The Child Nutrition Director for Asheville City Schools has been circulating a letter that she’s asking everyone to sign on to and send to our local legislators. The North Carolina legislature added $25 per student to the proposed budget to help cover the costs of meeting the new healthy nutrition standards in elementary schools. The trick now is to get our elected officials to keep that funding in the budget.
As the Child Nutrition Director explained, this is important for several reasons. While $25 per student won’t cover what it really costs to feed a child healthy meals for the year, it opens the door. Until now, they have not gotten anything like this from the local government. It opens the door to requesting more funding later and also for expanding the program to reach middle schools.
A few weeks ago I facilitated a workshop session focused on how to overcome obstacles to healthy eating in schools. All of the participants in my small group were child nutrition staff – from a director to a cook. They struggled to find things they could actually control and change. It takes a lot of time to prepare fresh produce and healthy meals from scratch. Often they go straight from cleaning up breakfast to quickly preparing for the lunch rush. The stringent storage regulations, calorie standards, and financial guidelines create a very small box for the child nutrition staff in which to operate. They want to do things differently, but bump up against the familiar obstacles of time and money.
Then the Asheville Child Nutrition Director stood up and offered a chance for change. She told the group about this proposed budget and how it could start to make a difference for them. When the small groups reported back to all the workshop participants, she told the large group about this letter. Everyone eagerly asked for copies and wanted to know how they could help spread the word.
Why is this so important? There’s a pervasive misunderstanding about how school food works. The Child Nutrition programs in schools run like independent businesses. They get their funding from the federal reimbursements for free and reduced lunches: $2.40/free lunch, $2.00/reduced lunch, and $0.23/paid lunch. On that income, they pay salaries, purchase all the food, buy supplies, and pay schools for “the privilege of doing business” on-site. The common notion is that school cafeterias get big chunks of money from school districts. Not so. And the reimbursement rates are so low, that’s why cafeterias usually have to resort to selling a la carte items to make some real income.
It’s a tangled mess. But I’m encouraged by the fact that the NC Health & Wellness Trust Fund is creating a study committee to investigate this issue – school lunch reimbursement rates and the financial challenges of Child Nutrition Programs. It’s a serious issue that needs some serious attention.
Critics (usually parents) are too quick to jump on cafeteria staff and say that school food stinks. Maybe there needs to be a public relations campaign to market all the good work being done. For example, Asheville City Schools sources nearly 20 products, such as sweet potatoes, cabbage, and lettuce, from local farmers in the region. Schools feature attractively presented salad plates and cashiers nudge students to buy a piece of fruit instead of candy. I hear first hand from the Child Nutrition staff that they are doing the best they can with limited resources and I know they deserve our respect. A great start would be for NC residents to send the letter "Healthy Children for the 21st Century" to your local legislator, then pass the word on to a friend. (See my blog entry with the same title for a copy of the letter and link to the NC General Assembly.)
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Healthy Children for the 21st Century
Healthy Children for the 21st Century
Whereas the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs provide healthy meals to all North Carolina students enabling them to be ready to learn,
Whereas one in five children ages 5-11 in North Carolina is overweight,
Whereas the prevalence of childhood obesity has nearly tripled for adolescents in the past two decades,
Whereas North Carolina is in the top 10 states in the United States for the incidence of hypertension and diabetes,
Whereas health care costs in North Carolina associated with obesity related medical expenses cost North Carolina taxpayers more than $2.1 billion a year,
Whereas the North Carolina General Assembly has legislated and the State Board of Education has adopted Nutrition Standards for Elementary Schools in North Carolina schools requiring increased fresh fruits, fresh vegetables and foods high in fiber in school meals offered to students,
Now therefore be it resolved that ______________ supports the N.C. State Board of Education's proposed budget to provide $25 per pupil to enable local school districts to implement Nutrition Standards in elementary schools in the state.
And be it further resolved, that the $25 per elementary child be recurring funds.
___________________________________
Signature
Click on the NC General Assembly's "Who Represents Me" link to find out where to send your letter.
Whereas the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs provide healthy meals to all North Carolina students enabling them to be ready to learn,
Whereas one in five children ages 5-11 in North Carolina is overweight,
Whereas the prevalence of childhood obesity has nearly tripled for adolescents in the past two decades,
Whereas North Carolina is in the top 10 states in the United States for the incidence of hypertension and diabetes,
Whereas health care costs in North Carolina associated with obesity related medical expenses cost North Carolina taxpayers more than $2.1 billion a year,
Whereas the North Carolina General Assembly has legislated and the State Board of Education has adopted Nutrition Standards for Elementary Schools in North Carolina schools requiring increased fresh fruits, fresh vegetables and foods high in fiber in school meals offered to students,
Now therefore be it resolved that ______________ supports the N.C. State Board of Education's proposed budget to provide $25 per pupil to enable local school districts to implement Nutrition Standards in elementary schools in the state.
And be it further resolved, that the $25 per elementary child be recurring funds.
___________________________________
Signature
Click on the NC General Assembly's "Who Represents Me" link to find out where to send your letter.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Gentle Leadership
I want to connect several ideas that crossed my path recently. Last week I spoke with a life coach about the concept of gentle leadership and leadership elements I admire such as interaction, communication, genuine interest, and being proactive. Then there were two posts on a social marketing listserv last week: one about Disney branding produce and another about “behavior placement” in Hollywood.
How does gentle leadership apply when it comes to working with children and families about food? I feel that nutrition advocates, local food supporters, and even people encouraging something as simple sounding as “healthy food” can often come across as top down or elitist. Not gentle at all. People get defensive and say, “Who are you to tell me what to eat?” How would a gentle leader persuade people to eat a healthier diet? What does gentle leadership look like when it comes to nutrition? What would the components of gentle leadership be?
Well, Disney’s getting in on the discussion – but I don’t know how gentle it is. They are branding the produce aisle. Disney characters are now tied to everything from fresh peaches and plums to spinach and canned green beans.
Is this good or bad? I don’t think it’s that simple. It’s good if more children are asking for fruit and vegetables. And apparently they are – what kid wouldn’t love a banana with a Curious George sticker on it? It’s also good if parents feel that retailers are “on their side” and helping families fight the obesity epidemic. But what do the big corporations get out of this (and they always get something)? In a CNN.com article, a farmer participating in the Disney program said, “The only way for us to grow our markets is to increase the consumption of fresh fruit among kids.” So is it about growing markets or growing healthy kids?
Again, the question I face daily is how to get children interested in eating healthy food? Another post on the social marketing listserv discussed the concept of getting Hollywood to promote certain behaviors – behavior placement – similar to product placements that already appear on TV and in movies. Pepsi Co. pays big money for the Pepsi can to sit nonchalantly on the kitchen table of a sitcom set.
Is behavior placement a good strategy to encourage healthy eating? It seems to have happened with smoking – few TV shows feature characters that smoke anymore. It’s still on the big screen, but it appears to have decreased. So can social marketers encourage writers to bring in more healthy eating habits to their scripts? Would it still be funny if families ate well balanced meals with fresh produce on primetime? I think mom’s burned meatloaf gets more laughs than salad. But I have to believe that it couldn’t hurt to have TV provide a little gentle leadership in this area.
If you’re interested in social marketing, you can join the discussion on a listserve. It’s an e-mail list for social marketers to share information, ask questions and offer comments. It’s run by Dr. Alan Andreasen at Georgetown University. To be placed on the list, send an email message to: listproc@listproc.georgetown.edu with the following in the body of the message: subscribe soc-mktg yourname. Type your actual name in place of "yourname."
How does gentle leadership apply when it comes to working with children and families about food? I feel that nutrition advocates, local food supporters, and even people encouraging something as simple sounding as “healthy food” can often come across as top down or elitist. Not gentle at all. People get defensive and say, “Who are you to tell me what to eat?” How would a gentle leader persuade people to eat a healthier diet? What does gentle leadership look like when it comes to nutrition? What would the components of gentle leadership be?
Well, Disney’s getting in on the discussion – but I don’t know how gentle it is. They are branding the produce aisle. Disney characters are now tied to everything from fresh peaches and plums to spinach and canned green beans.
Is this good or bad? I don’t think it’s that simple. It’s good if more children are asking for fruit and vegetables. And apparently they are – what kid wouldn’t love a banana with a Curious George sticker on it? It’s also good if parents feel that retailers are “on their side” and helping families fight the obesity epidemic. But what do the big corporations get out of this (and they always get something)? In a CNN.com article, a farmer participating in the Disney program said, “The only way for us to grow our markets is to increase the consumption of fresh fruit among kids.” So is it about growing markets or growing healthy kids?
Again, the question I face daily is how to get children interested in eating healthy food? Another post on the social marketing listserv discussed the concept of getting Hollywood to promote certain behaviors – behavior placement – similar to product placements that already appear on TV and in movies. Pepsi Co. pays big money for the Pepsi can to sit nonchalantly on the kitchen table of a sitcom set.
Is behavior placement a good strategy to encourage healthy eating? It seems to have happened with smoking – few TV shows feature characters that smoke anymore. It’s still on the big screen, but it appears to have decreased. So can social marketers encourage writers to bring in more healthy eating habits to their scripts? Would it still be funny if families ate well balanced meals with fresh produce on primetime? I think mom’s burned meatloaf gets more laughs than salad. But I have to believe that it couldn’t hurt to have TV provide a little gentle leadership in this area.
If you’re interested in social marketing, you can join the discussion on a listserve. It’s an e-mail list for social marketers to share information, ask questions and offer comments. It’s run by Dr. Alan Andreasen at Georgetown University. To be placed on the list, send an email message to: listproc@listproc.georgetown.edu with the following in the body of the message: subscribe soc-mktg yourname. Type your actual name in place of "yourname."
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
A "mamo" moment
My daughter is a year and a half old and her language abilities are starting to explode. But I have to admit I was puzzled when she starting saying “mamo.” It didn’t sound like Mommy and it wasn’t quite Mama, which is what she calls one of her grandmothers.
One day after work my husband told me that Lucy had picked a tomato from a plant in the backyard and ate it on her way to daycare. At the end of the car ride, all he could see was juice and seeds on the car seat straps.
Then one afternoon I was on the back deck and caught a glimpse of Lucy out of the corner of my eye. Standing on her tiptoes, I watched her stretch and strain to reach a bright red tomato high up on a plant growing in a container. It’s an image brightly burned in my memory now – my girl, dress blowing the breeze, grabbing a homegrown tomato on a late summer day.
The tomato plant was given to me by a neighbor, so I don’t recall the variety, but it’s bigger than a cherry tomato and smaller than the slicing kind. The main thing is – it is the perfect size for a toddler’s hand.
That’s how I figured out that “mamo” means tomato.
It was also a gentle reminder to keep offering Lucy a variety of foods. I’m determined (or maybe just stubborn) to make sure that my daughter does not slide down the slippery slope that says all kids only eat macaroni and cheese, hotdogs, and chicken tenders.
Research shows that you may need to offer a food 10-15 times before a child will eat it. And I’m getting close to the upper limit for broccoli, but I’m not giving up because Lucy surprises me all the time. Two nights ago she was eating grilled eggplant from my plate and last night she wanted my roasted asparagus. I had not originally offered her any because I never thought she’d like it. And boy, was I wrong.
So now when Lucy says “mamo”, I know she’s talking about tomatoes. I can’t wait for the next discovery.
One day after work my husband told me that Lucy had picked a tomato from a plant in the backyard and ate it on her way to daycare. At the end of the car ride, all he could see was juice and seeds on the car seat straps.
Then one afternoon I was on the back deck and caught a glimpse of Lucy out of the corner of my eye. Standing on her tiptoes, I watched her stretch and strain to reach a bright red tomato high up on a plant growing in a container. It’s an image brightly burned in my memory now – my girl, dress blowing the breeze, grabbing a homegrown tomato on a late summer day.
The tomato plant was given to me by a neighbor, so I don’t recall the variety, but it’s bigger than a cherry tomato and smaller than the slicing kind. The main thing is – it is the perfect size for a toddler’s hand.
That’s how I figured out that “mamo” means tomato.
It was also a gentle reminder to keep offering Lucy a variety of foods. I’m determined (or maybe just stubborn) to make sure that my daughter does not slide down the slippery slope that says all kids only eat macaroni and cheese, hotdogs, and chicken tenders.
Research shows that you may need to offer a food 10-15 times before a child will eat it. And I’m getting close to the upper limit for broccoli, but I’m not giving up because Lucy surprises me all the time. Two nights ago she was eating grilled eggplant from my plate and last night she wanted my roasted asparagus. I had not originally offered her any because I never thought she’d like it. And boy, was I wrong.
So now when Lucy says “mamo”, I know she’s talking about tomatoes. I can’t wait for the next discovery.
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Eggplant and Opportunities
This story starts with eggplant, or berenjena in Spanish. It's a simple vegetable, popular in many regions or the world, but relatively unknown in Latin America. The organization I work for, Children First, runs the Emma Family Resource Center in West Asheville. The Resource Center gets fresh produce donated from MANNA FoodBank and eggplant is a regular item in the food pantry. But what to do with all the eggplant?
Every Friday afternoon we have a Latino playgroup at the Resource Center. Moms and kids have been coming for years to play, share food, have classes, and build community. And lately they started asking Maria, the coordinator, about how to lose weight, what are healthy cooking oils, and how to cook eggplant.
So Maria and I organized a cooking demonstration with Chef Laurey Masterton from Laurey’s Catering & Gourmet to Go (I’ve written about her before, she’s a generous friend to our agencies). We told Laurey the questions the women had about cooking. In addition to how to cook eggplant, they wanted to know what to do with the greens that are so popular in this area. They also asked how to prepare pasta without the heavy cream sauce that they were used to.
On a rainy Friday afternoon, Laurey showed up at the Resource Center with fresh eggplant, ripe tomatoes, and bundles of crisp greens like rainbow chard, kale, and collards. Women with children slowly trickled in and the local TV station even showed up. We eventually had three moms and a handful of kids. It turned out to be a small, but eager, group.
Maria translated everything in to Spanish while Laurey cooked, talked, and told stories. Laurey started by showing how to cook the greens. She explained that in Western North Carolina, as in much of the south, it is typical to cook greens for hours and hours with pieces of pork meat or fat. However, she prefers them prepared lightly and quickly. She sautéed Swiss chard with olive oil, garlic and topped it with lemon juice. The colors stayed bright and the greens were crisp. The women hesitantly took bites and said they liked it. She cooked kale with a little bit of bacon and braised it until just tender. One woman waited the whole class to try the kale.
For the “berenjena” lesson, it started with roasting a whole eggplant. After cutting it in half and rubbing it with olive oil, it went in to a hot oven for a half hour or so. While the eggplant cooked, Laurey showed the women how to make a fresh pasta sauce out of whole tomatoes. Simple ingredients like chopped tomatoes, onion, pepper, and basil were cooked quickly for the sauce. She served it over rotini pasta. Not only did the moms go back for seconds, they called their kids over to try it and an older sibling fed her baby sister the pasta too. This is what I mean about rebuilding the family ties to food. It can start this simply.
Once the eggplant was soft, Laurey scooped out the flesh and mashed it up with chopped onion, red bell pepper, basil, salt and some vinegar. It was her version of an Italian capponata. The women were surprised. They loved it. They went back again and again to dip crackers in to the eggplant appetizer. Children tried it and my own toddler, Lucy, even asked for more.
It’s tempting to try to recreate the recipes here. To try to describe how Laurey cooked and how things tasted. But it was really about the women being curious. Wanting to know how to cook a bit healthier. How to cook greens or eggplant or a lighter pasta sauce. In the familiar setting of the Resource Center, they watched a chef cook, tasted new food, and asked questions. I don’t want to make too much out of it, but it could be the start of something new. Their children were there, hearing, and tasting the same new foods and enjoying the flavors.
But what really got me was that the learning wasn’t only for the women. The camera man from the local TV station was right there with us. He tried the greens and couldn’t believe how good they were although they were cooked minutes, instead of hours. On his way out the door, he said he was going to go buy greens and cook them for his wife that night. She said she’d never believe they didn’t have to be cooked all day long. It reminds me to stay open – open to the possibilities and open to opportunities to learn.
Every Friday afternoon we have a Latino playgroup at the Resource Center. Moms and kids have been coming for years to play, share food, have classes, and build community. And lately they started asking Maria, the coordinator, about how to lose weight, what are healthy cooking oils, and how to cook eggplant.
So Maria and I organized a cooking demonstration with Chef Laurey Masterton from Laurey’s Catering & Gourmet to Go (I’ve written about her before, she’s a generous friend to our agencies). We told Laurey the questions the women had about cooking. In addition to how to cook eggplant, they wanted to know what to do with the greens that are so popular in this area. They also asked how to prepare pasta without the heavy cream sauce that they were used to.
On a rainy Friday afternoon, Laurey showed up at the Resource Center with fresh eggplant, ripe tomatoes, and bundles of crisp greens like rainbow chard, kale, and collards. Women with children slowly trickled in and the local TV station even showed up. We eventually had three moms and a handful of kids. It turned out to be a small, but eager, group.
Maria translated everything in to Spanish while Laurey cooked, talked, and told stories. Laurey started by showing how to cook the greens. She explained that in Western North Carolina, as in much of the south, it is typical to cook greens for hours and hours with pieces of pork meat or fat. However, she prefers them prepared lightly and quickly. She sautéed Swiss chard with olive oil, garlic and topped it with lemon juice. The colors stayed bright and the greens were crisp. The women hesitantly took bites and said they liked it. She cooked kale with a little bit of bacon and braised it until just tender. One woman waited the whole class to try the kale.
For the “berenjena” lesson, it started with roasting a whole eggplant. After cutting it in half and rubbing it with olive oil, it went in to a hot oven for a half hour or so. While the eggplant cooked, Laurey showed the women how to make a fresh pasta sauce out of whole tomatoes. Simple ingredients like chopped tomatoes, onion, pepper, and basil were cooked quickly for the sauce. She served it over rotini pasta. Not only did the moms go back for seconds, they called their kids over to try it and an older sibling fed her baby sister the pasta too. This is what I mean about rebuilding the family ties to food. It can start this simply.
Once the eggplant was soft, Laurey scooped out the flesh and mashed it up with chopped onion, red bell pepper, basil, salt and some vinegar. It was her version of an Italian capponata. The women were surprised. They loved it. They went back again and again to dip crackers in to the eggplant appetizer. Children tried it and my own toddler, Lucy, even asked for more.
It’s tempting to try to recreate the recipes here. To try to describe how Laurey cooked and how things tasted. But it was really about the women being curious. Wanting to know how to cook a bit healthier. How to cook greens or eggplant or a lighter pasta sauce. In the familiar setting of the Resource Center, they watched a chef cook, tasted new food, and asked questions. I don’t want to make too much out of it, but it could be the start of something new. Their children were there, hearing, and tasting the same new foods and enjoying the flavors.
But what really got me was that the learning wasn’t only for the women. The camera man from the local TV station was right there with us. He tried the greens and couldn’t believe how good they were although they were cooked minutes, instead of hours. On his way out the door, he said he was going to go buy greens and cook them for his wife that night. She said she’d never believe they didn’t have to be cooked all day long. It reminds me to stay open – open to the possibilities and open to opportunities to learn.
Friday, June 30, 2006
Role Models
When asked how to help kids eat healthy and be active, one of the first recommendations is usually for adults to be role models. But sometimes the tables are turned and the children become role models for their parents. Here are two stories from western North Carolina.
Last fall, I joined a group of K-2 students on a farm field trip organized by Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project (ASAP). The kids spent the morning at Flying Cloud Farm in Fairview – where they got to see, touch, taste, and smell as many things as possible. They munched on fresh greens, fennel, and peppers. They picked okra off the plant and ate it raw – something that the adults were even slow to try.
Then in the afternoon, they went down the road to Spring House Meats to learn about raising grass-fed, free range cows, chickens, lamb and pigs. They sat in a cow pasture to write in their journals and draw pictures.
The next day, the class visited Laurey’s Catering, where Chef Laurey Masterton helped the kids cook all the things they had picked and tasted the day before. They made individual pizzas on homemade crust, topped with fresh basil and peppers. They made apple turnovers. But the surprise hit turned out to be the okra. The kids ate it pickled and fried and even went back for seconds until all the okra was gone.
One girl was so taken by the whole okra experience, that she went home and begged her mother to make okra. The mother wrote a letter to Chef Laurey about the experience. She bought okra for the family and they tried it baked, fried and boiled…all because this one young girl had a great experience eating okra in the field and at the restaurant. The child became a role model for her family.
Similarly, another elementary school group went to visit Spinning Spider Creamery in Madison County. They make goat cheese, so this was a chance for the class to learn about goats and cheese making. Of course, they also got to sample some of Spinning Spider’s delicious creations. (The Rosemary Fig is one of my favorites.)
Last week I heard Chris Owen, the owner of Spinning Spider, describe what happened when a boy from the class was at a farmer’s market with his mother. Chris said she saw the boy pulling his mother toward her stand, saying “This is the cheese!” He begged her to buy some, saying that it was so good, he had tried it on the farm and liked it. It seems that his mother didn’t believe him or wasn’t interested in goat cheese. She resisted his pleas for a while, but finally gave in and got some. This boy became a role model for his family too.
A co-worker told me the other day, that’s it’s really not rocket science. And it's not. Getting kids to eat better can start with helping kids have great experiences with food. And then they can be the role models for their families – and what a great role for them to play.
Last fall, I joined a group of K-2 students on a farm field trip organized by Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project (ASAP). The kids spent the morning at Flying Cloud Farm in Fairview – where they got to see, touch, taste, and smell as many things as possible. They munched on fresh greens, fennel, and peppers. They picked okra off the plant and ate it raw – something that the adults were even slow to try.
Then in the afternoon, they went down the road to Spring House Meats to learn about raising grass-fed, free range cows, chickens, lamb and pigs. They sat in a cow pasture to write in their journals and draw pictures.
The next day, the class visited Laurey’s Catering, where Chef Laurey Masterton helped the kids cook all the things they had picked and tasted the day before. They made individual pizzas on homemade crust, topped with fresh basil and peppers. They made apple turnovers. But the surprise hit turned out to be the okra. The kids ate it pickled and fried and even went back for seconds until all the okra was gone.
One girl was so taken by the whole okra experience, that she went home and begged her mother to make okra. The mother wrote a letter to Chef Laurey about the experience. She bought okra for the family and they tried it baked, fried and boiled…all because this one young girl had a great experience eating okra in the field and at the restaurant. The child became a role model for her family.
Similarly, another elementary school group went to visit Spinning Spider Creamery in Madison County. They make goat cheese, so this was a chance for the class to learn about goats and cheese making. Of course, they also got to sample some of Spinning Spider’s delicious creations. (The Rosemary Fig is one of my favorites.)
Last week I heard Chris Owen, the owner of Spinning Spider, describe what happened when a boy from the class was at a farmer’s market with his mother. Chris said she saw the boy pulling his mother toward her stand, saying “This is the cheese!” He begged her to buy some, saying that it was so good, he had tried it on the farm and liked it. It seems that his mother didn’t believe him or wasn’t interested in goat cheese. She resisted his pleas for a while, but finally gave in and got some. This boy became a role model for his family too.
A co-worker told me the other day, that’s it’s really not rocket science. And it's not. Getting kids to eat better can start with helping kids have great experiences with food. And then they can be the role models for their families – and what a great role for them to play.
Thursday, May 04, 2006
Filling the void?
It’s in the news again – childhood overweight. But this time it’s teenagers talking about what to do, and they came up with the idea of a “shock and awe” campaign to scare people in to action.
The Young Epidemiology Scholars (YES) is a scholarship competition sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. According to a recent article, 25% of this year’s 60 finalists focused their research projects on weight, body image, and exercise. And that’s exactly what needs to happen – get teens talking about what will motivate them to take a healthier approach to food and physical activity.
Several students commented on kids needing to fill a void in their lives – something, a passion or a hobby – because often it’s food that fills that void. It’s no surprise that one teen researcher found that high school students “who are overweight are more likely to be unhappy or insecure in their dating relationships and friendships.”
Kids are filling the void with food. It’s not just adults who eat for emotional reasons. This insight is so important. For those of us trying to craft messages to kids that will get them to adopt healthy behaviors, it’s a glimpse behind the curtain. We will not reach them if we talk about eating healthy and getting physical activity to avoid heart disease and type II diabetes. Instead, how do we communicate in a way that encourages healthy habits that lead to friendships and prom dates, but without implying the need to be skinny to be popular? It's a fine line.
If kids are healthy and feel good about themselves on the inside, won’t that come through on the outside? Again, it’s about respect. We need to ask kids what will work for them, and then be willing to listen to their answers and act on them. We want to respect children and youth – talk to them in their language, communicate in a way that reflects their reality and culture.
Or maybe we need to stop and ask why do kids today have a void in their lives in the first place? Kids are sitting around eating junk food to try and fill an empty space inside themselves. It goes back to what I wrote in an earlier post about the frenetic pace of life today. Kids are scheduled and shuffled from class to class, from school to home or after-school activities, eating more and more meals on the run, and spending more time in front a TV or computer screen. Where is free time? Where is quality time with friends and family? Where are deep connections and open space? Where do kids fill themselves up with something besides food?
The Young Epidemiology Scholars (YES) is a scholarship competition sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. According to a recent article, 25% of this year’s 60 finalists focused their research projects on weight, body image, and exercise. And that’s exactly what needs to happen – get teens talking about what will motivate them to take a healthier approach to food and physical activity.
Several students commented on kids needing to fill a void in their lives – something, a passion or a hobby – because often it’s food that fills that void. It’s no surprise that one teen researcher found that high school students “who are overweight are more likely to be unhappy or insecure in their dating relationships and friendships.”
Kids are filling the void with food. It’s not just adults who eat for emotional reasons. This insight is so important. For those of us trying to craft messages to kids that will get them to adopt healthy behaviors, it’s a glimpse behind the curtain. We will not reach them if we talk about eating healthy and getting physical activity to avoid heart disease and type II diabetes. Instead, how do we communicate in a way that encourages healthy habits that lead to friendships and prom dates, but without implying the need to be skinny to be popular? It's a fine line.
If kids are healthy and feel good about themselves on the inside, won’t that come through on the outside? Again, it’s about respect. We need to ask kids what will work for them, and then be willing to listen to their answers and act on them. We want to respect children and youth – talk to them in their language, communicate in a way that reflects their reality and culture.
Or maybe we need to stop and ask why do kids today have a void in their lives in the first place? Kids are sitting around eating junk food to try and fill an empty space inside themselves. It goes back to what I wrote in an earlier post about the frenetic pace of life today. Kids are scheduled and shuffled from class to class, from school to home or after-school activities, eating more and more meals on the run, and spending more time in front a TV or computer screen. Where is free time? Where is quality time with friends and family? Where are deep connections and open space? Where do kids fill themselves up with something besides food?
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Food Family Tree
I just read an interview with Michael Pollan, author of The Botany of Desire and more recently, The Omnivore’s Dilemma.
What struck me was his comment on food stories. He said, “Stories are very powerful ways to connect with people, and one of the problems with our food is that the stories have been removed from them. The stories of how they were made and where they came from, to the extent that you can restore people’s knowledge that there is a connection between what they’re eating.”
I was immediately reminded of a series of interviews I did for work with children and adults about nutrition and physical activity. I opened each interview with an exercise I created called the Food Family Tree. I asked each person to draw their family tree and talk about the connections each family member has to food. At first, most people said they had no connection. Nothing. Couldn’t think of anything. But as we talked and I asked them more questions about their family, the connections revealed themselves.
A high school student told me about her mother who grew up working on a tobacco farm in the summers. She realized she did have a connection to the rich agricultural heritage of Western North Carolina.
There is a burgeoning immigrant population in Asheville and I learned about the food experiences of young Latino, Ukrainian and Moldovan children. Latino children told me about family members who worked in restaurants. A Moldovan girl described her family’s farm and orchard in Moldova in beautiful detail.
But the interview I remember the most was with a woman who started out skeptical, uncertain if she would say the right things or give me the correct information. On the surface, she seemed far removed from food and agriculture. However, as our conversation unfolded, she remembered family memories long forgotten. She told me about shelling peas with her grandmother on the side porch, a breeze blowing and laundry drying on the line. She recalled the easy conversation and slow pace and the pile of peas. It moved her deeply to remember that experience and she seemed proud to learn that she too, had a food family tree.
It gets me thinking about my own family. My childhood memories are planting peppers and tomatoes with my father. And watching the spring onions grow. We always had a small area of the backyard dedicated to a few summer vegetables. I remember potatoes and squash too. I can still see my grandfather, Pappy, pulling out fresh spring onions, cleaning them, dipping them in salt and eating them raw. As a kid I thought he was crazy, but now I understand his simple pleasure of eating a freshly picked vegetable that he grew for himself.
Think back through your own family history. Did anyone grow up on a farm? Who worked at a restaurant? Who made your favorite food? Who planted potatoes or spring onions? Where does your food family tree take you?
What struck me was his comment on food stories. He said, “Stories are very powerful ways to connect with people, and one of the problems with our food is that the stories have been removed from them. The stories of how they were made and where they came from, to the extent that you can restore people’s knowledge that there is a connection between what they’re eating.”
I was immediately reminded of a series of interviews I did for work with children and adults about nutrition and physical activity. I opened each interview with an exercise I created called the Food Family Tree. I asked each person to draw their family tree and talk about the connections each family member has to food. At first, most people said they had no connection. Nothing. Couldn’t think of anything. But as we talked and I asked them more questions about their family, the connections revealed themselves.
A high school student told me about her mother who grew up working on a tobacco farm in the summers. She realized she did have a connection to the rich agricultural heritage of Western North Carolina.
There is a burgeoning immigrant population in Asheville and I learned about the food experiences of young Latino, Ukrainian and Moldovan children. Latino children told me about family members who worked in restaurants. A Moldovan girl described her family’s farm and orchard in Moldova in beautiful detail.
But the interview I remember the most was with a woman who started out skeptical, uncertain if she would say the right things or give me the correct information. On the surface, she seemed far removed from food and agriculture. However, as our conversation unfolded, she remembered family memories long forgotten. She told me about shelling peas with her grandmother on the side porch, a breeze blowing and laundry drying on the line. She recalled the easy conversation and slow pace and the pile of peas. It moved her deeply to remember that experience and she seemed proud to learn that she too, had a food family tree.
It gets me thinking about my own family. My childhood memories are planting peppers and tomatoes with my father. And watching the spring onions grow. We always had a small area of the backyard dedicated to a few summer vegetables. I remember potatoes and squash too. I can still see my grandfather, Pappy, pulling out fresh spring onions, cleaning them, dipping them in salt and eating them raw. As a kid I thought he was crazy, but now I understand his simple pleasure of eating a freshly picked vegetable that he grew for himself.
Think back through your own family history. Did anyone grow up on a farm? Who worked at a restaurant? Who made your favorite food? Who planted potatoes or spring onions? Where does your food family tree take you?
Thursday, April 13, 2006
The Respect Connection
Childhood overweight and lack of parental oversight. Less physical activity and more screen time. Fast food and fad diets. Eating more and moving less.
Parents, teachers, community members, public health officials, medical professionals, non-profit workers, day care providers, police officers, farmers, chefs…we are all part of the childhood overweight epidemic. At first glance, it may seem like it’s just a problem for families. But food, family, health and culture are interconnected, to say the least.
And it’s finally hit pop-culture, prime time TV. This week TLC premiered “Honey We’re Killing the Kids”. It’s like the Supernanny, but for nutrition and physical activity. The Supernanny goes in to a home and helps teach parents and children about discipline, behavior and good parenting techniques. “Honey We’re Killing the Kids” does much the same thing, but focuses on a family’s eating and physical activity behaviors. The first show featured three young boys; two were already overweight, while the youngest one was skinny. But he wasn’t skinny in a healthy way – he was thin because he was malnourished – eating about a pound of sugar a day. The family lived on fried food, take out and pre-packaged sugary snacks. Because of the frenetic pace of our lives today, parents have so little time to spend with their children that when they do see their kids, they will do anything to make them happy. If it takes French fries and chicken fingers at a chain restaurant to feel like quality time, then that’s what families do.
How have we gotten to this point? The point where TV shows have to scare families into learning how to feed their kids nutritious food and spend quality time together as a family? What’s missing from our culture today?
The Respect Connection.
All the talk about the childhood overweight epidemic is missing the main point – it’s about respect. Kids know when they are being respected. And you can show respect through food.
Think about the difference between opening a can of green beans and heating them in the microwave, versus freshly picked green beans lightly steamed and served to the whole family. Imagine two day old spaghetti on the school lunch line, compared to a soup made from scratch in the cafeteria kitchen and a salad bar stocked with fresh, locally grown produce. Picture a family piling in the minivan to go to the closest chain restaurant, waiting a half hour for a table, then ordering fried food and having to talk over loud music. Then picture a family sitting down to a meal together in their home. The kids helped make the salad and set the table. They talk and can hear one another.
Which scenarios feel more respectful to you?
Good health and nutrition also means respect for the environment. Kids need to know where their food comes from – that carrots grow in the ground, not on the supermarket shelf. When kids plant seeds and watch them grow, they begin to appreciate – to respect – the earth and what it can provide for them.
Fighting the obesity epidemic also comes down to respecting yourself. Feeding your body well and getting exercise means you will feel better. And it gets real simple for kids. Eat well, play well. If you have good food to fuel your body, you can run and jump and play longer and stronger.
One of my day jobs is coordinating a childhood obesity prevention program in Asheville, North Carolina. (My other day, night and all the time job is being a mom to my 14 month old daughter.) Three non-profits joined forces to help children and families achieve a healthy weight, with particular focus on reaching out to low-income and immigrant families. The organizations leading this initiative are Children First, Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project and MANNA FoodBank.
And we do the most amazing things. Our programs include: school gardens, promoting Farm to School programs, providing backpacks of fresh produce for school children to take home to their families, after-school meals and nutrition education, community distributions of fresh produce and providing healthy options at a food pantry. Early on we joked that our mission was to rebuild the family table, but now I don’t think we’re so far off.
The respect connection. That’s what I’m here to talk about. I’ll explore each of these respect threads in more detail and share stories about the inspiring children, teachers and families I meet along the way.
Thanks for reading The Respect Connection.
Parents, teachers, community members, public health officials, medical professionals, non-profit workers, day care providers, police officers, farmers, chefs…we are all part of the childhood overweight epidemic. At first glance, it may seem like it’s just a problem for families. But food, family, health and culture are interconnected, to say the least.
And it’s finally hit pop-culture, prime time TV. This week TLC premiered “Honey We’re Killing the Kids”. It’s like the Supernanny, but for nutrition and physical activity. The Supernanny goes in to a home and helps teach parents and children about discipline, behavior and good parenting techniques. “Honey We’re Killing the Kids” does much the same thing, but focuses on a family’s eating and physical activity behaviors. The first show featured three young boys; two were already overweight, while the youngest one was skinny. But he wasn’t skinny in a healthy way – he was thin because he was malnourished – eating about a pound of sugar a day. The family lived on fried food, take out and pre-packaged sugary snacks. Because of the frenetic pace of our lives today, parents have so little time to spend with their children that when they do see their kids, they will do anything to make them happy. If it takes French fries and chicken fingers at a chain restaurant to feel like quality time, then that’s what families do.
How have we gotten to this point? The point where TV shows have to scare families into learning how to feed their kids nutritious food and spend quality time together as a family? What’s missing from our culture today?
The Respect Connection.
All the talk about the childhood overweight epidemic is missing the main point – it’s about respect. Kids know when they are being respected. And you can show respect through food.
Think about the difference between opening a can of green beans and heating them in the microwave, versus freshly picked green beans lightly steamed and served to the whole family. Imagine two day old spaghetti on the school lunch line, compared to a soup made from scratch in the cafeteria kitchen and a salad bar stocked with fresh, locally grown produce. Picture a family piling in the minivan to go to the closest chain restaurant, waiting a half hour for a table, then ordering fried food and having to talk over loud music. Then picture a family sitting down to a meal together in their home. The kids helped make the salad and set the table. They talk and can hear one another.
Which scenarios feel more respectful to you?
Good health and nutrition also means respect for the environment. Kids need to know where their food comes from – that carrots grow in the ground, not on the supermarket shelf. When kids plant seeds and watch them grow, they begin to appreciate – to respect – the earth and what it can provide for them.
Fighting the obesity epidemic also comes down to respecting yourself. Feeding your body well and getting exercise means you will feel better. And it gets real simple for kids. Eat well, play well. If you have good food to fuel your body, you can run and jump and play longer and stronger.
One of my day jobs is coordinating a childhood obesity prevention program in Asheville, North Carolina. (My other day, night and all the time job is being a mom to my 14 month old daughter.) Three non-profits joined forces to help children and families achieve a healthy weight, with particular focus on reaching out to low-income and immigrant families. The organizations leading this initiative are Children First, Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project and MANNA FoodBank.
And we do the most amazing things. Our programs include: school gardens, promoting Farm to School programs, providing backpacks of fresh produce for school children to take home to their families, after-school meals and nutrition education, community distributions of fresh produce and providing healthy options at a food pantry. Early on we joked that our mission was to rebuild the family table, but now I don’t think we’re so far off.
The respect connection. That’s what I’m here to talk about. I’ll explore each of these respect threads in more detail and share stories about the inspiring children, teachers and families I meet along the way.
Thanks for reading The Respect Connection.
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