  We show how to construct sparse polynomial systems that have non-trivial
lower bounds on their numbers of real solutions. These are unmixed systems
associated to certain polytopes. For the order polytope of a poset P this lower
bound is the sign-imbalance of P and it holds if all maximal chains of P have
length of the same parity. This theory also gives lower bounds in the real
Schubert calculus through sagbi degeneration of the Grassmannian to a toric
variety, and thus recovers a result of Eremenko and Gabrielov.
