Food Habits
True Gold, (Sold)
If you were a bird you would probably not having anyone telling you that you are overeating. A medium sized bird like a Cooper’s Hawk eats 12 percent of its body weight. In human terms, a 150 pound person would eat18 pounds a day or about six extra-large pizzas. It gets even better if you are a little chickadee for then you could eat 35 percent of your weight or 600 granola bars each day. How lucky!
Food Habits
Yumm! I love ice cream sundaes, smothered in hot fudge, topped with walnuts, whipped cream and a red cherry on top. I also adore Eggs Florentine, with lots of hollandaise sauce. Thankfully, I don’t indulge very often, for I know that what I like is not always good for me. Eating well is a trade off that keeps me from getting diabetes, hypertension or clogged arteries. When I do crave sweets and creamed sauces, I do take a bite, never denying myself completely. The rest of the time it is fruit and veggies of all types. Did I neglect to say that I like beet salad as well as any sweet? I am addicted to the feta cheese mixed in.
As a child growing up in Philadelphia, I was happy when grandma took me to Horn and Hardart’s for lunch. In those days, you put a quarter in a slot next to a cubby hole covered with a glass door displaying an enticing selection of food. Everything was made fresh by chefs who worked on the other side of the wall refilling the empty cubbies. It was fun running from widow to window to find the best looking dishes. Vegetables were my food of choice with a fresh fruit cup for desert. My mouth salivates at the memory.
It seems strange that last week healthy food suddenly became a political issue. How could that happen? One of the best things Michelle Obama did was make the nation aware that we are raising a country of fat kids. Childhood obesity has tripled since the 1970s with one in five school-aged children affected.
According the the Centers for Disease control there are many reasons for obesity including:
genetics
metabolism—how the body changes food and oxygen into usable energy
eating and physical activity
environmental factors
Social and individual psychology
The most prominent reason, however, is due to consuming more energy from foods and beverages than the body needs to function well. The ramifications for obese children of indulging in a poor diet are many. They miss more days of school compared to those with a normal weight, are often bullied, and find it more difficult to perform academically. And, since they carry extra pounds, it is difficult to for them engage in the second most import weight reducing activity—exercise.
Scientists—yes, that recently malighned breed—studied the results of the reformed school meal program and found it to be effective in stemming obesity. . With 31 million students enrolled in this federally assisted meal program, it is easy to document if healthy choices have had a positive effect. There has been a noticeable reduction in obesity in elementary and middle schools over the past several years. There still is a way to go with teens who grew up with the old system.
Why change a program that appears to be working? Is the goal to have more children visiting health care providers because of acquiring a preventable disease? As of last week’s executive order, schools can increase the salt they put in their meals and they are not required to serve whole grain options. In other words, schools can return to serving flour, water, and salt, a formula used for making paste. Thankfully, the rule remains for students to take fruits and vegetables, though some want to get rid of that as well.
Since it is not easy to take off weight, wouldn’t it be smarter to start children on the right path so they will not have to struggle to take pounds off as they age? Certainly, kids like salt and chocolate and sugary carbonated drinks, but so what? Adults are supposed to be the educators who set the standards. I say, nonsense to the argument about children not making good choices. If they are hungry they will select food from the options before them. If they are filling up on junk food at home, then they must be getting money from somewhere to purchase it. Why pay for them to be part of the school meal program if they eat bad food that ruins their appetite? Look friends, the U.S. obesity epidemic is worse than ever. 38 percent of adults are obese as are 17 percent of teenagers.
Yes, socioeconomic factors are involved, for those with lower income and education are disproportionately more likely to be obese. Some communities have limited access to supermarkets so frozen meals, crackers , chips and cookies are foods of choice. It would be good to do something about having healthier choices in small markets as well, but since we can not tackle everything at once, lets continue with something we can do— provide children nutritious choices in school.
You, who follow my blog, most likely are healthy souls so I risk preaching to the converted. But, all of us should be concerned about the rest of our nation’s children. We have been feeding poor students since 1946,so why not do unto others as you would do unto your own family? Turning healthy nutritional options in school lunch programs into a political issue is a disgrace! Don’t let this happen in your community.
References:
Bird Note, 2017, How Much Do Birds Eat? http://birdnote.org/show/how-much-do-birds-eat
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Childhood Obesity Facts, https://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/obesity/facts.htm
National School Lunch Program,https://www.fns.usda.gov/sites/default/files/NSLPFactSheet.pdf
Jalonick, Mary Clare, Associated Press, 2017, Government relaxes nutrition standards for school lunches, http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/government-relaxes-nutrition-standards-school-lunches/
Mayo Clinic Staff, Childhood obesity, 2017, http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/childhood-obesity/symptoms-causes/dxc-20268891