A reader recently sent me an e-mail asking if I had internet links to portions of an article I wrote more than four years ago for The Washington Post food sectioni called “The Spreadsheet Diet.”
The article was a lesson in how to free yourself from recipes and use a multitude of whole grains, nuts, dried fruits, [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Wellness'
The Spreadsheet Diet
July 11th, 2010 · 5 Comments · Recipes, Wellness
Tags: nuts·whole grains
“Healthy Schools” vs. Soda Tax: What’s at Stake
May 26th, 2010 · 1 Comment · Wellness, kids, politics, school food
A proposed tax on soft drinks to fund “Healthy Schools” legislation appears to be on shaky ground at best and may be dead on arrival. Meanwhile, social service advocates are engaged in a mad scramble to stave off cuts to services for the poor. While some members of the D.C. Council are talking about increasing [...]
What to do About the White Stuff: Sugar in Schools
May 3rd, 2010 · No Comments · Blog, Wellness, kids
Guest Post
By Susan Rubin, DMD
As a dentist fresh out of school in the late 1980’s, I was idealistic and passionate about my new profession. I gave lots of “tooth talks” at schools and childcare centers every February, during Children’s Dental Health month. It wasn’t until I started having kids of my own that I learned [...]
Tags: school food·sugar
“Healthy Schools” with a Big Lump of Sugar
April 19th, 2010 · No Comments · Tales, Wellness, kids, school food
“Healthy Schools” legislation written by D.C. Councilmember Mary Cheh comes up for its first committee vote today after months of deliberations and with one very conspicuous missing element: no regulation of sugar in school meals.
Removing the astonishing amount of sugar served to D.C. school children every day is probably the quickest and cheapest way to make school meals [...]
Tags: "Healthy Schools"·sugar
Beyond “Museum” Gardens
April 15th, 2010 · 2 Comments · Wellness, garden, kids
By Jesse Kurtz-Nicholl
With all of the coverage of Michelle Obama in the news lately, you would be a fool not to think that gardens are the answer to all of our public health problems. In addition to the “White House” garden, you’ve got the new “People’s Garden” at the USDA building in D.C., you’ve got [...]
Tags: obesity·school food·school gardens
Mendy Heaps Answers Her Critics
April 12th, 2010 · 8 Comments · Wellness, kids, school food
The story of Colorado middle school teacher Mendy Heaps and her crusade for better school food at risk of her job has reverberated around the internet. Some readers have called her a modern folk hero (a Facebook group–Support MENDY HEAPS, and teacher like her! has 358 members), while others say she recklessly pursues an unsavory agenda. After [...]
Tags: Mendy Heaps·obesity·school lunches
Tracking Obesity in “Healthy Schools”
March 22nd, 2010 · 2 Comments · Wellness, kids
Re-tooled language in “Healthy Schools” legislation scheduled for a public hearing before the D.C. Council this week would require city schools to provide parents each year with a measurement of the body mass index and waist-to-hip ratio of every child, as well as an estimate of the amount of exercise each child engages in. It also calls on city schools [...]
Sorry, We Can’t Cook: D.C. Schools Say ‘No’ to More Vegetables
March 18th, 2010 · 7 Comments · Tales, Wellness, kids
In a move that could signal a serious fault line in the argument for more vegetables as a tonic for childhood obesity, drafters of “Healthy Schools” legislation pending before the D.C. Council have skuttled a push for additional produce in school meals after school officials said they cannot guarantee their kitchens can prepare vegetables that kids will [...]
New Study: Kids Who Eat School Food Are Fatter
March 16th, 2010 · 1 Comment · Tales, Wellness, food news, kids
A new study from the University of Michigan finds that kids who eat the food served in schools are more likely to be overweight or obese than peers who bring lunch from home, and also are more likely to suffer from high levels of “bad” cholesterol.
The study, which examined the eating habits of some 1,300 Michigan [...]
Tags: obesity·school food
It’s Not the Burgers, Mr. President, It’s the Buns
March 2nd, 2010 · 4 Comments · Wellness
It must have come as a surprise to many that a president as young and vigorous as Barack Obama could be experiencing cholesterol issues, as reported this week. But even more surprising is the misinformation being doled out by the people around him about the likely causes. “Too many burgers,” came the ready explanation. More likely, [...]
Tags: carbohydrates·cholesterol·fat·Obama
We are engaging the concerns of a hungry planet--slowly--right here in our kitchen garden in the District of Columbia, about a mile from the White House.
