We are students interested in getting
more
local, vegetarian, and organic food
choices in our schools
Along the way we would like to also get
people motivated to clean the air, the water, and the soil.
see we don't ask much
FOOD IS SO IMPORTANT FOR NOW AND FOREVER
YOU CAN PAY FOR HEALTHY FOOD NOW
OR
PAY THE DOCTORS, HOSPITALS, AND DRUG INDUSTRY LATER
THE VALUE OF HEALTHY FOOD IS NO LONGER SPECULATION - ITS FACT
Should we cut expenses by getting cheap textbooks or
use toxic building materials because they are cheaper, or
pay our teachers low salaries.
We don't do that because we realize the costs in the long run would
be incredible.
Students across the country are putting their passion for eating right,
being active and living healthy into making their schools healthier places. Join
them. Use this site to get ideas, plan a project and share your success!
Why GMO food doesn't make sense when you compare positive to negative. Hunger
in the world is not due to a problem in food production, only the politics of
food distribution. GMO makes food more profitable for big agri-business and does
little for everyone else.
As much as we would love to see schools
eliminate 90% of the animal protein they currently serve,
we are really going to work to get fresher more nutritious options for school
lunches,
including locally produced meat and dairy.
What is Farm to School?
Fits under the “farm to cafeteria” and
“farm to institution” umbrella.
“Promote and serve locally produced foods in cafeterias of K-12 schools,
colleges, universities, hospitals, nursing homes, businesses and other
institutions.”
Farm to School programs vary:
Common to all: food service purchases and offers locally produced foods
Direct sales or through vendor
Other common elements:
Salad bar programs
Local foods in main meal
Catering projects (mostly at the college level)
Special events
School gardens
Farmers’ market salad bars
Classroom food-based education
Do Farm to School programs improve
children’s diets?
Farm to School programs focus on
increasing the amount of locally grown/raised foods
into the school meals program.
The foods targeted in FTS programs tend to be whole “nutrient-rich” foods.
Foods typically emphasized in FTS programs are fresh or freshly stored
fruits and vegetables,
other plant-foods (grains, beans and legumes), local meats, dairy products
and eggs.
Traveling less distance to the table means fresher food, less fuel burned, and
better support for local farmers and ranchers.
Why is it so important that
Genetically Engineered Foods be kept out of
schools until they can be proven safe.
What can you do to help your schools resist these franken-foods and crops.
School Organization in Canada doing
wonderful work
to really improve our food choices and the environment
Farm to School programs are sprouting
up everywhere - and they work
Good Program for Finding Out About Food Politics, Policies, and Realities in
America
( even though it's produced in Canada - it applies to our problems also)
As of June 2010 my faith in this program has been shaken by
associations between the founders of this program
and the Sewage Sludge for Organic Fertilizer con.
Research has shown consistently that vegetarians suffer less heart disease,
hypertension, obesity, diabetes, various cancers, diverticular disease, bowel
disorders, gall stones, kidney stones, and osteoporosis. Cancer rates for
vegetarians are 25 to 50 percent below population averages, even after
controlling for smoking, body mass index, and socioeconomic status.
The China Project on Nutrition, Health & Environment, a massive study involving
researchers from China, Cornell University, and the University of Oxford,
examined the relationship between diet and disease. The China Project clearly
demonstrated the health benefits of a diet based on plant foods. The less animal
protein and animal fat consumed, the less heart disease, cancer, obesity,
diabetes, and osteoporosis was found. One of the Project's coordinators, Dr.
Colin Campbell of Cornell University, stated that, "We're basically a vegetarian
species and should be eating a wide variety of plant foods and minimizing our
intake of animal foods."
“Vegetarians have the best diet: they have the lowest rates of coronary heart
disease of any group in the country.” – Dr. William Castelli, Director of the
Framingham Heart Study
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine recently estimated that direct
health care costs in the U.S. attributable to meat consumption were at least
$28.6 billion per year, and perhaps as high as $61.4 billion.
Are vegetarians smarter?
In a study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, the
IQs of vegetarian children were found to be an average of 6 points higher than
those of children who ate meat. We can’t promise that giving up meat will make
you an Einstein, but it can’t hurt!
UK SCHOOLS GOING ORGANIC
Due to overwhelming pressure from parents of school-age children in the U.K.,
Prime Minister Tony Blair has announced the establishment of a new
government based
"School Food Trust," wherein junk foods will be removed from schools while
organic "made-from-scratch" meals will be instituted.
According to Blair, "If changes are made it will only be a matter of months
before British health,
education and farming could be affected for the better.
It could be one of the biggest food revolutions that England has ever seen."
http://www.organicconsumers.org/organic/blair032105.cfm
