In the United States, 69 percent of the population is overweight or obese. The statistic worldwide is much more different, where one in eight children suffer from malnutrition. How can the obesity epidemic help malnourishment and hunger around the globe? That’s where Catherine Jones and Elaine Trujillo, MS, RDN have teamed up with Stop Hunger Now to create the Share Your Calories app. Catherine is an award winning author of three nutrition-cookbooks and Elaine is a national leader in nutrition. Catherine and Elaine co-founded Share Your Calories, with a mission to create nutrition-based apps. The app is designed to help people lose weight while simultaneously helping to end hunger by donating meals during disasters, such as the recent tragedy in the Philippines. Stop Hunger Now has been committed to hunger relief for over 15 years now and distributes food worldwide to children and families. The essential mission of Share Your Calories is to create a calorie balance worldwide.
The app works by keeping track of your daily activities and food intake, which holds you accountable for your weight loss goal. In return, Share Your Calories has what is called a calorie bank. When you consume fewer calories, there is an option to add the converted calories into monies. One Stop Hunger Now high-protein dehydrated meal is equal to 250 calories and one meal is 25 cents. Once your calorie bank reaches 12 dollars or more, there is an option to donate to Stop Hunger Now. Twelve dollars in a consumer’s calorie bank equals 48 freeze-dried meals. The financial contributions of Share Your Calories will go towards Stop Hunger Now’s meal packaging events, which will enable the organization to work with smaller groups such as universities and schools.
The initial idea of the app was inspired to help those wishing to attain weight loss a “social giving component.” Essentially, losing weight can be a difficult battle and when there is another goal in mind such as giving to those in need, there’s a built in feel-good factor. Share Your Calories is a win-win opportunity for hunger and obesity. The app enables those hoping to lose weight and keep themselves held accountable to also succeed at supporting hunger around the globe. And just as Stop Hunger Now’s mission is to make a global commitment to providing food and life-saving aid to those in need, you can now too by the click of your phone.
