There is so much information fighting for our attention right now. An unprecedented global health threat. Unrest across our nation. An unstable economy. We believe that our Well Now newsletter brings a welcome respite from the barrage of serious news and offers you information that is focused on wellness and well-being. While we will continue to do that, we don’t want to gloss over the monumental change that is taking shape right now, as society rethinks and retools systems that have led to centuries of oppression for our black brothers and sisters. We want to be present right now, to pay attention to the mental, physical, and spiritual needs of our readers, but also recognize that our readers may very well want to be a part of this movement. So we will feature some of that heavy news in this month’s issue, but we will balance it by featuring with articles on insurance, and a topic that has also come to the forefront during this chapter of our new reality – local food, and why it has recently taken on new importance.

In addition to reading about the benefits of eating locally, we've also included inform ation on how COVID-19 has caused people to want to buy local food and how farmers, farmers markets, and community-supported agriculture operations have responded and grown.

As you read about eating local food, you might think about how doing so gives you a break from processed foods and how they have led to an excess of sugar in our diets and to the rising incidence of diabetes. Did you know there is a program offered by Brethren Insurance Services called Livongo that is designed to help people manage their diabetes? For those of you who do not have medical insurance through BIS, reading about Livongo might nudge you to ask your own health insurance company about programs for dealing with diabetes.

When you receive this issue of Well Now, the pandemic will still be very much a part of our world. You may also be concerned about the social unrest across this country. Your hearts may be stirred by the need to create meaningful change for our brothers and sisters who suffer from racial discrimination. As the seasons evolve from spring to summer, let us enter into the new season with a commitment to nurture change for those whose hearts cry out for equality and justice.

Though we cannot control the health of the globe, nor singlehandedly right the wrongs of racism and violence, we can take solace in the fact that each year the rains come, the flowers and crops grow, the sun shines, and the warm breezes of summer blow. May we find peace in these trying times and may the glory of this season lift our hearts.

In a recent article, “Staying Apart, Together: What we can do now to stop racism,” USA Today offered some tips for folks who are both holed up at home trying to be smart about the coronavirus, but at the same time are fired up in their hearts about the current wave of protesting that is beginning to bring about positive change in equality toward all citizens. A short list of how to help gives suggestions for things to do from the comfort of your home:

Also on the list are ideas that may (or may not) involve leaving the house –

Those of us on the sidelines can have an important voice as we live through this unprecedented chapter of history. For more ideas on how you can help, click here for “100 ways you can take action against racism.”

COVID-19 has given a boost to the already growing movement to eat locally. Consumers want to know where their food comes from, making them more likely to buy from local farms and community-supported agriculture operations (CSAs). This heightened awareness around food safety, added to the already growing desire for more nutritious food, is increasing the demand for locally grown food.

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To our great-grandparents, grandparents, or even parents (depending on how old we are), the idea of getting everything we need to eat at a supermarket, and then storing much of it at home until needed, would have been very strange. And before the 1950s it would have been impossible. Today the opposite is true, as we have become accustomed to one-stop shopping for all our produce, meat, and dairy products (and more). But until just a few months ago, the idea of searching out places to purchase only things that were raised or grown locally, or growing them in our own garden, was not compelling to most of us, even though a movement to eat locally has been flourishing.

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People in the U.S. eat too much sugar and the result is the rising incidence of diabetes. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention an estimated 30.3 million people of all ages have diabetes; that’s 9.4 percent of the U.S. population. And the percentage rises with age; of those 65 or older, 25.2 percent have diabetes. The National Center for Biotechnology Information, part of the National Institutes of Health, projects that by 2030 there will be about 55 million diabetes sufferers.

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