Next month Alice Waters will co-host the panel Beyond Chicken Nuggets: How to Raise a Healthy Eater as part of the New York City Wine and Food Festival.   So if you happen to be in New York next month I highly recommend going to check it out.   Alice has done remarkable work reconnecting young students to healthy, sutainable food through programs such as The School Lunch Initiative and the Edible Schoolyard.

Photo: Matt Dunn for The New York Times

Hearing Alice speak earlier this month at Slow Food Nation, has inspired me to get involved with a gardening and cooking program with young people.   In college I taught a nature program with 2nd and 3rd graders, taking them on nature walks, hosting live animal demonstrations, and teaching them the bee dance. Cooking and gardening with my nieces and nephews has also taught me so much about the importance of involving kids in where there food production.   Educating children about nutritious and sustainable food has far-reaching effects beyond a healthy diet, allowing them to gain self-confidence, independence, and social skills.

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Yes, Californians (myself included) can sometimes be a bit smug about our progressive legislation that the nation and world later adopts (think smoking ban in restaurants). However, there’s a reason people listen to us because the policies make sense!

So, now California’s have another opportunity for a simple but useful and important change that will positively impact our health: menu labeling!

The state legislature approved a measure that will require calories to be listed on all items at chain and fast food restaurants. We’re now just waiting for our health-conscious governor to do the right thing by signing the bill. Tell him that you want California to be the first state in the nation to have menu labeling. And, who knows, after California, it could soon be appearing in other states near you!

takepart with the Center for Science in the Public Interest and tell your Govenor to support menu labeling in your state

Related:

Sarah’s Social Action Snapshot
Hungry for Change

(Photo: Center for Science in the Public Interest)

My nieces and nephews have taught me much about how children approach food and how difficult it can be to get them to eat their vegetables. Yesterday, The New York Times highlighted 6 Food Mistakes Parents Make and it confirmed that holding dessert ransom or demanding just one bite will not encourage kids to eat a healthy array of foods.

This summer I succeeded in getting my nephew to try roasted rosemary beets by offering them as part of the meal that everyone was enjoying, and telling him about the farm where they were grown. I kept the offer casual and when he thought no one was looking, he quietly took a nibble. Pretty soon he was reaching for a second helping. Kids become enthusiastic about meals when they know where the food came from and how it was prepared, so bring them out to the garden and into the kitchen. I’m not her biggest advocate, but even Rachel Ray is getting into it.

Here are 6 common mistakes parents make followed by a few tips of my own that can help avoid caving to the demands of a finicky and narrow palate:

1. Keeping kids out of the kitchen: Kids are more likely to enjoy what they eat and to try new things if they have a hand in creating the meal

2. Coercing them to take just one more bite: Avoid rewards or punishments, which often backfire, and instead keep the food on the table and encourage them to try it.

3. Stowing sweets and salty snacks out of reach: Don’t increase the allure of the forbidden; rather, make healthful snacks abundant and accessible.

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During our time at Slow Food Nation, we caught up with great leaders and changemakers of the slow food movement. Here are excerpts from some of our interviews. More on the way! Stay tuned!

Eric Schlosser:

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Here are healthy eating tips from Slow Food Nation attendees:

From Diane Hatz of Sustainable Table

Alex Whitmore from Taza Chocolates

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Maybe Wall-E was right?

According to a study published in the journal Obesity, all US adults could be overweight in 40 years. ALL? Is that even possible?

Researches say that even if we never actually reach 100% of the adult population, any upward is the cause for alarm. 2/3 of the US adult population are already overweight.

And waistlines aren’t the only thing getting bigger.   The cost of healthcare directly related to excess pounds will double each decade, reaching $957 billion in 2030 — that’s one of every six healthcare dollars spent in the US.

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The Federal Trade Commission released a report on the marketing of food to kids. Apparently, food companies spent $1.6 billion to market their products to children and teenagers in 2006. And the verdict of the report: there is no instance where marketing food to kids need to be regulated.

And their recommendation? They urged other food companies to join the industry’s VOLUNTARY and SELF-REGULATED group called Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, established by the Council of Better Business Bureaus in November 2006. There are 14 food giants as members including, Coca-cola, Kellogg, Cadbury Adams and PepsiCo.

Let’s step back a moment. The FTC conducted this report to study the rising obesity rates in the US.  I recognize the complexity of the obesity issue and know that it is not the simply the fault of 14 companies and their advertising. But these companies, and their food, are certainly playing a role in the expanding wastelines of US residents.

So far, the food giants have pledged to either stop aiming ads at children or to promote only what the council calls better-for-you products. Sounds reasonable, right? Except there is no definition as to what “better for you” means.

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The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Want to learn our top eco-kinky tips for ‘greening up’ your sex life? How about the top 10 ways to take action against AIDS?  Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

Katie:

Annie Lennox & Top 10 Ways to Take Action Against AIDS

Somewhere Over the Rainbow: American Idol & Yip Harburg

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Nicole:

Top 10 Ways to ‘Green Up’ Your Sex Life

Top 10 Global Warming Myths Debunked

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Giulia:

Mortified Makes Movies

What a Bunch of Boobs

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Gina:

Top 10 Immigration Films

Boarding Gate’s Empty Adventure of Capitalism

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Say Hello to Our Guest Bloggers!

Jon Popham wrote:

Young At Heart Hits the Silver Screen

Death and the River

Andy Kondrat wrote:

Top 5 Things You’ll Love About Planet Green

Leonardo DiCaprio Does Everything For the Environment, Ever

“Death and the River”, a multimedia exhibit of video and photographs, tells the haunting yet life affirming story of unknown victims of Colombia’s drug wars. Visual Artist Juan Manuel Echavarria documents a tomb (left) in Puerto Berrio, Colombia where unidentified cadavers found in the nearby Magdalena River are laid to rest. Each compartment of the tomb is marked “N.N.”, or Ningun Nombre - No Name. The victims can then be “escogido“, or chosen, by someone in the community who agrees to take care of their grave. The caretaker will decorate the gravesite, pray for the departed’s soul, sometimes even give the victim a name.

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