A Gift for All this Mother’s Day
Posted May 5th, 2010 by Sarah NewmanThis Mother’s Day is an opportunity to think about the connection between our moms and the food we eat. Even though my mom never liked cooking (she prefers to boil water for coffee), she always ensured that we were eating nutritiously balanced meals every day. Our kitchen table was always inviting for every meal, with dishes beautifully laid out (even if it was just a simple salad). These practices are rapidly disappearing as we’ve become a 24/7 society of on-the-go families eating take-out and prepared foods. Not to say that moms aren’t still working tirelessly to provide their children with healthy food, however the time and budget constraints of our modern era are stacking up against middle and lower class mothers in their struggle to get nutritious food on the table. Lunch boxes have been replaced with purchased school lunches that are laden with sugary, processed, high-fat foods. Sodas and junk foods are easily available too. And, kids suffer the most from these poor eating habits.
This food landscape is dangerous for America’s children and any parent should be alarmed. The shocking reality is that one in three US kids is now either obese or overweight. It’s a serious health crisis that is actually solvable through diet and exercising. We can also make changes in schools by demanding that soda and junk foods be removed from all public schools nationwide. Imagine walking into a school and finding that all of the vending machines normally filled with candy bars, chips, soda and sweets have been replaced with baskets of fresh fruits and vegetables. Ok, so I perhaps some kids might complain but think about how much more nutritious these options are for kids. And wouldn’t you feel better knowing that they are eating a healthy, balanced meal that will help them to focus better in class, keep their energy and moods more balanced and improve their over-all health and well-being?
On this Mother’s Day, you can honor mom and your kids by helping to create healthier school environments for kids. The Social Action campaign for the Oscar-nominated documentary, Food, Inc. is working to ban soda and junk foods. Make your voice heard by signing our pledge to ban soda and junk foods in schools as part of the Child Nutrition Reauthorization bill pending in Congress. We already delivered 50,000 signatures last year, thanks to the support of Moms Rising and Center for Science in the Public Interest. We’re headed back again this spring with our goal of 250,000 names. This legislation only comes up once ever five years and Congress has unfortunately been sitting on it for a year already. We have an opportunity this year to make a significant impact to improve kid’s health by ensuring the legislation is passed and with the soda and junk food ban. This will help to changes millions of kids lives. What mom wouldn’t ask for this? I think it”s the best gift any mom could have.
9 Comments
May 11, 2010 at 1:00 am by Barbara SaundersWhile childhood (and adult) obesity is an issue, I believe the “obesity” conceptual lens distorts. Today I am reading the autobiography of Teddy Roosevelt. He expresses concern about the poverty of physical fitness in military officers of the 1910s. He orders that soldiers be put to the following test: they should be capable of riding 100 miles or walking 50 miles in three days.
When he got flack from those who would have to enforce the order, he said, “A healthy middle-aged woman should be able to do that.” (The gentleman’s way of saying, “Y’all are wusses!”) As proof of concept, he and the Surgeon General rode 100 miles in snow and ice – in ONE day.
The skinny fat are equally unhealthy as those who are visibly obese – sometimes more unhealthy. Yet the public discourse around health and fitness seems to have been hijacked by this notion that “thinness” and low body weight are sufficient and reliable indicators of physical fitness.
This obscures the serious public health dimension of the excessive mandatory hours of sedentary work and sedentary schooling imposed as a norm of American culture.
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Anita Reply:
May 11th, 2010 at 7:05 pm
@Barbara Saunders – thank you for your thoughtful response about the limits of visible factors like obesity when assessing health– a useful reminder.
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When i was in school, pop, chips, cookies, etc. were not an option. This is ridiculous! School is supposed to teach our kids not poison our kids. Pop and snacks do not belong in schools! It causes overactive minds and gives them sugar buzzes which causes them to fidget and move! Over active KIDS! Then they think your kids have ADHD! Hum-could it be the sugar?
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May 6, 2010 at 3:50 pm by Karen DavrebHeck yes! Jamie Oliver said it best – PLEASE JOIN FORCES WITH HIM ON THIS and our petitions will mean even more.
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May 5, 2010 at 11:07 pm by Lorraine Cordostart here! you can change your school
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May 5, 2010 at 9:58 pm by Aimee BaskovicI think this is absolutely right! My five-year-old asked for broccoli with her chicken nuggets at school last week. She actually likes it, luckily, and the school serves it – also lucky! But what got to me is that a teacher saw her order the broccoli and showed it to other students and teachers nearby. I was told they were pleasantly surprised (and pleased) with her choice. I wish more kids liked the healthy foods that are often served at school, but I know that starts at home.
Hooray for all mothers!
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May 5, 2010 at 9:58 pm by BobbiYES! OUR SCHOOLS FEED KIDS HIGH FAT CRAP. I do not know how to change this..they have a million excuses and reasons….and rationalize everything.
Let’s get it changed.
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May 5, 2010 at 9:49 pm by Sophi ZimmermanI’m a Montessori teacher at a Houston public school. Houston ISD serves a lot of junk and sells it in the lunch line. They sell chips and slushies despite the fact that they are supposed to be banned as non-nutritional foods.
Although they’ve tried to improve, there’s still a lot of mystery meat in tacos and burritos, meatloaf and hamburgers. Every so often they have fresh veggies and I try to get the children to eat them sometimes with great success.
Here’s my ray of hope: We’re contracting with a seed-to-plate program, Urban Harvest. When children grow food they’re more likely to eat it. It will also boost my botany program in the class. It’s win-win for my school.
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May 5, 2010 at 9:26 pm by Caroline ScottWord
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