Food Food Revolution

I was channel surfing a couple nights ago when I stumbled upon a preview for an upcoming Larry King Live segment featuring Jamie Oliver, an English chef and media personality.  Interested to learn more, I tuned into the show.

Oliver’s newest project is a reality TV show in the United States called Food Revolution.  For the show, Oliver traveled to Huntington, West Virginia – statistically the unhealthiest city in the country – to improve the local school's lunch programs.  

Oliver explained that most school budgets are unable to afford to conform to USDA rules, but he is hoping to change that.  He believes there are several guidelines necessary to make nutritional improvements in school lunches:

• A principal who cares about what kids eat
• Teachers who care about what kids eat
• Parents who care about what kids eat
• Food service personnel who not only care what the kids eat, but also know the kids’ names and establish personal relationships with the kids. 

For a school food program to work, all of these elements must be in place.  Only two episodes of Food Revolution have aired so far, but I am anxious to see if Jamie is able to make permanent changes in these schools - not only in the nutritional value of lunches - but in the attitudes of students and parents as well.  I think that if he can do it in Huntington, other schools across the country should take note and begin improving their programs too. 

In one of the clips from the show, Oliver challenges a group of 1st graders to identify fruits and vegetables, and they are literally incapable of doing it.  During LKL, Larry King interviewed several students – all of them obese – who were for the most part utterly clueless about dietary nutrition and the importance of eating well.  Each student commented that it is not uncommon for them to eat pizza for breakfast, corn dogs and french fries for lunch, and fried chicken for dinner.  Every. Single. Day.

It's hard for me to imagine not being able to distinguish or identify simple fruits and vegetables, but I have to stop and realize that these kids have never been exposed to fruits and veggies.  Taking this into consideration, it’s no wonder that obesity is such an epidemic in our country – the bad habits start before most children are even old enough to talk, and they continue far into adulthood.  By the time these children are 30, they are being diagnosed with diabetes,  high blood pressure, and heart disease - all of which can be avoided by teaching children early on about nutrition and eating a healthy and balanced diet.

I will come down off my healthy eating soapbox now, but I thought that this show looked like a good one, and one that will hopefully make a healthy impact on a lot of people! Food Revolution airs on ABC on Friday nights, or can be watched on Hulu.

Check out one of the trailers below.

Images from here & here