By Juliette Aiyana

President Obama gave school lunches a 6 cent budget boost. What’s that equal to, six extra tater-tots per day? Big **** deal. I’m not overly impressed with the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. Yes, this act will continue to fill the bellies of some very hungry kids deserving of a hot meal, but it sure as heck does not remove the financial challenge to those at the USDA who will now set-up new nutritional values for school lunch programs. Unless you are Alice Waters with a foundation to add cash to federal program monies in order for kids to cultivate and eat fresh nutritious foods at school, most school kids will still be stuck eating frozen chicken nuggets and plasticy cheese pizza. YUCK.

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Granted, my kid is only two years old and not in school yet, but I would not feed my kid school lunch, not even if hell froze over. It is gross and devoid of any of the nutritional values our family believes in. I mean just look at the pictures that school lunch teacher/blogger Mrs. Q. posts on her fantastic blog “Fed Up With School Lunch”. Mrs. Q’s writes about her experiences, “Eating school lunch just like the kids every day in 2010” and it isn’t pretty. She invites guests to blog and those posts are very interesting and informative.

Look, I am not here posting to the Blue Poppy Blog solely to whine and complain about school lunch, but I am posting to issue a call to action to my fellow practitioners’ of Chinese medicine. In order to change the state of health in this country we must dedicate ourselves to educating our communities. We can do this on a personal one-on-one basis during discussions with patients in our treatment rooms, we can write newsletters and blog posts, we can sign petitions, and we can join grassroots networks in order to instigate revolutionary change. VIVA LA HEALTHY REVOLUTION!!

So, to that end, I listed a few more resources (aside from Mrs. Q’s blog) for you to peruse. May they inspire you and your patients to right thought, right speech and right action, and may these ideas help spread good health karma!

First, I’ll give a shameless plug to my book, published by Blue Poppy, “Chinese Medicine & Healthy Weight Management An Evidence-Based Integrated Approach”. In it, you will find practical tips on how to counsel adult patients about diet, exercise and lifestyle as well how to apply pattern discrimination to treating patients with acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine.

The TV show Jaime Oliver’s Food Revolution really is must-see-TV. Since my husband and I refuse to subscribe to cable TV given that the majority of TV shows are slime, I watched the show at ABC’s website. At the same website you can also view easy how-to healthy cooking videos, people can get more involved by signing a petition that supports teaching children cooking skills and those with a few extra bucks can donate to the cause.

Over the summer of 2009, my sister and I went to a free screening of the indie documentary “What’s On Your Plate” filmed locally in NYC. The film follows two young teens as they learn about healthy eating and the politics of food. Whole Foods sponsors the screening of this movie in its film series “Let’s Retake Our Plates” with screening locations all over the USA. The series also features such films as: Food Inc. This movie is an excellent introduction to people who are new to the world of food politics and nutrition. Perhaps acupuncturists can blog, or talk about on of the many movies featured in the series, or about the entire film series.

If you have not heard about KaBoom!, you’ve just got to check this program out! Not only are children eating a load of crap, but they are not getting enough exercise. What is the most fun form of exercise? Play! It’s the mission of KaBoom! to Save Play by building playgrounds in communities of need. Spread the good word about these good works and learn how you can participate by visiting the website!

Farmers Markets are gaining popularity all over the USA. To find one of the nearly 4,800 local markets log onto the following websites:
http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/FarmersMarkets

http://www.localharvest.org/

Love Hip Hop? So do I. Why not blog about the messages in any one of these oldies but goodies? Click on these links to watch. PLEASE NOTE THIS YOUTUBE CONTAINS EXPLICIT LYRICS AT THE VERY END!!

Dead Prez “Be Healthy”

KRS-One “Beef”