Are you taking part in the food revolution?
I’m talking about Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution show on ABC.
In case you haven’t heard of it, here is the short version: Jamie Oliver, British celebrity chef, is taking the obesity problem in the US on head-on. After a successful run of his Food Revolution model in the UK, he came to Huntington, West Virginia, deemed the unhealthiest place in the US, to see if he can change people’s eating habits. The show is a reality show about that experience.
I’ve heard mixed reviews of the show outside the health and fitness industry, but no matter what you think of Jamie (I happen to have already been a huge fan), I give him HUGE props for taking on this initiative. His entire agenda is about getting people to eat whole foods again — it’s really that simple.
Did You Know?
- The milk kids drink in school has as much added sugar in it as a can of soda?
- There is now basically a double-wide casket because we’ve gotten so heavy. This casket can’t go in a hearse, needs to be lifted with a forklift, and requires a double plot at the cemetery. And, you can’t simply cremate the bodies because that causes it’s own set of problems.
- We are raising the first generation of kids that has a shorter lifespan than their parents!
- The US incurs $150 billion per year in health care costs directly related to our food choices?
Jamie won the 2010 TED Award for this project, and you can see his 18-minute talk on the topic here. He has some truly shocking, frightening, and disgusting visuals and statistics around the school food supply, so if you are up for being outraged and more than a little annoyed at the system, I suggest you watch it.
(In case you were thinking I was exaggerating about the statistics, he opens his talk with, “Sadly, in the 18 minutes it takes me to do this talk, four Americans will be dead from the food they eat.”)
Yes, 8 of the top 10 killers in the US, and other first-world countries, are lifestyle related. Which means that some simple — yes, simple — changes to what we eat can reverse this and lead to a longer, happier, and more productive life.
I think I’m lucky in that you, my readers, are already well-educated and doing the best they can for their families, so this month I’d like you to turn your focus outward and…
Join the Revolution
- Watch the show — at least one episode; it’s on at 8pm Fridays on ABC. Yes, I can virtually guarantee this will be the only time I ask my clients to watch TV. No TV? You can stream it from ABC.com or watch it on Hulu.com.
- Sign the petition. [link]
- If you are a parent with school-aged children — or even if you are not — go to your local school and see what they are eating. Jamie has provided sample school menus and advice for how to work with your school cafeterias.
- If you know your own eating could use some improving (and honestly, couldn’t we all), then Jamie has some stupid simple recipes up on the ABC web site. I watched him make this amazing-looking ginger beef stir fry thing all the way through last Friday’s episode — I ended up having to make it for myself the next night!
I’m grateful to Jamie raising the level of dialogue about food and obesity in this country. I believe that everyone wants to do right by their families, but not everyone has been blessed with the knowledge they need to do so.
