Talk Food With Jared Polis
by digby
At 5:00 Howie Klein will be hosting a Blue America live chat at Crooks and Liars with Colorado Rep Jared Polis about a subject near and dear to this blog: food.
Howie writes a bit about the Jamie Oliver experience and then says:
Better than average reality show, sure, but that isn’t why John, Digby and I invited Congressman Jared Polis (D-CO) over for a chat today. We ran into him at a friend’s house about a month ago and we were fascinated by a bill he had introduced, H.R. 4870, the Healthy School Meals Act. He’ll be joining us at Crooks and Liars today at 5pm (PT/6pm, MT) for a discussion of the bill and the ramifications of the obesity epidemic. Epidemic? You bet– and worse. The Pentagon is complaining that the have an exploding manpower shortage based on obesity and it’s actually turning into a serious national security threat. Health care experts, including two former U.S. Surgeons General, said on Wednesday said that obesity has reached epidemic proportions and is a threat to security in the United States and abroad.
“Obesity is not just a health issue,” said Richard Carmona, who served as surgeon general in the George W. Bush administration. Carmona is now with the Strategies to Overcome and Prevent Obesity Alliance (STOP), a coalition of consumer, government, labor, business, and health insurers that advocate “innovative and practical strategies” to combat obesity.
Obesity “affects our national and global security,” said Carmona. He said the U.S. has reached a “tipping point,” at which obesity “now impacts every aspect of our society, including the future of our health system.”
Obesity is crippling individuals and hurting American families, the workforce – even work productivity and the nation’s ability to be prepared for natural and manmade disasters: “When we look at one of the top reasons why young men and women fail to be retained on active duty in our uniformed services, obesity again rises to the forefront at a time when we need them more than ever.”
[…]
And that brings us to Jared’s bill which aims to bring the option of school kids eating some plant-based food at school meals. Jared isn’t a vegan or even a vegetarian. He just wants to make sure that children have a choice, noting that in the past 30 years “the prevalence of overweight in children ages 6 to 19 has tripled and 1 in 5 is struggling with obesity and related conditions like type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease, which were previously considered adult diseases.”
His legislation is based on the fact that children consume too much fat, saturated fat and sodium and don’t get enough fiber, whole grains, fruits or vegetables and that research shows that children who eat school-purchased lunches are more likely to be overweight and obese, and less likely to eat enough fruits and vegetables. So what does the bill do? Improves children’s eating patterns by encouraging the inclusion of healthful plant-based options in the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs.
Introduces plant-based foods to schools, increases their availability and affordability, and provides incentives for schools to provide healthful entree options in the lunch line.
Removes restrictions on providing nondairy milk alternatives with school lunches, thus ensuring that all children receive vital nutrients.
Healthy food for children? What is he, some kind of communist?
Click the link. (There’s a prize involved.)
I also encourage anyone who is interested in this subject to watch Food Inc. It will put this issue in a very different perspective.
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