Day 43- Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution is back on TV!

Over a year ago Jamie had a short series on TV called, "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution." He picked the unhealthiest city in America, Huntington, Virginia and tried to education the population on how to eat healthy. I personally thought the show was fantastic.

In Virginia he chose one family and went through with them what a regular weeks worth of meals looked like in their household; their favorite kitchen appliance was a deep fryer, so you can only image what their meals looked like. After a sedimental burial of the deep fryer, Jamie prepared an outline of a week's worth of meals, as well as provided all the fresh ingredients for these meals. When checking back with the family at the end of the week, we saw that none of the fresh ingredients had been touched, and when asking the daughter her favorite meal of the week her response was, "pizza."

Although the entire family was morbidly obese, they did not make any effort to learn how to eat healthier; even when provided with all the tools. Not until their son was taken to the doctor's office and had his HbA1c checked did they start to realize the repercussions of their dietary habits.

This was only one of the stories that Jamie captured in his show. Another one that stood out to me was when he went to visit an elementary school. He brought with him all different types of fruits and vegetables, and when going into one of the classrooms he quizzed the children on the names. When holding up a potato, not a single child knew what it was; that is until he asked them if they knew what french fries were. Same with a tomato - until he asked if they knew what ketchup was.

It amazes me that parents can care so little about what they are feeding their children. Children are growing up on processed junk with little to no nutritional value. They are feed what has been chemically made to taste good and that is convenient. They have no taste for "real" foods and can't even name simple fruits and vegetables.

When Jamie took on the school lunches, and tried to banish fried or microwaved foods and flavored milk as a lunch option, there was negative responses. First of all the budget was not available to support healthier lunch options, and secondly children always picked the unhealthy options over the alternative.

Healthy eating habits start at home. If you don't teach children the importance of eating healthy then they aren't going to know how to make those choices on their own when faced with other unhealthy options. I am thankful to have grown up with such health conscious parents; who knew the importance of fresh good food. I was raised with meat and eggs that my family raised and a garden full of fresh fruits and vegetables. I can't image growing up with meals that came in a box or not being forced to eat my broccoli before I could leave the dinner table.

It's scary to think that one day I will be raising my own children and that they will eventually have to make their own healthy choices in the sea of unhealthy ones. But I know that I have been able to do it, as I have grown up, through the lessons I was taught as a child. Nutrition starts at home. Look at how obese our population has become; this is not the children's fault, it is their parent's fault for not setting a better example.

I have gone off on a tangent, when all I really wanted to say is everyone should watch the new season of "Jamie Olive's Food Revolution." He might be fighting up against a brick wall, but at least he is doing it with passion. In season 2 he will be filming in my backyard, LA.

If you are interested in helping Jamie in his fight to teach the importance of healthy eating, visit the Jamie Oliver Foundation to find out ways that you can join his movement.

Here's a clip of an episode from season 1:

Pura Vida!

Alica Ryan, NTP