Posts Tagged ‘Food’

ErinTurner
Erin
Turner

Preliminary Dietary Guidelines for Americans Announced

Thursday, July 1st, 2010

Growing up, I remember sitting in health class learning about the food pyramid with its chunky base of pasta and breads - a pyramid that is hardly reflective of the war on carbs that seems to be popular as of late. With very few adults having access to a health class of any sort on the latest nutrition information and hundreds of individuals sharing conflicting information on "the way," where does one turn when trying to determine what's the healthiest way to eat? The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has an answer: the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

Last week, USDA and HHS released the preliminary version of the latest guidelines, which are updated every five years to help Americans determine the right foods they need to fuel an active, healthy lifestyle and reduce their risk of chronic disease. The new guidelines, which have been in development since the panel of 13 expert medical and scientific researchers first met in late 2008, recommend a significant decrease in salt, fat and sugar intake and place a greater emphasis on a plant-based diet than did the 2005 guidelines. (more...)

Posted in Food Policy and Nutrition
By ErinTurner | No Comments »

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Allison Brown
Allison
Brown

The National Farm to Cafeteria Conference

Friday, May 21st, 2010

“There are good things happening in this city,” said Detroit Mayor David Bing on the third morning of the National Farm to Cafeteria Conference held in Detroit, a city quickly becoming a leader in the urban and school garden movement.

Yet, that same statement could have come from countless other mayors, school administrators and community leaders in cities and states across the country. The farm to school movement is blossoming nationwide, and the nearly 700 attendees at the National Farm to Cafeteria Conference know it.nfcc-logo

Hosted by the Farm to School Network and organized by the Community Food Security Coalition, the conference was supported by a wide range of corporations, foundations, agencies and non-profits. With the majority of school lunches failing to provide the most basic nutritional needs to children, there has never been a better opportunity than now to change young American’s relationship with food.

Conference participants were reminded of the impact one school garden can have for a child who has never seen a head of broccoli or a seed grow into a plant. Farm to school programs reconnect communities, support local economies and improve the health of our children. Bottom line: a healthy and locally-sourced school lunch can benefit a student’s ability to learn as much as it benefits a local farmer’s pocketbook.

For more information on food and nutrition policy, check out the Spectrum Food and Nutrition Report. (more...)

Posted in Food Policy and Nutrition
By Allison Brown | 3 Comments »

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Christina Plourde
Christina
Plourde

Food Friday: "Going Green" - for Dinner?

Friday, April 23rd, 2010

Yesterday marked the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, the brain child of the late Senator Gaylord Nelson, a democrat from Wisconsin from the Kennedy through Carter administrations. People all over the world were seen biking to work, unplugging electronics, shopping for energy efficient gadgets and in Bogota, Columbia, helicopters even sprinkled thousands of tree seeds all over the city, giving new meaning to the phrase "urban jungle."

"Going green" is our current 21st century trend and millions are hopping on the bandwagon for fear of global warming or just because it's "en vogue." Whatever the reason, earth's citizens are teaming up to reduce our carbon footprints and hoping to leave earth a better place for our grandchildren's children. food-nutrition1

When most think of "going green," it is equated to reducing energy consumption by turning off the lights, heating and cooling systems, or just driving less often. What about saving energy by eating organic meat? Most consumers do not realize that our food system's carbon footprint is HUGE and is second only to cars in its use of energy. For example, the current "factory farming" methods used in meat and dairy production, which include raising animals in confined indoor facilities, pollutes the air and water.  These "factory farms," or Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), produce millions of tons of waste, and the largest CAFOs can generate more raw waste per year than the populations of some U.S. cities. Many do not realize, however, that food animals raised using organic standards have a much lower impact on the environment. (more...)

Posted in Food Policy and Nutrition
By Christina Plourde | No Comments »

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MaryAnnChaffee
Mary Ann
Chaffee

Food Friday: Can the FDA Light Up Our Brains?

Friday, April 9th, 2010

A few weeks ago, I was listening to a radio interview with Sheena Iyengar who was discussing the research she did for her new book The Art of Choosing.   Iyengar is a professor at Columbia University School of Business and a well-known expert on the study of choice - how we make choices and how they affect our lives.  It is a subject close to the heart of anyone working in the field of chronic disease treatment and prevention with its focus on getting people to make the choices-particularly about diet and exercise-- necessary to stay healthy.  Study after study has confirmed that educating individuals about risks and how to avoid them isn't enough to trigger behavior changes.  So what else should we be doing?

Over the past few years we've been listening to a national debate about how to address America's obesity epidemic, which is costing us $147 billion each year and is a major contributor to diabetes, heart disease and some forms of cancer.  It has also become an epidemic among our children, with one in six  classified as obese.

Last month when the First Lady launched her Let's Move campaign aimed at reducing childhood obesity, questions about choice were very much a part of the conversation.    Who and what are responsible for creating this problem?  Americans are ambivalent about the question, with many believing it is a matter of individual choice.  But public health officials see it a different way.  They believe that we need to change our "obesogenic" environment, which promotes increased food intake, unhealthful foods and physical inactivity.  Tom Frieden, who heads the Centers for Disease Control, is the lead author on a compelling article in Health Affairs about how to tackle the problem.  And there is no ambivalence in his prescription for change:

"Reversing obesity is not going to be done successfully with individual effort.  It will be done successfully as a society only with societal effort...We got to this stage of the epidemic because of a change in our environment.  And only a change in our environment again will allow us to get back to a healthier place..." (more...)

Posted in Food Policy and Nutrition
By MaryAnnChaffee | No Comments »

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