You are hereMrs. Obama Takes on Childhood Obesity
Mrs. Obama Takes on Childhood Obesity
I'm sure most of you have read or heard about this already, but earlier this month Michelle Obama announced the launch of a national policy to deal with childhood obesity. By educating parents, improving school lunch programs, making healthy foods more accessible and promoting physical education, the Let's Move campaign promises to defeat obesity's challenges. First the organic garden in the White House and now this; it really seems that The Obamas took Michael Pollan's letter to the editor to heart. To learn more and support what First Lady Obama is doing at the White House, visit the Let's Move website.
And for another take on the obesity epidemic, check out Jamie Oliver's talk at the TED Conference. This video is about 20 minutes long but it's definitely worth watching. And a big thanks to Vee for passing this video along to me.
Jamie Oliver suggests that to tackle obesity we must focus our efforts in teaching our children about food. How do we do that? Oliver's solution is similar to Mrs. Obama's in that it advocates fresh, healthy, real food in our nation's schools. Oliver says that not only should every child should learn how to cook ten simple recipes by the time they leave school but that cooking should be taught in grocery stores, too. Supermarkets should employ food "ambassadors" or experts to inform buyers about cooking and to help consumers make good choices. Oliver claims that, "big brands should put food education at the heart of their business".
Share your thoughts and ideas about this topic in comments.
Finally! I'm tired of hearing on a constant basis why our health care system spends so much money in comparison to other industrialized nations without addressing the issue that we're a bunch of fat, unhealthy individuals. The question comes down to who is to blame: parents, government, farmers, schools?
for promoting food items like the "luther burger"
It's perfectly zoned balanced. You just need a 10 oz patty and a ton of cheese and call it 5-10x fat
I'm surprised none of the the resident libertarians have jumped on Oliver's suggestion for supermarkets to employ food ambassadors.
I'm doing the Paleo seminar in Union City this weekend. Anyone else going? Maybe we could carpool...
Tad,
How much did you pay to have someone tell you that you shouldn't eat bread?
Brandon, $150.
I would not at all be opposed to grocery stores hiring food ambassadors. If a business owner finds that he is well-served to hire someone and pay them to be a food ambassador, that is entirely compatible with libertarian ideals. It sorta sounds like the people that walk around and help you at Best Buy. Unfortunately, I think Oliver wants the government to force grocery stores to provide this service. I would have a problem with this for many reasons.
I think Oliver is doing a great thing by evangelizing healthier food choices. I also think this method of spreading ideas accomplishes far more than anything the government can accomplish by edict. Besides, what would be so special about people eating better, not because they want to or understand why they should, but only because someone is making them?
Lastly, I submit to you the USDA food pyramid that has been the government's guiding-light for nutrition for the last, what, thirty years? 30. Years. Why would anyone trust these people with anything? That's politics for ya. Do we really want food ambassadors pushing the political diet?
PS - The video of the mom telling Janie Oliver, across a table piled full with pizza and corn dogs, that she was killing her kids with food made me LOL.
So in other words, the nutrition seminar is roughly the cost of one workout's worth of gear for Brandon (shoes, shorts, shirt, Absolut brand gear).
I like JP's idea about grocery stores employing "ambassador's" as a marketing tool and value-add to the consumer. The government should definitely stay out of our food since they obviously have an agenda that does not include the health of the American people.
Also, the Noon class today was what I like to think CFO is all about. The participants were actually applauding one another with each successive C&J. I was most envious... In addition, it make me almost giddy each time a dropped barbell knocked the mouse out of my hand as I attempted to work on the computer on the other side of the wall. What a cool job....
Awesome post, Connie. Thanks!
Tad, knowledge is power - so go get 'em!
Brandon is my personal nutrition guru ever since he told me to stop weighing and measuring and just eat good food.
I stopped weighing and measuring after I did it for 4-5 months. At that point you learn what your body needs and I'll go back to roughly counting blocks every now and then just to see how much I am actually consuming. Brandon is right though, unless you are trying to lean out, just eat. But eat how he summed up Robb Wolf, "don't eat bread"
Weighing and measuring can get in the way of becoming fatter. That's why I don't do it.
When I first read this post I said don't respond. Stay out of it...but I just can't help it.
Forcing shopping centers to employ food ambassadors? Oh goodness.
I'm always amazed at the naivety idealists possess. Food ambassadors, getting big food manufacturers to put "education at the heart of their business". Just silly.
It's this simple. Grocery stores are profitable if they grow business by .5% annually. They get rich by taking money of the system. NOT by adding money/costs to the system. Food ambassadors cost. Who's going to pay that cost? I don't want to. The federal government better not. One thing the federal government mandates is that all shelf price tags display the "unit cost". This costs money. It's part of the labeling laws. I don't like paying this cost because I'm able to figure out ounces/cents in my head. It's the same thing with food ambassadors.
I'm 19% body fat because I'm a lazy pig. Should Connie and Brandon subsidize my sins? Which brings us to.....
ACCOUNTABILITY
Why do doctors smoke cigarettes? Why does McDonalds generate cash? Because people like to smoke and eat yummy food. (similar analogy, 60 minutes segment from 20 years ago. Mike Wallace asked a gay guy why he had unprotected sex. Gay guy said because it felt good. Really?) So people make bad decisions. So who's fault is this?
Not the food manufacturers.
"big brands should put food education at the heart of their business"
Kraft Foods hired me out of b-school (gratuitious reference to establish my credentials). I went to a party the first week there, met this really cute South American, kinda saucy in a nerdy way, research food scientist. I asked her "does fat taste good"? She explained to me how fat essentially delivers flavor. So, people eat what they like. What tastes good. And those foods tend to be high in fat.
So why would a big brand food company focus on food education? That's NOT their role. Their mission is to make money! They need to focus on growing their business, profitably. Satisfying their shareholders. It's that simple. Consumers vote with their wallet. They like fatty food. Now, if overnite consumers changed....then big brand food would need to change......BUT IT ISN'T GOING TO HAPPEN BECAUSE WE ARE HUMAN!!!!!
I am phat!
Fat, tasty food and unprotected sex. I think that sums up what's on Bad Brad's mind at any given point in time. :)
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