What’s really at the root of the obesity epidemic? Why are hyper-processed franken-foods even on the shelf? And what do the sometimes shocking short-comings in our current food system have to do with things like global warming and our most vulnerable communities? In his new book, Food Fix, Dr Mark Hyman reveals just what’s so broken about our food system and how it’s impacting our economy, our communities, our health and the planet in more ways than most of us realize.

Full of in-depth insights and practical take-away, Food Fix is already a NYT best-seller and one of this year’s most important books on health. Here are a few simple and actionable ways to get started… 

Facing the facts of our food system is sobering. But after two years of research, speaking to dozens of experts, scientists and policymakers about the solutions I am left with a sense of hope and possibility. That’s why I wrote my new book Food Fix—to share the solutions we have for realistic and lasting change.

Understanding the problems and challenges we face sets the foundation for the solutions. It is also the beginning of reimagining a food system that provides real, whole, nutrient-dense food across the globe addressing hunger and obesity. A food system that saves trillions of wasted dollars every year. A food system that restores ecosystems, builds soil, protects our scarce water resources, reduces pollution, increases biodiversity and reverses climate change. It’s all possible!

Food Fix: 3 Powerful Ways to Support A Better Food System + The Planet

There is so much we can start doing right now in our own homes and neighborhoods to create positive changes in the food system:

Buy regeneratively grown + raised foods | Most of us think that fossil fuels are the biggest cause of climate change. Actually, it’s our food system from end to end—the deforestation, destruction of soils, food waste, factory farmed animals, and processing, transport and refrigeration. The good news is that if we converted our farms to regenerative agriculture at scale, the soil has the ability to draw down all the carbon in the atmosphere that’s been created since the industrial revolution.

Regenerative agriculture is a holistic land management practice using animals, sun, soil, microbes, and conscious farmers to produce real food without harming our health or the planet. It actually even helps reverse climate change through carbon sequestration (yes, even using cows). In fact, the UN said one of the very few ways we can actually arrest climate change is through regenerative agriculture. When you support companies that practice regenerative agriculture, you are contributing to the reversal of climate change.

Stop purchasing franken-foods | Today 60% of our diet is ultra-processed food made from commodity crops—corn, soy, and wheat—that’s turned into various sizes, shapes and colors from the raw materials—high fructose corn syrup, white flour and refined soybean oil. When you vote with your dollars and your fork to stay away from these foods, you send a message to Big Food to stop subsidizing commodity crops and grow more fruits and vegetables. This gets us away from the monoculture practices of conventional agriculture that are so detrimental to our biodiversity.

You also protect your health: A recent study of over 44,000 people published in the JAMA Internal Medicine found that for every 10 percent increase in the intake of ultra-processed food, the risk of death increases by 14 percent. If 60 percent of our calories come from processed foods, the math adds up to a lot of unnecessary, food caused, preventable deaths. Eliminating these from your diet to focus on real, wholesome, nutrient-dense foods fights Big Food and supports better health.

Stop wasting food | Americans throw out 35% of their food. A family of four throws away $1,800 in food every year and in the US we spend $218 billion a year, or 1.3% of our GDP, growing, processing, transporting, and disposing of food that is never eaten. All those rotten fruits and veggies waste huge amounts of resources and end up in landfills off-gassing methane. Ending food waste is one of the most impactful ways to reverse climate change and change the impact of our food system.
+ Buy only what you need.
+ If food may go bad soon, make a soup or stew.
+ Get a compost bucket for your kitchen.
+ Start a compost pile in your backyard, or buy an in-home composter.
+ Use it in your garden or donate it to someone who has a garden.

The food system is a huge issue to tackle—the most important of our time—but we have so many tools to completely overhaul it. We just have to work together. Food Fix is the guidebook on how to do exactly that. I hope you’ll join me in creating a cleaner, brighter future for food.

This is part two in a two-part series from Dr. Hyman’s new book.
Here is part one, and we also have extensive Dr. Mark Hyman archives to explore!