Food Revolution

The other night, I logged on to ABC's website to watch one of their new shows--Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution.  I have loved Jamie Oliver ever since I saw his cooking show several years ago on the Food Network.  I think he's so down-to-earth, and even though I can't afford to feed my family cage-free eggs, organic and local meat, produce, and dairy products, what I love is his approach: feeding our families meals made with fresh, natural ingredients that are healthy, wholesome and satisfying.

"Food Revolution" is pretty in-your-face about the obesity epidemic in America.  In the first two episodes, Jamie meets with a pastor of a church who can go through his church's directory and point out all of his parishoners who have died of obesity-related diseases.  Jamie meets with a family of 6, and each one of them is morbidly overweight.  Jamie says, "Their freezer was just basically an Aladdin's cave of processed crap."  One son has a few signs of pre-diabetes.  The 4-year-old daughter looks like she weighs more than my six-year-old and my one-year-old daughters combined.  But probably the most disturbing thing is Jamie's demonstration of how chicken nuggets are made (although he does say that they are not made this way in the U.S.).  Before you click on the link below, please know that I have a very strong stomach, and this made me queasy.  You may want to skip it if you are easily sickened, pregnant, or wildly in love with chicken nuggets.  In my opinion, it's worse than "Supersize Me". 

Here's the video.

Okay, were you brave and did you watch it?  Gross, huh?  But what I thought was an incredibly important moment from that video (that Jamie completely missed) was when he asked, "If you know this is bad for you, then why would you eat it?"  And the response was, "Because we're hungry."  WOW.  Jamie was focusing on his failed experiment, so he wasn't able to really process exactly what she said.

I actually emailed Jamie, and in part, said this:

"I believe the obesity problem in the U.S. is 3-fold:

1. People live such busy lives that they don't feel they have the time or energy to cook for themselves or their families so they buy processed, easy to prepare food to eat, and many do not know how to cook.

2. Many of our citizens (especially with our failing economy and high unemployment) are living on less and less every week and fresh, natural ingredients are not high on their priority list.

3. The cost of fresh produce, lean, good-quality meats, dairy products, and whole grains is extremely high compared to the cost of processed foods such as hot dogs, chicken nuggets, pizza, individual slices of cheese in plastic wrappers, and fast food (to name a few examples).

Unlike many people, I don't think that taxing junk food will solve the problem. I also don't think that if produce, meat, dairy, and whole grains were to become much more affordable that people would make the switch to healthier eating. But it might be easier to convince people to try a better way if they didn't feel that paying the higher prices for good quality, nutritious food is a punishment for trying to feed their families something that is healthy, wholesome, and satisfying. The U.S. government's Healthy Food Financing Initiative (explained here) will not benefit anyone unless the cost of fresh, unprocessed food decreases. I don't even know where to begin in trying to come up with a solution."

Now, I feel that as a family, we do eat very well.  Yes, I buy (and the kids eat) chicken nuggets on occasion, and we've been known to go out for fast food once in a very great while.  But for the most part, what we prepare here at home is balanced meals made from fresh ingredients.  When I say "fresh ingredients", I am also including frozen fruits and vegetables that have no sweeteners or extra sauces or spices on them.  Also, canned fruits and vegetables are very nutritious, as long as the fruit isn't packed in heavy syrup, and the vegetables don't contain a lot of sodium.

At one point, I was setting aside $20 per week for fresh produce.  Let me tell you, it was A LOT of fruits and vegetables.  We would have at least two fruits or vegetables at each meal, and at the end of the week, there would still be leftover.  I think $20 a week is very reasonable--considering a family of 4 can eat one fast food meal for about that price. (And they probably think they're getting a good deal.) 

Anyway, my question is this: What do you do to make sure your family eats healthy, nutritious meals?  Or do you not worry about it?

Gina

"Hap-Birt-Day!"

This is Sadie's new phrase.  It's really cute when she says it, especially since it isn't anyone's birthday!  She also says "Hi!" every time we greet her, and when I ask her, "How are you?", she says, "Good."

I love baby talk!

Spring Is On Its Way!

A couple of days ago, David, the girls, and I walked a couple of blocks over to the "magic garden" in our neighborhood.  It's a beauitful garden that is maintained by a retired dentist who lives right across the street.  He bought the empty lot many years ago, and has cultivated a wonderful place with little pathways, hidden places to sit, and a small patio for picnicking.  He invites everyone in the neighborhood to come and enjoy it.

I took some pictures of the beautiful early spring flowers that have popped up there.  Aren't the colors magnificent?

I think these really are amazing.  But the most beautiful flowers I took a picture of are these ones:

They are, by far, my absolute favorites!  Each is very different from the others, and they are beautiful individually.  But put them together, and it's a stunning bouquet!

Scroll down for one more post.

Lucy's Good Fortune

Last Saturday, David and I took Lucy out for lunch to celebrate her excellent report card and conference with her teacher.  She requested "chicken teriyaki", so that's where we headed.  Check out her totally AWESOME outfit.  Even though it doesn't match at all, I think she really pulls it off.  I wish I could look that good!

Now, check out the fortune she got at lunch:

I think she already has!

Let It Snow?

Last week the weather was BEAUTIFUL! The temperatures were in the mid-50s to low-60s, and it was sunny. We were enjoying our first taste of spring, when on Sunday afternoon, Mother Nature took it away! Monday (yesterday) was bitterly cold and it drizzled off and on throughout the day. At about 4 P.M. it began to snow! Big, huge, Ivory Soap-like flakes. I took a few pictures of the girls out in it before they headed out to the mall for a little play time.



This last one is my favorite! I'm sad that it's blurry because it would have made an AWESOME photograph, but I guess my camera was trying to focus on the snowflakes, rather than on my subject. Oh well, you get the idea!

Scroll down for 2 more new posts!

Say "Cheese!"

"Cheese" is Sadie's new word. Incidentally, it sounds a lot like her word for "shoes". Anyway, yesterday, while eating some of Uncle Ben's popcorn, I said to Sadie, "Say Cheese!" and here's what I got:

Cute, huh?

I said the same thing to Amy, and I got this:

Okay, I admit it...I have really darling children.

It's the End of the World...

or maybe just the end of naptime. I haven't been putting Amy down for an afternoon nap, because she ends up not falling asleep, and also wakes up Sadie. This has been great because Sadie will sleep for 2 or 3 hours in the afternoon, and Amy hasn't been getting up between 2:30 and 4:30 in the morning and coming in to wake me. But it's also been a pain because Amy cannot sit still on the couch with her sippy cup of chocolate milk to watch a movie during quiet time. She keeps getting up and asking for a snack, or some candy. It gets a little irritating at times! I guess it's not quite the end of the world, but sometimes, it sure feels like it!