Vegetarian Star

Dr. Neal Barnard of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has recorded an advertisement that’s being broadcast in Washington, D.C., urging viewers to tell Congress to support H.R. 4870, The Healthy School Meals Act, which could potentially give schools the ability to offer vegetarian meals for lunch everyday.

Dr. Barnard uses a laboratory graduated cylinder to show the amount of saturated fat in a hamburger versus a veggie burger.

That’s some bad chemistry, man!

Watch the clip, and if you haven’t already told your representative how you feel, it’s time to do so now!

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Last week’s 10 Things I Hate About You featured Kat Stratford winning one for the team by getting her school to offer Meatless Mondays.

However, the student council member she teamed up with to get it passed didn’t tell her he was going to set up a pepperoni pizza stand on the same day declaring war on the vegetarian movement.

Ah, politics.

There is real progress happening in schools, however, to make vegetarian meals the norm, and the South Florida Miami-Dade school district has offered these for a long time.

Recently, the district added three new options to its menu: faux chicken nuggets, veggie burgers and hummus platters.

And no, kids aren’t pitching tents on the football field offering cold cuts to counteract this.

“We’re offering these items on the menu, and not seeing trays and trays go into the garbage can,” said Penny Parham to the Miami Herald, who oversees food services in the district.

If passed, the Healthy School Meals Act, H.R. 4870, introduced by representative Jared Polis, will offer school districts across the nation to test the introduction of vegetarian foods and non dairy beverages into their menus over the next couple of years.

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John Salley was recently interview by fellow vegan and journalist Jane Velez-Mitchell about his trip with New York city students to see Avatar, where he later discussed the benefits of a vegetarian diet on the Earth and ate a vegetarian meal with the children.

Jane and John talked about his mission to get America’s kids healthier and to combat obesity.

Maybe the answer is to feed children what they need and not what they want.

“They put vegetarian food in front of them when they were hungry. Some of them booed. Some of them awed. But at the end of it, they all were fed well,” Salley said.

John gets into the number of animals killed for food and makes a statement about how despite these millions, there is still poverty worldwide–indicating protein may not be the best way to feed the people.

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Martha Stewart‘s magazine Body + Soul, now known as Whole Living, treated New York city elementary school children for their efforts to bring awareness to Earth Day.

According to MNN, the magazine teamed up with the non-profit group PENCIL to sponsor an Earth Day poster contest.

Each school picked a poster from each grade to go on to the finals, where the children were rewarded with locally grown produce and dairy and eggs sourced from Stewart’s farm.

Last year Martha attended a launch party for Farm Forward, an organization that aims to move everyone away from factory farming and shift focus towards smaller, family farms that use more sustainable practices.

Martha allowed Access Hollywood to accompany her on her farm, which uses no pesticides.

“Everything can be picked off the plant and just eaten,” Martha says in the video.

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Much to the disappointment of vegans, the NFL has teamed up with dairy farmers in a campaign to fight childhood obesity.

The Fuel Up To Play 60 campaign encourages children to practice better lifestyle habits such as consuming low fat milk and exercising.

Politics aside, evidence for dairy being beneficial to weight maintenance is not conclusive.

Some studies have linked milk consumption to a decrease in the risk for obesity, while others found the opposite.

Since this particular campaign is directed at children, it’s interesting to note one study in the Archives of Pediatric Adolescent Medicine found children that drank the most milk gained the most weight.

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Conservative Ann Coulter used the recent announcement from Justice John Paul Stevens to retire from the Supreme Court to poke fun of progressive schools that include vegetarianism and/or animal rights in the curriculum.

Hey, some do, such as the one Emily Deschanel attended.

Using an instance where Stevens disagreed with giving vouchers to parents to send their children to private schools, Ann wrote:

“He said, because the program did not forbid parents from using the tuition payments at religious schools, the state was using “public funds to pay for the indoctrination of thousands of grammar school children in particular religious faiths.” That money should have been used to indoctrinate children in subjects such as animal rights, Gaia theory, anti-Americanism and fisting etiquette!”

Don’t know how many parents would appreciate the opportunity to transfer their children to another school, private or parochial, but we’re sure they’re are plenty of parents who want more money into the school lunch system so their children aren’t resigned to eat the pre-formed patty of several animals parts and greased up fries.

BTW, have you contacted your local representative to let them know you support H.R. 4870, which could potentially bring regular vegetarian meals in school districts nationwide?

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Jennie Garth signed up for Hidden Valley Ranch’s Garden Party campaign in an effort to teach parents how to incorporate the ideas of eating fresh produce and growing your own vegetables to their children.

Being the mother of three, Jennie’s had her moments, good and bad, with cucumbers and kiddies.

Here are a few of the best from ivillage.

Besides Disney Vegetables, what’s the best way to get kids to eat their greens?
I give them veggies when they’re hungry. Put out a plate after school with Hidden Valley ranch and you will be surprised.

Favorite vegetable rich meal to cook with kids:
Spaghetti with fresh tomatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, onions, and garlic pureed into the sauce. They love it!

Where she buys her veggies:
The supermarket or the farmers market. I prefer locally grown/organic whenever possible.

Jennie and her family are huge fans of broccoli and they eat it several times a week.

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Disney Garden, a Disney brand of fruits and vegetables, has reported a 300% growth in Canada last year and competitors like Nickelodeon and Discovery Kids are hoping to get in on the market and promote their cartoon carrots to children.

The brand features fruits and vegetables with Disney characters on the packaging.

Bonus points: Disney Garden has organic produce!

“When you have Ronald McDonald, who is very recognizable, on the fast-food side, and you have the Disney characters on the side of fruits and vegetables, it seems to even the playing field,” says Debi Andrus, assistant professor of marketing at the University of Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business, according to the Star Phoenix.

“What we’re trying to do is make fresh produce more fun, and as appealing to children as sweets might be,” says Michael Caito, CEO of Imagination Farms.

Not everyone wants Mickey Mouse promoting cucumbers, though.

“I am not about marketing to children. It sickens me,” says Erica Ehm, a Toronto-based mother of two. “But having said that, I don’t think putting carrots in a Cinderella package is going to damage the child. And if it somehow leads them to liking fruits and vegetables, that’s OK with me.”

Unless you’re kid never sees a television, a billboard on the street or talks to another child at school, there’s no way to hide the marketing tactics employed to suck them into the sugary cereal aisle.

If they’re going to be brainwashed, it might as well be about Tigger’s organic pears.

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