How blogging about broccoli can save lives

I spend a lot of time buying food, preparing it and eating it. However it was not until I heard these two stories that I became more aware of just how important food is to human beings, me in particular.

Two stories

1) A friend told me that soldiers on submarines get three times the daily budget that other soldiers get to spend on food. Being on a submarine for months with no natural daylight or fresh air is kind of tough. And by giving them really good food (think nice steaks in the morning) the soldiers are compensated for these hardships.

2) I read a story in a blog about a talk by a pathologist in a children's museum. She tried to explain to children the importance of healthy foods. The pathologist showed them a bowel cancer tumour and asked them what it looked like. It totally looked like a cauliflower. Her message was this: if you don't eat your cauliflowers and broccolis your body will grow one for yourself. But it is NOT one that you want.

Add to that the fact that I saw with my own eyes how the food that we eat here is produced on the other side of the world and I realised that food is not only important in the sense that it is the fuel that we live on, both physically and mentally, but it is also a livelihood for a lot of people involved in the production of it.

My newfound ideas on food and blogging

So then ideas about enjoying food, health, and food production all came together for me. I wanted to change my attitude towards food. So on a whole I now want my food to be fair for the person producing it, selling it and eating it (me) and most importantly I want to enjoy it. (Although I often make concessions on all four when the need arises.)

Now my point is this: stories and experiences are very powerful, and can really start a change in the person exposed to them. Even though my whole life I have spent a lot of time buying, preparing and eating food, it wasn't until I saw with my own eyes how the food was produced, or heard a very inspiring story about the purpose of food, that I started to actually think about it.

I believe that everyone has stories to tell and experiences to share that can make others laugh, question things and inspire people to make a change. I think that the easiest way to share is by blogging. Everyone is online, and as long as you spend a little time and effort on it, your blog could reach so many others just like you. (Or just your immediate family, but I'm sure they will appreciate your efforts too.)

So in my next blog I will share some tips & tricks on blogging to hopefully get you excited about writing those inspirational worldsupporter blogs.