ShopFarms Meet Schools, Parks Meet Community Gardens, and Nutrition Meets Children: Imagine the hundreds of millions of children worldwide going to bed with out food, water, or adequate shelter. In a country of plenty is difficult to imagine such a scenario. Now, imagine the children… here in the United States the poverty we witness on television or after natural disasters, a sad aberration from our otherwise cheerful, comfortable circumstances. When we see the amount of food insecure persons, especially children, we shudder at the thought. Now lets think closer to home, imagine your child’s last birthday party, chances are high that one of your daughter’s friends didn’t simply eat, or avoid vegetables on her plate, but rather cherished the food she found at the table in your home–more than any party favor, candy, or gift. Here in the United States we are suffering from a chronic epidemic of childhood malnutrition. In fact, of the 49.1 million people living in food insecure households (up from 36.2 million in 2007), 32.4 million are adults (14.4 percent of all adults) and 16.7 million are children (22.5 percent of all children). (http://www.frac.org/html/hunger_in_the_us/hunger_index.html) And these statistics are for the United States as a whole for a state by state break down please refer to: http://frac.org/pdf/foodinsecurity_2008_rank.pdf
There are portions of the United States that are now referred to as food deserts. There is simply not food being grown for human consumption. Unfortunately these so called food deserts are often found in inner-city urban populations, and county-rural populations. In many rural areas, such as those found in Iowa, Minnesota, or South Dakota, with counties dominated by farms, how on earth can these areas be denoted as food deserts? The answer is simple, we aren’t growing food, we are growing commodities and the system is set as such that the food is grown isn’t getting into our schools. When the average age of a farmer is 60 years old in Iowa, we have the opportunity to replenish our farm land with new farmers and new markets. And simultaneously we have the opportunity of replenishing our children’s bodies with nutritive, healthy food.
Children’s obesity is at an all time high, with approximately 14.5 percent of children in 2008 that fell in to the obese category. This is unacceptable, we are supposed to promoting healthy lives and active children in our communities. Obesity leads to a variety of other medical conditions such as diabetes, heart conditions, negative body image, and cardiovascular issues. With school lunches being a way to easily reach a large percentage of children, in America it would seem second nature to fix or alter our eating patterns. The obesity statistics only get worse as the age gap deepens and you examine adults over twenty with a reported 33 to 35 percent of adults are overweight and can be categorized as obese (Journal of the American Medical Association).
School lunches are a vital way to broaden children’s diet and give the option of a nutritious meal once a day. Children who enter in to the healthy nutritious realm of food will reverse the negative effects of junk food and over-processed foods. With 32 million children eating school meals it seems like an apparent solution to implement healthly school lunches. Yet the National School Lunch Program has yet to be updated since 2004, with only a dollar provided per lunch per child no wonder that is severe lack of nutritive value in the lunches provided. It is up to us as citizens who are concerned for our children’s future health and well-being that local fresh food be served in cafeterias around the country. At the moment many schools lack the resources to implement such a program, yet it is up to congress since school lunches are a federally funded program and is voted on. Have your voice heard, write a letter to a member of congress in your county and encourage them to support and help strengthen nutrition standards in schools. We are so focused on five vegetables and fruits a day- it is time to put this in to action to prevent future rises in obesity and the deleterious implications of not looking after our own and our children’s bodies.
It is not simply malnourished food insecure children we should concern our efforts. These are critical components in developing a comprehensive child nutrition program, and perhaps the first steps. But equally as important is what is going in our children’s bodies, even if they are not a part of a food insecure population. Are they fed, but nutritively malnourished? Facilitating the distribution of local, fresh food in our school lunches is simple, neighborly common sense. This does not require a mind boggling new piece of litigation, it is not out there, it resides within each one of us, as our ability to become engaged, caring citizens. We hold the keys to promote healthy, well fed and well lived communities. And this begins with our children as they are the building blocks of the next generation, and the generation thereafter. Lets link local farms and schools together binding the community closer together, effectively growing healthy food, for healthy bodies, to build healthy, whole communities. Not fragmented and fractured like the nutrition found in the over processed foods that we serve in our homes and in our school lunches. Inaction is an action. We must work together to build community networks. Ask yourself; does your town, block, or child’s school have a community garden? What food is being served in your child’s school lunch? The first step is thought, the second thought is connecting, and finally bring back one of your grandmothers recipes, and when it calls for tomatoes–go down to the farmers market or to your backyard garden. And make sure you take a child with you. There is nothing quite like eating an organic tomato ripe off the vine. Food is much like love, respect, or kindness–they are all gifts that are best authentically shared. You know what else is pretty good shared? Yep, a letter, feel free to click the links below, or utilize other resources to find information on farm to school/school nutrition programs and write your Congressman or Senator and let them know what’s growing in your home town.
Want to get involved?
http://www.slowfoodusa.org/index.php/campaign/time_for_lunch/about/
