“There is one place that nearly everything that matters in the world today converges: our food and our food system—the complex web of how we grow food, how we produce, distribute, and promote it; what we eat, what we waste, and the policies that perpetuate unimaginable suffering and destruction across the globe that deplete our human, social, economic, and natural capital.
Food is the nexus of most of our world’s health, economic, environmental, climate, social, and even political crises. While this may seem like an exaggeration, it is not. The problem is much worse than we think. After reading Food Fix you will be able to connect the dots of this largely invisible crisis and understand why fixing our food system is central to the health and well-being of our population, our environment, our climate, our economy, and our very survival as a species. You will also understand the forces, businesses, and policies driving the catastrophe, and the people, businesses, and governments that are providing hope and a path to fixing our dysfunctional food system.”
~ Dr. Mark Hyman, MD from Food Fix
Mark Hyman, MD, is head of strategy for the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine and board president for the Institute for Functional Medicine. He is also the bestselling author of a number of books, including Eat Fat, Get Thin.
This is a very important and equally sobering book. As Mark says: “The story of food shocked me, frightened me, and drove me to tell this story and to find the possibility of redemption from the broken system that is slowly destroying the people and things we love most.”
Now, of course, the food we eat affects our health and well-being. Actually, after I typed that, I realized that the “of course” part ISN’T a given. Many people STILL don’t see the connection between our food choices and our health and the fact (yes, it’s a fact) that our poor food choices are driving the astonishing rates of chronic disease we all face.
What might be less obvious is that the food system we have in place—ranging from the subsidies and other public policies—affect EVERYTHING from our physical health to our psychological health to our cultural well-being to the health of our economies and our environment.
Mark connects all those dots. He tells us this: “If we were to identify one big lever to pull to improve global health, create economic abundance, reduce social injustice and mental illness, restore environmental health, and reverse climate change, it would be transforming our entire food system. That is the most important work of our time—work that must begin now.”
This is one of those books on which it is nearly impossible to do a Note. Nearly every paragraph of every page of my copy of the book is marked up—often with a “:/” representing my “ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!” appalled astonishment at just how viciously many individuals—from politicians to food corp executives—are abusing their power and ignoring the public good.
Like I said, it’s a sobering, challenging, confronting read. It’s also, ultimately, a hopeful read as Mark gives us some compelling Ideas on how we can go about SOLVING the crises along with a cast of heroic characters who are doing the hard work to serve us and change the world.
If you’d like to learn more about “How to Save Our Health, Our Economy, Our Communities, and Our Planet—One Bite at a Time,” I think you’ll appreciate this book as much as I did. (You can get a copy of the book here.) (And check out FoodFixBook.com and FoodFix.org.)
Of course, it’s packed with Big Ideas and I’m excited to share of my favorites that will help us take powerful steps forward TODAY, so let’s jump straight in.
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