Making Hay

Teach Your Children Well

By Gene

Like most people in the United States, I grew up eating meat, milk and eggs, and believing that it was healthy to do so. I didn’t make a conscious choice to eat animal foods – I just adopted the habit from my parents and from everyone else around me without thinking very much about it. Had I been exposed to the benefits of plant-based eating earlier, I certainly would have consumed far fewer animal products.

I don’t begrudge my parents for raising and feeding me the way they did. They believed these foods were good for my siblings and me. They believed, as many parents still do, that meat, milk, and eggs are a necessary part of the human diet. In her excellent book, Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows, Melanie Joy describes a social construction she calls “carnism,” whereby the consumption of animal flesh and the violence of animal exploitation and slaughter are normalized and institutionalized. These habits and beliefs begin to take hold when we are children.

Thankfully, there are resources and a number of youth programs now available to teach children critical thinking skills and the benefits of eating plants instead of animals. I recently had the opportunity to visit Terra Summer, a camp for kids between the ages of 11 and 14 where food is used to teach math, history, geography, and other topics. The vegetarian camp introduces young people to the benefits of plant-based eating and also teaches cooking and food preparation skills. The day I visited, the students created five different kinds of veggie burgers. All were delicious!

It was wonderful to see this generation learning about the importance of conscientious eating and the profound impact of our food choices. Our individual and collective wellbeing, as well as the future of other animals and our planet, are directly influenced by what we eat and how it is produced.

Challenging Big Ag’s Influence on Government with the Healthy School Meals Act

 

by Gene

I recently attended the 100 year anniversary celebration of the United States Department of Agriculture’s Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC). Located in Beltsville, Md. just outside of Washington, D.C., BARC occupies nearly 7000 acres and is "The World's Largest Most Diversified Agricultural Research Complex" according to its website. BARC researchers have been engaged in numerous efforts to maximize agricultural productivity and marketability. It was BARC scientists who genetically altered commercial turkeys to have white feathers instead of their natural dark feathers, creating a breed called “Beltsville whites.” Unlike their natural counterparts, white feathered turkeys don’t have dark splotches on their carcasses, so they are more attractive to consumers.

BARC, like other USDA operations, is too close to agribusiness, and it is used to promote and validate questionable industry practices and to support bad consumer habits. There were displays and materials promoting the dairy industry and the consumption of cows’ milk at the BARC event, including hand outs from the Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association (MDA), which as part of its mission “builds demand for milk and dairy products and enhances the image of the dairy industry on behalf of dairy farmers.”

One of MDA’s brochures distributed at BARC was entitled “Milk & More.” It states, “Dairy foods like milk, cheese and yogurt are important throughout life. In childhood, the key words are ‘growth’ and ‘habits.’ Childhood is a period of growth, and dairy nutrients – especially calcium – are essential for growing bones. Childhood is also the time to form good dietary habits, such as the habit of getting enough dairy every day.” Actually, consuming too many animal products, including dairy, is a bad habit that afflicts most U.S. citizens, and our health is suffering as a result.

As most of us grow up and develop lifelong habits, we are indoctrinated to eat foods that make us sick. Tragically, a major contributor to this problem has been our nation’s school lunch program, which purchases agribusiness commodities and markets them to school kids at the expense of supporting good health. The dairy industry is very influential in our government so its products are heavily promoted. In fact, cow’s milk is given to every child receiving a federally funded meal, even those who are lactose intolerant. This contributes to bad eating habits, which can last a lifetime.

Animal agriculture is busy urging legislators and the USDA to continue promoting meat and dairy products in school lunches, but there is now a very important proposal, The Healthy School Meals Act, H.R. 4870, to promote plant-based alternatives. This bill, authored by Representative Jared Polis (D-CO) will go a long way toward instilling better eating habits in children and thereby improving our nation’s health.

Please contact your representative and urge him or her to co-sponsor H.R. 4870. Please also contact Representative George Miller (D-CA), chair of the House Committee on Education and Labor, to urge him to support H.R. 4870. The federal school lunch program is being discussed on Capitol Hill now, so please call today!

 

Providing Our Children with Happier Meals

 

by Dr. Allan Kornberg 

These days, childhood obesity and related health issues are receiving plenty of well-deserved attention. This year, President Barack Obama created the first ever Task Force on Childhood Obesity, and First Lady Michelle Obama founded the Let’s Move program to combat childhood obesity. Corporate Accountability International (CAI) has taken note that marketing aimed at kids doesn’t necessarily have their best health in mind, and is telling Ronald McDonald that it’s time to retire. While we encourage all Americans to make healthy and compassionate dietary choices, impressionable young children are especially vulnerable to corporate symbols that, as fun as they seem, encourage unhealthy choices and animal cruelty.

As a pediatrician, I know that there is cause for all of this concern. According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 17 percent of children and adolescents ages 2 to 19 are obese. In a recent study, researchers found that almost 32 percent of American children are overweight or obese. That’s nearly one in three. And obesity poses significant health concerns for our nation’s children. Obese kids are more likely than their peers to have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and type 2 diabetes — all of which are risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death in the United States.

By switching to a plant-based diet, Americans can make a compassionate choice for farm animals and experience overall improved health at the same time. In a 2009 study, the American Dietetic Association reported that, in addition to tending to have a lower body mass index, “vegetarians also appear to have lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure, and lower rates of hypertension and type 2 diabetes than nonvegetarians.”

Increasing the accessibility of plant-based foods would be a step in the right direction for the health of our nation’s children. In March, Representative Jared Polis introduced HR 4870 to the U.S. House of Representatives. This bill, known as the Healthy School Meals Act, would offer financial incentives to public schools that provide their students with healthy plant-based alternatives and non-dairy beverages. Last month, concerned citizens joined Farm Sanctuary and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) in a nationwide Citizen Lobbyist Call-In Day in support of this bill, but there’s still more work to be done. Contact your representatives and urge them to increase accessibility to these healthful and compassionate options for children nationwide.