How to Cut Down on Calories and Save the Planet

The Global Food Situation is a Paradox of Starvation vs Obesity

Sep 10, 2009 Allan Johnson

We are surrounded by food in the supermarkets, yet there are serious food shortages in the Third World. Can't we take a hint and cut down on our calories?

Despite the rising prevalence of obesity in developed countries, statistics from UK food surveys suggest we are eating less rather than more (1). The likely explanation is the change in our lifestyle. As well as exercising less, we are eating out more often, and using fast food outlets on a regular basis. Consequently, the responses to food questionnaires are underestimates, because it is harder to keep an account of our diet when someone else is doing the cooking.

The Change in our Eating Style

Not only are we cooking less at home, we are buying more ready-meals from supermarkets. Both tactics have distanced us from "scratch cooking" and engaging food at close range. Instead, someone else is delivering the goods on our plate, whether in a restaurant, takeaway or in a packet from the supermarket shelf. Entrusting the nutrient and calorie content of our food to outside agencies in this way betrays the lessons we learnt from our parents and grandparents around the kitchen table. Meals took time to prepare and serve. Portion size was a negotiable option not a number on a menu, and left-overs were enthusiastically recycled.

Pointers for Survival in a Credit-Crunch World

Globally, we have eradicated most nutritional deficiencies except in the poorest regions of the world where vitamin A, iodine and iron shortages are very common. Sheer lack of calories remains the underpinning problem, yet paradoxically, the rest of us are threatened by an epidemic of over-nutrition (2). With the financial recession biting in all areas of business, perhaps we could take a leaf out of Mrs Beeton's famous book and engage the wider world of domestic science by growing, harvesting, preparing and savouring the food on our doorstep, locally and nationally. Eating out used to be a rare treat, so let's reverse the trend, turn back the clock and eat in for a change. There are hundreds of easy recipes to try and you don't need all that fancy equipment you see on TV. Take a low-tech approach with ingredients and there will be less to go wrong...

Here are two delicious recipes, one savoury and one sweet which won't break the bank - or the waistline (3).

Spicy Chicken and Rice (for 2)

  • 10 ml sunflower oil
  • 1 crushed clove of garlic (or paste)
  • 2 uncooked chicken breasts (approx. 200g total)
  • 10 ml curry powder or mixed spices to taste
  • 175g long grain/brown rice
  • 20ml tomato puree/tomato sauce
  • 1 spanish onion, chopped
  • 50 ml water (or cheap white wine)

Cook the chicken breasts under a grill for 15 minutes, turning a few times. Boil the rice for 20 minutes. Heat the sunflower oil in a non-stick frying pan and cook the onion for at least 10 minutes until golden brown. Add the garlic and curry/mixed spice powder and cook for a further 3 minutes.

Cut chicken into small chunks and add to the pan with tomato puree and water. Cover and cook for a further 15 minutes, adding extra water if necessary. Serve with rice and green vegetables such as peas or beans.

Total calories/serving = approx 700kcals

Banana Pancakes (Makes 6)

  • 100g whole meal or fine oatmeal flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 5 ml sunflower oil
  • 300 ml semi-skimmed milk
  • 3 ripe bananas
  • 20g brown sugar

Blend all ingredients, except the bananas, in a liquidiser for 20 seconds. Then heat a non-stick frying pan and add the oil. Pour in 2 tablespoonfuls of the mixture, coating the pan evenly. Cook until the underside of pancake is light brown. Turn, and cook until other side is brown.

Repeat until the batter is used up. Pile the pancakes on an oven proof plate and keep warm. Mash the bananas and place some on each pancake and roll up loosely. Serve with a dollop of natural yoghurt.

Calories per pancake = 200kcals

References

  1. Henderson L, Gregory J, Irving K. (2003) National Diet and Nutrition Survey(NDNS) HMSO London.
  2. Millstone E, Lang T. (2008) The Atlas of Food. Earthscan Books.
  3. Bean A. (2006) . The Complete Guide to Sports Nutrition. A & C Black London.

The copyright of the article How to Cut Down on Calories and Save the Planet in Nutrition is owned by Allan Johnson. Permission to republish How to Cut Down on Calories and Save the Planet in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
The Low Calorie Harvest, Allan Johnson The Low Calorie Harvest
   
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