December 18, 2008

Making School Meals a Priority with the “Department of Food”

by Jean Saunders, HSC School Wellness Director
Last week in the opinion section of The New York Times, Nicholas Kristof posed a great question, “Who will be Obama’s Secretary of Food? “

Kristoff reminds us that 100 years ago, when about a third of the nation’s population were involved with agriculture in some way, it made sense to have a department of Agriculture. Today, less than 2 percent of Americans are famers, but 100 percent of us eat. Perhaps our nation would be better served, Kristof suggests (as others have), by a “Department of Food” rather than a “Department of Agriculture.” (more…)

Op-Ed Columnist

Miracle Tax Diet

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

When the human body was evolving, almost the only things we drank were breast milk for the first few years and then water, water and more water.

It would obviously have been bad if we had evolved to feel full when water was sloshing about our stomachs because then we wouldn’t have eaten our fill the next time we speared a mastodon. Today, the unfortunate result is that if you drink a bottle of 7-Up, you still don’t feel full — the body treats the liquid as empty calories, like water — and so you won’t eat any less the next time you spear a Big Mac.

That has presented a huge problem in an age of sugary drinks, and some scholars believe they have become a major source of obesity. That’s why the new soda tax proposed by Gov. David Paterson of New York is such a breakthrough. (more…)

South Coast schools offer food for thought

By Greg Thomas [ greg@hmbreview.com ]One semester into a new food program, teachers and administrators at Pescadero schools have noticed a change for the better in the classroom atmosphere.

The La Honda-Pescadero School District adopted new menus at its four South Coast facilities at the beginning of this school year. The idea is to buy organic, locally grown foods in season and to cut out processed and frozen ones. Now, four months later, parents, educators and students, some initially worried the new food program would be hard to swallow, have reported it more than palatable.

Pescadero High School Principal Amy Wooliever, a 17-year employee of the school district, says the “radical shift” from chicken nuggets to carrot sticks was an adjustment for students but now “raises morale at the school, for sure.”

Students at the high school seem more upbeat, a change Wooliever attributes to eating healthy food. Though she couldn’t produce any quantifiable evidence of student improvement — such as a higher overall grade-point average or fewer referrals to her office — Wooliever notes “a calmness” in the students, and she’s not alone. (more…)

A new podcast…

Chefs Ann & Kate banter about Beans and Beverages.

 

 Beans and Beverages [12:51m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

District hires consultant for $120,000

By Vanessa Miller (Contact)
Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Robin Luff,middle, looks at her husband, Kevin, while cooking dinner with their two sons, Kerrick, 11, left, and Aidan, 9, not pictured, at their home in Boulder on Wednesday. The Luffs donated $100,000 to the Boulder Valley School District school-food overhaul program.

Lily Copeland, right, taunts fellow fifth-grader John Carder-Gibb with a brownie Wednesday during lunch at Creekside Elementary School. Stephanie Davis, for the Camera

Wanna swap?

The Boulder Valley School District this week hired a consultant to help revamp its nutrition-services program. Below are examples of what school lunches offer today and what they could offer after a new scratch-cooking model is in place. (more…)