Let's Get Fat (Food Nutrition In Public and Private Schools)

(Photo courtesy of HealthXWellnes.com)

In these days when we speak of getting fat (not to be confused with P.H.A.T - pretty hot and tempting) it depicts the cluelessness we as parents and guardians are when it comes to what is being feed to our children during lunch inside of the public and private school sectors.  

While we hurry to various fast food joints that boast “how well for the soul” their food is, meanwhile back at the ranch (schools), our children our being feed crap during lunch time. 

Peanut butter sandwiches are pre-packed, along w/leaking crushed milk cartons, non-washed prepackaged, baby carrots anywhere from eight to nine months old, over ripened red apples that have been coated with FDA fruit wax then frozen and thawed prior to serving to the children.  Oh, and please do NOT fail to mention the oranges that are under ripe and sour that ends up as the weapon of choice in a many cafeteria food fights. 

 

 

(Photo courtesy of Ocean985.com)

 

And if that’s not enough, catch this, some of these schools serving such terrible and ghastly foods as previously described are actually equipped with big beautiful kitchens, with enough commercial equipment to feed the community around them balanced and ultra-nutritious meals. But they don’t cook. Incredible to believe!  

Food is purchased and shipped in huge lots then placed inside large freezers, and then they are delivered to the schools as is. Please do not misunderstand that there are some schools across the country that offer fabulous meal time selections, mainly due to the fine culinary teams working year round.  

Here’s something to consider in retrospect: Remember when schools had cafeteria’s and by that I define cafeteria as what we experienced back in the 60’s and 70’s; a place where “food” was being prepared and the aroma of food filled the hallways just as the smell from a chicken joint inhabits the nostrils at a busy intersection. 

I remember the days when our parents made us sack lunches that consisted of a slice of corn bread leftover from the previous night’s dinner, a piece of chicken, some fruit from the tree in the back yard, and we purchased milk during lunch Even if it were peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, they were all made with love and care of my soul. 

Children sit in a classroom every day for about 6 to 7 hours and are instructed to focus and learn. My question is this: How can they focus if they are hunger? Many children do not eat prior to going to school and if so, it’s something menial like cereal that causes a sugar high then crashing some 1 or 2 hours later, if that long. 

The last thing I want us a parents to consider. We will run to health food stores to purchase pills, supplements and drinks for our adult nutrition and head straight to a “fast food” joint to feed our children. What’s wrong w/that picture?  

This is why I am now introducing “#LETSGETFAT” Food Consciousness Program. This program is designed to teach us all how to shop for food and to really know what you are buying.  Also, this program re-emphasizes the dire need for us to make the time to cook complete nutritious meals for our families. Let’s get a dinner time back as an event in the home.  

 

(Photo courtesy of Homecooking.com)

 

#LETSGETFAT is about getting back to the basic ways of buying, cooking and preparing our meals. This is NOT about dieting or exploiting yet another senseless expensive fad. Aren’t we tired of all those diets anyway….really? 

#LETSGETFAT is truly about: Learning to cook simple meals, understanding what are our healthy good fats, enjoying family and putting dinner time back on the table in the home. Join me in…#LETSGETFAT!

Free Range

Will The Real Free Range Chicken - Please Stand Up!

I recently took a car trip to the lovely state of Georgia to see my nephew graduate from basic training, One thing about a road trip is that you get a chance to see the great outdoors, a chance to see road kill of different animals other than those you would normally see in your state, and a chance to see the wonder of it all, instead of a crowded airport long security check lines and claustrophobic plane space. Me….I 'd rather Drive!!

As I was driving through Louisiana at about 1:00 am in the morning, heading east on highway 10, to my surprise, I saw deer leaning over the guard rail, it actually looked like they were standing on their rear hind legs. Their eyes a glow, looking over the guard rail it was so crazy! This scene went on for a couple of miles. I wonder, if part of their genetic makeup is to take the challenge to cross a busy highway at night and were they actually looking for opportunities to make that death jump, into traffic!!

Continuing my drive through Georgia, and I also saw an abundance of very large black crows. They were huge, hence the Alfred Hitchcock movie “The Birds”, I can see a group of the very large birds together running someone down, and doing harm! As I passed the birds it became very clear to me that they do not fear a cars or people.  For that matter, they also do not fear 18 wheeler trucks. Their focus is on the fresh road kill, just hit earlier that day or the night before.

From the beginning in my career, working in many restaurants and resorts while training to be a Chef, I often heard the term “Free Range".   The meaning of the term "free Range"descibes the manner in which poultry is raised free of cages, running free! Having heard that term very frequently, I learned quickly that food and beverage salesmen, used this term as a selling tool only to discover the product being produced in very large concrete rectangle enclosed huts. Which means the Chickens or Turkeys really did not experience free range!!

So here I am, traveling thru this state, and viewing all of the wonderful green manicured pastures that provide the dairy cows, bulls and horses all the nutrition they need.

Continuing on my journey, I look down the highway and see flecks of movement off in the pasture ahead. Initially I did not understand what I was look at. It was weird, as if something was covering the grass.  As I drove closer , I notice that the these flecks, were moving, as the car came down the crest of the hill we were on, there must have been hundreds of these flecks, red, brown, they looked like leafs blowing around from fall. I slowed down, not fearing that I could cause a rear end accident. And pulled over to the side of the road, I stepped out of the car. There before my eyes, it seem like there were hundreds of chickens, in miles upon miles, of pasture. I stood there, in shock an in glory of nature and feeling a since of that all is right with the world. Here before my eyes was the true term “Free Range Chicken!!”