I love Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution show. If you haven't seen this yet, follow this link and watch it: ABC.com It is a real eye opener for all and you will see why I chose this title after watching the first episode.
The premise of this show is to educate people on what it means to "eat right" and to develop the palates of children by changing their current eating habits. Jamie Oliver is attempting to open the eyes of educators, parents and the government to help develop better food programs in our school systems. He considers budget, availability and preparation. This is a powerful movement and one that I am VERY passionate about...French fries are NOT a vegetable.
I believe with all of my heart that if people really knew what they were consuming and/or feeding our children, they would not do it. A big reason that I started blogging was to help those I love eat better one change at a time. I am absolutely appalled by the school systems in this country and what they are feeding our kids. There is a significant age difference between myself and my little brother and I was disgusted by his hot lunch menu in 2000. Now in 2010, things have not changed but in fact are worse.
The food choices provided in our school systems are a serious health risk and with diabetes and obesity on the rise, we can not compromise on what we choose for our families to consume. Please take a moment to consider these shocking statistics from the American Diabetes Association website:
- 23.6 million children and adults in the United States have diabetes
- Almost one in every 400 to 600 children and adolescents has type 1 diabetes
- 2 million adolescents (or 1 in 6 overweight adolescents) aged 12-19 have pre-diabetes
Although Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution is a large scale movement, change starts small with each choice we make. Understand that transition begins with small changes; overwhelming yourself and your family with a lifestyle overhaul is unrealistic and setting yourself up for failure. I have included tips below to help you get on the right track and I am always available to discuss this topic further. Email me anytime at sugarlipslifestyletips@gmail.com
- Eat fresh: Stop buying prepackaged dinners, frozen meals and boxed meals
- Use fresh herbs and spices: Incorporate fresh flavor into each dish. You can grow your own or buy them from your local market.You will be amazed at the difference!
- Eat less meat: Swap out two meals a week with all veggie dishes. Be creative. My favorite is fresh tomatoes and chopped basil cooked in garlic infused olive oil over pasta with freshly grated Parmesan.
- Eat when you are hungry: Going too long in between meals can increase your insulin levels and cause your body to hold on to fat. Snacking in moderation with healthy fresh choices such as an apple with peanut butter or an oz. of almonds can help lead to weight loss.
Cyn
I would have to agree with you 100% that ones diet has a huge effect on ones life. The better the diet the less depression, obesity and sugar diabiets. Most people would have to say that they cannot afford to eat healthy or as far as they know they are eating healthy.
ReplyDeleteEating healthy can be very expensive to most people. When someone shops to eat healthy they also have to learn to store the food properly when they get it home, that is the expensive part. Many people don't know that once they get peppers home they should cut the seeds out right away to get a longer shelf life. Or they don't know that if they would by Basil in bulk and turn it into pesto it will have an extremly long self life. Storing your healthy food will make to many different dinner choices and be much cheaper.
What seems to be a big problem when people try to eat healty is they buy the food, through it in the fridge and then through it in the garbage. After that process they say they eat healthy because they bought it dipped a couple veggies in veggie dip and then had a pizza to fill themselves up.
Todays lifestyle is go, go, go. No one wants to take the time anymore to sit down and have at least one great healthy meal a week. Also many don't realize that it takes about the same amout of time and effort to make your tomato and basil pasta dish as it would to make mac & cheese and hot dogs.