School Kids Tossing Fruit, Veggies (and Nutrition) into Trash Cans

Recent revelations about school children across the nation tossing fruit and vegetables into the trash can in opposition to First Lady Michelle Obama’s efforts to mandate plant-based foods into school cafeteria menus put a spotlight on the roots of a growing health problem in the United States – childhood obesity.

Childhood obesity rates among children have more than doubled in the past 20 years, with close to 5 million youths aged 6 to 17 seriously overweight or obese. The underlying causes of this trend aren’t hard to find. Fast foods and overly processed foods have become such an engrained part of the American family’s diet that you have children using fruits and vegetables as a “basketball” to toss into the closest trash can. Many schools are actually talking about installing cameras near the trash cans to catch the culprits.

Prolonged childhood obesity can lead to a variety of serious, life-long health problems such as adult-onset diabetes and heart disease. In addition these overweight adults will be at risk for high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol and insulin resistance. The long term health care costs of dealing with this growing trend will affect each and every American for decades to come.

Unfortunately, Michelle Obama well-intended efforts to introduce fresh, plant-based foods into American children’s diets is bucking up against a decades-old preference for faster, easier, nutrient-deficient  or harmful food. Children raised on chicken McNuggets or French fries from the time they could sit up in a high chair are not about to embrace a transition to “boring” fruits and vegetables.

Despite all the empirical evidence which demonstrates that vegetarian (plant-based) diets are healthier and better for your waistline, many parents and school administrator have been slow to incorporate more fruits and vegetables into children’s diets. Substituting overly processed, perhaps better tasting, food which does not offer the nutritional value found in fresh fruits and vegetables, or all natural foods which have no additives or preservatives.

O’Meagher Farms promotes healthier eating by offering a variety of tasty, all natural foods (which are plant-based) on its website. Please visit us at http://www.omeagherfarms.com.