By the time Thursday’s Rotary Club program was well along, I was pleased that I chose to have a grilled chicken salad for lunch.
Judy Works is president of the club and had arranged a program that was canceled an hour ahead of time. She had a back-up plan.
Jamie Oliver, a British-born chef known for his campaign against processed foods in school lunchrooms and for efforts to encourage people to eat healthier, came the Rotarians’ way via an Internet clip.
What he had to say wouldn’t sit well with the fast-food industry, families that eat on the go and school districts that let cost factors dictate what cooks prepare for kids to eat, often twice a day.
America is one of the most unhealthy countries in the world because of the way we eat, he pronounced, noting the statistics were clear and our lives are being shortened by the landscape of food that’s laid before us.
Americans aren’t alone. Diet-related disease is the biggest killer in the world, Oliver said.
Obesity complicates the body’s ability to function, often leads to heart disease and cancer, and is an outcome of both eating too much and not eating fresh and non-processed foods, Oliver said.
A reminder of how much sugar a child consumes in a year drinking milk with additives to suit kids’ tastes was made starkly evident when a wheelbarrow filled with sugar cubes was pushed on the stage where Oliver was speaking. Its load peaked well above the sides.
Fast food has taken over on Main Street, with it full of additives and with disgraceful labeling that hides the fact it’s fattening, he said: “It says it’s low-fat but it full of sugar.”
The culture of preparing healthy meals at home has disappeared in America, he said. A woman, obviously overweight, sat in front of a table piled high with carbohydrate- and fat-laced foods, an example of what her chunky children had eaten the previous several weeks.
About 31 million children eat school breakfasts and lunches each day.
Health dictated by what we eat
