What
a refreshing and invigorating Obama administration, for so many reasons!
Related to my blog is Michelle Obama’s efforts to make fresh, healthy,
non-processed food affordable for all Americans. Fantastic! Especially since it
is so expensive to eat healthy! If a person earns less than a middle class
income, eating healthy is difficult.
I
had a debate regarding processed versus unprocessed food with a professor from
North Carolina State University at the state farmers market a few weeks back.
It went on for about 20 minutes. He tried to tell me that processed food was
just as healthy as the food that I make. That Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup
was just as healthy as chicken bone broth, for example. That the hormones,
antibiotics, chemicals and pesticides were not absorbed by our bodies and our
bodies were very efficient at extracting nutrition. I didn’t get the chance to
mention cigarette butt that I found in Campbell’s one day...
He
went on to say that by encouraging people to eat only unprocessed food I was
going to make some people sick and possibly kill them because they would not
eat certain foods, making their diets unbalanced. The professor said that I
needed to take my blog down before that happened, and that I needed to take his
class on nutrition so that I understood how to eat healthy. He had no
explanation for my osteopenia diagnosis at age 30 (which if you follow his
logic should not have happened because my body takes the nutrients it needs
regardless of the “food” I eat) or my incredibly fast recoveries from some
medical emergencies, such as a severe miscarriage.
If
I was not under a time crunch, I would have challenged him to a very public debate
on the spot. I have stories of personal recovery and victory due to eating
healthy, unprocessed food. I have a long history of very public and politically
charged debates as an environmental activist, I win, and I am seriously up to
this challenge. It would have been interesting for folks to listen to this ill
looking, overweight professor’s position, versus my compelling personal stories
and fit appearance. Perhaps that debate will come, as I continue to gain
momentum. Someone has to stop this teacher of future nutritionists! I will keep
you all posted.
Now,
here is the New York Times article about Michelle Obama. I wonder if the
professor will chastise her for encouraging folks to stop eating processed
food.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/11/dining/11lady.html?nl=pol&emc=polb1
Michelle
Obama’s Agenda Includes Healthful Eating
By
RACHEL L. SWARNS
Published:
March 10, 2009
A
VEGGIE IN EVERY POT Michelle Obama serving at Miriam’s Kitchen in Washington.
THE
television cameras were rolling, the journalists were scribbling and the first
lady, Michelle Obama, was standing in a soup kitchen rhapsodizing about steamed
broccoli. And homemade mushroom risotto. And freshly baked apple-carrot
muffins.
Mrs.
Obama was praising the menu last week at Miriam’s Kitchen, a nonprofit drop-in
center serving this city’s homeless. And she seized the moment to urge
Americans to provide fresh, unprocessed and locally grown foods to their
families and to the neediest in their communities.
“You
know, we want to make sure our guests here and across the nation are eating
nutritious items,” said Mrs. Obama, who served lunch to several homeless men
and women and delivered eight cases of fresh fruit to the soup kitchen, all
donated by White House employees.
"
Collect
some fruits and vegetables; bring by some good healthy food,” she said. “We can
provide this kind of healthy food for communities across the country, and we can
do it by each of us lending a hand.”
In
her first weeks in the White House, Mrs. Obama has emerged as a champion of
healthy food and healthy living. She has praised community vegetable gardens,
opened up her own kitchen to show off the White House chefs’ prowess with
vegetables and told stories about feeding less fattening foods to her
daughters.
White
House officials say the focus on healthy living will be a significant item on
Mrs. Obama’s agenda, which already includes supporting working families and
military spouses. As the nation battles an obesity epidemic and a hard-to-break
taste for oversweetened and oversalted dishes, her message is clear: Fresh,
nutritious foods are not delicacies to be savored by the wealthy, but critical
components of the diets of ordinary and struggling families.
It
is a notable shift in direction. The former first lady, Laura Bush, insisted
that fresh, organic foods be served in the White House, but did not broadcast
that fact to the public, according to Walter Scheib, who served as executive
chef under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.
“She
just didn’t talk much about it outside the house,” Mr. Scheib said of Mrs.
Bush. “Mrs. Obama is taking a higher profile.”
In
a speech at the Department of Agriculture last month, Mrs. Obama described
herself as “a big believer” in community gardens that provide “fresh fruits and
vegetables for so many communities across this nation and world.”
A
few days later, she invited television cameras into the White House kitchen and
made a point of praising the chefs’ nutritious creations, including creamed
spinach without the cream.
Mrs.
Obama presented herself not as a celebrity who has appeared on the cover of
Vogue — though, of course, she has appeared on the cover of Vogue — but as a
down-to-earth mom who works hard to keep in shape and to please the palates of
her two daughters, Sasha, 7, and Malia, 10, who sometimes wrinkle their noses
at the greenery on their plates.
“It’s
like: How do we keep the calories down but keep the flavors up?” said Mrs.
Obama, who also praised a healthy broccoli soup prepared by White House chefs.
“That’s
one of the things that we’re talking a lot about,” she said. “When you grow
something yourself and it’s close and it’s local, oftentimes it tastes really
good.
“And
when you’re dealing with kids, for example, you want to get them to try that carrot.
Well, if it tastes like a real carrot and it’s really sweet, they’re going to
think that it’s a piece of candy. So my kids are more inclined to try different
vegetables if they’re fresh and local and delicious.”
The
secret to that creamless creamed spinach? Sautéed spinach, olive oil and
shallots are whipped into a purée that is light and delicious, according to
Cristeta Comerford, the White House executive chef.
Even
so, Mrs. Obama conceded, the dish was not a hit with Sasha. No matter what you
do, she said ruefully, “sometimes kids are like, ‘It’s green!’ ”
Some
of those who had called on President Obama to use the White House as a bully
pulpit to help improve Americans’ eating habits are cheering Mrs. Obama on.
They
were thrilled to learn that the White House gets fresh fruits and vegetables
from farms in Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. And they delighted in the
news that the Obamas had served organic wine at their first big White House
dinner, a gathering of the nation’s governors last month.
Danny
Meyer, the restaurateur, praised Mrs. Obama for speaking “in real human terms
about what kind of choices real human beings can make in terms of their own
lives.”
Ruth
Reichl, the editor of Gourmet magazine, said she was impressed to see Mrs.
Obama showcase a soup kitchen that serves only fresh food — nothing canned or
processed — to the poor.
“They’re
not just saying, I want to feed my family this; this is good for us,” said Ms.
Reichl of the Obamas. “Clearly Mrs. Obama is making a point. She thinks
communities across the nation deserve to have access to fresh fruits and
vegetables.”
In
addition to speeches, Mrs. Obama is also spreading the word through interviews
with celebrity and parents’ magazines.
In
the March 9 issue of People magazine, for instance, the first lady described
her early morning workouts with the president and bared her famously toned arms
on the cover. And in the November issue of Parents magazine, she and her
husband described their decision to ditch juice boxes and processed foods.
“A
couple of years ago — you’d never know it by looking at her now — Malia was
getting a little chubby,” Mr. Obama told the magazine.
They
took action, Mrs. Obama said, when “her doctor — he really monitors this type
of thing — suggested we look at her diet. So we cut out juice boxes, sweets and
processed foods.”
Advocates
for healthy food and living want the Obamas to do even more.
Ms.
Reichl would like the White House kitchen to issue regular news releases that
describe what the first couple and their daughters are eating. (Then parents
across the country could tell their children, “You know, Malia and Sasha were
eating salad yesterday. ...”)
Roger
Doiron, founding director of Kitchen Gardeners International, a nonprofit
group, is one of several people who want the Obamas to plant an edible garden
that would serve as a national model.
Mr.
Scheib cautioned that no one should expect the Obamas to upend their lifestyle.
“This is not to say they’re going to be eating rice cakes and tofu three meals
a day, not at all,” he said.
In
fact, Mrs. Obama cheerfully admits to an occasional hankering for fast food.
It’s all about eating in moderation, she said, emphasizing the kind of
flexibility that might make it easier for people to relate to her message.
Last
month, the first lady took her staff out to lunch at Five Guys Burgers and
Fries, a hamburger chain, where she had a cheeseburger, fries and a Coke. (No,
not a Diet Coke.)
Mrs.
Obama also enjoys waffles and grits for breakfast, though not every day. And
she said that the White House chefs, who can make nutritious meals tasty, have
other talents as well.
“They
can also make a mean batch of French fries when you want it done,” she said.
