Graehm Gray: I Had A Dream….
My friends, I had a wonderful dream that I want to share with you:
It all started as I awakened one morning, and smelled some incredible aroma coming from the kitchen. I walked downstairs to find the table set with all sorts of colorful fresh vegetables and fruits. I saw egg whites, and hard boiled eggs. Whole grain breads and muffins were baking. Wow, what a terrific smell. My wife and kids were already sitting and eating and the topic of discussion was how to stay fit and healthy! I couldn’t believe it. But it was as real as it could be! Even the television, which is consistently tuned to either CWTV’s “America’s Top Model,” Food Channel’s “Food Challenge,” Travel Channel’s-“Andrew Zimmern,” or even TLC’s “Buddy Valastro of Carlo’s City Hall Bake Shop in Hoboken, New Jersey,”-now was showing a Science Channel (Discovery) show on the Universe with Stephen Hawking Stephen Hawking’s Universe). Am I dreaming? I guess I was, but it was sweet! Even better was when I asked my kids how school was, and they answered that it was “great” and that they were learning about organic foods in the organic garden they had at school and they even prepared some basic recipes in the “kitchen.” I couldn’t believe my ears! Organic garden, organic foods, kitchen-which dimension had I awakened in? My daughter continued to describe the yoga and Tai Chi classes she taking. What! This was all too much. Then, suddenly, I heard a beep beep, beep, and like anyone who has had a dream, thought it was in the dream only to find out that it was my alarm clock going off at 5:00 AM. Poof! The dream was over. The day had officially begun.
Yes it was a dream, a wonderful dream scripted from my own brain. But couldn’t this be a reality? Of course! It’s not too far from what we could do for our kids. I have been a big proponent of nutrition education for our kids-starting early. In January and February of this year, I wrote about bringing back home economics courses to help educate our kids in nutrition. It seems that many experts agree with me. Recently, Dr. David S. Ludwig, a pediatrician (specialist in Endocrinology at Children’s Hospital-Boston) and Dr. Alice H. Lichtenstein (Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, Tufts University) wrote an editorial that was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA: May 12 2010-Vol 303, No. 18, pages 1857-1858) entitled “ Bring Back Home Economics Education.” These two experts, well credentialed in their particular fields and also in the field of childhood obesity, both agree that we need an educational forum for our school kids to start the learning process about nutrition. We need to empower our kids with the knowledge of healthy eating, how to cook healthy, food safety, growing foods in gardens and farming. Yes even basics about the farm. Kids shouldn’t have to wait until they get to cooking school to be able to prepare foods and learn about what’s in the foods we eat. Everyone needs that education. Everyone needs to be informed. Our kids need to grow up already equipped with the principles of healthy eating and cooking and not wait until they are adults lucky enough to go on a cooking vacation in Tuscany.
Along with my request to bring back “home ec” courses, I firmly believe in the necessity of physical education. I sadly read in the local paper this past week about the county school board cutting back on Art, Music and PE classes. What a disaster! Yes, you read this before in one of my blogs. Now I felt the effects locally. TV stations showed parents, along with music and art teachers, educators, nutrition experts, physical fitness experts all collectively voicing their disagreement with the new rulings. And the county school board administrator responding with, “what can I do? I have my hands tied-we have no budget room!” What, no budget room? Come on! We need some better accountants to go over the state’s budget. On one hand we have our President and First Lady as the champions, trying to wipe out childhood obesity in our generation and on the other hand, our states are not able to fund PE classes. Is there some sort of disconnect? I guess there is!
My friends, here are some suggestions: 1. Restart home economics courses in schools that teach kids about foods from the growing stage to the cooking and eating stage. 2. Fund PE classes. It’s a no brainer. Our kids need exercise for many reasons- it’s good for their health, balances calorie intake and builds confidence. But-the schools need to expand the PE class offerings to include Yoga, Tai Chi/self defense and dance. 3. Make it a positive reinforcement (tax credits) to corporate America to serve healthy items at restaurants and marketing that encourages healthy eating, 4. I agree with the current plan to reduce trillions of calories from the food and beverage supply-lower calories snacks are better but they need to be made with lower sugar content, healthier ingredients, lose the preservatives and modified food starches, 5. BMI reporting portion: let’s get used to this one. But the information needs to be used in a positive manner with kids and parents to help them improve their fitness and nutritional status and not affect kids negatively with their social interactions, health insurance or the way an aggressive PE teacher may view the information. Along with the home economics courses, individual nutritional planning and fitness evaluations need to become part of the school curriculum.
Look, let’s face it-there is an obesity epidemic and it’s affecting our children. There is no vaccine or pill for it (yet!). We have to cure it the hard way- with hands on efforts! Can we do it-as President Obama said on his campaign trail-“Yes We Can!” We just have to roll up our sleeves and try! It’s our kid’s health at stake!’
Please send me your suggestions here at talk@nerdel.com.
My friends, stay fit and healthy the New Nerdel Way!
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