desperate measures to fill their bellies. More....

Some U. S. Retailers Limit Rice Sales

Sam's Club, Costco limit rice purchases as prices rise By MARCUS KABEL, Seattle PI Last updated April 23, 2008 10:26 p.m. PT
AP BUSINESS WRITER A sign informs customers of a purchase limit on bags of rice at a Costco store in Mountain View, Calif., Wednesday, April 23, 2008. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma) The two biggest U.S. warehouse retail chains are limiting how much rice customers can buy because of what Sam's Club, a division of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., called on Wednesday "recent supply and demand trends." More....

Rising food and energy costs

Here are some price charts to show the rising costs of food and energy. If people in the U. S. are having difficulty coping with these high prices, imagine what they are doing to the poorest parts of the world.

Corn Price Chart

Rice Price Chart

Crude Oil Price Chart

NBC Nightly News: Life Expectancy Declining in Deep South

NBC Nightly News: Oil, Food Price Spikes Weigh On World's Hungry

No Just in the U. S.

Obesity is not just a problem in the United States. China, with it's new found wealth and importation of western diet, is increasingly dealing with the problem of obesity.

Obesity of China's kids stuns officials
By Calum MacLeod, USA TODAY
1/9/2007 9:15 AM ET

BEIJING — China is super-sizing its children as fast as its economy, prompting fears of an American-style obesity crisis here.

New figures from the Health Ministry show that urban Chinese boys age 6 are 2.5 inches taller and 6.6 pounds heavier on average than Chinese city boys 30 years ago.

China "has entered the era of obesity," says Ji Chengye, a leading child-health researcher. "The speed of growth is shocking."

More....

Much is given much is required...

My sister Hanna, a 10th grader in high school started the "Malawi Club" in her high school earlier this year to help raise money for the poverty stricken children of Malawi, the second poorest nation in Africa.

My father, a doctor has been informing us over the recent past that the world hunger situation may get a lot worse because of the poor U. S. economy (normally the world's biggest giver), the falling value of the U. S. Dollar and the skyrocketing grain prices around the world. He is concerned that with any disruption in world weather or civil order, the poor of the world will suffer immensely.

This evening, while watching NBC News, I saw one story about how life expectancy in some parts of the United States is actually dropping in part because of obesity. Yet this story was followed immediately by another story about world food shortage and a possible 'perfect storm' for a worldwide starvation tsunami in the poor countries.

Sixty percent of the population in the U. S. are overweight and 30 percent are obese. We are increasingly dying in this country from gluttony - diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke and cancer - all related to obesity. And we are not alone. China, the world's fastest growing economy is now facing a high trajectory growth of obesity in both adults and children due to their increasing wealth.

Hence this blog 'Too Rich, Too Poor' is created.

This blog will track news stories on the developing issue of global food shortage by comparing and contrasting between rich and poor nations and their peoples.

This blog is a hopeful one. It hopes to share with you ideas on how everyone can help.

Over a billion people on this planet live on 77 cents a day. With 31 cents one can provide food and clean water for one more person. More than 31 cents, the person can learn how to better him or herself through education.

How many of us can think of ways to save 31 cents a day?