For the past few weeks, I’ve been tuning into Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution on ABC (it airs on Fridays at 9 p.m. EST). Oliver is Britain’s famed Naked Chef known for his upscale restaurant, Fifteen, where he employees and kitchen-trains disadvantaged youth.
With Food Revolution, Oliver is combining his philanthropic spirit with his love of fresh wholesome food. This is something close to my heart based on my work giving back with the New York Junior League. Oliver brings his mission to America, starting in Huntington, W. Va.
Why This Food Revolution?
The U.S. suffers tremendously from the top two diseases, obesity and diabetes. Moreover, there’s no end to them in sight.
Among children alone …
- Nearly one in three American children are obese or overweight
- 17 percent of kids of all ages are obese
- More than 80 percent of obese children will also be obese adults
- Today’s generation of children will be the first to die before their parents due to obesity-related bad health
- Type 2 diabetes, traditionally considered and adult disease, is increasingly found in teenagers and children as young as eight
- Over 7 percent of teenagers (2 million) are considered pre-diabetic with symptoms of high blood pressure and high glucose levels
What Can We Do?
According to statistics, it’s time to teach children about healthy eating and stop feeding the nation’s health problems with the processed foods creating them. Furthermore, Jamie recognizes that it starts with parents and in schools.
If the statistics aren’t enough to convince you, the children on the show who are suffering from obesity will. More than once, the show has moved me to tears. Saddened by the extent of the problem and hopeful that the tireless work Jamie is doing will make a lasting difference.
So far, his plight hasn’t been easy. School administration has been resistant to change. Meanwhile, government regulations and lack of funding have delayed progress. Even so, his persistence is inspirational and his conviction, admirable. He isn’t stopping in West Virginia and plans to take his healthy school food programs nationwide. But he needs our help.
I’m not a parent but I have a six-year-old niece and hope that she will soon have access to the healthy food she deserves to eat in school. If you too care about this nation and the health of it’s children (our future), please sign the petition to get fresh food into schools: www.jamiesfoodrevolution.com/petition
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