Caryn Hartglass It's All About Food

I was on the radio show It's All About Food on November 24. We had a great discussion about eating whole foods, nutrition for kids and families and a whole bunch of other things related to eating more healthfully. If you're interested, you can listen or download the podcast here.

Check out this post for books that promote healthful eating.

Books to promote healthy eating

I was on Caryn Hartglass's It's All About Food radio show today talking about helping kids and families to eat more healthfully. She asked me about my job as a library technician at an elementary school library. She wanted to know what books would I recommend to promote healthful eating . Well, the first one that popped into my head was Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Suess--I like the message of not being afraid to try to new foods. Later, as I thought over the show, it hit me that encouringing kids to eat green eggs and ham might have offended listeners who were most likely vegetarian or vegan. I was thinking though . . . since the ham is green, perhaps it's veggie ham???? Anyway, while I stand by the message of encouraging kids to try new foods in that book, here are some more veg-friendly titles you might want to try with your kids:

I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato by Lauren Child
Monsters Don't Eat Broccoli by Barbara Jean Hicks
Little Pea by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Gregory, the Terrible Eater by Mitchell Sharmot (not vegetarian but still a good one)
To Market, To Market by Anne MIranda (one of my favorites . . . funny, promotes whole foods and not eating animals)
Making Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert
Grow It, Cook It by Jill Bloomfield
Eat Healthy, Feel Great by William Sears

And for kids' cookbooks, we love Mollie Katzen's books like Honest Pretzels, etc.

I'm sure there are lots more out there, but here are a few off the top of my head. Feel free to comment with other suggestions.

The HOT Lunch Box

Check out The HOT Lunch Box in the November issue of VegFamily Magazine. I had such a good response to my post about using thermoses that I expanded into a full article -- recipes included too.

Halloween and Candy

We're gearing up for Halloween here -- we live in a rural area so I don't need to worry about having candy in the house for trick or treaters . . . . but we do go into town on Halloween eve so my daughters can trick or treat with their friends. As you might imagine, the bags of candy--loaded with high fructose corn syrup (made from GE corn), artificial dyes and chemicals makes me cringe . . . but luckily, we have a Halloween Fairy! 

My daughters choose a few pieces of candy to keep but the rest is left by the door for the fairy who takes the candy and in return leaves a gift for the girls. The more candy they leave, the better the present they'll get. The presents have been everything from stuffed animals to books (my kids are reading fanatics so that's not as boring as it sounds), however, the fairy always includes a brand new toothbrush!

Take action to improve school meals

Here's a letter I just sent out to a list of people involved in revising the Child Nutrition Act:

When revising the Child Nutrition Act this year, I ask you to please consider that good nutrition will actually help our children succeed in school. The food that kids eat affects their mental as well as physical well-being.  

Schools need increased funding so they can get away from cheap processed food and start serving whole foods that are free of pesticides, genetically-engineered ingredients, chemicals, dyes, factory farmed meats, and foods that are not loaded with sugar and sodium. Optimally, the Act would provide incentives that will encourage school food service departments to meet these higher nutrition standards.  

Lunch should be a learning opportunity for children just like every other class they attend--a time when they learn about real food and good nutrition. As obesity continues to rise and many children are being left behind in academics, it's imperative that children be fed nourishing, wholesome, healthful meals. Thank you for considering my statements.

If you want to let legislators know what you think, go to this link and they'll email your letter to the appropriate people.

ADA Report on Vegetarian Diet

The ADA just released a paper concluding that (well-planned) vegetarian diets can help prevent and treat conditions such as heart disease, cancer, obesity and diabetes. More info.

For tips on transitioning to a vegetarian or vegan diet, listen to my foodcast A Million Cooks.

Pesticides in food

Here are some interesting facts right from the US Government:

- The US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports that one of the main sources of pesticide exposure for US children comes from the food they eat.

- Over 400 chemicals can be regularly used in conventional farming as biocides to kill weeds and insects. For example, apples can be sprayed up to 16 times with 36 different pesticides.

- According to the EPA's "Guidelines for Carcinogen Risk Assessment," children receive 50% of their lifetime cancer risks in the first 2 years of life.

Check out this fact sheet from Organic Consumers Association for more information and references.

Also, here's a great site called  What's In My Food where you can search a food and find out what pesticides are in them. 

And the moral is . . . .  buy organic or from local growers who grow chemical-free.

Affects of TV on children's eating habits

Listen to my short foodcast about the affects of watching TV on your children's eating habits.

Easy and Healthy Snacks for the Whole Family

If your kids are anything like mine, they're starving when they come home from school. They need a nourishing snack to tide them over until dinner and fuel them for sports or dance practice. Midmorning snacks also help preschoolers and older kids get through the long morning until lunch. Most commercial snack foods like crackers, pretzels, chips, granola bars, and cookies—though convenient and filling—are often high in fat, salt, sugar and calories, contain few nutrients, and are expensive to boot. So what are the alternatives? Let's explore some ideas for nutritious snacks that are quick and easy for busy afternoons. 

See the rest of the article.

Suffolk County Bans BPA Plastics

Bisphenol A (BPA) —a chemical found in the linings of cans and in many plastic products, including sports bottles, food-storage containers and baby bottles—has potential links to a wide range of health effects. BPA has been linked to a variety of diseases including an increased risk of diseases or disorders of the brain, reproductive, and immune systems; recent studies have linked BPA exposure to problems with liver function testing, an increased risk of diabetes and heart disease, and interruptions in chemotherapy treatment; and BPA exposure has long been linked to hormonal disturbances. A study by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has shown that 93% of Americans excrete some BPA in their urine. New studies also show that BPA seems to stay in the body longer than previously believed. 

According to a press release from Consumers Union, New York's Suffolk County Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee passed legislation to protect babies and toddlers from ingesting BPA from beverage containers. BPA is found in the hard plastics used to make baby bottles and “sippy” cups, as well as in epoxy resins of many beverage containers. The decision makes it the first jurisdiction in the nation to ban BPA!

Consumers Union has repeatedly called on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ban the use of BPA in infant and children's products and food and beverage containers. The FDA already has enough scientific data to support such a ban but they continue to allow the products to remain on the market while they do further research. Several states, such as Oregon, Washington and California, and cities, such as Chicago are also considering the ban. In 2008, the Canadian government banned BPA use in baby bottles.

In August 2008, the FDA said BPA was safe for humans. But the agency only considered studies that had been financed by the plastics industry. At a recent Science Board Hearing, FDA tacitly acknowledged the serious health concerns regarding BPA, but the agency continues to defend their position that no public health safeguards should be implemented at this time.

CU was one of the first organizations to test and report on consumer products with BPA, and warned consumers about the potential risks almost a decade ago. Since CU's first study, more than a hundred studies have been published showing a wide range of adverse effects in animals at low doses of BPA, doses that approximate current levels circulating in the human population. CU recently tested "BPA-free" claims on bottles and has also published advice on how consumers can reduce their exposure to BPA. For more information, please visit the food section of http://www.greenerchoices.org.

10 ways to a healthier weight for your children and you

I've been presenting a new workshop that has been getting really good feedback from parents and kids on how to make informed food and lifestyle choices. I came up with this class to try to combat the increasing number of children and adults who are overweight. This article came out of that class: http://www.vegfamily.com/whole-family/fighting-childhood-obesity.htm

Farm to School Programs

My article entitled "Fresh Food Nation" about farm to school programs is in the current (July/August) issue of Mothering Magazine. In the article, I profile a few schools that have sucessful farm to school programs and also give information about how to get a program started at your school.

Mothering is available at most large natural foods stores and books stores. For info on how to subscribe, go to http://www.mothering.com/.

"Disease-Proof Your Child: Feeding Kids Right" by Joel Fuhrman, M.D.

In my books and workshops, I encourage parents to feed their children (and themselves) a whole foods diet made up of beans, whole grains, nuts and seeds, vegetables (especially dark green leafy ones like kale), and fruit - and to limit animal products if you eat them at all.

"Disease-Proof Your Child" by Joel Fuhrman pulls together the scientific studies that show the difference this kind of diet will make on your children now and in their future. Even what a mother eats when she's pregnant and breastfeeding can affect the future health of her children.

This book gives ample evidence and motiviation to steer clear of the typical American diet high in processed foods and fatty animal foods - as there is a clear link to those foods and cancer, diabetes, and many other diseases.

I highly recommend this book for it's excellent information - and after you are convinced of the need for a whole foods, plant-based diet - you can get my books for recipes and tips on how to prepare family meals using those ingredients.

Rethinking School Lunches

As childhood obesity and related disease continues to rise, it's becoming clear that we need to take measures to improve the health of our nation's kids. Most children spend a good part of their week in school or preschool, so that is an obvious place where changes can be made. Most school meals are apallingly unhealthy with entrees such as corn dogs, pizza pockets, and chicken nuggets (all loaded with sodium, fat, and chemicals) - and usually served with french fries for a vegetable.

Check out the March/April issue of Mothering Magazine where I have an article (School Food Renaissance) outlining how parents can have a say in their school's wellness policy and work toward changing the school lunch period to become another learning period in the day where children learn about good nutrition and eating habits.

I will also be hosting an online chat for Mothering on March 8, 2006 at 10 am PST (1 pm EST). The web site is www.mommychats.com and you can find more information about the chat on my site www.simplynaturalbooks.com or on www.mothering.com.

On the resource page of my web site, I also list many links to organizations and programs that can help you get healthier foods into your school. Many schools around the state have already started garden-to-table and other programs. Where I live in San Luis Obispo County, there is a new group working for change called SLO Grown Kids. If you are interested in finding out what this group is doing, contact rwilvert@sbcglobal.net or trevor.emelia@mindspring.com.