The youngest of the four children of Jael Noemí Ramos, 27, was diagnosed as "overweight."
The boy, two, had to go on a diet by doctor's prescription.
He “explained to me that he should vary the food and give him meat.
But he doesn't give me.
My children do not eat meat or chicken.
He told me to eat one or two pieces of fruit a day and that, if he ate oatmeal for breakfast, he shouldn't have bread for lunch,” says the mother.
She is also overweight and, although she assures that she tries to comply with the guideline for a healthy diet, she admits that she has difficulties not to end up consuming "junk" food, as they call in Chile ultra-processed foods, with excess sugar, fat and salt.
For this Peruvian who has lived in the Andean country for almost five years, the supermarket "is a luxury," she says.
“Normally I go to the fair and look for the cheapest.
Sometimes I can buy fish;
canned horse mackerel, for example.
But it is very expensive.
I make the soups with noodles and vegetables, chicken is expensive to add flavor, so I use the cheaper bouillon cubes”.
Every week, the Fundación Hogar Niño Jesús gives Ramos a basket of vegetables and fruit donated by Don Jaime, a local farmer.
Courgettes, onions, oranges, carrots, potatoes... Whatever comes from the land, that is in good condition, but does not meet the standards for sale to the public.
“The foundation is very supportive.
There is food that is wasted and it is a good help for those of us who need it”, thanks the mother.
Her situation is one of extreme vulnerability, but her case is not uncommon.
In fact, overweight and obesity are epidemic in Chile, where 75% of its population is overweight (40.2), obese (31.4) or morbidly obese (3.4), according to the latest national health survey , from 2016-2017.
Since then, the situation may have gotten worse if the upward trend observed in comparison with previous editions is taken into account.
The study of the nutritional status among schoolchildren of the National Board of School Aid and Scholarships (Junaeb), which has the most recent data from 2020, does not show results for hope either: 54.1% of children suffer from malnutrition due to excess, five points more than in 2015 and almost 12 above the results of 2009.
“Chile is a laboratory for what is going to happen worldwide.
The country had the most efficient policies on the planet in the second half of the 20th century to deal with infectious and contagious diseases.
So we move on to a development model that is a product of the consumption model.
The result is that the human being faces the biggest pandemic, which is not covid, we are wrong.
Obesity kills 41 million people a year, while the coronavirus will kill five or six million, which is unfortunate, but one wonders why obesity does not have the same relevance, ”reflects Guido Girardi, the Chilean senator who is the architect of the food labeling law, passed in 2016 to curb junk food.
An entire business infrastructure has been generated to make human beings obese
Guido Girardi, Chilean senator
The reason, indicates the forceful politician, "is that it is a big business."
And he adds: “The medicines to face obesity, are not to treat it, but they are palliative;
because instead of going to the causes, instead of building friendly cities, promoting a culture of physical activity and healthy eating, an entire business infrastructure has been generated to make human beings obese”.
"Obesity kills more than 100,000 people every day and 15 million young people who should not die," says Girardi.
The World Health Organization (WHO) does not venture data on mortality due to excess malnutrition, but it does warn of the relationship with potentially fatal diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and others.
According to its most recent publication, in 2016 around 13% of the world's adult population (11% of men and 15% of women) were obese.
Chile far exceeds the figure and is at the forefront of this public health problem, along with the United States and Mexico.
Junaeb's analysis is that Chile is in a "nutritional post-transition stage", that is, families put aside homemade food and begin to opt for fast food and ultra-processed foods "in a westernization of their diet".
Thus, 16.2% of beneficiaries of the School Feeding Program stated in a 2019 study that they did not consume fruit and 45.6% said they opted for liquids other than water to quench their thirst.
This, despite the prohibition of marketing or dispensing products with the black hexagonal seal that indicates their high level of salt, fat or sugar.
A pioneering labeling model to guarantee "the right to information" to citizens about what they put in their mouths: "poison", in the words of Girardi.
In addition to Chile's labeling system, which, among other issues, implies that products with a seal cannot contain gifts or attract the attention of children with drawings, the country has adopted other measures in recent years to stop this pandemic.
In 2008, it implemented the Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Program for the Prevention of Chronic Diseases in Children, Adolescents and Adults (PASAF), which in 2013 was updated in the Choose Healthy Living System.
Public awareness campaigns have also been numerous.
Civil society has also been involved in the struggle with proposals for an article that recognizes the right to food in the new Constitution, from the academic field, to nutritional training in soup kitchens by professional volunteers.
With all that is lost, it would eat an entire country.
40% of what is produced in Chile is wasted
For his part, Don Jaime contributes with what he has: healthy food for the beneficiaries of the Fundación Hogar Niño Jesús, which distributes baskets to more than 2,500 families in vulnerable situations.
“With everything that is lost, it would eat an entire country.
40% of what is produced in Chile is wasted,” says the farmer.
“His generosity has helped many people,” says Julia Lespinasse Tapia, 50, the director of the foundation, whom everyone calls Yuri.
"We used to give older people cola drinks or chips, but you cause them a health problem like hypertension," she reasons.
“Now we try to give them healthy food that does not cause illness.
There are eight-year-old girls with high cholesterol because they eat everything with ketchup and mayonnaise”, she comments in the courtyard of the organization's headquarters,
Yuri knows all this thanks to the fact that he has received training that students of the nutrition degree at the Catholic University of Chile teach in organizations through Alimentando a Cristo, another entity that collaborates in a network with foundations and soup kitchens to multiply its impact.
“We are contacting each other to make collaborative alliances, it is not competition.
As long as 40% of the food continues to be voted, it is that many hands are missing so that it is not so.
We must pass a law that prohibits their being wasted,” asks Juan Francisco Errázuriz Rivas, president and co-founder in 2015 of Alimentando a Cristo.
"I worked in a mushroom company and I know the problem well," he explains.
And he adds: “The measures are insufficient.
Education in schools and families is a must.
According to Daniel Egaña, an academic from the Department of Primary Care and Family Health at the University of Chile, one of the problems in terms of education is that many people find it difficult to understand that poor nutrition causes obesity.
“At the beginning of the pandemic, there were protests in some impoverished sectors of Santiago de Chile.
The demonstrators were overweight and it was ironic about it;
Why were they protesting because of hunger… ”, he recalls.
"Obesity is poverty: they have money for food, but not for healthy eating," he clarifies.
“People eat, they stay alive, but they don't eat well and they are obese.
They are malnourished,” he insists.
Egaña also believes, like Errázuriz, that certain measures are insufficient.
He thinks about labeling: "If what the labels say is that these products have something toxic: let's ban them."
In addition, he has the impression that, over time, the visual warnings on the packaging “fade out”.
However, he values positively that, at least, there is this warning tool for consumers.
And he requests that, in the same way that stamped food cannot be dispensed in schools, it cannot be dispensed in universities and public spaces either.
"And that the percentage of foods with a seal that can be marketed in a supermarket be limited, for example, to 20%", he goes further.
Lack of access to food is not just availability
One of the volunteers of the community pot, to distribute lunches among people in vulnerable situations, in the Neighborhood Council of Nogales, a neighborhood of the Estación Central commune, northeast of Santiago de Chile.
These types of popular soup kitchens have multiplied since the pandemic due to the increased demand for help. Cristian Soto Quiroz
Franco Giménez, 76, considers the food he receives in the parish of the commune of La Pintana, south of Santiago de Chile, as "banquet made with love." Cristian Soto Quiroz
Juan Francisco Errázuriz Rivas, president and co-founder in 2015 of Alimentando a Cristo, worked in a mushroom company and knows the problem of food waste well.
For this reason, he helps to collect vegetables that would not be sold in the market, but he distributes them among the vulnerable population with difficult access to healthy food. Cristian Soto Quiroz
María Padilla says she is 65, but she looks older.
"Sometimes my bones hurt, but I'm fine," she says.
She comes with her empty pot, which she takes from a popular pot, with the meal of the day: lentils.
Her income, 100,000 pesos of pension plus an extra that she gets cleaning houses, is not enough to eat healthy without help.
“I hope the pot doesn't run out.
I would be left without lunch.” Cristian Soto Quiroz
Another group that goes to soup kitchens is that of immigrants.
In the opinion of Father Fernando Tapia Miranda, from the commune of La Pintana, "there is a lot of xenophobia and many lies are told that people believe." This discrimination means that many are forced to end up in the common pot of the parish begging for food. "I hope for a more humanitarian policy; no one leaves their country for pleasure." Cristian Soto Quiroz
In the Neighborhood Council of Nogales, a neighborhood in the Estación Central commune, northeast of the capital, they distribute between 100 and 150 portions of food every day, three days a week.
“There are two realities.
Politicians talk about healthy foods, but the truth is that the population does not have enough for these foods.
Cook and eat what you can.
That is the issue”, says Hernán Olivi Inostrosa, coordinator of the place. Cristian Soto Quiroz
Don Jaime is a farmer and donates to the Hogar Niño Jesús Foundation the fruits and vegetables that are suitable for consumption, but not for sale in supermarkets.
“With everything that is lost, it would eat an entire country.
40% of what is produced in Chile is wasted”, he assures. Cristian Soto Quiroz
The Hogar Niño Jesús Foundation distributes fruit and vegetable baskets to more than 2,500 families in vulnerable situations.
Julia Lespinasse Tapia, 50, director of the foundation, acknowledges that, before, older people were given cola or chips.
"But you generate a health problem such as hypertension." Cristian Soto Quiroz
Overweight and obesity are epidemic in Chile, where 75% of its population is overweight (40.2), obese (31.4) or morbidly obese (3.4), according to the latest national health survey, from 2016 -2017.Cristian Soto Quiroz
Julia Lespinasse Tapia knows that a balanced diet is very important for the health of the beneficiaries of her foundation thanks to her training at the Catholic University of Chile.
“Now we try to give them healthy food that does not cause illness.
There are eight-year-old girls with high cholesterol because they eat everything with ketchup and mayonnaise,” says Cristian Soto Quiroz.
Julia Valenzuela (on the left) cannot read or write and has earned a living cleaning houses.
But she is too old to continue.
How old is she?
She doesn't know for sure.
“It puts it on my card.
I am a great-grandmother”, she reveals.
She is a widow, with two children hooked on drugs and the grandchildren in her care, she has no choice but to go to the Nogales Neighborhood Council to eat. Cristian Soto Quiroz
The pension of the elderly who attend the pot of the Nogales Neighborhood Board ranges between 70,000 or 150,000 pesos (76 and 163 euros).
That is why, after the outbreak of help seekers during the pandemic, it is the elderly who are still queuing at their door with their empty pots three days a week. Cristian Soto Quiroz
"People eat every day, but they give older adults two bags of soup a month, it's not enough for the whole month. Why don't they deliver a package with healthy food? People eat every day," Hernán asks. Olivi Inostrosa, the coordinator of the Nogales Neighborhood Association. Cristian Soto Quiroz
"Nutritionists have come here to have a balanced diet because there is concern," says Father Fernando Tapia Miranda, who supports the volunteers who prepare meals in the archbishop's building in the La Pintana neighborhood.
In his opinion, there is a problem with education: “Poor people eat more than they should.
And wrong”. Cristian Soto Quiroz
According to the academic from the Department of Primary Care and Family Health of the University of Chile, Daniel Egaña, "people know what eating healthy is, but they can't afford it." And he says: "Women are clear about what is the problem.
But there can be no change in food if the country is not more balanced in terms of salary." Cristian Soto Quiroz
The youngest son of Jael Noemí Ramos, 27, was diagnosed with "overweight".
The boy had to go on a diet by doctor's prescription.
“He explained to me that he should vary the food and give him meat.
But he doesn't give me.
My children do not eat meat or chicken.
He told me to eat one or two fruits a day and that, if he ate oatmeal for breakfast, he shouldn't have bread for lunch, ”says the mother. Cristian Soto Quiroz
Every week, the Fundación Hogar Niño Jesús gives Ramos a basket of vegetables and fruit donated by Don Jaime, a local farmer.
Thanks to his generosity, he has access to healthy foods that he would otherwise not be able to afford. Cristian Soto Quiroz
Despite these arguments, the expert insists that the root of the problem lies in access to healthy food.
“People know what healthy eating is, but they can't afford it.
Women are clear about what the problem is,” he says.
“There cannot be a change in food if the country is not more balanced in terms of salary.
That would mean doubling it.
If there is a 30% that does not have enough for a balanced diet, it does not matter if you put a vegetable in your house.
It is palliative, but it does not solve the problem”, he points out.
Therefore, he underlines the importance of making this issue visible.
He says so because he believes that the right to food "is little in the social debate", although "it has resurfaced with the common pots".
In one of those pots, they confirm their theses.
Five years ago, in the archbishopric building of the commune of La Pintana, south of Santiago de Chile, a group linked to the church, led by the parish priest, Father Fernando Tapia Miranda, organized to cook large quantities of lunches, which They take them to other popular soup kitchens, in addition to distributing them there.
“We do 200 meals a day three times a week.
What people do is stretch out those rations for the whole week,” laments Graciela Pérez Chamorro, one of the promoters of the initiative.
"This is the reality, there are still poor people and they search for it to get ahead."
She herself knows what it is to have a bad time.
“I slept on the floor, there was no light… But I did not lack food.
They gave me a sewing course and I became court chief”.
"Nutritionists have come here to have a balanced diet because there is concern," says the father.
In his opinion, there is a problem with education: “Poor people eat more than they should.
And bad".
He trusts that the new government of Gabriel Boric, "with more social sense", will address this issue.
"At least, in schools they no longer give cookies, but a piece of fruit," celebrates the priest.
"There will always be people on the street," reflects Tapia, "but if there are State policies such as a more decent salary, more employment, better pensions... The situation will be different."
The "hot potato," he says, are the immigrants.
"There is a lot of xenophobia and many lies that people believe."
This discrimination means that many are forced to end up at their window asking for food.
“I hope for a more humanitarian policy;
no one leaves their country for pleasure”,
There will always be people on the street, but if there are State policies such as a more decent salary, more employment, better pensions... The situation will be different
Fernando Tapia Miranda, parish priest in the La Pintana neighborhood
In another pot in the Neighborhood Council of Nogales, a neighborhood in the Estación Central commune, northeast of the capital, the coordinator Hernán Olivi Inostrosa makes a similar diagnosis: “There are two realities.
Politicians talk about healthy foods, but the truth is that the population does not have enough for these foods.
Cook and eat what you can.
That's the thing."
Junk food, he clarifies, is not that of the big hamburger and fried chicken chains.
“We have it on the street, in stalls.
The cost of living is rising too much: a lettuce for 1,000 pesos (1.10 euros) is very expensive”.
The pension of the elderly who come to its dining room ranges between 70,000 or 150,000 pesos (76 and 163 euros), for this reason, after the outbreak of help seekers during the pandemic,
it is the elderly who are still queuing at his door with their empty pots three days a week.
They are the other side of the same coin of the right to food in Chile.
María Padilla is one of those older people.
She says she's 65, but she looks older.
"Sometimes my bones hurt, but I'm fine," she says.
She comes with her empty pot, which she will take with the meal of the day: lentils.
Her income: 100,000 pesos pension plus an extra that she gets cleaning houses.
And because of her ailments, it's not an activity she can do on a regular basis.
"I never thought this would happen, but it did and I needed help," she shrugs.
“I hope the pot doesn't run out.
I would be without lunch.”
Behind her, waiting for her turn, is Julia Valenzuela.
She does not know how to read or write and she has earned her living cleaning houses.
But she is too old to continue.
How old is she?
She doesn't know for sure.
“It puts it on my card.
I am a great-grandmother”, she reveals.
She is a widow, with two children hooked on drugs and the grandchildren in her care,
Ucamau is the organization that cooks here on Tuesdays.
Doris España, a volunteer for the collective, says as she serves the lentils: “In Chile there are many poor people, even if they have a house.
Especially the elderly.
They are very lonely."
Asked if she is worried about maintaining and offering a healthy diet, she says bluntly: “Overweight people are referred to a nutritionist, but it is not enough for them to buy fresh cheese or white fish.
It is very expensive".
She, who survives by informally selling second-hand clothes that are given to her, does not look at the labels on the packages.
"I just eat."
Marjorie Aguilera, next to her, agrees: “To diet, you have to have money.
Healthy food is very expensive.
We eat a lot of bread.”
In addition, "if you earn very little in this country, you prefer to eat than go to the doctor."
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