Food Revolution
Over the past year, first lady, Michelle Obama, has focused on making the issue of childhood obesity a national priority. Fortunately the media is beginning to follow her lead. Last night, a new reality show, starring British chef, Jamie Oliver, premiered on prime time television. Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution is the result of Jamie's determined mission to address the national health crisis we are currently facing in this country.
In 2005 Jamie initiated a campaign in Britain called "Feed Me Better" which addressed the unavailability of healthy food for school children. His campaign created quite a stir, and eventually led the British government to take action, pledging millions of dollars towards improving school meals and training catering staff. His success at home inspired him to carry this same mission to the U.S., where everyday diet and lifestyle has led to a generation of youth who are the first generation predicted to live shorter lives than their parents.
This reality series took Jamie to Huntington, West Virginia, recently named the most unhealthy city in the country. Jamie says, "The time is right for people to rediscover the sense of pride, satisfaction, and fun you can get from cooking for the people you love." With his passion for change and love of cooking, Jamie's hope is to set a precedent for the rest of the country to follow, with an emphasis on eating balanced meals with fresh ingredients.
Check out this scene from the first episode of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, where Jamie asks school children to identify different whole foods.
As you can see, Jamie's task will not be easy, but he has already succeeded on some level by starting the conversation and getting mainstream media to embrace his mission. Whether he gets a positive or negative response, the controversy will hopefully get the country talking. For instance, one teacher was so intrigued by Jamie's message that she decided to start a blog called Fed Up With School Lunch: The School Lunch Project, where she writes of her experience eating school lunch every day of 2010 just as the kids do. She is hopefully just one of the many people who will begin a search for truth and demand change in not only our nation's schools but also in the workplace, in hospitals and other care facilities, and most importantly, in the home.
The way we can help is by visiting Jamie's website and signing his petition, which in the next few months he will bring to the Obama administration, asking for the government's support of this cause. And of course, as health activists, let's keep the conversation alive!
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Comment by Janeen on March 30, 2010 at 9:02am -
I saw this show and I think it was fantastic!! The lunch at my sons school is very similar to what you see on the show. Many items are frozen and re-heated. Rarely do you find any fruit or vegetables on the menu. Mostly it's empty carbs, sugar, salt and fat. Most of the moms that I speak with at the school agree that the lunch program is very unhealthy but no one knows how to fix it. The administration has been heard on more than one occasion saying "We have a wonderful lunch program here". Sure the lady that works in the kitchen is wonderful, but the food... not so much. The one thing that sticks out in my mind as being the "worst" item was called - the bird dog. It was a processed white flour hot dog bun with 3 processed, breaded chicken nuggets in it. It's usually served with chocolate milk, chips and a cookie. Now tell me, where is the nutrition in that lunch??
My younger son can't buy lunch due to his multiple food allergies, but I do let my older son buy lunch a couple of times a month. I'm trying to teach him to make better choices (like to choose fruit or a salad if it is offered over a bag of chips). But I limit the amount of times he can buy lunch because most of the time the offerings are just so unhealthy.
My favorite place to find fun and healthy lunch ideas is here. Ethan's mom documented some of the fun and healthy lunches she packed him on Flickr.
The one major point that we as parents need to remember though, is that healthy eating starts at home. If you don't feed your kids healthy food on a regular basis, they certainly aren't going to eat it if it's served at school. It will go right into the trash bin. We need a revolution that causes ALL US to eat healthy, at home, at work, at school, etc.
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