Food Kills

Diet related disease is the biggest killer in the United States.

A few weeks ago it was announced in our local paper, The Daily Progress, that during the Charlottesville City School Board meeting they received a petition of 700 signatures calling for a "restriction of sugar in our schools".  One in three local students in the 4th grade and over are overweight or obese!  I encourage you to click the link and sign the petition by the School Health Advisory Board.  One speaker at the meeting stated that sugar is more addictive than cocaine.  My personal experience is that of ALL the items that I removed from my diet while on the plant based diet (Engine 2 Diet) SUGAR was the worst to kick!  This diet removes dairy, meat, sugar, packaged foods, and oils.

The School Board discussed if the overhaul should focus on restricting food options or simply educating students.  The Administrative Coordinator for Nutrition Services agrees with the latter, saying "if you take away choice from a student you're going to get a rebellion and they're going to get it regardless of whether it's here at school or outside the street". 

When did schools veer away from feeling responsible for feeding NUTRITION to our children?  No one said to take away choices, just to remove the unhealthy ones!  Yes, children can bring to school a bag of nutritionally deficient food but that doesn't mean that the school system intentionally serves calories, sugar, and fat just because it's the diet kids adopt after they leave the property.  What ever happened to serving by example?  Maybe if they tasted healthy options at school it would carry over into the home.

I don't have kids in the school system so I was pretty clueless as to what products were available on school property.  At one time Coke machines were allowed and I don't know if you can still purchase soda in the Charlottesville City School System.  Juices are all sugar and are available in all schools.  Per the Charlottesville City High School menu options, every day you can get Pizza or a Deli Sandwich and also available are hot Nachos and Cheese, Cheesy Bread sticks, assorted bagged snacks, cookies, Ice Cream, and bottled beverages.  When I see Chicken Nuggets offered, even just one day a week, I shudder.  I remember when I was a student living in Roanoke, Virginia, I would reach for the thing within a bun nearly every time with a side of fries.  The Pizza tasted like cardboard, and the Macaroni like chalky paste.  It wasn't that I didn't want to eat healthy, it was just that they didn't know how to cook healthy!

The Charlottesville City Elementary School menus have Low fat Chocolate Milk as a choice (ALL SUGAR) and no non-dairy options.  Hey, what kid would not select the Chocolate Milk!  It should not be a choice, period.  I see that one day a week you can get Chicken Nuggets (ground up fat coated with fat).  Other days you can get something on a bun or pizza.  Sides include baked beans, potato wedges and a few healthy choices such as green beans, salad, and fruit.  All those things are good but paired with cheeses, buns, chicken mash, and chocolate milk, I'm not impressed.

Even worse appears to be the Albemarle County School System menus.  French fries and Burgers every day for high schoolers, Corn Dogs, Chicken Nuggets, Cheese Burgers, Nachos, and more Pizza for Elementary schoolers.  Another term for this is FAST FOOD.

There is much room for improvement in the Charlottesville School System cafeteria offerings.  A fantastic show that details healthy eating in the school system and the problems encountered when challenging the "status quo" is Jamie Olivers Food Revolution.  His school menu revamp program began 7 years ago in Huntington, West Virginia and he is now in Los Angeles.  It is truly an eye opening program and the crap that is allowed in our schools "based on the USDA food pyramid" and other "esteemed documents" is mind boggling.  NOTE: The new food pyramid is much improved.

The first items Jamie targets are juices and flavored milks, then he swaps out buns for wraps and hey, you can have hand chopped baked potato wedges, just not prefabbed coated and fried or a baked potato.  Bean Tortillas instead of meat on a bun are another favorite swap he makes.  He is a chef first which makes his meals much better than what is currently being offered in ANY school and students LOVE his food!

Schools should listen to him and adopt his protocols to provide healthy options to our students while away from home.  It's been way too long that parents have not been directly involved with what their kids are being fed.  Remove the blinders, toss the expert literature in the can and begin again.

Corporate America controls our food supply.  Buy local food when you can!

-Rebecca

Can the Fat

My "power salad" and food log journal.

Fifteen days ago I halfway began a modified diet of The Engine 2 Diet.  I say halfway because I've had several interruptions, a wedding and a few slip ups.  Due to a suspected wheat intolerance, I have modified the diet to also remove wheat and am trying to remove "my best friend" corn.  Many studies have shown that a diet low in saturated fats helps reduce inflammation that can aggravate or cause disease.  My hope is to slowly add back "suspected offenders" separately to see if one or the other causes problems.

The Engine 2 Diet authored by Rip Esselstyn is a plant based diet, different from a vegan diet in that no prepared "boxed" vegan concoctions are allowed or any oils.  Last week, I attended a free seminar by Rip Esselstyn, promoting his healthy eating book, hosted by Whole Foods Grocery.  It was very informative and eyeopening.  Yesterday, a group of 65 motivated people attended the first weekly meeting for those that have signed up for the 28-day challenge to follow the Engine 2 Diet. 

There are 2 ways to start the diet, hog wild or step by step.  It is recommended for most to go step by step.  It's very hard to eliminate EVERYTHING from your diet, rearrange your entire pantry, and stick with it all in one day. 

Rip at book signing after his seminar (wearing KALE shirt).

The book is very entertaining and informative, and was brought about after firefighter Rip challenged his firehouse to eat a plant based for 28 days and remarkable results soon followed.  Tasty meals were prepared (recipes are in the book and on the website) in order to get the guys to stick with it.  My favorite recipe is a dessert of course, and is in the book - a date, nut, and fruit dish.

Exercise is part of his diet and seminar!

Rip is now retired from firefighting but remarked he is saving lives now in another way.  He is a triathlete entering into over 1,000 competitions and was a #2 ranked swimmer at one time.  He has been eating a plant based diet since 1987, due to his fathers influence.  His father is a doctor that studied Heart Disease more than any other doctor on the planet and concluded it is totally preventable with plant based eating.

Some statistics that were presented during Rips seminar:

1) #1 source of calories for kids is POP and FRUIT JUICE.
2) The standard American Diet is 12% plants and of that, 6% is FRENCH FRIES.
3) #1 killer is Heart Disease (which is totally preventable by changing what you eat).
4) #2 killer is Cancer (The China Study directly relates this to western diets of saturated fats).
5) There are 54,000 mammals on earth and humans are the only mammal that drink another mammals milk.
6) Dairy products are basically congealed or liquid meat.  Calcium comes from the earth not a cow.
7) Green leafy vegetables are the best protein calorie for calorie.
8) All oils have the most concentrated calories of any food.  120 from oil, more than white sugar or flour.
9) Oils are "empty" calories containing no nutrition, vitamins, or minerals.
10)  Plants have all the fat you need.
11) Chicken has just as much animal protein as Red Meat which clogs your arteries.
12) Fish is a muscle and has animal cholesterol, animal protein, and waters are sadly polluted.
13) 95% of Diabetes is Type 2 which is PREVENTABLE.

What I have discovered in beginning this journey is that entire rows in the grocery store can be forgotten forever.  If you eat plant based you go down the produce isle, canned isle, and health food section.  Gone are the soda, cracker, chip, dairy, meat, and frozen food isles.  I am shocked at the rows and rows of packaged foods that contain all sorts of additives.  I found a jar of "natural" peanut butter that had the most unnatural list of junk.  If it's processed it's out - no white bread or white rice.
 
HOW TO BEGIN:

When SUGAR is the first ingredient this is a bad thing!

Open your kitchen cabinet and start label reading.  It is even hard to find a can of beans without salt, pork, or sugar (not to mention other horrors) as ingredients.  If you don't understand the word, something like methodestrose sucrantanse, then it can't be good!  The most shocking item I ever purchased and actually felt kinda sick while eating it, was a frozen Valentine decorated Ice Cream Cake.  There must have been 200 ingredients listed!

To get started with the Engine 2 Diet,
swap out one category of food for something more healthy - like Milk - many choices exist - Soy, Almond (my favorite), Coconut, and Rice. You may not be drinking a big old full glass of any of the substitutes but I cook exclusively using Almond milk and use on cereal with complete success.   Another option would be to STOP eating fried everything, just STOP.  Each week you can make a change for your health!

I would love to hear your favorite substitute or if you are participating in the E 2 Diet.  Please leave a comment!

-Rebecca