"Each culture has its own set of rites, practices, and beliefs. American kids grow up receiving practically no education about nutrition. In fact their knowledge, attention and focus are directed, for the most part, toward fast food through advertising on every street corner, television, and on every game they play. No real school or science programs on nutrition are mandatory in schools. Where does food come from?
Most interviews we conducted reveal that a great number of children believe that food comes from the supermarket and -- true fact -- a number of parents believe that to be true as well. Poor nutritional habits must be changed through education and to be effective, it must be imparted to children at a young age, both at school and at home. If America is to save itself and its health care system, maybe what was achieved in banning cigarette smoking ads on TV should be applied to fast food as well. I am referring to the health care system, simply because bad nutrition leads to most diseases and the price to pay for it seems at this juncture to be overtaking that same system.
Parents need to be seriously concerned because the subject at hand is their children's health. They must be knowledgeable about what they feed their young ones. As responsible adults entrusted with the well-being of their off-springs they must be more than vigilant. They must educate themselves thoroughly and educate their own children. Mothers much too often rely on ready-made food. Pull it out, de-freeze it, put it in hot water, "come sit down, your next meal is ready".
The greatest cause of illnesses in any country comes from bad eating habits: sugar consumption is out of proportion, salt is commonly abused, sodas and diet sodas are causing obesity and depleting energy without discrimination; all combined, they attack your health and, there is only so much the immune system can handle. Time is precious so fast food comes in handy. The economics are equally precious: fast is cheap.
The way I feed myself today and whatever I know about nutrition all comes from what my mother showed me as a young kid. Although she worked all day she managed to put fresh food on the table every night. She cooked each meal from scratch. I do the same with my children. It makes sense that whatever you eat must be fresh and varied. What children learn from their parents is invaluable. Our hope to empower children with the knowledge they need to stay healthy led us to the creation of the Rooftop Garden Project at P.S 20, in Brooklyn. Education based this program gives the children the awareness they need to understand how food grows and where it comes from and they derive a great deal of pride from seeing the fruits/vegetables of their labor. The Roof Top Garden Project is the way to go. It must be developed in every school in New York before it goes nationwide."
Instead of going for the liberal outright ban on fast food, why not just brick up the drive-thru windows? After all, you'd be cutting off a major source of sales taxes to the states if you banned it all together. If they INSIST on poisoning themselves, make them at least get out of the car and go get it!
Carrying this to further extremes, you's also end up sidelining what remains of our functioning economy by ceasing to create sick people--Big Pharma and the healthcare industry is the one thing left standing in this economy, and only now is just starting to feel a slowdown, while the rest of us are staring into the double-dip abyss of wreckage yet to come when Operation Twist and all the various Obama programs get fully underway. Obamacare will finish off the healthcare industry, I'm afraid, and we'll all be left with whatever machinations Ben Bernanke can come up with next to keep us going.
Take away the sick people, and medical researchers, doctors, nurses, and many government agencies would have nothing to do, and consequently get laid off...leading to more bailouts from Congress, begged for by the unions, who'd also be out of jobs. Sick people are about all we have left, economically-speaking!
It might be helpful if the nation were to see more involvement of the First Lady (or the kids) in the White House Garden, and not just on Photo Op day.
As for the Rooftop Garden project going nationwide, you seem to have fallen into the New York-as-the-Center-of-the-World pit. Not every city is composed of mainly high-rises, and some of us DO have our own yards, complete with our own gardens. Pavement poisoning only exists in the larger cities and downtown areas--perhaps you ought to get out of the county occasionally...or even out of the state. Go somewhere people don't have to live in layers on top of one another.
I feel sorry for anybody who lives in a city that only has one big green space to its name, and nobody can plant in it.
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