The Food Our Kids Eat

To the Editor:

I am responding to the past two letters related to school dinners.

I am glad to see this conversation happening as it allows an opportunity to discuss just how deadly I think the food we are forcibly feeding our children is.

I believe we, as Christians, need to help. However, government welfare is not charity. Doing the same old federal programs to feed toxic, processed, sugar packed foods to our beloved children cannot continue.

Neighbors working together and supported by those elected to serve us is a better way. Imagine the economic and health benefits for our community if our neighbors provided just a fraction of the amount of food needed to serve our schools.

Here are a few takeaways from, “Food Fix,” by Mark Hyman.

1. $95 trillion is the estimated burden on the economy by chronic disease over the next 35 years related to healthcare costs and lost productivity and disability.

2. These disabilities are related to heart disease, diabetes, cancer, mental illness, and other chronic conditions. Most of these diseases are caused by our industrial diet, which means they are avoidable if we transform the food we grow, the food we produce, and the food we eat.

3. 11 million people die every year from a bad diet.

4. The #1 factor causing deaths is the lack of fruits and vegetables in our diet.

5. In America only 2% of our farmland is used to grow fruits and vegetables, despite government recommendations that 50% of our diet be fruits and vegetables.

6. 59% of our farmland is used to grow commodity crops(corn, wheat, soy) that get turned into processed foods.

7. For every 10% of your diet that comes from processed food, your risk of death goes up 14%.

8. Kids today are fatter than ever. Obesity rates in children have tripled since the 1970s and now 1 in 3 is overweight or obese.

9. A major reason for childhood and teenage obesity is the food offered in schools. School meals are loaded with sugar, salt, processed carbs, and industrial fats.

10. Kids spend more time at school than any other place outside their homes...30 million children eat school meals everyday and these meals make up a bulk of their daily calories.

Here are three solutions recommended by Food Fix and recently to the La Grange School Board:

1. Support farm to school programs.

2. Plant a garden at every school and make it part of the children’s curriculum.

3. Bring back basic cooking skills as part of children’s curriculum.

We live in an agricultural rich community. If this can be done anywhere, it can be done right here. We can and should lead by example.

Brandon Schielack

La Grange