Tag Archives: Food

4 Key Elements Of The Japanese Food Culture

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By Andrew Black

riceLike many other Asian countries, Japan is a rice eating nation. To the Japanese, a nutritious and healthy diet is not a choice, but a part of their culture. The Japanese cuisine is so intrinsically healthy that some people are campaigning for it to be included in the UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage. A traditional Japanese meal has twelve parts, not necessarily courses. These are appetizers, clear soup, steamed food, grilled food, simmered food, salad course, miso soup, pickles, rice, sweets, and fruits. The first part of the meal is accompanied by Sake, since the Japanese do not take Sake along with rice. The meal is followed by a leisurely tea.

Rice Centered Food:
Rice cultivation is believed to have begun in Asia about 2000 years ago. Taken in limited quantities, rice provides the essential starch for our bodies. The rice consumed in Japan is particularly rich in starch, and hence, more sticky. Even the national drink of Japan, Sake, is a wine made from rice. Rice is intrinsic to many Japanese dishes, including the world famous sushi, which is rice, and raw fish seasoned and wrapped in Nori.

Japan celebrates healthy food. Japanese food is cooked fresh and consumed right away. Due to the Buddhist influences in the 15th century, most Japanese eat more vegetables and less red meat or fowl.

Freshness of Ingredients:
Japan celebrates healthy food. Japanese food is cooked fresh and consumed right away. Due to the Buddhist influences in the 15th century, most Japanese eat more vegetables and less red meat or fowl. Meals consist of fresh vegetables and sea food, and prepared and presented to be aesthetically appealing. Japanese cuisine is also considered healthy because of its fermented sauces, like Miso and Natto which contain natural yeast. Many ingredients are procured fresh, including sea food. In sushi; the fish goes from the sea to the plate in less than a few hours. Such fresh food brings rich nutrients which are lost in other cultures where food is processed and stored for days and weeks, if not months.

Artistic Presentations:
One of the truly unique characteristics of the Japanese cuisine is the artistic presentation of food. Though most Western cuisines follow the idea of garnishing and presenting food, it is elevated to an art form by the Japanese. The Geisha tea ceremony, with its chakaiseki ryori cuisine, the aristocratic court style called honzen ryori, and the kaiseki ryori. These distinctive styles of cooking each have their own presentation styles and ceremonies. Aesthetic presentation and courteous service are the hallmarks of a Japanese meal. Special tableware, utensils, and silk tablecloths are just essential elements of the visual feast that teases all your senses.

Japanese restaurants typically specialize in a single type of food, like tempura or sushi or sukiyaki or soba or udon or unagi.

Eating Out:
In the recent decades, with Westernization, the Japanese have started eating out at French or Italian restaurants. Japanese restaurants, however, still carry on the traditional methods of serving food, including the conveyor belt style sushi restaurants. Unlike restaurants elsewhere, the Japanese restaurants typically specialize in a single type of food, like tempura or sushi or sukiyaki or soba or udon or unagi. Whatever the style of cooking, the Japanese cuisine is famous for its unique flavor, the ‘umami’.

- Andrew is a passionate advocate of Japanese food culture. After several trips in Japan, where he tried some of Japan’s best food, Andrew started to blog about Japan food. Aside from blogging, Andrew trains Western chefs on how to properly use Japanese ramen noodle machines to achieve the best results.

Vegan Food Choices For A Healthier World

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By J.J.Brown, Ph.D.

Reasons to Go Vegan

fruitswhiteFor people who grow up in a family where eating meat is a tradition, giving it up for a diet exclusively of fruits, vegetables and grains is a big step. How does this change happen? Paul McCartney of The Beatles stopped eating meat 30 years ago. The decisive moment came when he was watching a lamb run through a field in front of him, and he realized he could not eat the same creature he adored. “Meatless Mondays” is a way to start, with his new project for schools. He encourages school children and schools to have meatless meals on Mondays for a healthier diet with more variety.

Michael Natkin, who created the cookbook “Herbivoracious: A Flavor Revolution with 150 Vibrant and Original Vegetarian Recipes”, is a vegetarian. He has been since 1984. When people ask why, Michael Natkin says, “because I wouldn’t like to kill an animal, and it doesn’t make sense to me to have someone else do it for me.”

Throughout history, many of our genius leaders and achievers were vegan, including artist inventor Leonardo Da Vinci, the leader Mohandas Ghandi, and Apple’s inventor Steve Jobs. Today, more and more people in the public spotlight are adopting a vegan diet, like actors Natalie Portman and Tobey Maguire.

Strong Vegan Choices

saladplateTreading lightly on the planet doesn’t mean giving up strength. The vegan choice is a strong choice. Many athletes are turning to a vegan diet, and maintain that plant based diets keep them stronger and healthier, including track star Carl Lewis and tennis star Venus Williams, and pro athlete Brendan Brazier. When making choices for each meal, keep good protein sources out in front, like beans, nuts, and whole grains. Sample new high protein ingredients like tempeh, which has 30 grams of protein in one cup. Quinoa includes 9 grams of protein in a cup, and has an interesting texture for adding variety.

Our Healthy World

A vegan diet can go a long way toward creating a healthier world. In the inspiring book, “Harvest for Hope: A Guide to Mindful Eating,” biologist author Jane Goodall gives a big dose of hope. Eating plants, which are lower on the food chain than animals, means there is more food for everyone. Considering how fast the human population grows, feeding everyone in the sustainable future is a challenge. Being mindful of each food choice, and eating plants instead of animals can be a gradual change that helps everyone. And in a world where too many people go hungry, this kind of change is a welcome one.

- J.J.Brown, Ph.D. was born in the Catskill Mountain region of New York and has lived in New York City for two decades. She completed a Ph.D. in genetics and her research is published in leading clinical and education journals. She worked as a research scientist before turning to fiction writing, publishing short stories, novels and poems.

Lean On Life Supports The Restriction Of Food Advertising Targeted At Children

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newsLean On Life, a leading healthy lifestyle website with the latest on weight loss, nutrition and fitness is putting its weight behind recent research calling for a ban on food and beverage ads targeting children.

Lean On Life, a leading healthy lifestyle website with the latest on weight loss, nutrition and fitness is putting its weight behind recent research calling for a ban on food and beverage ads targeting children.

On March 21st, researchers from the University of Alberta called on the Canadian government to take definitive actions to curb the rising obesity epidemic. Professor Kim Raine at the Centre for Health Promotion Studies believes that “Restricting marketing is not going to be a cure for childhood obesity, but it’s one step in a multi-pronged approach to creating an environment where the healthy choice is the easy choice,” she says.

Lean On Life supports this view, and believes that limiting advertising of unhealthy foods to kids can play a significant role in reducing childhood obesity. At the very least, reducing junk food marketing will ensure that parents’ and schools’ efforts to help children make healthy food choices are not being undermined.

Raine and her research team recently formulated these recommendations based on an expert panel on obesity. They cite the precedence set by bans on tobacco advertising to minors, and the success these measures have had in reducing smoking rates. They believe that similar measures will help reduces rates in childhood obesity as well.

Tal Brodsky, food expert and Lean Life Coach believes that marketing unhealthy foods to children is akin to marketing tobacco or alcohol to youth. “The tobacco industry was in an uproar when legislations were first signed to ban advertising to minors. It’s natural to expect similar reactions now, but these changes must take effect if we’re to help reduce obesity rates,” Brodsky says.

Lean On Life further believes that a precedence set in Quebec is one that should be adopted on a larger scale. Under Quebec’s Consumer Protection Act, advertising to children under thirteen is illegal. This alone helps to limit the exposure kids have to unhealthy foods at a young age.

While banning unhealthy food marketing to children will not eradicate obesity, Lean On Life still believes it will make a significant difference. “Companies can choose to advertise in a positive way as well,” Brodsky says. “Instead of advertising unhealthy, processed, sugary and fatty foods, companies should market fruits, vegetables and healthier foods as being fun, delicious and cool,” he says.

To read the full press release…..Click here

- Courtesy of PRWeb

Most Mothers Give Infants Solid Food Too Early

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babyFrom Your Health Journal…..”My regular visitors here know I always love to promote a site called My Health News Daily – as they always have such wonderful, informative health articles. Today’s article is written by Rachael Rettner entitled Most Mothers Give Infants Solid Food Too Early. New findings each day help us to understand the beginnings of childhood obesity. We know an epidemic is taking place now, not just with children, but adults. And, obesity related illness is also on the rise, which include heart disease, asthma, cancer, weak joints, and type 2 diabetes. Sedentary lifestyle, along with lack of physical activity is a major culprit to the developing problem. Now, in a study, 40 percent of mothers said they gave their infants solid foods before the age of 4 months, which is earlier than recommended. About 24 percent of mothers who breast-fed, and 53 percent of mothers who formula-fed, gave their babies solid food too early. Studies have also linked the early introduction of solid foods with an increased risk of chronic diseases later in life, such as obesity and eczema. In addition, starting babies on solid foods early may reduce the duration of breastfeeding, and breastfeeding itself has been shown to have many health benefits for kids. I encourage you all to visit the My Health News Daily web site (link provided below) to read the complete article. I thought it was well written and informative.”

From the article…..

In the study, 40 percent of mothers said they gave their infants solid foods before the age of 4 months, which is earlier than recommended. About 24 percent of mothers who breast-fed, and 53 percent of mothers who formula-fed, gave their babies solid food too early.

At the time the study was conducted (between 2005 and 2007), the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended infants start solid foods no earlier than 4 months. Currently, the AAP recommends waiting until 6 months. Until that time, the AAP recommends breast milk as the sole food for infants (along with necessarily vitamin supplements).

The new findings are concerning because infants may not be developmentally ready for solid foods before 4 months of age (they may have troubling eating and swallow the food properly), the researchers said. Studies have also linked the early introduction of solid foods with an increased risk of chronic diseases later in life, such as obesity and eczema. In addition, starting babies on solid foods early may reduce the duration of breastfeeding, and breastfeeding itself has been shown to have many health benefits for kids.

The findings highlight the need for better communication about when mothers should start their infants on solid foods, and the risks of giving these foods too early, said study researcher Kelley Scanlon, an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity.

The study surveyed 1,334 women before they gave birth, and nearly every month during the first year of the baby’s life. Moms were asked to report any solid foods their babies ate in the last week.

To read the complete article…..Click here

More Antioxidants In Your Diet May Not Mean Better Health

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cupcoffeeFrom Your Health Journal…..”A very interesting article recently on the WNKU web site entitled More Antioxidants In Your Diet May Not Mean Better Health. We have heard through the years how antioxidants were a very important part of your diet. Antioxidants help with the repair and renewing of cells in the body, strengthening our immune system. Oxidation of molecules produce free radicals which cause a chain reaction of damaged cells. Consuming antioxidants stops these chain reactions from occurring. You can find antioxidants in vitamins A,C,E, grains, fruits, and vegetables. But, in a new study, people who ate more antioxidants overall didn’t lower their risk of stroke and dementia in old age. That flies in the face of earlier research that found that the antioxidants in fruits and vegetables reduce stroke and dementia risk. Please visit the WNKU web site (link provided below) to read the complete article. I found it fascinating – as science, facts, data, health information change over time. One day, something appears healthy for you, another day, not so healthy.”

From the article…..

Antioxidants in foods are good for you, so more should be better, right?

Evidently not.

In a new study, people who ate more antioxidants overall didn’t lower their risk of stroke and dementia in old age. That flies in the face of earlier research that found that the antioxidants in fruits and vegetables reduce stroke and dementia risk.

“We’re seeing strong and clear benefits with specific antioxidants but not overall,” says Elizabeth Devore, an epidemiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital who led the new study, which was published online in the journal Neurology.

Last year, Devore found that eating lots of berries delayed cognitive decline among women in the big, ongoing Nurses Health Study. Berries have lots of chemicals called flavonoids, which researchers think probably have protective powers much like those of better-known antioxidants like beta-carotene, vitamin C and vitamin E.

Before that, Devore had looked at data from a long-term study of more than 5,000 people ages 55 and older in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The people were followed for about 14 years. She found that people who ate foods with more vitamin E were less likely to suffer dementia, and people who ate foods with more vitamin C were less likely to have a stroke.

But now she’s looking at the same people and finds that having lots of antioxidants in the diet overall doesn’t help with stroke and dementia. What gives?

Devore tells The Salt that she reran the numbers from the earlier Rotterdam study, just to make sure she hadn’t made a mistake, and it still showed that vitamins C and E were doing good things for the brain.

In the new study, the people with the highest levels of antioxidant intake were getting most of those antioxidants from coffee and tea. Evidently, the Dutch drink a lot of coffee!

To read the full article…..Click here

Less Sleep May Trigger More Snacking

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sleepFrom Your Health Journal…..”A very good article on the Health.com web site via HealthDay News entitled Less Sleep May Trigger More Snacking, Calories. Sleep is a very important component to good health. It helps us rest and recharge for the next day, strengthens our immune system. gives vital organs a chance to rest, improves cognitive skills, reduces stress, and keeps many of our bodies chemical levels balanced. Adequate sleep also keeps hormones related to appetite stable. If we do not get enough sleep, sometimes our bodies and brain do not work together, and we do not realize our ‘bellies’ are full. So, we tend to eat more. Getting adequate sleep allows our body and brain to team up so we know when to stop eating. In a recent study, participants whose sleep was limited to five hours burned 5 percent more energy than those who could sleep for nine hours, but they consumed 6 percent more calories. Please visit the Health.com web site (link provided below) to read the complete article.”

From the article…..

Too little sleep with unlimited food availability leads to too much eating and weight gain, according to a small new study.

“I don’t think extra sleep by itself is going to lead to weight loss,” Kenneth Wright, director of the Sleep and Chronobiology Laboratory at the University of Colorado, Boulder, said in a university news release. “Problems with weight gain and obesity are much more complex than that. But I think it could help.”

Wright and colleagues monitored 16 young, lean, healthy male and female adults who lived for about two weeks at the University of Colorado Hospital, which has a sleep suite. For the first three days, all the participants had the opportunity to sleep nine hours a night and were given meals that contained only enough calories to maintain their weight.

For the next five-day period, the participants were split into two groups. One group’s sleep was limited to five hours a night, while the other group could sleep for nine hours. Both groups were offered larger meals and had access to healthy and unhealthy snacks throughout the day. After those five days, the groups switched.

On average, participants whose sleep was limited to five hours burned 5 percent more energy than those who could sleep for nine hours, but they consumed 6 percent more calories.

To read the full article…..Click here

Ban Junk Food Ads Aimed At Preteens

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kidseatinghealthyFrom Your Health Journal…..”A very interesting article by By Bruce Deachman in the Ottawa Citizen entitled Ban Junk Food Ads Aimed At Preteens. I have been posting a lot here over the last few days about Canada’s concern over their obesity epidemic facing their country. Now, a new report from the Ontario government is stating they want to cut childhood obesity by 20 per cent in five years. A new report is stating the Ontario government should ban junk food and fast food ads aimed at children under 12, and insist that restaurants include the number of calories in each dish on their menus. This is a very interesting article, and I wanted to promote it here as I feel it is an important one to read. Please visit the Ottawa Citizen web site (link provided below) to read the complete article.”

From the article…..

Report aims to cut childhood obesity by 20 per cent in five years

The Ontario government should ban junk food and fast food ads aimed at children under 12, and insist that restaurants include the number of calories in each dish on their menus, according to a report released Monday.

The report, titled No Time to Wait: The Healthy Kids Strategy, says that if steps aren’t taken to curb childhood obesity, today’s youths will develop chronic illnesses at a younger age, which will adversely affect their health as they grow older and further tax an already overburdened health care system.

The wide-ranging report also recommends bans on displays of junk food at retail store cash registers, starting with sugar-sweetened beverages.

“If nothing is done,” it states, “the current generation of children in Ontario will be the first that has a lower quality of life than their parents.”

It warns, too, that in the long run, increased obesity will “mark our DNA, changing our metabolism and genetically reprogramming future generations of children to be at greater risk of being overweight.”

The report was prepared by Ontario’s Healthy Kids Panel, which was co-chaired by CHEO president and CEO Alex Munter and ParticipACTION head Kelly Murumets. The panel was asked last year to develop a strategy to help meet the government’s goal of reducing obesity in children by 20 per cent over the next five years. In 2009, child obesity cost the province an estimated $4.5 billion, while almost one-third of children in Ontario are overweight or obese.

Junk food is far from being the only target of the report, which also recommends educating women of child-bearing age about health and weight; encouraging food retailers to adopt an easy-to-understand and objective food-rating system; providing incentives for food producers, retailers and others who participate in community-based food-distribution programs; and developing a provincewide school nutrition program for elementary and secondary schools.

According to Munter, the 18-member panel spoke to thousands of parents, met with hundreds of experts and organizations, and researched papers, reports and existing programs in Ontario and elsewhere while putting together what he believes is a comprehensive plan.

“We reviewed hundreds of ideas, and boiled it down to an achievable, feasible three-pronged strategy to give kids the best start in life, change the food environment, and create healthy communities.”

To read the complete article…..Click here

Pre-school Obesity

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exerciseFrom Your Health Journal…..”A great article from My San Antonio written by Jessica Belasco about pre-school obesity. Obesity is on the rise all over the world, affecting adults and children. So many children face obese related illness such as cancer, type 2 diabetes, asthma, weak joints, and heart disease (high blood pressure, high cholesterol, physical inactivity, high triglycerides, high insulin). There are many contributors to this epidemic, including large amounts of sedentary time – homework, technology….as well as poor dietary habits. According to a new report, public health officials are worrying about excessive weight gain in the first months and years of life. More than 20 percent of children between ages 2 and 5 already are overweight or obese. Not much research has been done in helping these young children reduce the obesity problem, as much of the attention goes to older children and adults. In San Antonio, health officials believe that interventions among minority preschool children can help them develop more healthful habits. So many of these pre-schoolers eating habits are established at such a young age, which is where working with parents is essential. Please visit the My SA web site (link provided below) to read the complete artilce.”

From the article…..

Parents fall in love with chubby-cheeked infants with pudgy thighs. As children grow, their parents encourage them to clean their plates to fuel their development.

But public health officials are worrying about excessive weight gain in the first months and years of life. More than 20 percent of children between ages 2 and 5 already are overweight or obese, according to an Institute of Medicine report released in 2011, and this can set them on a dangerous trajectory toward lifelong obesity. And minority children are at a higher risk.

While mountains of studies have focused on obesity prevention in older children and adults, there hasn’t been as much research looking at young children. But researchers at the University of Texas at San Antonio and the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio have found that interventions among minority preschool children can help them develop more healthful habits. Their study about a pilot program for preschoolers ran in the journal Childhood Obesity in October.

“So many of their eating habits are established at such a young age that this is where we’re really needing to work with parents and get the parents’ buy-in,” says Dr. Amelie Ramirez, director of the Institute for Health Promotion Research at the UT Health Science Center and a co-author of the study. “In the Latino culture, a healthy baby is a chubby baby. They do gain that cute baby fat, but we’re seeing nowadays so many parents letting them have so much sugared beverages and so forth at such an early age that they kind of become addicted to sweets and salt.”

The goal of the local study, called “Míranos! Look at Us, We Are Healthy!” was to create environments both at school and at home to help kids develop healthful lifestyle habits. The intent was not to promote weight loss, because the kids are growing, but to promote healthy weight gain.

The results were positive: Kids who received the intervention showed increases in outdoor physical activity and consumption of fruit, vegetables and low-fat milk, as well as higher gains of gross motor skills, compared to the kids who did not receive the intervention. They were more willing to drink water. And the intervention controlled their weight gain.

To read the complete article…..Click here

Children And Diets

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junkfoodFrom Your Health Journal…..”A very good article in the Irish Examiner by Áilín Quinlan entitled Is it right to put a child on a diet? that I wanted to promote here to send some readers to their site. One question I do get asked often is about dieting for kids, which this article touches upon. This article first starts be discussing the plight of a young girl and her mother – as the child had been gaining weight, and the mom was trying to help her keep the weight off.

Now, this article comes from Ireland, and as many of my regular visitors know, I have been discussing obesity around the world lately to show that it is not just a problem in the US – but in Ireland, a study was performed to see if people felt children were overweight. In the Growing Up in Ireland Study (2011), 54% of parents of overweight children, and 20% of parents of obese children, reported their children were ‘about the right’ weight for their height. So, in ‘many’ cases, children and their parents thought all was well. The question then arises, is it safe for children to diet? My answer is it depends on the child and the family. First, no child should diet without discussion with their child’s pediatrician, dietician, or nutritionist. Most people do not properly apply a diet to a child, and neglect many food groups. Professional help is essential. Usually, for me to be okay with a diet for a child, they are morbidly obese, and need help immediately. Most children are still growing, and with a regular exercise program, correct portion size, reduction of liquid candy, and healthier snacks – most kids will be on the path to a better weight and healthier lifestyle. Regardless, please visit the Irish Examiner to read the complete article, the link is provided below.”

From the article…..

When Dara-Lynn Weiss decided to come ‘the heavy’ with her overweight seven-year-old, she couldn’t have imagined the controversy.

The New York writer’s account of putting her daughter, Bea, on a diet and micro-managing everything she ate, even in public, has provoked debate in America, and here, where two in ten Irish children are obese or overweight.

By the age of seven, Bea’s weight was worryingly high. “When we intervened, she was 20lbs above a healthy weight and 30lbs above average,” Weiss says.

Yet Bea did gymnastics and dance and regularly played in the park, and the family diet was healthy and didn’t include junk food.

So what was the problem? Quantity, says Weiss, who has written a book, aptly titled The Heavy.

Since the age of three, Bea, who loved food, had been overweight. Weiss decided to control Bea’s portions — but worried about the implications. “You’d be afraid of giving your child issues. You’d feel nervous about telling her to stop eating. At the same time, I knew she needed limits.”

That first, gentle intervention yielded poor results. “Bea gained 23 pounds in the year I was trying to help her,” Weiss says.

The family saw a paediatric nutritionist. Frightened by the numbers, Weiss decided to act the ‘heavy’. “I was very strict with Bea. This was a medical problem.”

Although the programme was not extreme, Weiss says she was “severe in my implementation,” because her daughter couldn’t fit into kids’ clothes. “She was shopping with me in adult stores. You’re terrified of the health implications, and also that your child’s experience of life is affected by being overweight — overweight children are made to feel bad about their weight. Bea complained and fought.

“We’d have dinner as a family and her brother would eat twice as much as her … but I had to be the enforcer.”

Weiss was tormented by doubts and the disapproval of others. Many people, including Bea’s grandparents, objected to the strict regime, but Weiss refused to yield. “You force your children to brush their teeth until they do it on their own — I felt, when Bea was seven, that I was forcing her to eat the right way.”

Bea is now a healthy weight for a nine-year-old. Yet Weiss is careful about preaching. “This is what I did for my family and it worked for us,” she says. “Every family is different and every child is different. The circumstances are so complicated, and I don’t agree with the one-size-fits-all theory.”

Things are not so different in Ireland, where child obesity is rocketing and, where, like Weiss, parents of overweight children are between a rock and a hard place.

If parents limit treats and portion sizes, they risk damaging their child’s self-confidence. Yet if they don’t, they may be putting their child’s health at risk.

To read the complete article…..Click here

New Food Rules At Schools

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chubbykideatingFrom Your Health Journal…..”I recently found an interesting article by Mary Clare Jalonick that appeared on the Today Show web site via The Associated Press. The article is entitled New rules aim to get rid of junk foods in schools. Childhood obesity is rising all over the world, as so many children now show signs for heart disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes, weaker joints, and other chronic health conditions. On top of this, many of these obese or overweight children have low self esteem, get picked on at school, and have a hard time performing daily tasks like climbing up steps. Physical education classes are being reduced, as well as recreation programs. School lunches in the past have been high in fat / calories, and highly processed. Many children even have access to vending machines at school with unhealthy choices. But, for the first time, the government is proposing broad new standards to make sure all foods sold in schools are more healthful. Foods like fatty chips, snack cakes, nachos and mozzarella sticks would be taken out of lunch lines and vending machines. In their place would be foods like baked chips, trail mix, diet sodas, lower-calorie sports drinks and low-fat hamburgers. The new rules are the latest in a long list of changes designed to make foods served in schools more healthful and accessible. Nutritional guidelines for the subsidized lunches were revised last year and put in place last fall. The 2010 child nutrition law also provided more money for schools to serve free and reduced-cost lunches and required more meals to be served to hungry kids. Please support the Today.com web site by reading the complete article (link provided below), as this is information most parents should understand.”

From the article…..

Most candy, high-calorie drinks and greasy meals could soon be on a food blacklist in the nation’s schools.

For the first time, the government is proposing broad new standards to make sure all foods sold in schools are more healthful.

Under the new rules the Agriculture Department proposed Friday, foods like fatty chips, snack cakes, nachos and mozzarella sticks would be taken out of lunch lines and vending machines. In their place would be foods like baked chips, trail mix, diet sodas, lower-calorie sports drinks and low-fat hamburgers.

The rules, required under a child nutrition law passed by Congress in 2010, are part of the government’s effort to combat childhood obesity. While many schools already have improved their lunch menus and vending machine choices, others still are selling high-fat, high-calorie foods.

Under the proposal, the Agriculture Department would set fat, calorie, sugar and sodium limits on almost all foods sold in schools. Current standards already regulate the nutritional content of school breakfasts and lunches that are subsidized by the federal government, but most lunchrooms also have “a la carte” lines that sell other foods. Food sold through vending machines and in other ways outside the lunchroom has never before been federally regulated.

“Parents and teachers work hard to instill healthy eating habits in our kids, and these efforts should be supported when kids walk through the schoolhouse door,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said.

Most snacks sold in school would have to have less than 200 calories. Elementary and middle schools could sell only water, low-fat milk or 100 percent fruit or vegetable juice. High schools could sell some sports drinks, diet sodas and iced teas, but the calories would be limited. Drinks would be limited to 12-ounce portions in middle schools and to 8-ounce portions in elementary schools.

To read the full article…..Click here