Did people see this on the news today? Apparently, it's become difficult to recruit enough young people into the military because so many are obese. The military is blaming it on school lunches.

Well, if school lunches are finally improved, then great. Maybe there could be more vegetarian/vegan options, plus more fresh raw fruits and salad choices!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/20/2010 11:49PM by suncloud.

Improving school lunches would be a huge step in the right direction. I would love to see even a single meat/dairy free, wheat free, grease free meal available! But I also think simply educating children (and adults) about nutrition is vital. I don't remember learning anything at all about healthy diets in my entire school career. We went over the food pyramid for a few hours in elementary school, where we were told to load up on carbs and get plenty of animal protein, and that was it. Everything that most people know about healthy diets, they've learned on their own out of their own curiosity or frustration. Of course, this makes kids the unwitting victims of their parents' and caretakers' ignorance.

Sometimes I wonder, if armed with the facts about the fake, overly-processed crap that people eat, if they would actually change. There is a saying, it's easier to change a man's religion than to change his diet. I've actually quoted this to a few people, all of whom seemed appalled and said it was not true. But then after their week long "cleanses" which consist of brown rice and baked chicken, they fall off the wagon and go back to their McDonald's and cookies, claiming it was "too hard to give that stuff up." They look at me and say, "I could never eat like you," not realizing that I'm just another ordinary person making a choice every day. A lot of people seem a lot more devoted and bound to food than anything else in their lives...

Meow, all so true unfortunately. And it definitely seems important for the parents to know about better food choices, since they're the ones buying the food. And they're the ones who are the most influencial role models for their kids.

I really like this quote from you:

meow Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> They look at me and
> say, "I could never eat like you," not realizing
> that I'm just another ordinary person making a
> choice every day.

So true. I really feel like if I can do it, anyone can, for sure.

If only people knew the huge change for the better that eating well can bring. Hard for people to see it if they just cut out cookies. I think things will gradually get better though. So many people are going their own way toward a better diet and more exercise. A step here, a step there....



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/21/2010 06:35AM by suncloud.

Yeah... I saw this last night... i find it funny that it's the school's fault... when most children eat one meal a day there 5 days a week... so i assume they are eating perfectly well balanced meals all the rest of the time???

i think raw or not raw vegetarian or not vegetarian if people would feed homemade food to their kids instead of all the process junk that's out there now it would be worlds better. and turn off the video games and tv i find the more tv i watch the more i crave that stuff!!! I just read a book by Eckart Tolle and he talks about how tv really is a form of hypnosis and unfortunately advertisers are using that against us...

it's interesting that the military people aren't questioning the tv studios advertising people or the junk food pushers... I suppose it's a good start to get good food into the schools though... it's about time!!!

love laugh and dream

Amen to that! Hope I live to see that day.

I have been watching that Jaime Oliver show out of sheer amazement - this chef guy from the UK that is trying to get people to eat better & improve school lunches in West Virgina. It's such a load of horsesh!t - he's ecouraging people to eat about as well as they did in the '50s - loads of 'healthy' of milk, meat, and grains - but hey they're whole grains, right? Ugh...

Well, I go back as far as the 60's and 2 cent milk cartons. One day in the lunch line a few of us 2nd graders asked if we could have an extra pair and were told if we ate the whole pair we could come back for another, so we ate the cores, the seeds, the hairy ends even, thinking that's what the staff meant, and proudly walked up for seconds. Ah, later memories are of sloppy joes, grilled cheeze, ice cream and soda

@Meow: The parents need to be educated, as well. Kids don't work, don't have money, so they would have to eat whatever their parents had at home, IF their parents chose healthy foods. Same with the school. But there has to be consistency! Too many kids have parents who don't know the first thing about proper nutrition. There's a school called Namaste in Chicago and they have healthy foods and regular breakfasts with parents to educate them about good foods.

History repeating itself. It's like when they first introduced health care reforms in the UK back in the early 1900s so they could get enough canon fodder.. Got to keep em healthy enough to fight :-/



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Banana who, I totally agree that parents need to be educated, too. I think a lot of adults have to take it upon themselves to become aware of what's really in our "food," which is something that few people choose to do. I also think that even if we just started by teaching kids proper nutrition in school throughout the years, they would hopefully retain the information and implement it into their lives and, eventually, the lives of their children.

But I'm sure that if schools did implement nutrition lessons, they'd still tell kids that lean meats and dairy and whole grains are healthy. I guess it will always be up to the individual to learn the whole truth.

I have seen so many obese teens...They clutch at their munchies and fast "food" and radioactive drinks...They are as malnourished as the kids on those commercials for starving children. They eat and do not get anything but calories. It is so sad because when you see their parents, you see where it stems from usually.