Famine is? Trigger - calories.

Hi everyone, thank you so  much for so many lovely comments – I really appreciate your support and it means a lot to me that people find what I have to write helpful to them, wherever they are in their journey. I’ve always hoped that some day, I can use my past to help someone else have even a tiny bit better a future – and it helps to know that even with so far still to go myself, I can already use my own experience for good. It makes it all have worth going through.

I might be posting and commenting very sporadically over the next short while as I’ve run out of my internet allowance for the year (yes, and it’s only July!) and have to go back to the drawing board. I’m with the Public Trustee here – they took over my affairs when I was too sick and constantly hospitalised to manage them meaning they have complete control still over my finances, which I’m working on winning back bit by bit. But it means that I have to negotiate for every single thing I need, meaning it’s not just a case of needing and buying – it takes a while for the back and forth and then the granting of funds etc. Always a good reminder of why to keep working for more and more independence!

Before I go, I just wanted to drop a little bit of info your way for you to toss over. Did you know, that famine is declared when:

Famine has a technical definition based on food security and nutrition. In order for a famine to be declared, there must be evidence of the following three conditions:

1. At least 20 percent of the population has fewer than 2,100 calories of food a day;

2. Prevalence acute malnutrition must exceed 30 percent of children; and

3. The death rate must exceed two deaths per 10,000 people, or four child deaths per 10,000 people per day.

Tragically, all three of these conditions have been found in southern Somalia. The average daily caloric need is 2,100; therefore, eating fewer than 2,100 calories often results in hunger. Measuring malnutrition differs from measuring caloric need. Malnutrition occurs when a person does not eat food that provides the proper amounts of vitamins and minerals to meet daily needs. Finally, the death rate in some areas is as high as six deaths per 10,000 people with children especially vulnerable. UNICEF has estimated that as many as 14 children are dying every hour in parts of southern Somalia.

A bit of food for thought! I know many of you will be surprised since many of you have expressed distress at eating far far less than 2100 calories. Also many of us tend to not even come close to giving our bodies the actual nutrients it needs, regardless of how much energy we consume. We are horrified at conditions in famine-torn countries. And yet many of us subject our own selves to this level of deprivation. Reality check time!

Also – still not convinced that you NEED those ‘recommended’ calories? The average calorie content of rations for one person for one day supplied by the World Food Program is 2178. (Although in reality for various reasons, often less is actually eaten by the person). What Refugees are Eating.

What is your idea of a famine-torn country? We see hungry, desperate people on our news programs. They are malnourished, they are starving!

An 1849 depiction of Bridget O’Donnell and her two children during the famine. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

And so are you – if you are not feeding your own body what it needs.

Defintely food for thought!

Look after yourselves, everyone xx

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