School Nutrition Changes Being Implemented

All the research is finally paying off in dividends. More and more Americans are realizing that what they eat plays a major role in how long they will live. Recent research is already predicting dire straits for the baby boomers. A generation of consuming junk food is doubling and quadrupling their numbers with type II diabetes, heart disease and Alzheimer’s Disease and many more. Knee and hip surgeries are on a steep incline, and heart stents are forcing health care costs through the roof along with by pass surgery. The trouble is that many of these surgical fixes are a "Band-aid" on an ever growing problem related to poor dietary habits.
As a young man, I often helped my father replace the old galvanized steel pipes in our homes. That was an ugly sight -- rust accumulating on the inside of the pipe would decrease the flow of water until there was only a trickle. It’s happening in our bodies and repairing one clogged site does not really solve the problem. The next clogged site could be fatal in the arteries of a human. So many strokes due to blood clots are taking down people in their thirties, forties and fifties and doctors are not immune to this problem. Too many banquets with prime rib can exacerbate the problem. Now dieticians are beginning to take the matter seriously, especially at the beginning of the problem - the school cafeteria.
A recent survey of food service directors is finding that french fries are decreasing in popularity and interest in carrots is skyrocketing among schoolchildren.
As choices on the lunch line change, many children are accepting them, said Martha Conklin, an associate professor at Penn State University who conducts research about school nutrition programs and school food service. "If you present these healthy offerings to children, they may turn them down the first time, but you can’t give up," she said. "Children will adapt. Choice is important but they can make those selections from healthy offerings.
The School Nutrition Association’s annual survey given to food service directors around the country shows that result. Amongst students in kindergarten through 12th grade, french fries dropped in popularity from 1998 to 2006 while carrots and fresh vegetables rose in popularity. According to Amy Winterfield, a health policy analyst for the National Conference of State Legislatures, more states are enacting nutrition standards to ensure healthy food and beverage options are available to students. A 2004 wellness program requires school districts receiving federal reimbursements for school meal programs to develop policies that promote the health of students and address the growing problem of childhood obesity.
In 2005, at least 17 states enacted some form of school nutrition legislation and at least 11 more approved them last year. In New Jersey, for example, a law requires that by next fall, snacks and a la carte items sold or served contain no more than eight grams of total fat per serving and two grams of saturated fat per serving. Candy is banned and so are foods and beverages with sugar as the major ingredient. "The leading health authorities are all recommending that schools take an active role in this area of nutrition to prevent disabling chronic health conditions," said Emma Davis-Kovacs, acting state director for the New Jersey Department of Agriculture’s division of food and nutrition.
The Spring 2007, Issue 2 of the "Food Beacon" is serious about changing the poor dietary habits of Americans. Joan Pedlow, RN, RD, the Food Bank’s dietician, is working tirelessly to educate agency representatives and their clients regarding healthy eating. They are offering programs like "Kids in the Kitchen" with children from Western New York coming to learn about cooking and healthy eating. They get a chance to understand how their eating habits affect their health and learn how to prepare simple snacks and meals and how to choose foods wisely.
The Food Bank’s vision of providing nutritional food, training and education options to their agencies and their clients empowers them to make healthy lifestyle choices. Since October 2003, I have continued research and reporting to help "Make Eating a Lifestyle Change" and now that the fuse is lit and the results are coming in from all over the country - I can be sure that I am not a voice in the wilderness.
Children grow and learn by watching and listening to their parents and leaders in the community, but they are most impressed with role models. This is no longer a matter of asking kids, "What are we going to eat tonight?" You are the adult and they look up to you. Your wisdom and the attention you give to helping them to grow up healthy and strong is one of the best contributions you can make as a parent.
As a young man in eighth grade, we were told about a government oversight into matters of "Health, Education and Welfare," and many of us asked which of these was the most important. I remember Mrs. Bone (our eighth grade teacher) responding, "In that order, because without health you can have none of the others." Since then they have changed the name of the agency, but it doesn’t change what Mrs. Bone said. Your productivity as a citizen, a head of a family, or an employee rests upon your ability to stay healthy by knowing what works best in developing a strong body capable of performing the many tasks and responsibilities in your life. The strength of this country depends on it.
It is only right and proper that I give credit to the President and CEO of the Food Bank of WNY, Clem Eckert, for a very informative article and the courage to confront head-on, the problems related to the improper dietary habits of the American people.

Functional Whole Food & Nutrition

This week’s Buffalo News article on "Food can make you feel Lousy" by Charles Stuart Platkin, is just one more example of the realization that food may be the single most important change we can make to build up our immune system and avoid skyrocketing doctor bills. New Health Digest also featured an article by Dr. Sanford H. Levy, M.S. FACP, ABHM which defines a more inclusive approach to healing and "the art and science that addresses the whole person-body, mind, and spirit." Both articles are indicative of the revolutionary attack on the current condition of our health care system - broke.
When I first decided that the visit to the doctor’s office was not availing me of better health - just more expensive tests and prescriptions, I studied and researched the problem from another perspective. First on the list of problems was addressing the bad foods I could eliminate from my regimen of food intake. Recently, in an interview with Tim Russert, Ralph Nader recalled his mother’s approach to healthy foods. He told us that one day he told his mother, "I don’t like these foods," and his mother asked, "who doesn’t like these foods?" Ralph responded, "Me, Ralph, I don’t like these foods." His mother continued by asking if it was his liver, his heart, his kidneys, or his stomach that didn’t like the food. Ralph said he didn’t like the taste. His mother wisely diagnosed the problem with, "It’s your tongue, Ralph, lying to your brain." Ralph Nader’s parents died at the ripe old age of 99-years-old and Mr. Nader is looking fine and has been an active member of the community of those interested in being a part of the solution and not the problem.
Sunday’s Buffalo News, April 22, 2007 also had an article entitled, "Study says boomers are unhealthier than their parents", by Bob Stein of the Washington Post. Lisa Berkman of the Harvard School of Public Health said, "This all could add up to a huge crisis and really calls for us to examine the things that we’re not doing so well."
As a researcher and author of "Make Eating A Lifestyle Change" I came to that conclusion in October of 2003 and began a crusade to arm the public with knowledge that would help consumers to make informed decisions on what the good and bad foods are. Recently I was talking to a waitress who complained of migraines and so I asked about her favorite foods and she responded, "I love cheese and chocolate." Now it has been known for many years that the sticky blood caused by cheese can wreak havoc with the arteries and veins of the brain. Platkin’s reference to foods that can trigger headaches revealed the biggest offenders: "aged foods (in particular) cheese, red wine, sparkling wine and beer — particularly draft and tyramine (which is the breakdown product of amino acids, basically a metabolic waste product found in foods like canned, cured or processed meats, pickles, canned soups and nuts. Foods with preservatives and additives (sausage, or hotdogs, luncheon meat, MSG in Chinese food can also cause headaches," says Holly I. Phillips, the medical correspondent for CBS 2 News in New York City. Some foods that contain niacin, (even specialty waters, such as Propel can cause headaches because niacin is a vasodilator, says George R. Nissan of the Diamond Headache Clinic in Chicago and spokesman for the National Headache Foundation. Migraines can be caused by dehydration occurring during exercise and so can muscle spasms. Drink water before, during and after exercise to reduce the frequency and severity of migraines. As for chocolate, milk chocolate with sugar can cause headaches. Whereas "Dark Chocolate" in a single serving of 1 ounce can stimulate blood to the brain and is considered a healthy snack item. Taste testers were at the root of most of our problems with food. Like Ralph’s tongue, they often lied to the brain and people began using taste rather than nutrition to determine their food preferences.
Our problems, as Dr. Daniel Fahey, M.D. an Ear Nose and Throat specialist once confided, "I could probably find the source of most health problems in allergies to foods. I would need a sizeable grant to fund the study." When I began recording those foods that caused certain problems I found a way to make and approach a functional food intake. Beginning with the herbs, vitamins and minerals in food, I looked at what they did for the body and what foods to eat to get them. I was determined to avoid the "magic pill approach".
The problem with our health care system is in its limited scope of understanding nutrition, massage, chiropractic, hydrotherapy and whole food. These approaches can help correct or prevent health problems. I haven’t found a pill that could correct skeletal problems causing back and neck pain or relieving stress-related problems muscular aches. The inability of the health care community to address the serious epidemic of major disease in our country will have a devastating effect on the longevity of the baby boomers. Parents who tried to please rather than take a leadership role in the food intake of their children, may have been complicit in this generational problem. In an attempt to balance their time between making a living and trying to bring up a family, they may have opted for fast-foods with poor nutritional value. Schools are also a source of the problem when they offer Nachos and cheese, popcorn and hot dogs, pizza and cola and install vending machines full of tempting sweets for the profit they provide to the schools. Ritalin may be a product enhanced by an exorbitant amount of sugar, candy, cake and cola. Discipline problems may be due to a hyper kinetic syndrome brought on by recreational foods offered without supervision. Those schools that removed those sugary vending machines found a decrease in discipline problems and an increase in scholarly achievement by their students.
Alzheimer’s is on the rise and may be an outcome of too much sticky blood-clogging the arteries of the brain - caused by fried foods, hot dogs, fatty cold cuts and a recreational approach to eating cheese with everything from subs to pizza and then dipping numerous high-sodium products into them. It’s all about the money and a society that has determined that the market place will solve all problems. The supervision of parents like those of Ralph Nader, has become obsolete, in an environment of giving children instant gratification. Narcissistic behavior has been the result of non-regulatory practices in our families and schools.
Functional Food which provides us with the proper nutrition and some regulation to prevent children from buying into the fast (fat) food franchise can make the difference. After all, we regulate the age of drivers on the road, access to alcohol and tobacco - maybe its time we realize that there is a correlation between what our kids eat and diseases like obesity, type II diabetes, memory loss, unacceptable behavior and an inability to concentrate. Sugar has always played a part in health problems. The well-known "hangover" may simply be sugar exacerbating the inflammation in muscles, joints and causing headaches and overall pain. Don’t buy the biased opinions of advertisers and their "bought and paid for" research. I was never able to handle large amounts of cheese, fats, sugar and especially baked goods which contain high amounts of "high fructose corn syrup." Two slices of bread is moderate, but subs containing fatty cheese, mayonnaise, bologna and hard salami are a good start to fast weight-gain and health problems - as documented in the film, "Supersize Me."
Seeing the doctor once a year was once the norm and in the era of my grandparents time, they would brag about not having to see the doctor. Pharmacies were not on every corner and 10 pills didn’t cost over $100. We have spent more money on health care (by double) of all of the industrialized nations of the world. Could it be that there is a link between increasing illness and increased profits? Could it be that the Congress withheld Nutrition Facts on Trans Fats due to the PAC money they received from these Corporations? Could Dr. Kervorkian's answering the call of people in pain with assisted suicide been prevented by a change in food intake? If you have arthritis, try having a glass or two of alcohol and see how bad the pain is the morning after. Acid reflux increased the profits of pharmaceuticals and so more was better for them. The use of Nexium, Prevacid and Prolosec (proton pump inhibitors or acid blockers) is thought to play a role in esophageal and pancreatic cancer. Lipitor, Crestor and other cholesterol-reducing drugs are said to have negative impact on the liver. Listen to the warnings and you may find there is a better way to avoid serious problems without the high-risk of side effects that kill. It always amazes me to hear the problem and then the quick run-off of side effects. Any sane person would wonder why we choose column B rather than change our lifestyle. Learn about lycopene from tomato sauce (cancer fighter), lutein from blueberries (for the eyes) and lecithin (the drano of the arteries) found in old fashioned oatmeal. We have found that a cup of oatmeal in the morning and one in the evening could lower cholesterol 40 points in 2 weeks and doctors are now offering their patients that option before prescribing liver-killing drugs. Most of society is guilty of slow learning, fast forgetting and needing a crisis to spur them on to knowledge and real solutions. There is a function to the foods you eat and it is true that DNA maps show that we’re not all created with the same tolerance for foods. Allergies to foods can be fatal. We need more studies on nutrition and we need more advice from those who are knowledgeable about nutrition, but don’t jump from the frying pan into the fire - pills of any kind are not "magic". A handful of vitamins is not the answer to all your complaints. Foods contain phytonutrients which are designed by nature to provide a balance of vitamins, herbs and minerals that make them far more effective than an isolationist approach to chemicals with unfounded and unproven results.
Functional Foods and a nutrition based regimen of eating with avoidance of fried foods, hydrogenated vegetable oils, trans fats and HFCS is a good start towards a healthier immune system and avoidance of serious consequences.
Don’t smoke, drink (toxic) alcohol, eat fried foods, processed sugar, cakes, candy and cookies and try staying away from the hot dogs and sausage. Today could be the first day of the rest of your life or you could dismiss all that and go for broke. Make Eating A Lifestyle Change and remember that you have to address the problem from a balanced view of mind, body and spirit. Music, poetry, reading, exercise, gardening, aroma therapy, massage, and sun light are important to your overall well-being. Consider laughing a lot, loving often and living longer and better by maintaining your body as the most important vehicle you own.