In my former life as a child suffering from acute junk food deprivation, I would go to massive lengths to acquire a Fruit Rollup. I slowly and methodically ate the Froot Loops glued to my school art projects (which were displayed on my family’s refrigerator) so that my Mother would not be alarmed by the mysterious bare spots accumulating on the construction paper background. I manipulated my Grandparents into buying me M&M’S, and, at my lowest point, turned to a life of crime that had me absconding with the Tic Tacs and Bubble Yum that were displayed at impulse racks in various grocery store check-out lines. Of course, at the tender age of five, I had not yet perfected the art of petty thievery, and was always caught and made to return whatever stolen item (in shame) to the cashier. My Mom shopped at Whole Foods before it was cool, and our packed lunches always consisted of embarrassing “hippie food." At the time, this childhood lot felt like a liability that robbed me of tasty “normal” food while sealing my fate as an eccentric weirdo in the eyes of the other kids at school. But, looking back on it from the vantage point of adulthood, I realize that this early training with food not only protected my health as a child, but also positively shaped my relationship with food for the future.
I consider it to be excellent news that the House of Representatives passed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, and that the bill now only awaits President Obama’s signature to become law. With the dire problem of childhood obesity so rapidly increasing that it has tripled in the last thirty years, this legislation will provide assistance in healing this epidemic by more tightly regulating fat and calorie content in school lunches, and imposing nutritional guidelines on foods that can be sold in school vending machines, thereby decreasing young students’ easy access to unhealthy snacks. It will help feed children grappling with poverty by enabling the utilization of census and Medicaid research to qualify individuals, as well as entire schools, for free lunch programs. It also addresses the issue of food quality by providing $40 million of funding to facilitate the creation of school gardens, as well as the purchasing of local produce. While the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act may not be the answer to all of the nutritional ills that currently plague the U.S., like hormone-packed meat and bioengineered vegetables, it will, at the very least, present another option to the young and impressionable.
In Renata Green's blog about obesity, she opened it up with a bit of a story from her past. I really appreciated this as it gave a few laughs, some likelihoods to my own childhood, and an insight on a better way of eating. This opening gave a light-hearted attention grabber to her post, which is a very good technique to use.
ReplyDeleteShe then moves on to the situation (and purpose) of the post. Obesity is being fought by a new bill (The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act) recently passed by the House of Representatives. The bill only needs President Obama's signature to be passed into the state of a law. All this information was easily understood and taken in from my perspective. She made it simple, stated what it was and how it happened. Keeping points clear and simple for readers is a very important thing to do while blogging.
Moving onto what the bill is going to do, she (again) made everything very clear and crisp. Explaining how the law will help fix how school lunches are run, vending machines in school areas, free lunches for poverty striken kids, and providing funding for creation of school run gardens as well as purchasing of locally grown produce.
This bill (to be a law) seems great and I am happy it's going to be (more than likely) passed soon. I would however like to stress the fact that it is mainly a parents responsibility for what their child eats. Just like Green stated in her opening, her parents did all they could to keep her away from "normal" (aka Junk) food.