I love this article from the Mercury News about a woman who effectively saved her children from the obesity epidemic. Her son was five and was diagnosed with high cholesterol. This mother was cash strapped and buying inexpensive foods to feed her family, but she knew something had to change. The quote in the article is priceless, though:
"I never got education or nutrition classes for eating healthier, nobody taught me how to feed my children."
So this begs the question, whose responsibility is it to teach us how to eat healthier? The woman in the article was able to get help from the California Department of Public Health, Healthy California program. But not anyone can be a part of that program. What about those of us who don't qualify for low income assistance but still never learned how to cook for ourselves?
I know lots of people would say that it should be a parent's responsibility, and while I don't disagree, the simple fact is that many people already missed that chance to learn and are now having kids of their own. So what about them? Can the government teach us? Well, like the woman in the Mercury News, you might have to qualify for income assistance to get those classes. If you can't take those classes you might look for courses offered through your city, but you would have to pay.
Can we backtrack a bit to a place in time where we could potentially teach everyone this and a couple of other life skills? You know what I'm talking about right? Home Economics. Marion Nestle proposed this in her blog last week and I totally agree.
Let me start by saying I never took Home Economics, but then I was taught how to cook by the time I could reach the stove. But as a nutrition student in college, I took cooking classes with people who could not for the life of them look at a table of ingredients and plan a meal. These were 2nd and 3rd year nutrition students! Something has to change.
Electives like this are barely taught anymore, especially in California, where getting kids to pass standardized tests trumps everything else and the budget doesn't allow anything other that what is absolutely necessary. But there was a time when your local high school taught girls (and boys) essential skills that they would need for life (and potentially for college).
Food for thought.
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