Friday, March 13, 2015

Cheesy

This makes me sad and frustrated. As a teacher, I have a career where I am subjected to seeing the horrible food choices of children - aka- sometimes more aptly poor food choices of parents and government food subsidized programs. Over the past year- nutrition and healthy food choices have become more a cultural awareness and so I have remained hopeful that change, although slow, will take root and happen. Just when I want to believe that we are making progress, I read something like this. Sigh. In the name of change and good nutrition and health- we are promoting processed food products like cheese slices. Seriously? This is a setback. A program called "Kids Eat Right" is giving their stamp of approval on processed cheese slices. Is that the best we can do? As people start to become aware of healthy food choices and better nutrition for children, they look to programs to help them learn what to eat and how to make change- and we offer them this? So misleading. There is much information out there- and not all of it is good. I encourage you to think carefully about all that you read. Just because it is labeled as healthy - doesn't mean that it is. Consumer beware!
I think we make it complicated- when really, it is easy. If we would just put blinders on and buy, prepare and consume whole, plant-based foods, we would be on the right track. We have been conditioned to want the taste of processed food (garbage) and it is a tough habit to shake. Not to mention, that in our busy lives, processed foods are marketed as convenient, When really, our lack or planning and preparation has allowed processed fast foods to become convenient. Consider this- how convenient is eating processed food on our medical bills,  financial wastefulness, and the ever-growing carbon footprint we leave behind? Shopping intentionally then preparing simple meals isn't really that inconvenient. (How inconvenient is it to grab and go with a banana or an apple?) For some- it is a true lack of knowledge and for others, a gentle reminder. If we could just educate and support our society to get back to basics with colorful vegetables and fruits with occasional grains and legumes, we would be so much better off! Simply put- if we would eat whole foods (foods where the 1 ingredient IS the food) we would then begin to take back our health. I am working to educate families and children to make healthier choices even amidst the junk food mentality and surroundings.
I will share more about my program soon....Please stand by for updates as I will be reaching out to partner with the community to bring awareness and change to our pantries, our diets, our nutrition and our health. If you are interested in being a part of this program, please like my FB page Lisa Grimes Whole Fitness and stay in touch with me as this program develops. I would welcome your partnership as we work to change how we think about about food and how we stock our pantries.


Are more Kraft Singles what’s needed to make sure ‘Kids Eat Right’?
TAKEPART.COM

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