The church where Jay and I belong is focusing its Advent observance on hunger. Our "tree" is made of cans of vegetables for the church's food pantry. Our "Advent calendar" at home is a cardboard box, into which I will insert one non-perishable food donation per day, until the congregation members bring the boxes to Christmas Eve worship and lay them at the foot of the manger.
I applaud the idea.
And, for the most part, I applaud the spiritual exercises that Pastor Dean has suggested -- including writing a letter to a politician to advocate for the hungry, and writing a letter of thanks to a farmer. (My letter will go to the Arlington Agricultural Research Station, where University of Wisconsin researchers continue to seek sustainable methods to feed the 9 billion people that will occupy our planet, maybe in my lifetime.)
But there's an angle that's been overlooked -- the connection between poverty and obesity.
In Pastor Dean's sermon, he cautioned us against judging people who seek help from food pantries.
Well, one of the common judgments I hear is, "Why are so many poor people so fat? How needy can they be if they can gorge themselves to obesity?"
Well, I can attest, and so can many others, that you don't need to pig out on designer ice cream to pack on the pounds.
In fact, many of the foods that low-income people eat a lot of because they're cheap -- things like white bread, boxed mac and cheese, canned pasta, pancake mix, cream soups, etc. -- are high in fat, calories, sugar, starch and salt. If you haven't eaten Ramen noodles since college, you might be shocked at the high level of salt and white-flour pasta.
Now, empty calories are better than no calories at all. People need to feel filled, and they need energy.
But the most nutritious foods are often the most expensive.
Also, the foods that people (especially children) really need for optimum nutrition are not non-perishable. While food pantries often can offer their guests access to foods like fresh lean meat and fish, eggs, dairy products and raw, unprocessed fruits and vegetables, those are not the kinds of foods I can keep in my Advent box for 20-plus days.
So where do I find non-perishable food that is fuel and not ballast?
I haven't gone shopping yet, but here's what's on my list:
I am encouraged, by the way, to see our church's "tree" made up of so many different types of canned vegetables --all of which will be offered to food pantry guests. Fresh would be healthier, and certainly less salty. But if the canned vegetables are consumed and don't go to waste, they can be a relatively healthful form of non-perishable food.
I applaud the idea.
And, for the most part, I applaud the spiritual exercises that Pastor Dean has suggested -- including writing a letter to a politician to advocate for the hungry, and writing a letter of thanks to a farmer. (My letter will go to the Arlington Agricultural Research Station, where University of Wisconsin researchers continue to seek sustainable methods to feed the 9 billion people that will occupy our planet, maybe in my lifetime.)
But there's an angle that's been overlooked -- the connection between poverty and obesity.
In Pastor Dean's sermon, he cautioned us against judging people who seek help from food pantries.
Well, one of the common judgments I hear is, "Why are so many poor people so fat? How needy can they be if they can gorge themselves to obesity?"
Well, I can attest, and so can many others, that you don't need to pig out on designer ice cream to pack on the pounds.
In fact, many of the foods that low-income people eat a lot of because they're cheap -- things like white bread, boxed mac and cheese, canned pasta, pancake mix, cream soups, etc. -- are high in fat, calories, sugar, starch and salt. If you haven't eaten Ramen noodles since college, you might be shocked at the high level of salt and white-flour pasta.
Now, empty calories are better than no calories at all. People need to feel filled, and they need energy.
But the most nutritious foods are often the most expensive.
Also, the foods that people (especially children) really need for optimum nutrition are not non-perishable. While food pantries often can offer their guests access to foods like fresh lean meat and fish, eggs, dairy products and raw, unprocessed fruits and vegetables, those are not the kinds of foods I can keep in my Advent box for 20-plus days.
So where do I find non-perishable food that is fuel and not ballast?
I haven't gone shopping yet, but here's what's on my list:
- Fruit and vegetable juices such as V8.
- Fruit cocktail, apple sauce or mandarin oranges, packed in water and with no added sugar.
- Whole-grain cereals, especially oatmeal.
- Canned fish and meat.
- Whole-wheat dry pasta, with jars of sauce containing chunky vegetables.
- Powdered broth-based soups, which can be prepared just by adding water.
- Brown rice, not white rice.
I am encouraged, by the way, to see our church's "tree" made up of so many different types of canned vegetables --all of which will be offered to food pantry guests. Fresh would be healthier, and certainly less salty. But if the canned vegetables are consumed and don't go to waste, they can be a relatively healthful form of non-perishable food.
I went shopping for my Advent box today, and bought nothing at the grocery store for myself or Jay -- only for the Lakeview food pantry. What I got was four each of the following, for a total of 24 items: boxes of whole-wheat dry pasta, jars of vegetable pasta sauce, boxes of chicken soup envelopes (Lipton), cans of chili with beans, six-packs of individual apple sauce servings (two sugar-free, two strawberry) and boxes of fruit-and-grain bars, various flavors. If I had it to do over again, I would have stuck with items in cardboard boxes, and not gotten anything in cans or jars -- way too heavy! Rather than adding an item a day to the box, I'm keeping the filled box in our dining room, sealed. I bought it, but I'm going to make Jay carry it into the church on Christmas Eve -- make him earn his Christmas dinner.
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