I LOVE Jamie Oliver!!! Can he come to my school????

[agnes!]

...West Virginia is not in the South. It might *look* like "the South", to an outsider but it most definitely is not. I grew up there and I think most West Virginians would consider it to be Appalachian - in general I think people who live there are proud, independent, suspicious of outsiders... and in its history this is the state that broke away from Virginia over the issue of slavery during the Civil War.
I know, I know to say it's Appalachian and not South might seem to be a very fine point of difference, but it's important.

And frankly, I think it was very brave for the Huntington schools to take this on. It's not JUST people in WV who have poor eating habits...walk into any high school or middle school or grade school and ask the students how many vegetables or fruit (not including that starchy favorite of potatoes) they have eaten within a day or two or even within a week. WV doesn't hold the patent on eating nasty junk, that stuff is sold everywhere all over the country.

agnes!

I'm not sure what you are trying to say about the south, but this description of the people of WV could be describing Southerners, except for the suspicious part-southerners are very friendly and open to strangers. This is coming from a Yankee who moved South 25 years ago. My kids have had silverware in their schools since kindergarten.

I like to keep things on the side of facts...outsiders might think that West Virginia is "in the South" or "of the South" but I never thought of myself as being a Southerner when I lived there and the people I know who still live there don't think of themselves as Southerners either. That's all.

... Yeah, but the reason he started there was some country wide health survey that was done that showed the residents there to be the most unhealthy in the entire country. Considering the state of affairs country-wide, that's really saying something. The town was not just picked at random. ...

Yeah, I know about the survey. Maybe the people of Huntington were actually honest when they took the survey? With the exception of the Census, do people really tell the truth on these things?

I watched and was was very disappointed by the way Jaime was treated. Those lunch ladies were mean,and yes, taking it personally. They need to realized it's not about them but the kids.

W.V. is my home state and I would hate for Jaime and everyone watching to think that all West Virginians have such a bad attitude and are so unhealthy.I hope the parents who saw the food demonstration are serious about wanting change.

I am quite sure you could take schools/families in just about every state, and all over Britain for that matter,and find the same situation. Processed easy to prepare food has become the norm.

Sad but true.

I think that if people would keep a food-diary for a week and see what their actual food-intake was they would be shocked...too much sugar, too much salt, too much un-needed/unhealthy fat, the unholy trifecta that our addicted bodies will absolutely crave if it's too much in the foods we ingest.

agnes!

 

[charming23]

Me too I was shocked when she said she was 4!

I was as well. I was expecting her to be 8 or 9 cause my cousin is 5 and is no where near that big. I feel so sorry for her.

 

[SnowWhite607]

I didn't see them weigh the kids, but I could NOT believe that poor girl was only 4! I thought 8-9 at the youngest.

I was FLOORED when I heard she was 4. She is bigger than my DD who is 9.

 

[Tiana]

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[Catananche]

A lot of people are asking why a British person is over here in the US doing the show, and not in the UK. They already have this show over there, it just doesn't focus on the school system. It's called "You are what you eat" and it comes on BBC pretty regularly. I LOVE to watch it. The host/nutritionist is Jillian (somebody). It's SO gross to see all that junk food piled up together. Blech.

Gillian McKeith

Jamie has had two similar campaigns / tv programmes in the UK, starting with "School Dinners" and then "Ministry of Food": it sounds like Revolution is a combination of them. I'd love to see Revolution but the on-line episodes won't stream in the UK, just mini clips on You Tube.

 

[eliza61]

The silverware thing really floored me! What do you serve every day that doesn't require utensils? They had cereal for breakfast, do they have spoons? I can not comprehend going to school from pre-k to 6th (I assume that's what it is) and never need a fork!!!! We don't have knives, but that is because we had a "safety" incident so the kids can't have them, but spoons & forks are there and used!!
?

I watched and was was very disappointed by the way Jaime was treated. Those lunch ladies were mean,and yes, taking it personally. They need to realized it's not about them but the kids.
W.V. is my home state and I would hate for Jaime and everyone watching to think that all West Virginians have such a bad attitude and are so unhealthy.I hope the parents who saw the food demonstration are serious about wanting change.

I am quite sure you could take schools/families in just about every state, and all over Britain for that matter,and find the same situation. Processed easy to prepare food has become the norm.

The lunch ladies needed some serious smack downs. Why don't this kids have utensils??? The man looked like he wanted to cry. I totally agree with him freakin kindergarten is the time we are supposed to be teaching our kids social skills. That school was in no way interested in what was best for the school but pretty much what was easiest for them.

No worries there Nikimouse, unfortunatley good ole New Jersey has some of the worse school lunches known to man. My H.S. kids won't even touch half of the stuff and their boys who pretty much will eat just about any thing with enough ketchup.

 

[marcyinPA]

ABC just re-aired it today...just finished watching. Great show! The lunch-ladies' refusal to get with the program aggravated me, especially Alice. WTH?? It's not about you, Alice! (she looks like she could stand to lose a few pounds, anyway).

The part when he dumped all that food onto a tarp, and then loaded the fat into the dumpster, disgusted me.

I hope that this show makes a difference in all of the school system lunches, although we all know that the bottom line (money) will take priority.

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

I watched the second half again today, I still haven't seen the first half either day it was on. I feel for the folks of Huntington, they may be surveyed as being the "the worst" but I can imagine there are thousands and thousands of cities just as bad. And although I really wanted to smack down those lunch ladies, I can see how they might feel. They probably feel as if they are being thrown under the bus on national television. They work within a budget. Quality costs more that junk. The person who should be ashamed of herself is the woman in the suit who made comments abut how much the better food was costing. They should have known before this came about that it was going to cost a lot more to feed kids chicken MEAT rather that chicken fat, skin, bones, and cartilage. Blech...

 

[minkydog]

Sadly, this show could have been shot at my school, except our lunch ladies would never be so rude. Our food is pre-packaged, heavy on the breading, high in carbs. I would starve myself before I'd eat one thing that comes out of the kitchen.

As for the kids, that 4yo was at least 100-lbs. And the 12yo was at or above 200-lbs--I weigh 180 and he was bigger than I am. Those parents ought to be thoroughly ashamed of themselves for putting their children's health at stake--and their own. Did you see how heavy they were? The parents need to grow a backbone and STOP buying the junk. What were there, 30 pizzas in the freezer? And not a fruit or vegetable on the premisis.

I have a neice12 and a nephew8 who are both overweight, bordering on obese. Both of them play a lot of video games and watch a lot of TV. The reason they are overweight is that both sets of parents let them eat whatever they want. Pop-tarts, chicken nuggets, french fries and spaghetti-os make up the sum total of their diets. They say "well, he/she won't eat anything else." Um, yes they will. No child will willingly starve themselves to death. And both of these kids could stand to lose some weight--the 12yo is 130-lbs, under 5ft, and the 8yo weighs 110, and is short. Both are bigger than my DS14 & DD16. I could just slap their parents, it makes me so mad. THey are quite resistant to changing their ways "because you don't realize how hard it is." Sure I do.

I went through that when my kids were 2yo. And I stuck to my guns. I put healthy meals on the table and quit buying junk food. My kids are lean & mean 110 (DD16) and 114(DS14). They eat when they're hungry and they don't eat when they're not.

Neice's mom & dad weigh well over 300-lbs. Nephew's mom is thin, but dad weighs about450. Neither of these kids have a snowball's chance.

 

[castleview]

It's too bad he couldn't educate the parents of these kids or the adults in town. Even with the healthy lunch, the kids are probably going to eat junk for breakfast and dinner.

 

[ZPT1022]

I saw him on Oprah yesterday, and they had the DJ on as well. The DJ said that they were upset because the CDC had just labeled their town the unhealthiest in the country and they were afraid that Jamie was coming to exploit that. I think they were just defensive, you know?

I understand but they didn't even give the poor guy a chance to talk and see what he said first. I really got the vibe that he just thought it was sad that the kids weren't being given better choices and a better chance and it stunk to see that the adults didn't seem to keen on helping the kids do better.

 

[Silent1CB]

Just for the heck of it, I took out our weekly newspaper and read what the surrounding elementary schools here in MA were offering next week for lunch. They had several options at each school and all were better than what that school was offering. Not perfect, but sure better. And would need utensils. The menu even gives the nutritional information breakdown.

 

[Pikester]

Kids do not get huge from eating 1 "bad" meal at school each day.I actually feel a little sorry for the schools. In NH school budgets are paid with property taxes so there is only so much people are willing to spend. The schools work with what they can afford to buy and unfortunately sometimes it is the processed food. I'm from a smallish town and we have 3 schools; K-4, 5&6, 7-12. The schools use to handle the food themselves but a few years ago they contracted out to a company; Cafe Services. From looking at the menu I see that there is a salad, fruit or veggie offered with every meal but there are still chicken nuggets, pizza and fries that can be found on the menu. They also offer a sandwich of the day if the kids don't like the main entree or the kids can get PBJ. There is also a 2PM snack of a veggie or fruit that all the kids get in the K-4. I think that the Middle/High School has more options then the lower grades.

My friend (who is a nurse) use to complain about the lunches at school and how they could be healthier. I agreed but I also argued that for some of the kids at our school that was probably the one big meal that they got for the day.

I only saw part of the show and it was the conversation about the silverware. I didn't realize that the kids didn't use anything. I thought he was just upset about them not being able to use knives. I figured that could be a safety issue for some schools so I could see the schools point of not having them. So WOW they didn't use any utensils!

 

[Silent1CB]

The kids used spoons for cereal. And forks for pre-packaged salad mix. The kids did NOT have knives & when they were given knives, it was evident they did not know how to use them. Because of this, they were not able to eat the food Jamie had prepared. Once the principle & teachers went table to table to teach how to use a knife, they started eating, and they agreed to allow a longer lunch period since the kids liked & were now eating the food.

Spoons & forks were not given out most days however. Just when needed. Until 6th grade. Knives never! Unimaginable to me!!!

But it also reinforced that they were eating finger foods at home too since they didn't know what to do with a knife. Never mind not knowing the names of the produce or that potatoes make french fries & tomatoes make ketchup.

 

[Tiana]

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[ZPT1022]

But it also reinforced that they were eating finger foods at home too since they didn't know what to do with a knife..

to be fair, I cut my kids stuff most of the time, even at 8, 5 and 5, it's just easier and less messy for DH and I to help.

 

[TheZue]

The thing is those kids weren't getting one meal a day at school, they were getting breakfast and luch. The first breakfast he saw was pizza. When they are eating 2/3 of the meals at school that is going to be habit forming in terms of what food they'll be willing to eat, and also what they are going to consider acceptable food as adults once they are out of the house. A school serving pizza for breakfast gives it a level of acceptibility since they are authority figures; it's going to taint how those kids view food long term. I think the schools get a bad rap on the level of the individual schools, but the people making the budgets too low to cook real food and deciding to allow all the pre-packaged crap in really do deserve the scruitiny.

I agree the parents dropped the ball, nobody in that class of grade ones should have drawn a blank when they saw a potato, or a pea pod, or a tomato, or think that a radish is cellery....those are REALLY common veggies. Then none of them knew what fries were made of