festivore

The Fourth Element was founded in 2006 in response to the alarming growth in the incidence of food allergies, early onset of puberty, diabetes, hypertension, cancers, and other chronic diseases. A significant factor in this trend is a changing lifestyle. Americans are consuming 30% more calories than they did in 1976. Foods are served in ever larger portions, nutrients are out of balance, and the entire food and agriculture system has been industrialized and globalized. At the same time, 58% of Americans do little or no physical activity.

While this health crisis is certainly an American problem, it respects no geographic, economic or social boundaries. For young people in some of the most developed countries, theirs will be the first generation to have a shorter lifespan than their parents. Meanwhile, in fast-developing China, the rate of diabetes is 30 times higher than it was in 1985, just before the boom began. These maladies are strongly correlated to lifestyle.

Not only our physical health, but our emotional, social and spiritual health are affected by our lifestyle. Many of us lead increasingly isolated, distracted, and stressful lives. Cars and electronic noise fill our daily routines. We find ourselves working more, thinking less, and not walking or “playing” nearly enough. This lifestyle is contributing to rising incidence of social ills like broken families and crime, and psychological/emotional maladies like depression, stress disorders, drug abuse and lack of empathy.