Food Summit Baby Steps Lead to Longer-Lasting Progress

Oct 2019 – Last month a vegan activist group held a rally in front of McDonald’s main office downtown. It had two apparent goals – action and education. Statements were made and then pictures and videos were posted later on the national website. So the first goal was fulfilled, especially by the photographers.

I doubt that the second goal was successful. The small group was clumped together with signs and flyers, so pedestrians avoided them. When I walked to a nearby corner, walkers found me less intimidating, so I distributed lots more flyers. Eventually, I was asked to rejoin the group and given more flyers by members who had had little success.

“You have two goals,” I said. “If you want to carry the message, you’ll have to use a soft sell.” I learned the hard way that I had to think like the people I wanted to convince. I also remembered that my switch to a vegetarian lifestyle was more effective when it was gradual. (See article written Aug 2018.) Hopefully, the organizers will learn from their mistakes as I did.

The 2019 Food Summit, The Power of Plant-Based Eating, hosted by the Cook County Department of Public Health and the Health Science Division of Loyola University Chicago, strove to share successes locally and nationally on October 4-5 in Maywood, IL.

“Education alone is not a powerful motivator,” said Margo Wootan of the Center for Science in the Public Interest(CSPI), a nonprofit for national childhood nutrition and health. So passing out flyers with facts is not enough. “Poor dietary habits are the number one cause of death….[and] the major cause of disabilities.”

Wootan lists food environment and consumer confusion about what is healthy as the key reasons for poor diet. CSPI works on changing how restaurants,grocery stores and institutions encourage bad eating habits – price and sales, convenience foods, drinks instead of juice, ads and placement in the building, portion size and what comes with the meal. Thanks to their efforts of many years, Aldi agreed to remove candy at its checkout, and a national law was passed to ban soda pop in schools. To change more school breakfast and lunch policies, they focus on how schools obtain their food.

Dr. Terry Mason of the Cook County Department of Public Health had already explained that government commodities, which benefit food industries, help the people who receive them to adapt to an unhealthy diet. For example, after our government rerouted a river that formerly allowed the Pima reservation to farm, it provided commodities; then the tribe began making fried bread. Similarly, schools that base their meals on commodities make it easier for their students to gain weight and have other food-induced diseases.

Dr. Neal Barnard of Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine(PCRM) cited three studies that showed how switching from a conventional diet to a plant-based one with or without light exercise reversed or decreased those diseases. Even diets recommended by the American Diabetes Association(ADA) or the American Heart Association(AHA) could not beat the plant-based results. He also stressed that vegetarians only need 4.5 micrograms of Vitamin B12, available in tablets or fortified foods.

Mason invited the audience to view the new food documentary Game Changers, which he made available during the evening reception.

Barnard suggested that AHA, ADA and the American Medical Association “clean house” with their guidelines by not accepting donations from food industries. Like Mason, he pointed out that eating processed meat could cause cancer. He credited PCRM’s actions for some strides in institutions like hospitals that make meat and dairy optional and allow alternative milks for people who are lactose-intolerant. He was glad that the AMA finally passed a resolution to add nutrition to the training of medical students.

“That’s not perfection,” but it is a start, he said. All three keynote speakers have combatted false health claims with scientific facts for years.

Task force members of the Cook County Good Food Purchasing Program(GFPP) explained how action and education could be joined to help communities make better choices in obtaining food. GFPP joins various nonprofits to help communities help themselves financially, conservationally, humanitarily and nutritionally. The county program, adopted in May 2018, assists both institutions and communities make affordable changes. The county government grows fruits and vegetables and uses compostable trays and plastic in its health department, jail, court system and juvenile detention center to provide healthier food options. More county departments are looking for ways to become involved, Mason said.

Commissioner Alma Anaya, who lives on the Southwest side of Chicago, sees GFPP as a way to “carry the message” at the community level as it fulfills its goal of outreach and education. She, Rodger Cooley of the Chicago Food Policy Action Council, Kathy Chan of Cook County Health and Lena Hatchett of Loyola’s Health Sciences Campus are members of the task force.

“We started to listen to what the community wanted,” says Hatchett, also co-founder of Proviso Partners of Health(PP4H), which helps Proviso Township residents form “policies to transform [their] communities.” One obstacle residents encountered was “structures that undermine sustainable programs.” They wanted to transform their communities, but didn’t know how.

Since licensing, zoning and financial resources are some of those structures, the Chicago Food Policy Action Council(CFPAC) helped communities, beginning with the Southside, overcome the red tape. Cooley, its executive director, sees GFPP as a way to “leverage change,” especially in food deserts.

Hatchett sees GFPP as a way for “collaboration to save systems money.” Since hospitals are one of those systems, Chan sees the program as a way for them to align more with other collaboratives” and efficiently provide their patients with better food options. By pooling their expertise with others, they show strength in numbers.

The first day of the summit ended with a tasty vegan buffet prepared by Chef Anthony Bosko of Handcut Foods, who described the meal. The food was organic, non-GMO and sustainably grown. Bosko’s company serves Loyola’s students, teachers and staff.

Do you agree that working with nonprofits is a way for more people in your community to eat healthy food at an affordable price? What are your doubts?