Blog Spotlight: Fed Up with Lunch

I believe that one of the main purposes of this blog is to educate my readers on food, lifestyle, health and vitality. However, I am only one person. To provide you with the most information I can, I will periodically be spotlighting relevant blogs that I follow providing you with my thoughts on the blog and how it has impacted me. To implement change in the world, there need to be many rock stars-and we need to all work together! Mrs. Q is an awesome example of a rock star. She is a school teacher who started a blog to grow awareness on what children are eating for lunch at school. Her blog is appropriately called Fed Up with Lunch.

I started following Fed Up with Lunch about 5 months ago and it has been a really enlightening read. The daily posts that include pictures of the lunches and Mrs. Q's reactions before, during and after eating them have really gotten me thinking about what children today eat.

Now, I don't know about you, but I remember school lunches fairly well. As a child on the subsidized school lunch program, I ate lunch daily from the hot food line. My favorite item was the McDonald-like hash browns. I would sometimes even ask a friend for theirs. I remember that there were chicken nugget Wednesdays and pizza Fridays. Sometimes a very salty chicken noodle soup and oyster crackers (probably my second favorite thing at lunch). I recall repeatedly trying to eat the spaghetti with the blue plastic sporks (the ultimate utensil of spoon and fork). I didn't know, much less think, about nutrition. All I knew was that I did not have lunch and had to eat something. I don't remember how much of the food I ate vs. threw away. I do remember that I tried as hard as I could to cut the navel oranges with the flimsy plastic knives that we got or clawed at it with my miniature fingers. Providing oranges without the appropriate tools-how were we supposed to even eat it? The food was awful but looking back, I have to say it was not nutritious either. And word is, the food is even worse now!

Lucky for me, I was able to go home every day and was presented a wonderfully mom-cooked dinner that always had vegetables, fish, rice and soup. And oftentimes, we would end the meal with fruit. However, many children were and are not as fortunate as I was. Their school breakfasts and lunches are the backbones of their nutrition and thus, their health. Today's children are more hyper, less attentive, fatter and sicker than ever before. What is even more awful is that this generation's children are the first to be predicted to live shorter lives than their parents. This is ALL directly attributed to the food they are eating and not eating. There needs to be something done about this!

We each have an obligation to play a role in this unofficial campaign for better health for children. Fed Up with Lunch is Mrs. Q's avenue in expressing herself and her disdain with school lunches. And it's a true indication of a growing population impassioned and empowered to make changes in children's foods and especially, school foods. This population includes First Lady Michelle Obama and her Let's Move program and Celebrity Chef Jamie Oliver and his efforts to changes school lunches in the UK and US.

Up until about a month ago, I did not think that imparting changes in schools would be part of my mission as a Health Counselor and citizen. I didn't think it was selfish-I just thought, there are so many ways to spread my efforts, is children's school food one of them? However, between everything I am reading and seeing externally and reflecting upon internally, my perspective has shifted. I mean-DUH-how can I not try to impact something so central as school foods-a system that feeds the future of this country more than 3/4 of the year? I believe the idea of approaching a school has been tough as I am away from my school system and the idea of going to a foreign school district to make changes was a bit too daunting for me. But that doesn't mean I still can't be involved in that area. Instead, I decided will be offering afterschool and summer activities/programs for children and teleclasses to parents and teachers on how they can impact changes into their school systems.  Additionally, I am offering health counseling to families!

You don't have to be a celebrity or a health counselor to impact change. You don’t even have to start a blog! (unless you want to). Start with your family and friends! Take your children to the grocery store with you and show them what to purchase. Start a conversation in your school district! Join the PTA. Start after school programs at your local elementary school. Present to the Girl Scout or Boy Scout troops! Talk to your children's teachers.  Start packing awesome lunches for your kids.  Maybe you can even have your kids start a blog :)


Be a rock star and start rocking the boat! There is so much that you can do too!


If you are a parent, teacher or just someone looking to implement change in your school district, keep an eye out on my blog and events section for teleclasses that I am offering on steps you can take to start make changes.


If you are in the Boston area, look for upcoming film screenings, workshops and events at the South End Branch Library regarding food, nutrition and health and local grocery store tours!

To be or not to be a Rock Star

We use the term "rock star" a lot at IIN to refer to the amazing people making a difference in the world of health. These include the established food theorists and leaders from whom I have had the honor to learn. Although they all have their different theories and approaches, they are always an inspiration to me. I have become an enamored "food groupie" (a term my friend, Cara, came up with).

However, rock stars are not just those famous icons, they are anyone who makes a difference in our culture around food and health. My fellow classmates are total rock stars! Others are moms that teach their children to eat in a nourishing way, organic farmers, local farmers, movie producers who create films to build awareness of our food and environment, natural food cafe owners and employees, raw food restaurants and their patrons, environmentalists, fitness instructors, etc. As you can see, the list can go on and on. This past class weekend, in particular, featured way more rock stars than previous weekends. I thought I would spend this post to give you an idea of the type of people out there making a difference and the biggest takeaways from them.

Joshua Rosenthal-the founder of IIN, my teacher, a man with a vision to change how the world views food, a critical component in the trans fat ban in NYC...a true inspiration of thought, movement and dancing :)

Biggest Takeaway: Instill change NOW

Robert Notter-former "rat race" participant, now health coach who's impacted over 300 clients' lives, business coach to health and wellness business owners, teacher at IIN, a generous person with his knowledge and energy

Biggest Takeaway: Teach others because you will feel like a rock star

Dr. John Douillard-Ayurveda doctor who founded LifeSpa in Boulder, CO, offers holistic programs to support clients

Biggest Takeaway: You leave an emotional footprint. People around you can feel your energy just as flowers can feel you when you walk through a garden. Make a choice to leave a loving footprint.

David Wolfe-amazingly passionate  about raw foods and superfoods, some say he's a guru, founder of The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation, proponent for great tasting health food

Biggest Takeaway: There is a scientific correlation between cooked foods & depression

Sadie Nardini-IIN graduate, yoga instructor, led us through a simple 10 minute meditation/stretching/relaxation/self-awareness/revitalizing exercise

Biggest Takeaway: Spend 2 minutes breathing

Vanessa Barg-IIN graduate, founder of Gnosis Chocolate, raw chocolatier, integrates superfoods into her chocolate, chocolate is sold all around the world and it tastes amazing!

Biggest Takeaway: Follow your gut when deciding what to do and do it!

Amy Kalafa-IIN graduate, founder of Angry Moms, bringing awareness to school food and health

Biggest Takeaway: We can inspire change through so many different avenues including making movies!

Rodney Fisher-IIN graduate, founder of the Marie Curie High School for Medicine, Nursing and Health Professions in the Bronx, principal of school, addressing low income students and empowering them, PhD candidate at UPenn researching on the effects of school foods on students

Biggest Takeaway: Think big and go even bigger

Nancy Easton-IIN graduate, founder of Wellness in the Schools, a NYC program that is building awareness and change in the school food system, 3 components to program-Food, Coaching, being Green

Biggest Takeaway: Change will not happen overnight, just keep working on it

Chef Bobo-executive chef at The Calhoun School who has changed his school's food to foods that are fresh and made from scratch, teaches at the school about food and cooking and growing food, spends less than $4 a day on food, mainly vegetarian options at the school, desserts are fruit 4 days of the week, author 
Biggest Takeaway: You can feed kids better without breaking the bank

Allison Carmen-IIN graduate, mom who changed foods at her daughter's private school

Biggest Takeaway: One of the biggest obstacles in impacting change is awareness-educate people and they will be advocates and start to ask questions

Morgan Carmen-daughter of an IIN graduate, at age of 5 said that she was not eating the school food because there are chemicals in it, spoke at the trans day "hearings" in NYC and won the heart of audiences, advocate for healthy, natural foods, a true role model; aka "Morganic"

Biggest Takeaway: There will likely be resistance at first, but keeping driving the message and people will start to hear and listen to you

Dr. David Katz-public health clinician and advocate, author, professor at Yale University of Medicine, tv personnel, building awareness on health via speaking to government and industry officials, believer in giving people the "skill power" to make informed health, diet and lifestyle decisions, founder of programs: ABC for Fitness (Activity Bursts in the Classroom), Nutrition Detective Program (teaching kids 5 simple steps to eat well), and NuVal (a rating system of 0 to 100 on grocery store items enabling people to make smart decisions)

Biggest Takeaway: We need to make drastic, deep changes to our environment/culture but each change is comparative to only 1 sandbag. We need to build an entire levee with multiple sandbags to prevent disaster. We need more than 1 change, more than 1 person working on this initiative and we need to work on it together.

It is really amazing the breadth of people making a difference in our world. The health and wellness problem is not an issue that will be solved overnight or by one person, or even a hundred like-minded citizens. This is a revolution! It's going to take an army. Are you in or out? Because if you're not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. Take the initiative TODAY and start with changing how you and your family eat. Email me TODAY for a health consultation. If you are interested in becoming a professional rock star/health counselor, email me with any questions about IIN and becoming a holistic health coach. Enrollment for classes end April 30th for the course that starts in May!  Don't hesitate to be a rock star!  Now is the time!

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution Episode 1

I finally was able to watch the first episode of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution tonight...yes, I'm a bit behind on my television shows, but thank goodness for hulu.

School food is an extremely hot topic right now.  There are books, articles, blogs, and now even a show that feature school food.  I remember eating school lunch as a child. I was part of the government school program and ate the food every day in elementary school.  And a little bit in middle and high school (not so much because I didn't think it was "cool").  I do not remember how I felt during it but I was blessed enough to have mom-made dinners every night.  I couldn't imagine if the saran wrapped buns and flavorless meat patties were my only "meal" of the day, which is the case for many students on the meal plan.

This episode of Food Revolution really opened my eyes to how bad school meals have gotten because I surely do not remember having pizza for breakfast.  Calling it "breakfast pizza" does not justify it to be served for the most important meal of the day.  Imagine starting the day off with gluey cheese and greasy sausage pieces atop a thin layer of flavorless tomato sauce and stale bread.  This is supposed to nourish the future of America for 3-4 hours before their next meal of chicken nuggets and "potato pearls"?  I don't think so!  It's no wonder there are more disciplinary problems and attention issues in schools!  I really look forward to the impact that Jamie Oliver has not only on Huntington's school programs but on its families and communities and hopefully, those across the country who are finally opening their eyes to what we are really putting into our bodies.  Cheers to a revolution!

Have you seen Jamie's show?  Do you think he will be able to make an impact?  What are your experiences and thoughts on the school lunch program?