Michelle Obama's Child Nutrition Act - Research Essay

Michelle Obama’s Child Nutrition Act

Michelle Obama’s very ambitious program to end childhood obesity has passed and now she’s trying to spread the “Let’s Move” campaign nationwide. The essence of Michelle Obama's plan is to help the children of the next generations adapt to a new, healthier and nutritious lifestyle, and consequently reducing obesity and diabetes. To do so, there are a number of approaches schools can take; after all schools are the number one place where students spend most of their day. Some of these ways include garden planting in schools and homes, activities that promote farm products in schools, and a general awareness of local farms from which the schools can attain their products. Though there are some school officials who come to argue the high expense of the program, the possibilities of not needing more funding for at least some of the ways is also plausible. One of the most effective ways with which schools can enforce Michelle Obama’s program and gain from it rather than lose is also by replacing junk food with healthy food in school lunches.
“Farm to School Movement”
In an attempt to help schools make a switch from junk food to healthy food, an emerging “Farm to School” movement has aimed to connect local farms with local schools. In most schools, local farm products are missing from most school lunch trays. In order to bring local farm products back on the trays, adequate funding has to be provided. In startup funds to local schools and districts, through competitive grants, for technical help in connecting school food service providers with local small and medium sized farms for efficient and cost efficient purchases of locally produced foods for school lunchrooms, the “Growing Farm Act” has promised to provide schools $50 million. As Senator Patrick Leahy has stated, “Connecting farms and schools makes sense in so many ways, from economics to nutrition.” Elaborating on his goal, Leahy said that this would also benefit local farmers, ranchers and fishermen. Cutting out middlemen and selling directly to nearby schools lets farmers keep more of each dollar, which rebounds through the local economy. The farm to school movement works together with Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign to fight childhood obesity. More than 30 percent of American children are obese and the risk to children are also a risk to the economy with the billions of dollars spent each year treating obesity related conditions like heart disease, diabetes and cancer. The Center for Disease Control has identified increased fresh fruit and vegetable consumption as one of 6 top strategies to control and prevent obesity. (“Office of Sen. Patrick Leahy,”2010, p.4197)
The idea of planting farms in schools was first inspired by Michelle Obama. About a year ago, Michelle Obama used the White House garden for the first time to teach children good eating habits. With the help of Washington elementary school students, she planted a vegetable garden. Her goal was and continues to be, to promote healthful, locally grown fruit and vegetables and healthier eating by kids at a time when childhood obesity and diabetes rates has been rising. (“From Mrs. Obama’s Garden,” 2010, p.30)


“The Healthy-Hunger Act of 2010”
A few weeks ago a new bill was passed to protect safety and nutritional value of school lunches, including provisions to improve training for cafeteria workers and to alert schools more quickly about recalls of contaminated food. The Healthy-Hunger Act of 2010 would give $4.5 billion to child-nutrition programs over the next 10 years. The bill directs the U.S. Department of Agriculture to set new nutrition standards for all food served in schools, from lunchrooms to vending machines. ”The bill puts us on the path to ending childhood hunger and addressing the epidemic of childhood obesity”, said Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., Chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee. I think the Healthy- Hunger Act of 2010 will help provide funding for school lunches; therefore school officials who are complaining about the bill have no reason to worry about the funding. It won’t cost the schools any money to replace junk food with nutritious food. There are several food industries that are more than willing to help schools change their lunches and promote a healthier lifestyle for children. (“Eisler, 2010, p. 7A)
“Chiquita Brands International”
Chiquita Brands International announced its support for the United Fresh Produce Association Foundation’s “A Salad Bar in Every School” campaign. It will help support and bring fruits and vegetable salads to schools. Chiquita is the first produce company to commit to this very important and essential campaign. If more companies like Chiquita provided schools with healthier meals such as fruits and vegetables, they wouldn’t need to rely on vending machines to make money. It won’t cost them any money to switch candy bars with granola bars in vending machines. School officials need to become more aware of the problem and they need to help reduce child obesity. This campaign won’t be easy to accomplish but it is necessary in order to raise healthier children. (“Chiquita Brands International,” 2010, p. 4089)
“Aramark”
To increase fruit and vegetable consumption in schools, Aramark, a leading provider of food to more than 3,000 K-12 schools nationwide has promised to help with funding. Aramark, with the cooperation of the White House, federal and state agencies, local school districts and others will work together to increase participation in the “Healthier US School Challenge” and to increase nutrition education in schools. “Aramark will offer menu options that include more fruit, juice, vegetable, whole grains, and low-fat and fat-free milk in reimbursable school lunches.” In the next 10 years, Aramark along with suppliers is trying to pursue discussions to develop products with the following standards : “ a longer- term commitment to meet the Institute of Medicine recommended standards for fat, sugar, and whole grains over the next 5 years, and the standards for sodium through a 5% annual reduction.” This initiative taken by Aramark will help reduce childhood obesity and change the nation’s schools in the years to follow. (“Aramark; Joins First Lady,” 2010, p 4037)
“Michelle Obama”
Aspiring to solve the problem within as quickly as possible [within a generation] Michelle Obama started to talk about childhood obesity with engaging parents, schools, pediatricians, celebrities, and other public officials (“From Mrs. Obama’s Garden,” 2010, p.30). According to Mrs. Obama, “1/3 of the nation’s children are overweight, adding that obesity, diabetes and other related diseases cost the United States $120 billion a year.” As she exclaimed, "Those numbers are unacceptable.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has also indicated that of the children born in 2000, 1 out of 3 Caucasians and 2 out of 3 African Americans and Hispanics will develop diabetes. Research shows that this may be the first generation in our nation’s history to die at a younger age than their parents (Cooper, 2010, p.A17). “None of us wants this future for our kids,” Obama said at the White House. “We have to act, so let’s move.” Michelle Obama’s campaign has four parts : “making better food choices, serving healthier food in school vending machines and lunch lines, making healthy food more available and affordable, an encouraging children to exercise more” (“Michelle Obama begins fight.” 2010)
“Funding”
President Barack Obama has proposed a $1billion budget increase for childhood nutrition programs. This amount however is still debatable by social officials, who have come to suggest that the funding being offered to the schools in order to replace junk food to healthy food, may not be so competent. The Associated Press said that the legislative initiative will include provisions to get rid of junk food from vending machines. On Long Island and across the country, schools rely on vending machines and on sales of snacks high in sugar, fat and salt as revenue streams. New York State education law already prohibits the sale of certain sweetened foods, such as soda, chewing gum and candy from the beginning of the school day until the end of the last scheduled meal period. A healthier program costs a lot more money, and they need to provide schools with the proper funding.
Therefore the $1billion budget increase proposed by President Barack Obama, may not be enough to cover the expenses for the nutrition programs. President Obama asked for an additional $10billion over the next years for child nutrition. The Senate will only provide $4.5billion extra. Gillibrand, who serves on the Senate Ag committee, believes that the funding in the Senate bill is not enough (Bottemiller, 2010). Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy at the Center of Science in the Public Interest said, “Though school officials will need more funding to serve healthier meals, its cost no money to switch from candy to a granola bar in a vending machine,” plus it sends a message she said. “You can’t be teaching kids about nutrition in the classroom and selling them soda and candy bars in the hallways” (Sant, 2010, p. A04). School food programs rely on the sale of snacks such as cookies and chips to break even. Switching to healthier meals won’t cost any money. School officials need to realize that if they continue serving junk food to children, it will cost them their health in the future. They are responsible for what they serve their students.The Agricultural Department staff members said that in addition to the increase in financing, changes in nutritional rules and financing for special programs will improve what is served in schools as soon as next year. For instance, milk is one of the biggest sources of saturated fat on the lunch line. The bill will allow only skim milk to be offered. They will ban whole and 2% milk. Schools will be also required to ensure that children have water with their meals. At least 40 million would be spend on farm-to-school programs and school gardens. Another 10 million would go toward adding organic food. Millions more have been included to train cafeteria workers. One of the biggest change is not only to change cafeteria food but in other places like vending machines, sporting events and hallway fundraisers. The law would give the Agriculture Department power to set limits on nutrients like sodium and fat in all food sold on campus. It would also set limits on the number of bake sales and other food-based fund-raisers.
The Child Nutrition Act will change the way kids eat, live and think, in the years to come. The future generations need to be educated at home and in classrooms to eat healthy. As the Ancient Greeks said, “A Healthy mind is a healthy body.” Despite the economic debates that many school officials have alluded, Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” program not only will reduce obesity and diabetes, but will also mark the beginning of a healthier lifestyle for children.

My RESEARCH Experience

English 101 came to its end. I'm left with a bitter sweet feeling.It is bitter because this experience came to its end, but sweet because I learned new things. This semester gave me the opportunity to learn new and efficient ways to research. First of all I became aware of LaGuardia's online library that brought a whole world of knowledge in just one site. I was able to find newspaper articles that were related to my research topic. The majority of articles which I used to write my paper. Secondly I used Google books, which I never knew existed. You can find any book you'd like and read it all on your computer.You have the library on your finger tips now days. Everything can be found with a click of a button.These new ways of researching made the whole experience more exciting and helpful. I gathered the information I needed in an easier, quicker, and more efficient way. I know that I'll be using this sources in the future and I'm very happy to have learned them in English 101.

Super Size ME

Hey everyone,
It was my first time watching the documentary “Super Size Me” even though I’ve heard of it before and knew what it was about. But I have to say it shocked me to see, what can happen to you if you eat Mc Donald’s for 30 days in a row. Unfortunately obesity in the United States has risen tremendously and obesity related illnesses like heart disease and diabetes have risen as well. Listen to this, 400,000 deaths per year are related to obesity related diseases. Wow!! That is a huge number. As a nation we consume too much junk food, and in big portions too (super sized). Morgan Spurlock who made this documentary and for 30 days non-stop ate Mc Donald’s proved to the American people how much you can harm yourself by eating it on a daily basis and three times a day. Mc Donald’s feeds 46 million people per day worldwide. 17 million of those people have diabetes. This numbers are outrageous. Spurlock was a healthy man, with an average weight for his height, with no cholesterol, no heart disease, nothing. Not until he started eating Mc Donald’s. Before he started the experiment, he consulted a cardiologist, a gastroenterologist and a general practitioner, all told him he was healthy. But as the time passed and he ate more and more of “super sized” meals, all high in fat and sugar, he started feeling fatigue, had headaches, felt depressed, gained weight and his sex-drive wasn’t as good as before. His girlfriend noticed the change as well, who I have to mention is a vegetarian and was against the entire experiment but she supported her boyfriend either way. The doctors who in the beginning were ok with the whole experiment and could never imagine how much he could harm his health and specifically his liver, started telling him that he MUST stop what he is doing because he will die! Spurlock continued the experiment. At this point he was addicted to Mc Donald’s. From 185 lbs, he reached over 200 lbs in 30 days. His cholesterol rose tremendously, and his triglycerides too. His liver had been affected, with fat.
Obesity is a major problem is the United States, in adults but in children too. I’m hoping that with the new nutrition acts, and campaigns against obesity, people will change their unhealthy eating habits and their lifestyle in the years to come. Obesity is one of the top major problems that cause death along with tobacco, drugs et.c . This documentary is worth watching, kids should watch it and learn how bad it is to be eating this junk food. Life is precious and short, we need to take care of ourselves and love “ourselves” more!

Research Paper

Hi everyone, my research paper will be about the Child Nutrition Act that Michelle Obama announced recently and is causing controversy. I'll be focusing on the battle of childhood obesity and how this program is positive or negative. I've done some research and came along the following links that will help provide some information about this topic.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Health/michelle-obama-childhood-obesity-initiative/story?id=9781473&page=2

http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2010/03/after-a-series-of-usa/
http://www.foodproductdesign.com/news/2010/03/child-nutrition-act-approved.aspx

The following videos show Michelle Obama talking about child obesity and her movement to change the way kids eat.

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Draft- homework

Dear St.Demetrios School Administration,

Having been a student at this school since kinder garden throughout 12^th grade, I’m very concerned with the school’s food served daily to the children. I remember all the unhealthy food served to the younger kids but the older ones as well and I want to give you some advice on how to improve the quality of the food served there. We live in a world where the percentage of child obesity is growing and I believe that being ignorant about the health of our children is wrong and we should try to find solutions to improve their quality of life. Replacing unhealthy food with healthy food, offering school lunch cooking classes to the children and connecting school lunches with local farms are some options I’d like to share with you.

Schools sell a selection of “non-nutritious snack foods.” Many of these foods include doughnuts, ice cream, cakes, cookies, chips that fill up the cafeteria rooms of many schools a long with the “vending machines that line up the hallways”. Replacing these unhealthy habits with healthier choices is a start, for example: “artificially dyed candy can be replaced by natural candy; cookies with fake vanilla can be replaced with natural cookies; the neon yellow chips with MSG and preservatives can be replaced by natural potato chips” (http://www.school-lunch.org/goodsolutions.html). “In 2002, the Portsmouth, New Hampshire, School Board eliminated drinks high in sugar and caffeine, including soda, sweetened lemonade, ice tea, and fruit drinks, and replaced them with plain and flavored waters and one hundred percent fruit juice. They also eliminated all candy bars and snacks with little nutritional value and replaced them with crackers, Chex mix, raisins, and fruit snacks” (Weber, 2009, p.236). Studies have shown that the additives found in these junk foods trigger behavior and learning problems. We all need to participate in this act and try and change our kids eating habits. It’s important for their health primarily and it will promote a healthier mind as well that will help them be better students.

Involving the children by letting them step into the kitchen and learning how to prepare healthy meals, I believe will educate them and help them learn hand on hand how to eat healthier. The “students can grow and prepare local organic fruits and vegetables for their peer’s school lunch menus”

(http://www.environment.about.com/od/healthandchildren/a/cafeteria_food.htm)

By hiring a chef that will teach them how to cook healthier and involving the children in a cooking class that will help them eat right we can help create a healthier generation. The kids can stop eating all this junk food that destroys their health and child obesity can finally start decreasing as long as all the illnesses involved with obesity like diabetes.

Having grown up in New York City I was never affiliated with agriculture and farming. Having done some research about how schools can change their food menus, I came along this wonderful idea that can help many schools. That is, connecting school lunches with local farms. “Some forward-thinking schools are leading the charge by sourcing their cafeteria food from local farms and producers. This saves money and also cuts back on the pollution and global warming impacts associated with transporting food long distances. And since many local producers are turning to organic growing methods, local food usually means fewer pesticides in kids’ school lunches”(http://www.environment.about.com/od/healthandchildren/a/cafeteria_food.htm)

The “Farm to School Program” connects schools with local farms to provide healthy cafeteria food while also supporting farmers. These schools get their food locally and it also provides them with learning opportunities by visiting the local farms. This program now operates in 19 states and in several hundred school districts.

There are many ways we can help change our schools food menus. It takes a bit of our time and an effort from each one of us to find healthier solutions for our kids. I only gave you three solutions in which our schools can start changing the unhealthy eating habits of the children. I am very sure that there are several ways we can make a difference. We need to become more active and realize that the food we eat is more important than we thought. We always have a choice no matter the circumstances.

Sincerely,

Magda Katirtzoglou

Food, Inc

Having been suspicious that there is many things hidden from us about what we eat and where our food comes from, the documentary "Food, Inc" confirmed all these suspicions and made me think even more and question about the origin of our food. There is a veil between "us" the consumer and where our food is coming from ("supermarkets" and "farms"). These multi-national corporations are mass producing using enormous assembly lines and abusing animals but the workers as well. There as a lot of politics beneath all this and it upsets me very much knowing that there are so many inconsiderate people out there not caring what so ever about the health of millions of people living in the United States, a majority of which have gotten sick and died from eating meat that has been infected with bacteria. It suits these corporations to have us living in complete ignorance and threatening the farmers that if they speak they will be sued. As a citizen of this country I demand that I know where my food is coming from. People around us are getting sick and we don't know what is causing all these illnesses. Young children are dying from eating a simple hamburger and no one is doing anything to stop this. It makes me angry. It makes me angry that I have no say in this, that I can't find the truth about the food I'm eating. Our food is being produced in unsanitary conditions, sold to us at the supermarkets where everything looks nice and clean. We are living in an iconic reality where everything seems perfect but underneath it all we will find a lot of "dirt". I recall many times when friends of mine have gotten sick with stomach viruses after eating at certain fast food places. I personally have stopped eating from certain fast food chain stores just because I don't trust the way they cook their food and they might be cooking the food in unsanitary conditions as well. I worry about my health daily and what might happen to me in the future from eating all these different kinds of food either from fast food stores or from the meat I buy at the super market. We really have no choice to where we buy our food and the origin of our food. The only choice we have is to buy organic food but unfortunately the prices of organic food are slightly expensive and not that many people can afford it. Which brings us to the same conclusion that people have no choice then to buy cheap, unhealthy food that will harm their health. We have to speak up and protest against these companies that are taking advantage of us and taking our money mean while they don't have any consideration for our health. These multi million companies make their money from producing a lot of meat in small land, instead of growing a chicken in 3 months, they will grow it in 49 days. Chickens have gotten fat and big, they can't even walk from the size they've grown too. One farmer let us in her chicken coop and the conditions under where she grew her chickens was totally unsanitary, a simple disgrace. Of course she wasn't allowed by the company she had a contract with to show us the coop, that is why they banned their contract with her. They simply threaten any farmer that speaks, they take advantage of the workers, they abuse the animals and we have no idea all this is happening behind our backs. We live in complete obliviousness. Now, knowing what goes on and the hidden truth about our food, I will start questioning more about what I eat and be more careful to what I buy from the supermarkets. What we eat is an important factor to our daily life, to our health. What we feed our children should make us more aware about this issue and not let it slip out of our hands. We need to make a step, speak up and let them know we won't take anymore lies.

Hi my name is Magda Katirtzoglou and this is my first semester in Laguardia college.
I'm very excited to be here and begin my journey in elementary education. I'm very confident and I hope I will accomplish all that I'm looking forward to doing in laguardia college and afterwards. I'm very happy and excited to be in English101, looking forward to all the classes and learning how to be a better writer.

See you all tomorrow in class.

Magda.