Join SDBM in the Angry Mom Crusade
a Two Angry Moms film review
Filmmaker Amy Kalafa and fellow mom, Susan Rubin, made a documentary called "Two Angry Moms," which takes us through their year-long crusade to improve school lunches. They sent me a copy to review recently, and I found no better a person to watch it with than a friend of mine who spearheaded a week-long nutrition program recently at my girls elementary school at a suburb of San Diego.
Sadly, government agricultural subsidies have a stronghold on the National School Lunch program that feeds 28 million students daily, and the result is substandard meals. School lunches are low in vegetables and high in fat, fructose corn syrup, additives, and preservatives. This is adding to the declining health of todays youth, especially those who are dependent on two daily school meals let alone taking a toll on tax payers health care bills. The CDC has shared that the drastic declining health of todays youth, with childhood diabetes and obesity as only two examples, is creating a generation that will live shorter lives than their parents.
Given that there is a direct link to diet and cognitive function, social adaptability and attention and behavior issues, whom do we hold responsible for inadequately nourishing our future generation? Do we blame Kraft and Coca-Cola who have been allowed to infiltrate their snacks and beverages into our children's lunchrooms, yet pose as advocates for childrens health? Is our government responsible for not providing better quality meals to our children? Are we as parents to blame for turning our backs on a system that welcomes financial incentives for mainstreaming fast food, soda and junk food into our kids cafeterias? Folks, you would be floored at what many schools get away with! Perhaps all of the above have a play.
The movie sparked such a conversation between my friend and me that we parted with more questions and concerns than we had before watching the film. While schools' efforts to add healthful food options have been improved upon in certain areas, the system is laced with politics and self-serving policies. What can we as parents do? We can find community members who are also concerned, survey our communitys concerns, personally audit the ingredients in the food that ironically educational institutions are serving, and become involved in wellness committees in the schools. Only then will we experience what can possibly be done on a school-wide and district-wide basis to improve upon our system. Change requires money, time, resources...and yes, "angry moms!"
Ultimately, I am absolutely convinced that the most crucial thing that we as parents can do or strive to do in some cases is to be responsible for nourishing our own children, and that entails providing them with nutritious breakfasts, sack lunches and snacks, ourselves.
Stacey Ross is the founder of www.SanDiegoBargainMama.com, where moms celebrate local value for less.
Sadly, government agricultural subsidies have a stronghold on the National School Lunch program that feeds 28 million students daily, and the result is substandard meals. School lunches are low in vegetables and high in fat, fructose corn syrup, additives, and preservatives. This is adding to the declining health of todays youth, especially those who are dependent on two daily school meals let alone taking a toll on tax payers health care bills. The CDC has shared that the drastic declining health of todays youth, with childhood diabetes and obesity as only two examples, is creating a generation that will live shorter lives than their parents.
Given that there is a direct link to diet and cognitive function, social adaptability and attention and behavior issues, whom do we hold responsible for inadequately nourishing our future generation? Do we blame Kraft and Coca-Cola who have been allowed to infiltrate their snacks and beverages into our children's lunchrooms, yet pose as advocates for childrens health? Is our government responsible for not providing better quality meals to our children? Are we as parents to blame for turning our backs on a system that welcomes financial incentives for mainstreaming fast food, soda and junk food into our kids cafeterias? Folks, you would be floored at what many schools get away with! Perhaps all of the above have a play.
The movie sparked such a conversation between my friend and me that we parted with more questions and concerns than we had before watching the film. While schools' efforts to add healthful food options have been improved upon in certain areas, the system is laced with politics and self-serving policies. What can we as parents do? We can find community members who are also concerned, survey our communitys concerns, personally audit the ingredients in the food that ironically educational institutions are serving, and become involved in wellness committees in the schools. Only then will we experience what can possibly be done on a school-wide and district-wide basis to improve upon our system. Change requires money, time, resources...and yes, "angry moms!"
Ultimately, I am absolutely convinced that the most crucial thing that we as parents can do or strive to do in some cases is to be responsible for nourishing our own children, and that entails providing them with nutritious breakfasts, sack lunches and snacks, ourselves.
Stacey Ross is the founder of www.SanDiegoBargainMama.com, where moms celebrate local value for less.
I recently read a book, "Skinny Bitch" which further informed me of the perils of mass-produced food and the stranglehold the FDA and other government agencies have on our food supply. It is scary!