They have the right idea over in Europe. Let’s start encouraging people to eat more fruits and vegetables.
Although Europeans are eating worse now than they did 45 years ago — with diets too rich in sugar and saturated fats, agriculture and right farming policies can help promote healthy diets, pointed out an economist with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
The FAO’s Josef Schmidhuber told representatives from member countries of the Regional Offices for Europe of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the FAO that the “FAO is actively promoting fruit and vegetable production for both health and for income-generation for producers,” FoodNavigator.com reported.
Hurrah! Cool idea. Now why doesn’t our government do that in a bigger way over here?
The FAO economist also said that an ongoing joint WHO/FAO initiative on fruit and vegetables represented “an exciting avenue for expanded cooperation in the health, education and agriculture sectors.”
American leaders and celebrities, are you listening? We can get some ideas from our European brethen.
FYI, there is one organization which does a fabulous job getting Americans to eat plant-based foods: The non-profit Produce for Better Health Foundation is a consumer education foundation, whose “mission is to be the catalyst for creating a healthier America through increased consumption of a variety of fruits and vegetables.”
Thier innovative National 5 A Day Partnership is a collaborative partnership between government agencies, non-profit organizations, and industry to increase consumption of fruits and vegetables for improved public health.
Isn’t that great?