
Against the Grain
Robert S. Lawrence recalls a photograph that appeared
recently in The New York Times. It was a picture of
J. Robert Oppenheimer and other physicists from the
Manhattan Project, snapped in 1943. "What caught my eye,"
says Lawrence, "was that these eight or nine men were all
thin as a rail. It was a cultural norm."
No longer. Lawrence, in his capacity as director of the
Center for a
Livable Future at the Bloomberg School of Public
Health, knows well the statistics on the increasing size
and appetites of Americans. He also understands what they
eat and what that means for the U.S. food system, the
environment, and the future of global sustainability. Tens
of millions of Americans eat too much, and that
overconsumption, especially of meat, has consequences way
beyond their hardened arteries and expanding girth.
Says Lawrence, "We see overconsumption as an important
driver, on the demand side, of the industrialization of
agriculture." Intensive industrial farming practices
— the high-production megafarms that have replaced so
many small, local, family farms — rely on high inputs
of fertilizers, pesticides, water, and fossil fuels.
Factory farms tend to be farther away from the people who
consume their crops, which means more burning of fossil
fuels to distribute food over longer distances.
In particular, Americans' gluttonous consumption of meat
has implications beyond flabby physiques. Eating red meat
is an inefficient means of ingesting nutrients. Lawrence
notes that the average American consumes about 800
kilograms of grain per year, while the average Italian
consumes 400, the average Taiwanese 300, and the average
Indian 200. And it's not because Yanks are eating
two-to-three times as many bowls of Cheerios or fresh
baguettes. To produce a kilogram of beef requires, on
average, seven kilograms of grain, says Lawrence; four
kilograms of grain go into a kilogram of pork. So, eat a
hamburger and you're not only consuming ground beef, you're
consuming all the grain that fed the animal before it ended
up on the bun. Lawrence says, "We are diverting resources,
grains in particular — corn, wheat, soybeans —
to feed the 9 billion animals we consume every year in the
United States. Those resources could be used in the world
food program to address inequities in food availability
elsewhere." —DK

With Meat, Less is More
Americans eat too much meat and not enough of the fruits,
vegetables, and whole grains that help prevent heart
disease, stroke, and cancer. That's the philosophy behind
the Meatless Monday campaign, a national public health
effort that works in association with Hopkins'
Bloomberg School of Public
Health and 28 other schools of public health in the
nation. Their goal: to reduce Americans' consumption of
saturated fat by at least 15 percent by 2010.
Going meatless one day a week seems a reasonable way to
start. If the prospect sounds daunting, check out the
upbeat Meatless Monday Web site
(www.meatlessmonday.com),
which offers everything from
an informative chili glossary (bulgur wheat "makes for a
hearty meat substitute in chili") to a Food Forum, where
readers can dish on hot nutrition topics like the new food
pyramid and the craze for low carbs. The site also features
recipes from New York chef Ian Russo, whose East Side
restaurant Ian is known for fare that's both delicious and
healthy. (Toward that end, you won't want to miss his
recipe for Filet of Sole over Garlic Lentils.)
Why Monday — and not Meatless Wednesday or Sunday?
"Well, for one thing, we like the way Meatless Monday
sounds," the Web site's creators admit. But there's a more
practical reason as well: "Many people can overindulge
during the weekend — going meatless on Monday is a
great way to start the week off on a healthy note."
—SD

A Weighty Problem at ROTC
Cadets in the
ROTC
program at Johns Hopkins and elsewhere must be in top
physical condition — including maintaining a weight
that, in ratio to height, meets Army standards.
Enrollment officer Captain Amy Wallace was therefore
alarmed when two freshman female cadets returned to campus
after the holiday break last January looking, well . . .
larger. Each had gained more than 20 pounds in the first
six months of her freshman year. "I had to help them get
this under control," says Wallace. "They were in danger of
losing their scholarships."
So she brought in nutritionist Rebecca McDivitt from the
Student Health and Wellness Center to make a presentation
to all the ROTC cadets about basic nutrition. "I talked
with them about balancing intake with exercise," McDivitt
says. "This group needed to make an adjustment. Many of
them had been high school athletes used to training two,
three hours a day in their sports. When they got to college
their activity level was lowered, so they had to cut back
their intake."
In fact, freshman weight gain (jokingly dubbed the
"Freshman 15") is a reality for students across Hopkins,
not just those in ROTC, says Health and Wellness Center
director Alain Joffe. He blames several factors. For one
thing, there are no parents around to warn new students
away from pizza, chicken nuggets, and nachos — all
found in abundance at campus eateries. And alcohol
consumption can also pack on the pounds.
In conjunction with the Office of Education for Health and
Wellness, Joffe says his department has plans to ratchet up
efforts to combat unhealthy weight gain and obesity: "The
habits people form in their adolescence and early adult
years are those they will continue through life. And though
the dangers — of diabetes, heart disease —
occur later, the college years are critical for
prevention." —HM

Dining in Recline
The tales of gluttonous Romans — lavishly feasting
their days and nights away, visiting the vomitorium, then
doing it all again — are famous. Alas, they don't
reflect the way most Romans ate.
In reality, if you lived in ancient Rome and wanted to
throw an extravagant dinner party, all you really needed
was a big mullet and a couple of couches. The mullet was a
four-pound fish, a prestige item that wealthy Romans served
to guests to flaunt their status.
As for the couch, well, that's an interesting story.