Editorial: Review all school food for nutritional value

Jan 08, 2008 @ 11:48 PM

The Herald-Dispatch

Amid concerns about problems with obesity and dental health among West Virginia schoolchildren, the Legislature will consider a new law to ban soft drinks and sugary snacks from all West Virginia schools.

According to The Associated Press, about 20 counties have similar, voluntary guidelines in place, but the legislation would make it mandatory in all 55 counties.

The bill would only allow the sale of water, fruit and vegetable juices, and some types of milk. It also would restrict snacks to fruits, vegetables, cheese, yogurt, nuts and seeds in servings of 200 calories or less. The measure is similar to a proposal being considered by the state Board of Education. (more…)

VANISHING OF THE BEES
Wow! We receive a lot of submissions of that would like their work to be featured in Organic Bytes, but this is honestly one of the best trailers we’ve seen in a while. As you’ve probably read about previously in Organic Bytes, vast numbers of bees are literally disappearing all around the world. This movie analyzes why this mysterious phenomenon is taking place and how dramatically it could impact the world’s food supply in the short term. As a note, the producers are also seeking donations to bring the movie to a wider audience. View this breath-taking trailer here:
Watch: http://www.vanishingbees.com/

Two Angry Moms:The Genesis Of The Movie And The Movement

Posted January 4, 2008 | 12:12 PM (EST)

When I set out to make a documentary on school food several years ago, I was advised to steer clear of involvement in my own school district. Why? Because, my advisors advised, I would get so bogged down in local politics, that I would never have time to make the movie.

I heeded their counsel and stayed under the radar in my hometown, choosing instead to travel the country with my camera, weave a website and foment revolution on a national scale. After three arduous years of research, production, editing and promoting, Two Angry Moms is now available in living color for all to see.

Of course, I’ve been out-ed in my community. Cancelled at the 11th hour from a speaking engagement at the Intermediate School’s PTO meeting two years ago, this year I spoke at a Middle School PTO meeting, and, in a daring maneuver, I was also invited to speak with the district’s Wellness Committee. (more…)

www.baltimoresun.com

Kids take steps to become healthy

To promote healthy living, a program rewards youngsters who, over time, cover the distance of a marathon

By Meredith Cohn, Sun reporter – January 3, 2008

A few rounds in the gym. A jog to school. A lap around a lake.

With a few hundred steps here and a few hundred steps there, about 30 students at Northwood Elementary School are each aiming to log 26.2 miles by spring. That’s a marathon – an entire adult-sized, sweat-producing, medal-earning marathon.

These kids and close to 2,000 others at 15 Baltimore City elementary schools and five Baltimore County schools are working toward that Olympic-sized goal as part of a new program that prods youngsters to change their increasingly sedentary and sometimes dangerously unhealthy ways.

The effort, called Marathon Kids, launched locally last month, and some kids immediately took to the challenge. (more…)

Posted on Tue, Jan. 01, 2008

It’s a windy, overcast morning better spent in cozy confines, but the second-graders in Maren Roedenbeck’s class are busy digging holes in a raised soil bed at Carlos Finlay Elementary in West Miami-Dade. With their garden gloves and spades they look — and perhaps even sound — like pros.”Holy moly! Look at this rock.”

“You gotta dig deeper.”

“Take it out of the container, dummy.”

Roedenbeck’s class is participating in Plant A Thousand Gardens Collaborative Nutrition Initiative, a pilot program at five Miami-Dade public schools that hopes to use edible gardens to teach children math, health, science, writing, social studies — and change their families’ eating habits along the way. (more…)