Vegetarian Star

Rachael Ray joined a bi-partisan group on Thursday to help unveil changes to the Child Nutrition Act.

The bill proposes that more students have more access to school meals, including breakfasts, and would extend the umbrella for assistance for low-income students, making it easier to access meals without the hassles of paperwork that might otherwise deny them based on a small margin declaring them ineligible. It would also extend school lunch programs during the summer for certain programs like camps in rural areas.

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, said in a press release that although the program is a start, it doesn’t address the issue of high fat foods in school lunches or providing enough plant based options.

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Colorado representative Jared Polis revealed his suggestions to put more vegetarian and non-dairy options in school lunches could cost around $50 million a year, but insists the benefits would outweigh the costs in health care savings.

Polis was in Denver, Colorado recently promoting his bill, The Healthy School Meals Act.

“One of the things I’ve always been dismayed by is the nutritional value of the meals schools serve,” Polis said.

He also emphasized the importance of offering non dairy options to the 10-20% of children who are lactose intolerant.

Although the National School Lunch Program requires schools to always offer cow’s milk, a 2004 reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act and National School Lunch Act allowed schools to offer non dairy alternatives as long as they were equal to nutrition in milk.

However, the USDA does not cover any additional price difference, and as a result, schools aren’t able to offer alternatives like soy or rice milk.

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Rachael Ray recently went to Capitol Hill to spend four hours speaking with lawmakers on the need to make changes to the Child Nutrition Act, according to the New York Times.

Specifically, they need to put their money where the mouths are!

Ray called the reimbursement rates for school lunches “ridiculous.”

“How could you go to any state in the union and say you are not for an extra couple of cents to eradicate hunger, to make our kids healthier, stronger, better focused?” she said. “It doesn’t make any sense that you would even have to have a long conversation about that, to me.”

The celebrity chef known to incorporate many vegetarian entrees in her cooking repertoire has already worked with the New York City school system to create healthier changes, such as pasta dishes with whole wheat pasta instead of white.

New York senator Kristen E. Gillibrand wants an increase in spending by $.70 per child, while the current bill is aiming for a mere $.06.

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Max Records, the 12 year old actor who plays the ruler of his fantasy forest world in Where The Wild Things Are is a proud vegetarian.

He’s so good at playing this role, he even led a protest to get more vegetarian food options on his school lunch menu.

BTW, he was only eight years old when this protest happened.

Makes you feel lazy for not learning how to explain the difference between Silken and Chinese tofu before you were 21.

Could Max be the next person to lobby for changes to the Child Nutrition Act this year?

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Elizabeth Kucinich and politician husband Dennis Kucinich joined forces with ex NBA basketball player John Salley and members of the Physicians Committee For Responsible Medicine on Capitol Hill recently to  promote vegetarian school lunches to the Child Nutrition Act that is set for re-authorization this year.

Elizabeth is totally with Salley when it comes to veg school lunches, but don’t ask her to cheer for his former team.

“The only thing I have difficulty with is that you played wth the Detroit Pistons,” Elizabeth said. “As a Cavaliers fan, I take that personally.”

It’s okay, Liz. You can work it out over a tempeh sandwich.

Salley told students to lay off the meat and cheese in order to “stay healthy fit and ready to learn.”

Democratic representative Jared Solis noted that many school lunches contain high levels and fat and low levels and fiber and proposed a bill that would increase federal subsidies for non dairy vegetarian school lunches by 20% and permit non dairy beverages such as rice and soy milk to satisfy the milk requirement as long as they contain between 5 and 8 grams of protein.

“Because healthy habits start early in life, it is important for children to eat healthful foods at school,” Polis said.

“Making sure sure students across country have vegetarian and vegan options is a step in the right direction for improving the health of our next generation.

Amen.

And no more mystery meat.

via cleveland.com

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“As a parent, I’m sure we can all agree that fruits and vegetables are an important part of everyone’s diet — especially our children’s. It’s not easy to score points — on the court or in the classroom — when you’re eating a junk food diet packed with fat and cholesterol.”

—-ex NBA star John Salley, in a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., the chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, urging them to make vegetarian lunches a standard on school cafeteria menus.

John is one of several celebrities who have pushed this issue as the Child Nutrition Act, which sets the standards for school lunches, is up for re-authorization this year.

via washingtonexaminer.com

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politico.com

An ad campaign created by the Physician’s Committee For Responsible Medicine is asking why some children have access to healthy, vegetarian lunches and others don’t.

Seems like an innocent question, but since this one is directed toward the children of the president of the United States, some feel it could backfire.

In the ad, Jasmine Messiah, an 8-year-old vegetarian from a Florida public school, asks, “President Obama’s daughters get healthy school lunches. Why don’t I?”

It’s all part of an ongoing effort calling for changes to the Child Nutrition Act, a program that sets the standards for school lunch, that’s up for reauthorization this year.

Several celebrities, including Tobey Maguire, Biz Stone, and Wyntergrace Williams have already called upon lawmakers to ensure every school, public or private, serves vegetarian options to students.

But some have said that a politicians’ children are off limits and the ad shouldn’t include a reference to Sasha and Malia.

Poltico.com writes:

“But media and political experts say the campaign could easily anger a popular president who has taken steps to shield his daughters from the spotlight. “This is not the way to win the heart of the president,” said Brookings Institution Governance Studies Director Darrell West. “It’s dangerous to target Obama’s daughters because many people view family members as off limits for political advocacy. That’s especially relevant in this case because his daughters are so young.”

Jasmine has also written a letter to the Obama daughters.

What you do think? Will the reference to his children anger president Obama, causing the campaign to backfire? Or is Mr. Obama a sensible man who knows something must be done to change what children are being fed for the majority of the year while becoming educated citizens?

To learn more about the campaign visit HealthySchoollunches.org.

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Tobey Maguire is getting into the game of improving school lunches, much like Wyntergrace Williams and Twitter co-founder Biz Stone.

The vegetarian actor recently wrote a letter to U.S. Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), urging lawmakers to reexamine the standards set by the Child Nutrition Act (CNA). The legislation — initially passed in 1966 – is up for Congressional re-authorization this fall, giving lawmakers a wonderful opportunity to make changes.

Changes such as making schools stop serving beef nachos everyday and put veggie burgers on the menu.

Tobey cited a recent article by the Chicago Tribune, which revealed that Chicago public schools serve beef nachos everyday because the federal government’s commodity foods program “dumps surplus beef on schools across the country.”

“School is tough enough already — students shouldn’t have to put up with lunches swimming in fat and cholesterol,” Tobey wrote.

Tobey suggests that vegetarian meals may even costs schools less while getting children in shape.

“Being overweight can be a miserable experience for children. It affects their grades and sets them up to be unhealthy adults.”

“Higher rates of obesity, heart disease and diabetes mean greater healthcare costs for everyone. Healthy foods can help prevent those problems, so federal dollars spent on better school meals are a smart investment.”

If you’re interested in taking Tobey’s lead, contact your legislators and write to them.

via celebrity-babies.com

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