“An apple a day keeps the doctor away.”
It might not be as simple as that, but there is truth at the core of this familiar proverb.
Eating apples (and other fresh produce) has been linked to scores of health benefits. Everything from possibly lowering the risk of heart attack and stroke to reducing prescription medications has been correlated with maintaining a healthy diet.
This simple maxim may just be a way of boiling a huge concept like living a healthy lifestyle down to a simple action: just eat an apple every day.
The USDA study of food insecurity in America was released earlier this month, and it shows the percentage of food insecure households in Missouri is still higher than the national average and still not back to pre-recession levels.
Hunger on this scale seems vast and insurmountable. It’s easy and understandable to turn a blind eye to this kind of problem, because one tends to feel powerless to make a difference. Perhaps we simply need to narrow our focus, so we can transform apathy into action.
Mother Teresa said it best. “If you can’t feed a hundred people, feed just one.”
You can simply feed one person one apple a day, and your simple act will have great impact.
You can be a part of a large scale solution to fighting hunger and fostering health in Missouri. Simply give what you can to Feeding Missouri’s Produce Promise campaign.
Produce Promise is an effort to get more fresh produce to the six Missouri food banks, whose agencies will put the fresh fruit and vegetable into the hands of our most vulnerable neighbors.
No gift is too small, because a simple action is better than no action at all.
