How Much Food Does Someone Need In Order To Not Starve?

So as we consider this subject of starvation, there is an important point that must be assessed to have full understanding of this reprehensible plight.


The point that we all have the responsibility to understand is this: How much food does someone need so that they won’t starve?


This would be a reasonable question with this subject. If we are trying to figure out how to form a plan to save those who are suffering from starvation, then we need to know all that we can about starvation. A minimal place to start would be to answer the question of how much food someone needs so that they will not starve (Note: we are not talking about full nutrition, but we are simply discussing the amount of food needed for someone to sustain an active life).
So how much food does someone need in order that they will not starve?


In order to simply stay alive, a person needs to eat enough calories that would be ten times their body weight (this would be increased by about 20% -30% if a person is moving around a lot in a day and 50%-60% if a person is actively working throughout the day). So here is what that looks like in actuality.


A person living in Africa in the throws of starvation weighs from 100 – 130 pounds. So that person would need between 1000 to 1300 calories each day. Some days a person could simply survive on less; thus, the actual total would be somewhere around 750 calories each day to survive.


What would this look like? Remember, if a person is on the verge of starvation, they will only have the monetary ability to buy certain foods like rice, porridge, corn, and the like. 750 calories would be the equivalent of something like this:


3 cups of rice

Or

4 cups of corn

Or

2 cups of cooked wheat flour.


These are the basic amounts of food that will keep someone alive. It does not seem like that much because it is not that much. Even though – if we are going to do this – we need to do this right and give people enough food for a daily active life. But still, this is the base amount that people need to not starve.


We can do that, can’t we???

Give a Man a Fish. Period.

“Give a man to fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.”

This is a popular saying that has been encouraged in the face of short-sighted efforts at sustenance aid. Humanitarians used to think that giving people food was all that they had to do. It was a constant discipline of aid, aid, aid every single day. They did not even consider the option of training these people with job skills and subsequently the ability to get food on their own. This thought revolutionized the theory of food aid.

And yet, I think that this thought has possibly run its course. I mean, I understand the theory of it. I totally do. I understand what it is trying to teach. I understand where it is trying to go. And I agree wholeheartedly with it. In a perfect world, we would have the time and opportunity to “teach people how to fish”. But this isn’t a perfect world.

We do not have the time, the opportunity, or the right situation. There are people starving to death in Africa, Latin America, Asia, and other areas all over the world. First, these people do not have the time to be taught any job skills. They do not have time to plant and harvest any food. They do not have the time. They are dying TODAY! They are going to die TOMORROW! There is no time. Second, even if these people are trained, their economies do not have enough jobs. Even if you have job skills, there are no jobs available. Also, the land is not good in some places. There is no opportunity to grow anything – or fish or hunt or gather – because of drought, famine, poor land management, etc. There is no time. There are no opportunities. It just doesn’t work.

So we need to change our thought process. We shouldn’t change it back to the very beginning. And we shouldn’t ignore what we now know. But we need to rethink what we are doing. We need to change our mindset. Here is the vision that we need to follow and the wisdom that we should heed given the current situation.

“Give a man a fish. Period.”

This has to be our mindset. It should be as simple as this: people are dying; they need food to live; those who have food need to give them food. That’s it. People are starving and dying every single day. No more theories or long-term goals or college strategies about the best things to do. No. There is no time. There is no time at all. People are dying. We need to help them. Now. Period.

So let’s change our mindset to this:

Give a man a fish. Period.

Why Is Starvation Even A Big Deal??

So why is this starvation stuff even that big of a deal? I know, I know, starvation means that people are dying. And that should be enough motivation unto itself right there. I understand that. And yet it doesn’t seem like it is working, does it?

So what are the implications of starvation? Why is it such a big deal? Why should we give so much effort to try to defeat it?

Here are three key reasons why starvation is such a big deal:

1) Daily Effect. Even if a person is not dying of starvation each and every day, a lack of food is still affecting them. When I was in Africa, I got to see this firsthand. A lack of food gives people a lack of energy. A lack of food causes people to only focus on getting the day’s supply of food, and it takes away their focus from other ventures (work, education, etc.). It is all a person can think about, and it is all the body can think about, as well. There is a daily effect to starvation that happens prior to death. By providing them food on a daily basis, these people can focus their daily efforts on other things.
2) Special Circumstances. One of the most dangerous times for starvation is during special circumstances. These circumstances can range from droughts to hurricanes to typhoons to extreme cold to anything else like that. Some people living in extreme poverty and on the verge of starvation can get through the day-to-day when things are normal, but if any little thing different happens – then they are going to starve. We must prepare for these special circumstances.
3) Hope. People who live on the verge of starvation have a very low level of hope. They are focused only on getting enough food to eat, and that is the whole of their existence. They have little hope that tomorrow will be even better. And when they bring children into the world, they automatically put their children and families into a starvation situation. The future is bleak and hope is small. When people help them, this not only provides food for their body, but it provides hope for the soul.

These are just a few of the reasons why it is vital that we provide support to those living on the verge of starvation.

We have to do it.

We have to end this.

No more starvation.