Obesity. Diabetes. Heart Disease. High Blood Pressure. Auto-immune disorders. Allergies. Food intolerances. Are you familiar with any of these illnesses? Chances are, you know someone who is suffering with one of these problems. Maybe silently. Maybe it’s you!
We hear statistics everyday in the media about these health issues and how they are on the rise for people living in developed countries. It’s now affecting our children, and we need to do something definitive about it. Here are the statistics:
- According to one survey (a report published by The US Department of Health and Human Services), 14% of adolescents in the United States are overweight. In the last 20 years, this number has nearly tripled.
- Among overweight children and teens between the ages of 2 and 19, 36.7% state that they have been told by a health care practitioner that they were overweight (for children between the ages of 2 and 5, this percentage was 17.4%)
- Children are now not expected to outlive their parents. This should be unacceptable!
These problems are occurring for a variety of reasons – because our food is no longer food, and corporate interests and profit are taking precedent over human health like never before in recorded history. It is unfortunate that issues like these don’t seem to get the airtime and promotion they deserve until someone famous becomes an activist. Here is the Public Service Announcement which calls for action from citizens for the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act (this is an effort that is in conjunction with the film Food, Inc.)
I’m here to urge everyone to help save our children’s lives – children (and adults, for that matter) all across America eat toxic, unhealthy foods right in their own school lunch rooms. It’s time we took a stand, as lawmakers, taxpayers, parents, grandparents, politicians, lobbyists, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, neighbors, and citizens to demand that our children are served healthy food to give them a fighting chance at growth, development, academics, and health. Real food should not be a luxury item that people can’t afford.
Our constitution states:
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
When we talk about establishing justice and promoting the general welfare, does allowing the manufacturing, selling, and feeding of toxic food to our children and citizens seem like a breach of these tenets? It should!
We are not showing patriotism, ethics, integrity, morals, nor justice when we allow something as broken and trampled upon as our health care and food systems to remain in the condition they are in. It is time to stop letting the authorities that be – the USDA, the FDA , government lobbyists, special interest groups, and bloated corporations controlling most of our food supply dictate these critical factors of everyday life and well-being – our health and our food.
As part of the film Food, Inc., this petition is available on the web site to ask Congress to change the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to make it mandatory that real food be available in the school lunch environment to nourish our children. Place your name on it and let your voice be heard.
It’s time for us to insist our children to be served healthy food, and to demand that schools stop serving hormone-filled milk from factory farms, industrially-produced meat, starchy, trans-fat containing, refined carbohydrates that are devoid of nutrients and that cause toxin build up, weight gain, and poor health. Sign the petition to give our children the chance and future they deserve. Please don’t delay in being an activist in one of the most important causes you could ever be involved in.
What else can you do?
- Buy local foods from organic, sustainable farms where you know how your food is produced.
- Boycott processed foods of all kinds – you’ll save money in your bank account now and on health care costs later on down the road.
- Grow your own food chemical and toxin free.
- Become an activist and let your voice be heard – tell others, maintain a blog, sign petitions, attend rallies in your community, see the film Food, Inc. and other important films about food, have discussions to help others who are less informed, and join committees and groups where making safe food a priority is the theme
For more information on school lunch initiatives:
Hormones in the Milk – Do You Know What Your Kids Are Drinking?
Changing the Face of School Lunches – There’s Still a Lot of Work to Do
You Decide: Is Junk Food GOOD for Children?
Disturbed About What Your Kids are Eating in School?
Meals for Children – Restaurants and School Lunches are Lacking in Nutrition
Also check out these important resources:
Visit Chef Ann Cooper, Renegade Lunch Lady and a revolutinary who is making changes all over the nation
Better School Food – Dr. Susan Rubin