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Food!

Front-of-Package Labels that Market Children’s Food Products Hide Truth

January 21, 2011
When I go grocery shopping with my year-old daughter Mirabel, it’s clear that what she lacks in life experience she makes up for with a keen sense of which products were designed just for her. The cereal boxes clad in cartoon characters and soup cans outfitted with Disney princesses already attract...
Juliet Sims's picture

No Cookies 2 my Kid. Community Prevention 4evR

December 1, 2010
If Sarah Palin had shown up at the door of my son’s kindergarten class with fresh baked cookies, he would have been at the front of the line. And I wouldn’t have been able to do a thing about it. Like most parents, I work full time, and I depend on my school—and its food policies—to protect my son’s health when I’m not around.

Food Safety Act Passes!

November 30, 2010
Everyday, children from Nevada just like my friend Rylee Gustufson, a bright teenager from Henderson, eat lettuce, spinach, or eggs. They eat these foods at home and at school. We tell them that vegetables are good for them and will make them strong. But a raw spinach salad made Rylee so sick she...

Speak Up NOW! - Less Than 24 Hours Left to Pass Food Safety Bill

November 30, 2010
A year in which Americans have seen a number of contaminated food recalls can close out on a high note if the U.S. Senate passes landmark food-safety legislation tonight . As it stands, the nation’s food-safety system is broken. The legislation, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (S. 510), would...
Leigh Ann Winnard's picture

Get the FACTS on Fast Food

November 8, 2010
Today, the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity at Yale University released Fast Food FACTS , a comprehensive study of fast-food nutrition and marketing to youths. There are a couple of findings that are particularly striking to me—as a mom, as a doctor and as someone who’s working to improve...

Parents Need to Eat Too: Whaddya Got Fried Rice

October 27, 2010
I’m a big believer in authenticity. My husband and I (and now our son) will trek far and wide for a real taste of a particular kind of food, from New Jersey (and Connecticut) hot dogs to New England donuts to the fresh mozzarella made by the 90something Italian lady around the corner. But frankly,...
Debbie Koenig's picture

Galacta-what?

October 20, 2010
Recently I was testing recipes for the galactagogues chapter of Parents Need to Eat Too . I see you scratching your head—either you were never a nursing mom with supply problems, or you’ve blissfully erased that episode from your memory. A galactagogue is something that stimulates or promotes the...
Debbie Koenig's picture

Today’s Lesson: Always Read Nutrition Facts

September 30, 2010
Sometimes, even a healthy food isn’t so healthy. Take, for example, the package of bison hot dogs I received recently for review . Bison, I know, is an incredibly healthy meat, especially when compared to beef: it’s lower in calories, fat, and cholesterol. So surely hot dogs made from bison would...
Debbie Koenig's picture

Here's our chance to make school lunches awesome (not awful)

September 28, 2010
We’ve been talking about about the sad state of school lunches for years. But now we finally have a chance to start making school lunches more nutritious and more accessible. The U.S. Senate recently passed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which is an update of the Child Nutrition Act. Now, to...
Sarah Francis's picture

Blueberry Oatmeal Bars

September 22, 2010
When my son was born, one of the more appropriate gifts we received was C Is for Cooking , a Sesame Street cookbook intended for parents and children to use together. Way back then, it seemed impossible to imagine that this tiny infant would ever be big enough to eat real food, never mind cook ...
Debbie Koenig's picture

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