Hi everyone I'm Monica Reinagel, the nutrition diva here with this week's quick and dirty tips for eating well and feeling fabulous. We recently observed World Food Day. This is a global event

dedicated to increasing awareness of hunger and malnutrition and to encourage and recognize initiatives that increase food security.

If you caught any of the media coverage, you probably heard some disturbing statistics.

About a third of all the food that is grown in the world every year is

simply thrown away. That's a billion tons of food worth about a trillion dollars.

All that wasted food would be enough to end world hunger

four times over. Unfortunately, we can't just airlift our leftovers into starving

nations, but not only is all that wasted food not helping them, it's actually hurting us.

Do you have any idea what your food is really costing you?

Food production and distribution is a significant source of environmental pollution

and contributes to global warming through the use of nitrogen-based fertilizers

and carbon-based fuels. It also consumes more than 90% of the world's freshwater

supply, a commodity that's becoming frighteningly scarce.

And there are less quantifiable costs as well.

Animals that are raised for food often spend their lives in less than humane conditions, enduring suffering that many consumers

are finding it increasingly difficult to ignore or accept.

Now obviously we have to eat and there's no such thing as a free lunch but when we throw food away

we incur all of those costs but we're reaping no benefit and then just to add insult to

injury all that food sitting in our landfills creates more greenhouse gases as it decomposes.

Like the problem of hunger, food waste is a complex global issue and it's resistant to quick fixes.

But if each one of us took steps to reduce food waste in our homes and workplaces,

the positive effects would ripple through the system

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