Weekend Reading and Local Fun

Reading

In December of 2010, the school lunch law was re-authorized as the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. Implementation of the law continues to roll out. Starting now, our school lunches need to meet new requirements for more and  a wider variety of fruits and vegetables, less salt and more whole grains -- an exciting but challenging change for many schools.  This article is a great description of what we should see at lunch this year.

Great new research shows that something as simple as an Elmo sticker helped kids pick apples over cookies in the school lunch line. This work was a follow up to the study showing prompts like "What would Batman eat?" work, too.

I've read these statistics before but I am still astonished that nearly half of all food in our country is wasted -- and food is the biggest single component of solid waste in landfills where it produces methane among other woes. The article has tips on reducing your own waste.  For what you cannot reduce, try a composter. You may also want to read Garbology.  What I would most like to see is composting programs in our schools and our village.

Activism

September is Hunger Action Month - check out Feeding America's website for things you can do to fight hunger in our communities. 

On a related note, the Environmental Working Group has produced a terrific, interactive guide to buying healthy food on a tight budget.

Fun

Last weekend for Sea Cliff Beach! Concession is open throughout the holiday weekend. Music on Friday might at 7. Sunday is the annual family Fun day starting at noon.

Saturday at 12pm, Old Westbury Gardens is hosting a Storybook Stroll for kids. Borrow a pass from the Sea Cliff Library.

How Did Your Garden Grow?

If you planted vegetables from the PCA's plant sale or planted seeds with the nutrition committee, we'd love to see how your vegetables came out! Here are some of mine:

First Harvest

Cucumbers climbing our azaleas

Pepper plant

Tomatoes attacking our cone flowers

A Food Trick Our School Won't Try

Check out this picture:

These are flashy wrappers from Tyson. When our school uses their fried chicken products in sandwiches for lunch, they are encouraged to wrap them up to make them look more like fast food from name brand outlets. Why? Because they'll sell more. That's right -- looking more like fast food is supposed to be a plus for school cafeterias.  Several years ago, Stanford researchers proved even very young kids preferred (identical) food that had been put in McDonald's wrappers. Marketing execs regularly talk about this to how to use this information to sell more stuff -- like in this article.  

Food Marketers Use Their Powers for Good

If you've read our posts (like the one here, here or on this buy's blog) about the power of food marketers over children - or see advertising like that shown above -  you'll be relieved to know that occasionally they use their powers of persuasion to induce kids to try relatively healthy foods. Check out these pictures: 

A Gold Medal on Coke and McDonalds?

Apparently, I wasn't the only one who thought it was at best bizarre to see McDonalds and Coke as major sponsors of the Olympics. Check out this post and this one and this one.... and there are lots more.  

Healthy Lunch Ideas

The White House hosted a state dinner for the kids whose recipes won their Healthy Lunch Challenge. Check out the recipes and more here.