School lunch or sack lunch... What's worse?

Well, I’m not sure where to go at the moment in my quest for healthy lunches.

There were so many points in the Jamie Oliver Food Revolution that we can take to our own schools. The food vendors that supply our school food service providers certainly need to be accountable and make the most healthful foods available at reasonable cost for our children. The food service providers need to make a commitment to serving fresh, less processed meals.

BUT, one major point from the show, which I have personally witnessed as well as many others, is the food brought from home. This picture is of sack lunches brought by three students on a recent field trip. The red water bottle had some kind of flavored water in it (The student “Can’t drink plain water”), at least 8 bags of chips or cookies……. I think there was a smashed PBJ that got tossed. Should I continue?

I wonder what they had for breakfast, if they had anything at all?

In school, students are a captive audience, where messages may be taught or caught. Maybe there needs to be an effort by schools to encourage the students to bring healthy lunches that will in turn encourage students to pressure parents or guardians to provide more healthful foods.

Obviously, we can make efforts within each of our own family, which is great, but also as obvious is the need for many many others to jump on board. From what I can tell in recent months, there seems to be an honest (granted slow) effort by food service providers to improve the quality of foods available. Hurray!

What are you doing to ensure healthful school meals for your children? Is your school doing anything to encourage healthful sack lunches? I would love to read and share your comments. Please sign up as a follower and also share this with others who are concerned for our children’s nutrition.

The other dilemma is that summer break is fast approaching. We'll need to be sure to keep our own momentum going and continue into next school year.  My plan for this blog over the summer is to discuss some creative lunch ideas for each food group that we may be able to share with our friends and schools when the next school year starts.

Here’s to a rainbow plate of fresh foods! Lauri

OMG! When will we get it?

Sorry for the text lingo and somewhat sarcastic title.  But seriously, how many times and from how many sources do we (our collective society) need to hear the message that things need to change and improve in our schools - academically, nutritionally, in terms of discipline measures...  I could go on, but I think you can continue your own list.

I'm going to pass on ANY political commentary, and ask that any reader do the same.  The bottom line is that if  "75% of young Americans are ineligible to serve their country because they have either failed to graduate high school, engaged in criminal activity, or are physically or mentally unfit.1" (quote from Mission: Readiness http://www.missionreadiness.org/), not only are these young people not able to serve in the military, how well can they serve our country in business, health care, civil service, not to mention educating the next generation!

I do agree that our education system desperately needs to improve the nutritional value of foods served and made available during the school day, and that we must find a way to include daily physical activity.  We also need to make sure parents, guardians and caregivers are equipped with the skills and knowledge to teach and reinforce healthy lifestyle skills!

Once again, let's be sure that we are setting the best examples that we can for our communities.  Eat fresh, be active, encourage others.....   Hey, it's TV Turnoff week too, how's that going?

Maybe news like Mission Readiness will be the tipping point for positive change.  Thanks to the recommendation from my sister, I'm about finished reading "The Tipping Point".  I'll share more on that, after finals week!

Here's to Health!

TV Turn Off Week

Here is a quick idea for things to do next week instead of watching TV!  Happy bonding with the family!

A snowballs chance in...? YES!!

http://healthyschoolscampaign.typepad.com/healthy_schools_campaign/2010/04/an-open-letter-to-jamie-oliver-.html

This link to an open letter to Jamie Oliver from the Healthy Schools Campaign is a great example of what to do next in the efforts to improve school meals, and increase awareness of the critical issue of childhood obesity.  If you read my last post about being a snowflake, you'll understand the title of this... A snowballs chance in...!  Please comment to the open letter, my blog and make some efforts on your own.

This was my comment to the open letter:

Thank you Mark Bishop for putting into words what many parents have most likely been thinking since the Jamie Oliver series started! What do we do now? Not only do we need to continually contact our government officials, we must set examples at home. Are we? Are we preparing fresh, non-processed meals for our families and providing healthful snacks? If school lunches aren't meeting YOUR standards, pack a healthy lunch and explain why to the stakeholders. If revenues start to change, someone will notice in a hurry. It’s field trip season, let’s be sure we continue practicing healthy eating while our students are traveling this spring too. Thank you again Mark and HSC for what you do!

Be a Snowflake/ Be Socially Responsible

I hate to admit it, but I’m tired. I spent a lot of time this weekend working on a case study for my nutrition class on the EPIDEMIOLOGY OF OBESITY. Sorry for shouting at you, but DID you know that the obesity issue is being called an epidemic? It is. I’m feeling tired, because suddenly, the efforts of so many nationwide, and my own small attempts here in my small central Illinois town, don’t feel like they’re even making a dent in the issue. Don’t get me wrong, the fact that Jamie Oliver has a series on prime time television on Friday nights to start his food revolution is great. The fact that Mrs. Obama has become a champion for the issue of childhood obesity through her White House program, Let’s Move! is great. And, Ron Clark, the teacher who overcame great obstacles, became a Disney teacher of the year and now has a successful private academy, that’s great too.


But, come Monday morning, we are still here in our little town, feeling excited about the “cause” but also feeling very frustrated that there is great resistance to these efforts and we may be seeing little if any progress in our own town.

I want to share a story that one of my high school coaches told me, while we were playing golf a few summers ago. She said she used this analogy to motivate her athletes to work as a team. Imagine watching one single snowflake land on the windshield of your car that has the heater on. What happens? It melts quite quickly. Now imagine thousands or millions of snowflakes landing together. Could your car’s defrost melt them quickly? Doubtful. What happens when thousands or millions of snowflakes land together in a snowstorm or blizzard? Towns and schools are shut down and airline flights are delayed, just to mention a few things. Lots of snowflakes together are powerful.

Now imagine that you are a snowflake that is in a group of many other snowflakes wanting to make a positive change in your community. Get the idea? We need to work together as a team (snowball) to make positive changes in our communities. I’m not asking for new causes, just the usual ones:

• Buy, eat and serve healthful foods at home and school
• Schedules that include regular daily physical activity
• Leaders to embrace these efforts with an attitude of “it’s important, so let’s keep an open mind and find a way to make positive change.” Not, “it’s too hard, too much red tape, not enough money……”

This is getting long, so in my next several posts, I will address the three categories I’ve listed above individually. I’m pretty fired up about some situations that are happening right now and some resistance I’m encountering, so I will probably have several posts over the next week.

Will you be a snowflake with me? Here’s how you can join me.

1. Sign up to “follow” my blog.
2. Share my blog with others you know who are passionate about improving the eating habits and physical activity habits of yourself, your family and/or your community.
3. Finally, take a good look at your own efforts. Are you sending the right messages to your family and schools?

Thank you for letting me rant today and not closing this yet! Also, thank you for letting me talk about snowstorms after we have had such a beautiful spring weekend.

Our Blog : 03/24/10 - Jamie Oliver: The Revolution Will Be Televised : Slow Food USA

Our Blog : 03/24/10 - Jamie Oliver: The Revolution Will Be Televised : Slow Food USA


Here's another example of efforts to improve food in schools! Maybe we can all find at least a few tips to apply to our families or suggest to our schools. I've got the DVR set to record the program - hope you will watch to!

Rainbows and St. Patrick's Day

My daughter recently asked me if my favorite colors were green and orange. My first thought was that I look awful in those colors, but when I asked her why she picked those colors, she said that orange and green are colors of lots of fruits and vegetables and I remind her to have different colors of food on her plate and in her lunch. Wow! Has she really been listening? This conversation reminded me of a very simple way to make sure one is getting a nice variety of nutrients in a meal. Make your plate look like a rainbow! While this technique won't give your the statistics like % daily value of nutrients or calories, you can feel comfortable knowing that a rainbow plate has several food groups represented and you probably have a good balance of nutrients. For example: Lycopene can be found in red foods like tomatoes or watermelon. Beta-carotene can be found in orange foods like carrots and oranges. Antioxidants are in many colors of berries (blueberries, strawberries..) Green? Broccoli, bok choy, kiwi.... contain vitamin C and fiber. These are just a few examples, and by no means a complete list. Do you get the idea? If the plates on your dinner table(or in lunch boxes) look like a rainbow, maybe the pot of gold at the end will be your good health! So, I guess I do like orange and green -- just as long as these colors are on my plate! In the spirit of St. Patrick's Day, when "we are all a little bit Irish", I challenge you to make a rainbow as part of your next meal and may your find a healthy pot of gold for you and your family! Lauri (aka Leprechaun!) P.S. http://www.mypyramid.gov/ is a great resource for finding colorful food ideas!

Take your family for a walk!

Spring is in the air in central Illinois! On our college campus, people are out in full force running, walking, playing games or just hanging out. It seems like this is the time of year that we all look for some reason to get out, enjoy the sun and get a little pep in our step. This is also the season for standardized tests for elementary schools, mid-terms for colleges and just cabin fever for many. Now is a great time to start a new family tradition, or renew one if it's been a while. Go for a family walk after dinner, or whenever you can! It doesn't have to be long, even 10-15 minutes is a good start, just MOVE! Doing this together could be a time to catch up on each other's day or just "decompress" and have some quality time away from our hectic schedules. Walking is a great activity that just about anyone can do. Take advantage of the changing weather and you and your family could have a wonderful habit established for summer!

Health, It Happens Everyday!

It doesn't really work to say, "From 11-12:30 on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I'll pay attention to my health." It happens everyday (and all the time). You will find a collection of my thoughts, inspirations, ah ha's and oh-by-the way's that I have found helpful in my personal and/or professional life, as well as related research.