Photo via Google Images

This morning, while I waited for someone to come replace by garbage disposal a few friends pinged me to turn on the Today Show.  The show was talking about a tried-tactic to childhood obesity that is failing at a high school in Seattle. Check it out below.

At Roosevelt High School, there’s not much action at the second floor vending machines with milk, juice and granola bars.

The better lunch time business is across the street at the QFC. Looking for less healthy lunch options, students make the quick walk to the grocery store for donuts, chips, soda pop and a hot meal – popcorn chicken.

Vending machine profits go to student governments or their athletic uniforms, clubs, dances and yearbooks. Since the district went healthy, vending profits are down.
In 2001, students got $214,000 from vending machine profits. This year with healthy food – only $17.000.

“We don’t want to bring junk food in, but we do want to bring in foods that students do like,” said senior Rhys Berkwitt.

Now the Seattle School Board is considering relaxing its ban on unhealthy foods, perhaps allowing more sugar, more fat.

“We may have gone a little too far, too prescriptive in what our policy is saying,” said Seattle School Board Member Michael Debell.

Many students say they avoid the vending machines not because of the food choices but because of the prices.

Seattle Schools are trying to find balance to get healthy kids and a healthy profit.

The School Board will likely revise its policy next spring, to take effect next school year.

I am left wondering what the “junk” that was taken out of the machines.  I think in this case the school officials thought that by changing the environment, and removing unhealthy foods, it would see healthy kids and a healthy profit.  However it isn’t working.  If this doesn’t fix it, what is the next thing to try?  Are there other models around the country that are working to promote healthy eating without an expense to schools?  With the changes to schools meals anticipated out any day now and the first ever competitive foods rule forthcoming, will these improve diets or cause kids to leave schools for less healthy options, like the Seattle school is reporting.

From my perspective I think its going to take a team of folks to revamp school menus and snacks.  For example:

Can teachers share tactics with dietitians to help promote nutrition education that works?

Can the dietitians interpret the rule and the dietary guidelines to determine what kids need?

Can the chefs and foodservice professionals come up with healthy recipes that include the nutrients the dietitians are saying kids need?

Can kids tell the chefs what they like and if they will actually eat it?

Can the procurement folks source fresher and reformulated items that farmers and the food industry are working to provide?

Can the farmers and food industry, already strapped in this economy, sell their products at a profit to schools?

And the list goes on and on and every school and school district is different so the challenge is high.  However, I think we do need to find ways to provide kids with nutrient rich foods that taste good in order to avoid at patchwork of situations around the country that mimic Roosevelt High School.

For the Health Nut

• Mini Shopping Cart:  Fill this wire shopping cart with apples, oranges, and bananas and deliver to a friend.  It makes a cute center piece or a great fruit bowl.
  

  Mini Shopping Cart via Kitchen Collection

For the Food Scientist

• Soda Maker:  Last year Brad was nice enough to get me a seltzer maker.  Making carbonated water and soft drinks is simple! You can easily turn tap water into sparkling water in under 30 seconds, with no clean-up.  You can also add the flavor of your choice to make your favorite drink or simply enjoy alone. Take a look at the video below to see just how easy it is.
  

  Soda Maker image from Soda Maker website

  

For the History Hearted Foodie

• What’s Cooking Uncle Sam exhibit gifts:  As you know, I had the chance to participate in the What’s Cooking Uncle Sam exhibit opening.  For the nostalgic foodie get them a gift that takes from the exhibits’ retro ads.  Take a sneak peak at the exhibit and its offerings below.  Be sure to visit it before it closes in the new year!
  

  Photo via Google Images

For the Hostess with the Mostess

• Emersonmade Linens:  Emersonmade is a clothing and linens company owned and operated by what appears to be a husband and wife team with my dream life.  They split their time between NYC where Emersonmade is produced (made in Garment district NYC!) and their farm in New Hampshire. Together they have converted a horse farm to into an organic farm where heritage breed animals live in their natural habitats.  Not only are their clothes my style, but they have fabulous linens.  Check out their napkins and table runners below.

Photo via Emersonmade website

For the Drunk Foodie

• Bottle Stoppers:  This is an affordable but unique gift for the wine lover in your life.

Bootle Stopper via Anthropologie

For the Little Foodie

• Strega Nona Story Book: Strega Nona — “Grandma Witch” — is the source for potions, cures, magic, and comfort in her Calabrian town. Her magical everfull pasta pot is especially intriguing to hungry Big Anthony. He is supposed to look after her house and tend her garden but one day, when she goes over the mountain to visit Strega Amelia, Big Anthony recites the magic verse over the pasta pot, with disastrous results.  While I hadn’t read this as a kid, I recently learned it is a favorite!
  

  Image via Amazon.com

For the Has-it-All Foodie

• Trader Joe’s Gift certificate:  Anyone who know me, knows I am a Trader Joe’s fanatic.  Without a doubt this gift certificate will be well received
  

  Image via Trader Joe's

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Image via National Restaurant Association

The National Restaurant Association (disclaimer: former employer and current client) released their annual “What’s Hot in 2012” survey yesterday.  The survey of nearly 1,800 professional chefs – who are all members of the American Culinary Federation (ACF) – revealed that children’s nutrition and local sourcing will be the hottest trends on restaurant menus this coming year.

The chefs also identified smartphone apps and tablet computers as the top technology trends. In addition, 6 out of 10 chefs said they would consider a food truck as an entrepreneurial business venture.

About one-quarter of the chefs (26 percent) ranked smartphone apps as the hottest technology trend in restaurants in 2012, and another quarter (25 percent) said tablet computers (i.e. iPads for menus and wine lists) will be the top technology trend. Sixteen percent said social media would be the top trend, and the same percentage said mobile/wireless/pay-at-the-table payment options, while 4 percent said QR codes.

In addition, more than six out of 10 (61 percent) of the chefs said they would consider launching a food truck as an entrepreneurial business venture.

Check out the video below for more info:

Photo by Maggie

Today I had the chance to attend America’s Health Rankings event at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.  America’s Health Rankings is the longest-running report of its kind. For 22 years, the Rankings has provided an analysis of national health on a state-by-state basis by evaluating a historical and comprehensive set of health, environmental and socioeconomic data to determine national health benchmarks and state rankings. The Rankings employs a unique methodology, developed and annually reviewed by a Scientific Advisory Committee of leading public health scholars.  The event included a speech from Surgeon General Regina Benjamin (seen above).

Key findings from this year’s report include:

–Modest decreases in smoking and preventable hospitalizations

–Dramatic increases in obesity and diabetes, combined with still-too-high levels of tobacco use, are putting more people at risk for preventable illness and higher health expenditures

–The Rankings indicates that every person that quit smoking in 2011 was offset by a person becoming obese

–2011 is the first year no state had an obesity prevalence under 20 percent

–United Health Foundation launches “Take Action for Change” Facebook campaign to incent healthy behavior

United Health Foundation’s 2011 America’s Heath Rankings(R) finds that troubling increases in obesity, diabetes and children in poverty are offsetting improvements in smoking cessation, preventable hospitalizations and cardiovascular deaths. The report finds that the country’s overall health did not improve between 2010 and 2011 — a drop from the 0.5 percent average annual rate of improvement between 2000 and 2010 and the 1.6 percent average annual rate of improvement seen in the 1990s.

State Rankings: Vermont Still on Top For the fifth year in a row, Vermont is the nation’s healthiest state. States that showed the most substantial improvement include New York and New Jersey, both moving up six places, largely because of improvements made in smoking cessation. Idaho and Alaska showed the most downward movement. Idaho dropped 10 spots, from number nine to 19 in this year’s Rankings, and Alaska dropped five places.

To see the Rankings in full, visit: www.americashealthrankings.org .

USDA Organic Seal

Yesterday, USDA announced the appointment of five new members to its National Organic Standards Board.  Check out the details from S. Clapp:

The 15-member NOSB, which is currently holding its fall meeting in Savannah, Ga. (see FCNNov. 25, 2011, Page 19), is responsible for makingrecommendations to USDA on organic policy matters, including the National List of Approved and Prohibited Substances. Board membership consists of four organic producers, two handlers, three environmentalists, three consumer advocates, a scientist, an organic retailer, and an organic certifier.

The following new members, whose five-year terms begin Jan. 24, are listed by membership category in USDA’s news release:

Handler: Harold Austin, IV, director of orchard administration for Zirkle Fruit Company, an organic tree fruit grower and shipper based in Selah, Wash. He is also a member of the Washington State Department of Agriculture’s Organic Advisory Board, the Northwest Horticultural Council’s Science Advisory Board and Washington State University’s Leadership Team.

Producer: Carmela Beck, National Organic Program supervisor and organic certification grower liaison for Driscoll’s, an organic berry producer in Watsonville, Calif. She is a member of the CCOF Government Advisory Council, the Organic Trade Association Mexico Task Force and Latinas in Agriculture.

Environmentalist: Tracy Favre, chief operating officer for Holistic Management International, an international non-profit group, based in Albuquerque, N.M., focused on sustainable land management. She has 17 years of experience working with municipal and industrial clients on watershed management projects as an environmental engineering consultant.

Consumer/Public Interest: Jean Richardson, professor emerita of natural resources, environmental studies and geography at the University of Vermont. She is also a maple syrup producer, organic inspector and independent contractor for matters relating to rural development, agriculture and the environment. She has served on the board of directors of the Vermont Natural Resources Council, Northwest Medical Center and the National Wildlife Federation.

Scientist: Andrea (Zea) Sonnabend, a policy specialist and organic inspector specialist for CCOF, an organic certifier based in California. She has served on the board of the Organic Materials Review Institute, the Organic Seed Alliance, the International Organic Inspectors Association and the California Department of Agriculture Invasive Species Advisory Council. – S. Clapp

Photo from Cooking Light

Today the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced it is extending the comment period for sodium.  According to the Federal Register:

The comment period will be expanded to January 27, 2012, for the notice entitled “Approaches to Reducing Sodium Consumption; Establishment of Dockets; Request for Comments, Data, and Information,” that appeared in the Federal Register of September 15, 2011 (76 FR 57050). In that notice, FDA and FSIS requested comments on research, data, and other information that will better inform both Agencies about current and emerging practices by the private sector regarding sodium reduction in foods; current consumer understanding of the role of sodium in hypertension and other chronic illnesses; sodium consumption practices; motivation and barriers in reducing sodium in consumers’ food intakes; and issues associated with the development of targets for sodium reduction in foods to promote reduction in excess sodium intake. FDA and FSIS are extending the comment period in response to a request from an industry association for additional time to allow interested persons to submit comments. DATES: Submit either electronic or written comments and data and information by January 27, 2012.

Photo via USDA

This week the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported that  the number of people using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also called Food Stamps, hit an all-time high in August (the last month which data was available).   the USDA reports that 45.8 millionAmericans received Food Stamps, an increase of 1.1% from July, which is more than an 8.1% increase since August 2010.  SNAP use has increased each month since President Obama entered office.