Better School Food - Every child, lunch box or lunch tray, deserves it

My brain is busy trying to keep up with the state of the union of food in schools in our country. My brain hurts.  My heart is heavy.  I am livid.  I am distraught.  I am worn out.  I've been numb for two days.  Good thing emotions are temporary, and I'll have my sea legs back before too long.

It is hard for me to understand how our great nation could harm human health with food additives, genetically modified foods, and government sponsored nutrition education that is based on profits versus nourishment.  Many people don't know where their food comes from, because it is so unfathomable that food would be anything but nourishing.  Sure we know desserts and fried foods aren't healthy, but food?  You wouldn't expect food like your ground beef or your whole grain breakfast cereal to be health damaging.

It just doesn't make sense. How did we end up here where we soak meat in ammonia and make brown food browner with food dyes?  What are the consequences?  Is it too late for us to clean up the food supply and get healthy?  Are food industry practices contributing to the decline in health of our children in the past 2 decades?

Unless your food came from a farm, you better double check what's in it, where it came from, what it ate or where it grew, and how it was transformed from a plant/animal to something boxed or shrink-wrapped before it ended up on your plate. Then decide whether or not it's fit for human consumption. 

Here's where I'm at today, two days following the season premier of Jamie Oliver's 2nd season of  Food Revolution.  Here's where I'm at more than one year into my efforts at my local elementary and district to get kids better food at school.

If you feed kids, its on YOU   
No one, parents, school staff or government staff has the right to trash a child's health or intelligence by feeding them factory food as a rule. Children shouldn't eat food made in a factory for every breakfast, snack, lunch and dinner.  Children rely on adults to get their nourishment. Every adult, whether they are school staff, govt member, parent or someone who feeds kids on occasion, should be educated about the truth of what's in that factory food and how it can damage a child's health and brain.  

Big Kids Big Brains?
I'm not talking about oversized kids here. I'm talking about kids whose brains can't learn and stay focused long enough to accomplish a task. Those kids will eventually be employees and parents.  Imagine trying to keep a toddler safe when you can stay focused long enough to finish a task.  

I'm talking about kids who have allergies, asthma, ADHD and GI disorders like GERD, IBS, constipation.  Those condition aren't normal.  Your child should not be suffering from any of those conditions.  If you don't fix the food they eat, they will most certainly suffer from those conditions long term, and possibly much worse as they get older.  Is that OK with you?  That is not OK with me.  Not for my kids.  I want them well and their brains to become huge complex thinking orbs that can solve hairy problems and get stuff done.  If I give my kids those two things, a well body and a big brain, then I've done my job.  They can become anything.


It doesn't matter what the child wants to eat, or likes to eat.  Children want all kinds of things that are not in their best interest.  That is why they have parents and teachers and community outreach centers to protect them.  You are the adult.  You figure out what fuels a child's body for health and wellness and what does not.   You do some research on the internet about what macronutrients a young body and mind need to learn and grow (right-sized).  Don't know what an excitotoxin is?  Do some digging.  Decide if these food additives are safe for your family, students or customers to eat.  Don't know about the link between artificial food dyes and attention and mood disorders? Read up on it.  Decide whether or not your family, customers and students should be consuming dyes that the FDA now agrees are harmful for some kids.  They still won't warn you that you should think before feeding to your kids everyday in the form of colorful yogurt, breakfast cereal, cupcakes and flavored medicines and multivitamins.

Do you think your child or student wants to be so distracted he can't sit still and learn?  Don't you think your child wants to use her big powerful brain to learn lots of fascinating things?  What if you could make a huge change in the way a child's brain works by feeding him mostly real food with food made in a factory as sometimes food?  Would you stop buying convenience foods except for special occasions?

It's on you as a citizen
If you feed children, you need to get it right. Children are our future. Children are our ticket to continued prosperity. Our country needs children to be well because they are the guardians of our government, economy, and earth when we leave.  Our children deserve to have brains that function properly and bodies that are right-sized and well.


Want to take action?
Head on over to PEACHSF for some of the best "how to change school food" road map tools I've found.  Parents Educators & Advocates Connection for Health School Food can help you get started on doing your part to help our kids get the food they deserve.

How do you feel when you read a food industry story or learn of something in food that shouldn't be there?  What do you do about it?