Wholesome Tummies Fresh, Delicious and All-Natural School Lunches

Top 100 Pantry Staples

2012-01-04T16:52:00.002-05:00

TOP 100 FAMILY KITCHEN STAPLES LIST

Ingredient

Notes

whole wheat or whole grain bagels

look for no hydrogenated oils, HFCS, MSG, artificial flavors or colors

whole wheat or whole grain breads

look for no hydrogenated oils, HFCS, MSG, artificial flavors or colors

edamame (shelled and unshelled)

look for local, organic, or pesticide-free

ice cream or frozen yogurt

look for rBGH-free

mixed berries

look for local, organic, or pesticide-free

peas

look for local, organic, or pesticide-free

sausage links

look for no nitrates, artificial flavors, colors, MSG

shrimp

look for wild, not farm raised

sugar snap peas

look for local, organic, or pesticide-free

sweet corn

look for local, organic, or pesticide-free

bacon

look for nitrate-free

bananas

look for local, organic, or pesticide-free

basil

look for local, organic, or pesticide-free

bell peppers (any color)

look for local, organic, or pesticide-free

boneless chix breasts

look for organic or antibiotic free

broccoli

look for local, organic, or pesticide-free

butter (salted and unsalted)

look for rBGH-free

carrots (mini, regular, and shoestring)

look for local, organic, or pesticide-free

celery

look for local, organic, or pesticide-free

cream cheese

look for rBGH-free

cucumbers

look for local, organic, or pesticide-free

eggs

look for organic or cage free

fresh, in-season fruits

look for local, organic, or pesticide-free

fresh, in-season veggies

look for local, organic, or pesticide-free

garlic

look for local, organic, or pesticide-free

greek yogurt

look for rBGH-free; great sub for sour cream

green beans

look for local, organic, or pesticide-free

ground beef

look for organic or hormone-free

ground turkey

look for organic or antibiotic free

italian or balsamic vinaigrette

look for no HFCS, artificial colors or flavors

jarred pesto

look for no artificial flavors, colors

lemons

look for local, organic, or pesticide-free

low fat yogurt

look for rBGH-free; no HFCS, artificial colors or flavors

milk - skim or 1%

look for rBGH-free

onions

look for local, organic, or pesticide-free

parsley

potatoes

look for local, organic, or pesticide-free

roasting chicken

look for organic or antibiotic free

romaine lettuce

look for local, organic, or pesticide-free

rosemary

sliced, block, and shredded cheese (parmesan, cheddar, mozzerella, feta, etc.)

look for rBGH-free

spinach

look for local, organic, or pesticide-free

tomatoes

look for local, organic, or pesticide-free

whole wheat or whole grain wraps

look for no hydrogenated oils, HFCS, MSG, artificial flavors or colors

yogurt caesar dressing

look for no HFCS, artificial colors or flavors

yogurt ranch dressing

look for no HFCS, artificial colors or flavors

baking powder

look for aluminum-free

baking soda

balsamic vinegar

black beans

can or bag

brown rice

brown sugar

cannelini beans

can or bag

canola oil

look for organic or expeller-pressed

chicken broth (low sodium)

look for no MSG

chili powder

cinnamon

coriander

corn taco shells

look for organic or no hydrogenated oils

corn tortilla chips

look for organic or no hydrogenated oils

cornstarch

croutons (brand here)

look for no hydrogenated oils, HFCS, MSG, artificial flavors or colors

cumin

curry powder

dark chocolate chips

look for artificial flavors, HFCS

dark chocolate cocoa powder

look for artificial flavors, HFCS, hydrogenated oils

dijon mustard

dried cranberries

look for no HFCS, artificial colors or flavors

extra virgin olive oil (evoo)

fruit purees (strawberry, apricot, etc.)

look for no sugar added

garbanzo beans

can or bag

green tea bags

honey

jarred salsa

look for no HFCS, artificial colors or flavors

ketchup

look for organic or no HFCS

light tuna

look for canned in water, not oil

maple syrup

look for pure maple syrup or no HFCS

mayonaise

nuts (almonds, walnuts, etc.)

raw only

oats

oregano

paprika

peanut butter

look for trans-fats/hydrogenated oils/lards

pepper

popcorn

look for non-microwavable, pure popcorn kernels

pureed/diced tomatoes

raisins

red wine vinegar

refried beans (vegetarian)

look for trans-fats/hydrogenated oils/lards

salt

sesame oil

smoked paprika

soy sauce (low sodium)

look for organic or preservative-free

sugar

teriyaki sauce

look for no HFCS, artificial colors or flavors, preservatives

tomato paste

vanilla

look for pure vanilla

whole or white wheat flour

whole wheat crackers

look for organic or no hydrogenated oils

whole wheat or whole grain pasta (spaghetti, penne, elbow macaroni, etc.)

HEALTHY HABIT #2: STOCK YOUR SHELVES WITH YOUR TOP 100

2012-01-02T18:53:00.001-05:00

As parents, we bear full responsibility for treks to the grocery store. It’s a thankless but essential chore that many of us dread. From making the list to finding the time to read labels while we’re there…we’re tired just thinking about it!
It's in these frantic moments when our commitment to healthy eating is most in jeopardy.

With hungry kids and no food to eat, eating out and eating fast may be the only option.
That choice often involves consuming sub-standard, processed, fried, high-sodium, or fatty foods that we quickly regret. If we maintain the right amounts of the right foods in our kitchen inventory, we’ll always have home court advantage.

The key to success? Variety. But what mix of items makes the best variety to easily prepare from-scratch recipes for a busy family?

We've developed our list of recommended Top 100 Family Kitchen Staples: shelf-stable, refrigerated, and freezer products that we consider required staples for any family kitchen. Our list gives you the primary basic ingredients you need to prepare a sufficient variety of meals and snacks for your family, and you will want to personalize the list as needed for your family’s preferences.

Our Top 100 Family Kitchen Staples list includes foods important to a healthy diet, such as:

· beans and nuts

· dairy – cheese, milk, butter, yogurt

· dried fruit and chocolate – raisins, cranberries, dark chocolate, cocoa powder

· spices, herbs, and teas – oregano, basil, parsley, cinnamon, chili powder, cumin, coriander

· meat, poultry, and fish – chicken, turkey, beef, shrimp, tuna fish

· oils, sauces, and bases – soy sauce, vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, teriyaki, dijon mustard

· produce – in-season and frozen fruits and veggies

· whole grains - pastas, rice, breads, popcorn, tortilla chips, flours

· natural sweeteners – maple syrup, honey, brown sugar

When we cannot provide wholesome food to our children, they will eat something else. Keeping our kitchen fully stocked is critical to ensuring that “empty pantry syndrome” does not drive our kids to adopt picky eating habits.

Of course, this sounds much simpler in theory then it is in practice. It takes consistent discipline and planning to ensure your kitchen has enough yummy foods that your kids don’t derail your mission of teaching them to eat healthy. Click here to preview our Top 100 Family Kitchen Staples and start the new year right by stocking your kitchen shelves (and keeping them stocked) with yummy, healthful foods for your family!

Healthy Habit # 1 Be the CEO of your Kitchen!

2012-01-02T18:44:00.001-05:00

When it comes to food, it’s easy to forget that we as parents wear the pants in the family.
Kids have specific and often picky tastes, preferring certain foods so strongly that they relentlessly request them. Their food demands can wear even the most conscientious parent down.
However, the minute we let go of the reigns, we put them in the driver’s seat. We lose control.
Our kids start making their own, misinformed food decisions; plain no-sauce noodles, sandwiches with the crusts cut off and mystery, convenience packaged meals take over our original, well-intended menu.
Soon after the balance of power shifts from us to them, we are met with the cold, hard truth that we are now raising – (gasp!) – picky eaters.

There’s one small problem with this all too common scenario. Our children are not our boss!
We are the CEO of our homes and our kitchens - we decide what they eat and when they eat it.
With eating habits as with safety hazards, it's our responsibility as parents to direct and guide our children.
We are entrusted with their survival and it's our parental obligation to give them the strongest possible start to life.

One of the most positive and lasting impacts we can have on our children is to guide them to make good food choices. Children grow at an accelerated pace and their young bodies need the right mix of fruits, veggies, proteins, and whole grains in order to reach full potential. In fact, studies show that kids who eat healthy, balanced meals and snacks benefit in many ways:

· Sleep better at night

· Perform better at school and extracurricular activities like sports

· Have increased attention, focus, and memory

· Have higher self-esteem and self-confidence

· Are sick less often, and may actually live longer!

Who wouldn’t want these qualities for their own children?

Would you believe us if we told you we could GUARANTEE your kids would make healthy food choices at home? It’s true! By stocking your kitchen with only nutritious food choices, you can guarantee your kids will eat healthy at home. It's a fact that kids won’t starve themselves. When they are hungry, they eat. If healthy - and only healthy - choices are available for your kids, when they are hungry that is exactly what they will eat. Guaranteed!

Of course, children are not shy to let you know when they are displeased with the dinner or snack choices available to them, and consecutive food tantrums will wear you down. In these frail and tender moments, remember to invoke your CEO privileges – they are not the boss of you!

If you are ready to stock your shelves in 2012 with all-natural, healthy, kid-friendly foods, be sure to read about our second healthy habit – Stock Your Shelves With Your Top 100.

Family Dinner is Important and Easy - 30 Minute or Less Tips and Tricks

2011-11-09T09:37:00.000-05:00

5 steps to 30-minute (or less) meals

Whipping up dinner in 30 minutes or less is easy when you know how long foods take to cook. The possibilities are endless with these five quick tips:

1. Meal time vision quest:

As a busy mom, you’ve already mastered the art of time-management and multi-tasking, and can apply those skills to making dinner. Think about what you’d like to cook for tomorrow’s dinner the night before, and using the list of quick-cook foods below, create a menu. Knowing what you want to cook a day ahead will take the pressure off when it’s crunch time.

2. Pound, butterfly, dice and mince:

Smaller vegetables and thinner cuts of meat will cook faster. The smaller you cut vegetables and herbs, the quicker they will cook, absorb flavors or infuse flavors into a recipe. Vegetables cut to 1/2" will cook much quicker than 1” or 2” pieces. Minced onion, shallots, garlic and herbs will infuse flavor faster. A quicker cook time also ensures nutrients are kept at their peak. Thick cuts of pork, chicken and beef should be pounded to no more than 1” thick, or butterflied to make them thinner.

3. Bang for your buck:

Use bold ingredients that will build flavors fast. Chicken or vegetable stock used to boil converted rice will add more flavor than just plain water. Water, generously salted, will season pasta or potatoes as they cook. Wines, vinegars and citrus zest will add a zing to your cooking liquid. A quick marinade of oil, vinegar, salt, pepper and fresh herbs, will add a punch of flavor just before cooking. A second batch of the marinade can be made to slather over the cooked meats and vegetables before serving.

4. Use quick cooking methods:

Braising, roasting and long simmered recipes are perfect for lazy weekends, but won’t cut it in a 30-minute kitchen. Stick to shallow pan frying, broiling, grilling, blanching and steaming when you’ve got to get dinner on the table in a hurry.

5. Cook everything at the same time:

If you’ve got 4 burners, use ‘em all! Keep as many items cooking at the same time as possible. When something is finished cooking, cover it and set it in a warm oven until the rest of the meal is ready. Consider one-pot meals. For example, from the list below, you can combine pasta, vegetables and mussels or salmon for a quick, one-pot pasta dinner with a pan sauce of white wine, broth and shallots.

Cooking at home doesn’t need to be time consuming or overly fussy. The simplest meals can often times be the best. Using these short cut techniques will allow you to focus on what really matters – gathering your family and friends around the table and reconnecting after a long day.

Don't be afraid! Make Your Own Pie Dough!

2011-11-09T09:34:00.000-05:00

Holiday Baking – Homemade Pie Crust (it’s easier than you think!)

There is one simple recipe that will make any holiday a breeze. You make it once, store it in the refrigerator or freezer, and can use it in a dozen different ways: pie dough.

We know, this sounds like something many of you would NEVER attempt on your own. Working with dough is messy and only “professional” chefs do that, right? We are here to dispel that myth! Homemade pie dough is not only easier than you think, but the taste and quality is incomparable to chemical-laden, store bought alternatives. Homemade dough is incredibly versatile too.

Instead of fussing with a rolling pin, press chunks of the dough into a pie plate and fill with your favorite fruit or meat mixture. For something more rustic, create a free-formed pie by rolling dough into a ¼-inch thick, 12-inch round. Place fruit filling directly in the middle and fold the edges of the dough up and over the filling.

The perfect pie dough is characteristically an oxymoron - flaky, crispy, layers compress under your teeth and melt into a tender, tasty bite.

An important tip for beginners: Keep it Cold:

Regardless of the fats used in any recipe, the fat must remain cold at all times. To give the fat a fighting chance in your warm kitchen, place the fat in the freezer for a minimum of 30 minutes before using, chill the remaining ingredients in the freezer for at least 10 minutes before mixing, and use ice water instead of room temperature water. Cold fat will produce a flaky crust by creating small pockets of air between the layers of flour as it melts in the oven.

Pie dough

Servings: Makes one (1) double crust batch; top and bottom

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Bake Time: Varies, depending on the filling

Allergy Info: Soy-free; contains wheat, dairy

Ingredients:

2 -1/2 cups all purpose flour

pinch of kosher salt

2 tablespoons sugar

20 tablespoons butter, frozen

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar, cold

Water

Directions:

Measure all crust ingredients and place in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Combine flour, salt and sugar in a food processor and pulse several times to mix. If creating the crust by hand with a pastry blender, whisk the ingredients in a large bowl until incorporated.

Break up the butter with the food processor or pastry blender.

Add the vinegar. Add one tablespoon of water at a time, pulsing to incorporate, or blending with a pastry blender, until the dough begins to come together, but is still dry, and you see a variety of pieces of fat. The fat should be in very small pieces, medium pieces and larger pieces, but no bigger than a nickel.

Pinch some of the dough in your hand. If the dough sticks together and does not crumble in your hand, the dough is ready. If the dough does not stick to itself, add another tablespoon of water, pulse or mix, and pinch the dough together again. Repeat until the dough holds together without being overly wet. Dough should be slightly crumbly, but hold together when pinched.

Remove dough from the mixing bowl and transfer to a work surface. Divide the dough into two equal parts and gently shape into two flat round discs. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least one hour, or up to two days.

No matter the filling, the dough should be baked at 400 degrees Fahrenheit; the smaller the portion, the shorter the cooking time. Appetizers will need about 12 to 15 minutes, while 9-inch pies may require up to 40 to 50 minutes.

We're already thinking about the leftovers!

2011-11-09T09:15:00.001-05:00

Thanksgiving Leftovers: The Classic Turkey Sandwich

With back-to-basics en vogue this season, we’re paying homage to that free-range, farm-raised turkey you lovingly roasted, with a simple, honest, classic turkey sandwich and homemade tarragon mayonnaise. It’s good; it’s quick; it’s healthy; and it’s better than the anything-goes, turkey surprise your neighbor is probably cooking right now.

Classic Turkey Sandwich with Tarragon Mayonnaise

Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 egg yolks

1/4 tsp. Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Canola or sunflower oil

1 small garlic clove, minced

1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon

8 slices wheat bread

8 slices turkey breast

4 ribs Romaine lettuce

4 slices Havarti

1 apple or pear, sliced thin, divided

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl whisk egg yolks and mustard. Add lemon juice; stream in oil while whisking until mixture is desired consistency, about 1 cup. Stir in garlic and tarragon; season with salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

2. Slather two slices of the bread with the tarragon mayonnaise; set aside. On one of the slices of bread, top with two slices of the turkey, 1 rib of the lettuce, 1 slice of Havarti and 2 slices of apple. Top apple with the remaining slice of slathered bread (mayonnaise side facing the apple). Repeat for 3 additional sandwiches. Serve immediately.

In Season: Watermelon

2011-06-14T18:24:00.000-04:00

Watermelon is a vine-like vegetable, related to cucumbers and squash. Not only does watermelon quench summertime thirst with its high water content, it also acts as an anti-inflammatory agent, with the ability to calm symptoms that contribute to conditions like asthma. Watermelon is very low in calories, with zero fat and cholesterol. It’s high in fiber, vitamins A & C and is a good source of potassium. And like tomatoes, pink watermelon contains free-radical fighting lycopene that protects your cells from damage.

While wedges of watermelon are often served in the summer, we like to puree the pulp and freeze it for cool treats when the weather is hot. Because watermelon is so sweet by itself, the only thing needed to make homemade ice pops is the watermelon, a paper cup, and a craft stick.

Watermelon Ice Pops

Yields: approximately 10 ice pops (depending on the size of your cups, you may yield more or less)
Prep time: 10 minutes + 6 hrs. freeze
Allergy info: soy-free, dairy-free, gluten-free

Ingredients:
1 (4 to 5-lb.) organic seedless watermelon
12 paper cups or tall parfait glasses (tall shot/dessert glasses)
Plastic wrap or foil
12 ice pop sticks

Directions:
Remove colored flesh from the watermelon rind. Discard seeds, dice watermelon flesh. In the bowl of a food processor add diced watermelon; pulse until smooth. Place a fine mesh strainer over a large bowl. Pour watermelon mixture into strainer. Using a spoon or spatula, press watermelon mixture through strainer; discard any seed pieces and large pieces of pulp.

Pour watermelon evenly into cups; cover tightly with plastic wrap. Using a sharp paring knife, make a small slit in the middle of the plastic wrap. Poke ice pop sticks through plastic wrap.

Place cups in freezer. Freeze at least 6 hours; serve frozen. Store in the freezer, covered, up to 3 weeks.

Summer Picnic Salads

2011-06-14T18:19:00.000-04:00

By keeping your refrigerator stocked with a variety of fresh, savory, sweet, crunchy, salty and tangy ingredients, you’ll be ready for impromptu summer picnics any day of the week.

When packing salads for on-the-go munching, store ingredients in an airtight container with a damp paper towel placed over the fresh vegetables to keep them hydrated; discard the paper towel before enjoying your salad. Pack oil-based dressings in a separate container and pour over your salad just before eating. Avoid mayonnaise or dairy-based dressings, as they tend to spoil quickly in the summer heat.

Ingredients for the perfect summer picnic salad:

Something fresh: Color is key; choose a variety of colorful vegetables, along with nutritionally super-charged greens such as spinach or arugula.
Something savory: Healthy, lean proteins such as tuna, poached chicken breast, beans or tofu, seasoned with spices will satisfy your umami craving.
Something sweet: Fresh or dried fruit will add a bit of sweetness and balance to your salad.
Something crunchy: Sunflower seeds, sesame seeds or even crushed whole-grain cereals will add crunch and nutrition to your salad.
Something salty: A sprinkle of Parmesan or shredded Cheddar will add that salty bite, without a lot of sodium.
Something tangy: A bright lemony dressing or tangy apple cider vinaigrette will add the zing every salad needs.

In Season: Rhubarb

2011-05-10T10:01:00.003-04:00

Rhubarb, once used only for medicinal purposes, has become a favorite spring ingredient in the U.S. Although it's typically considered a fruit, rhubarb is a vegetable, similar in texture to celery, but with a refreshing tart flavor and ruby red, pink and grassy green streaks in the stalks.

You'll find organic rhubarb in farmers markets and stores carrying organic produce throughout the month of May. Our favorite Wholesome Tummies way to enjoy this vegetable is in a compote with strawberries, drizzled over freshly baked shortcakes:

Rhubarb Strawberry Shortcake

Yields: 6 shortcakes
Allergy Info: soy-free; contains wheat, gluten, dairy

For the shortcakes:
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, diced
2 eggs
2 teaspoons fresh rosemary leaves, finely chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 egg beaten plus 1 tablespoons milk, for egg wash
6 small sprigs of rosemary, from the top of each branch

For the compote:
3 cups rhubarb, leaves removed, washed and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 cup sugar, or to taste
1/4 cup orange juice
Pinch of salt
1 pint strawberries, hulled and quartered

For the cream:
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Make the Biscuits:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Using a pastry blender, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles a course meal with pea-sized pieces of fat. In a separate bowl, lightly whisk the eggs, rosemary and heavy cream. Add to the flour and mix until just blended. The dough should be sticky, but not wet.

Place the dough out onto a well-floured surface and form the dough into a rough circle, one inch high. Cut 6 biscuits with a fluted or straight cookie or biscuit cutter and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment. Brush the top of each biscuit with the egg wash and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for 20 minutes or until the outside is slightly golden around the edges. Do not open the oven door during the first 15 minutes, to allow the biscuits to rise properly. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

Make the Compote:
Add the rhubarb, sugar, orange juice and pinch of salt to a sauce pan. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes and add half of the strawberries. Simmer for another 15 minutes, or until the rhubarb is just tender but still toothy. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Add the rest of the strawberries to the cooled mixture and stir to incorporate.

Make the Chantilly Cream:
Beat the cold cream with a wire whisk or hand mixer until soft peaks begin to form. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla and continue to beat until stiff peaks just barely begin to form.

Assemble the shortcakes:
Split shortcake in the middle, like a hamburger bun. Place the bottom of the biscuit into a shallow bowl and spoon some of the compote over the biscuit. Add a generous spoonful of Chantilly cream. Place the top part of the biscuit on the cream and top with a small amount of compote and another dollop of cream. Place a small sprig of rosemary on the cream. Repeat for each shortcake.

Chef’s Notes:
Combine the dough scraps to create additional biscuits if desired. The second batch of biscuits will be slightly tougher and will not rise as high as the first, but will have the same flavor.

Exposing Processed Foods

2011-05-10T09:51:00.002-04:00

Does your child eat Disodium Guanylate for breakfast? If they eat Hot Pockets they do.

We recently gave the fourth, fifth and sixth graders at one of our partner schools an important detective mission: search through their kitchens and find the worst food labels with the most unpronounceable words and unrecognizable ingredients.

They didn’t disappoint.

We heard whispers of, “I thought that was healthy,” as the Sunny Delight was identified by Wholesome Tummies as having one of the top 5 Worst Food Labels presented by the group. Sunny-D’s first two ingredients are water and high fructose corn syrup. Although studies have shown that High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) is safe in moderation, the term “moderation” has never been defined. We think that’s scary!

As we mentioned in our March Newsletter, fructose is only metabolized by the liver (Uunlike other sugars, which are naturally metabolized by our bodies in a number of ways). When the liver is inundated with more fructose than it can handle, the excess sugars are immediately turned into fat and stored in the body as triglycerides. Triglycerides are harmful to your arteries and heart, and can contribute to obesity.

The other top-five culprits from the group were Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain Bars, Ramen Noodles and Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. Each of these contained additives, artificial colors and sweeteners, hydrogenated oils and carcinogens. Bet these foods don’t sound so yummy now!

The grand prize for our Worst Food Label Award went to Hot Pockets, which one participating student eats for breakfast almost every morning. The Hot Pockets label contained nearly half of the Dirty Dozen Food Additives including Disodium Guanylate which has been linked to cancer, neurological issues, immune disorders and obesity according to documented studies leading to the Dirty Dozen list. Click here to learn more about the Dirty Dozen Food Additives.

We focused on a top-level breakdown of ingredients in the Hot Pockets and found some pure ingredients such as bread, egg, bacon and cheese. Sounds simple enough, yet there were more than 80 additional ingredients listed on the package — most of which were man-made (including high fructose corn syrup) to prolong shelf life and produce a more stable product. Did you know that Hot Pockets can last up to 14 months in the freezer? As a comparison, most raw fish and meats should be consumed after 3-6 months in the freezer. An amazing thing happens when chemicals are mixed with food!

We found that most of the classroom parents looked closely at nutrition labels but ignored the list of ingredients often found on the opposite side of the package. Parents concentrated on the fat and sodium content on the nutrition label, but missed the list of additives, artificial colors (already banned in many countries), fillers and chemical preservatives found in the ingredients section. Of course, it’s important to look at both nutrition and ingredients when choosing foods for your children.

The student with the Hot Pockets label won five days of healthy lunches from Wholesome Tummies.

We then challenged the class with a new mission:

Replace one packaged food item every week with an organic alternative or a whole fruit or vegetable.
Teach your parents how to read the list of ingredients on packaged foods..
If you don’t recognize or are not sure how to pronounce an ingredient, don’t buy the food!

What’s lurking in your cabinets? Take the label challenge at home and let us know what you find. Or bring the challenge to your child’s school and start your own “food revolution.”

10 Ways To Make Vegetables More Exciting

2011-04-03T21:58:00.002-04:00

If your kids aren’t a fan, it may take a few tries and some experimenting for them to fall in love with vegetables, but don’t give up. With all of the colorful varieties available at your local market this spring, your family will be inspired to try them all. And when you get them home, here are 10 ways to put some excitement into those veggies:

1. Roast. Cut vegetables into 1-inch pieces and toss with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast at 425°F until caramelized, about 40 minutes depending on the vegetable. Serve warm or cold.

2. Grill. Whether outdoors or inside using a grill pan, vegetables cooked on the grill add a smoky, caramelized flavor to any meal.

3. Flavor. Sprinkle grated Parmesan, toasted sesame seeds, over warm vegetables.

4. Dip. Infuse low-fat yogurt or puréed beans with fresh ginger, garlic, citrus and fresh herbs to create zippy dips for raw or cooked vegetables.

5. Purée. Puréed soups make a quick and healthy meal, and can be served hot or cold. Chop vegetables, cook in broth until tender (about 20 minutes), purée with a hand blender, thin with additional broth and season to taste with herbs, salt and pepper.

6. Stuff. Mushrooms, peppers, zucchini, tomatoes and eggplant, to name a few, make great vessels for stuffing. Add a medley of lean meats and vegetables inside the hollowed-out vegetable, or slice into thin planks, stuff, roll and bake.

7. Sauce. Coulis is a sauce made from a puréed raw or cooked vegetable (or fruit). A roasted red pepper coulis, for example, can be tossed with spaghetti squash or used as the base for salad dressings.

8. Mash. Mixing your mashes can lead to exciting things. Try mashed cauliflower with mashed spring peas, or mashed carrots with mashed parsnips for new flavor profiles.

9. Salad. Slice and dice whatever raw vegetables you have in the house and make a “garbage salad” out of them. Serve up with crisp romaine before dinner (salad appetizer!) and your hungry family will devour them.

10. Embrace. Move out of your comfort zone and try a new vegetable once a month. Positive affirmation, when it comes to healthy eating and making vegetables a part of every meal or snack, will make the journey to good health fun and easy.

Spring Clean Your Pantry

2011-04-03T21:56:00.002-04:00

Spring is the perfect time of year to re-introduce healthy eating habits to your family. Keeping your pantry and refrigerator stocked with minimally-processed and whole, nutritious foods is the first step to putting smart choices within everyone’s reach. Following are tips for a successful pantry purge:

1. Toss it. If you haven’t used a product or spice from your pantry or refrigerator in recent memory, throw it away. Dry goods can become stale, rancid or lose their potency and nutritional value. Jarred or canned items can grow harmful bacteria, even in the refrigerator.

2. Check it. Check expiration dates and plan to quickly use those products that are close to expiring; throw away all expired foods.

3. Date it. Mark spices and condiments with the date opened using a permanent marker.

4. Store it. Canned goods, such as beans and lycopene-rich tomato paste, will keep at least two years in a cool, dry pantry. Dented or damaged cans should be thrown away immediately. Grains, such as pasta, barley and rice have a long shelf life but should be stored in airtight containers. Smaller boxes can be stored in resealable bags. Whole-wheat flour contains wheat germ, which can spoil and should be stored in the refrigerator. Flaxseed, once opened, should also be stored in the refrigerator. Oils should be stored in a cool, dark pantry for longest shelf life.

5. Ease into it. Begin making small, but powerful changes to your pantry and refrigerator. Start by replacing all canned fruits and vegetables with fresh, replacing your regular ketchup with an organic version and replacing white breads with whole wheat or multi-grain breads. By making small changes over the entire spring season, your pantry and refrigerator will be a superfood super center by the time summer arrives.

Wholesome Tummies add Chef and Culinary Expert, Dawn Viola to Corporate Team

2011-03-23T15:41:00.002-04:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For information, contact:

Sara R. Brady

407-702-6632

WHOLESOME TUMMIES ANNOUNCES ADDITION OF AWARD -WINNING CHEF DAWN VIOLA

Well-known Food Writer/Nutritionist/Chef Joins Wholesome Tummies, Provider of Healthy School Lunches

ORLANDO, FL – Tuesday, MARCH 21, 2011 – Wholesome Tummies has hired chef and recipe developer, Dawn Viola, to further advance and enhance lunch menu options for school age children, company officials announced today.

Viola, who began her career in advertising, has contributed food-related content to the Food Network, Martha Stewart Radio, Cooking with Emeril and locally to the Orlando Sentinel. Viola’s blog is one of the nation’s top ten food blogs and has been recognized by Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution.

“Having an established and recognized nutrition expert furthers our efforts by taking menus to the next level. Dawn’s experience fortifies our mission to provide healthier lunches and habits for children and families,” said Samantha Gotlib, co-founder of Wholesome Tummies. “We’ve seen significant traction and support for what we do, and Dawn’s expertise is a natural fit for us.”

Dawn will be developing and testing new recipes to roll out to all Wholesome Tummies locations. She will be primarily focused on creating a line of recipes specifically for the company’s middle and high school customers. In addition she will help expand the company’s gluten-free offerings.

Wholesome Tummies uses all-natural ingredients to create kid-tested, nutritionist-approved menus, providing meals to private and public schools. They offer flexible solutions for schools. For schools without kitchens, parents simply order the meals online, and they are delivered directly to schools. In addition, Wholesome Tummies chefs and expert food service professionals are available to manage complete school kitchen operations.

Wholesome Tummies has franchises throughout Florida, Atlanta, Las Vegas with several others scheduled to launch in the months ahead.

“We care passionately about children eating foods that are fresh, all-natural and free from artificial ingredients,” said co-founder Debbie Blacher. “This epidemic of childhood obesity is very real and can be corrected by helping parents make better food choices, especially at school.”

Wholesome Tummies creates foods that cajole children to make healthy food choices. The menus are designed to ensure that developing minds and muscles are fueled by wholesome ingredients. The company’s goal is to develop eating patterns that lead to lifelong good health.

For more information about Wholesome Tummies, visit www.wholesometummies.com

###

Distributed by Sara Brady Public Relations, Inc.
407-702-6632
www.sarabradypr.com
222 W. Comstock Avenue, Suite 111
Winter Park, Florida 32789

Whole Grain Recipes!

2011-03-02T02:52:00.002-05:00

Here are some great recipes that use various whole grains for you to try at home!

10 Grain Yogurt Quick Bread - Bob's Red Mill

Makes 1 Loaf (12 slices)

Ingredients

3 cups 10-Grain Flour
1 tsp Sea Salt
1-1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
3 Eggs
1/4 cup Vegetable Oil
2 cups Plain Yogurt

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan, set aside.

In a large bowl combine flour, salt, baking soda and brown sugar.

In another bowl beat eggs and add oil; fold in yogurt thoroughly. Pour liquid ingredients into dry ingredients; stir until ingredients are moistened. Do not over mix. Turn batter into prepared loaf pan and bake for 55 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

*To liven up the flavor, try adding a fruit yogurt instead of plain.

Oatmeal Blueberry Applesauce Muffins - Adapted from Joy the Baker

Makes 12-15 muffins

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/4 cups oats
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 tbsp canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon zest
1 large egg, lightly beaten
3/4 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper cases or spray with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large bowl combine flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt, lemon zest and cinnamon. In a medium bowl combine applesauce, buttermilk, sugar, oil, vanilla and egg. Make a well in dry ingredients and add applesauce mixture. Stir until just moist. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full.

Bake for 16-18 minutes.

Overnight Steel Cut Oats (Adapted from Food Network)

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients

1 cups steel-cut oats
4 cups water
1/2 cup whole milk
1 1/2 cups raisins (or dried blueberries, cherries, cranberries, apricots or a combo)
Brown sugar or pure maple syrup, for serving

Directions

In a slow cooker, combine all ingredients and set to low heat. Cover and let cook for 8 to 9 hours.

Stir and remove to serving bowls. This method works best if started before you go to bed. This way your oatmeal will be finished by morning.

Make Ahead

The prepared oatmeal can be refrigerated for up to 1 week. Rewarm in a microwave oven and thin with water if necessary before serving.

Making the Transition to Whole Grains

2011-03-01T13:15:00.004-05:00

White Flour and Whole Grains – What Are They?

Ever wonder how white bread looks so white, when the flour taken from the wheat is brown? The answer - chemical bleaching, just like the bleach you put in your clothes. Chemical bleaching is done with benzoyl peroxide mixed with various chemical salts. The resulting white bread is called “dead” bread because it has lost the majority of its nutrients – 50% of the calcium, 80% of iron, 98% of magnesium, 80% of thiamin and 60% of riboflavin. Loss of these vitamins gives white bread its paler color, finer texture, and increased shelf life.

Highly processed white flour (a.k.a. “enriched wheat flour”) is missing the two most nutritious and fiber rich parts of the seed – bran and the germ. When the bran and the germ are removed to make white flour, the body absorbs the wheat differently. The body breaks down enriched flour too quickly, flooding the blood stream with too much sugar at once. Subsequently, the body has to work extra hard to absorb the excess sugar and does this by storing it as fat.

Whole grains, by contrast, are absorbed by the body more slowly and more fully. They are richer in dietary fiber, antioxidants, protein, minerals and vitamins. The health benefits of whole grains are many: reduced risk of some forms of cancer and decreased incidences of heart disease, diabetes and obesity.

The USDA recommends kids 2-3 years old consume 3 oz. of grains per day. That’s not a lot considering the typical bagel weighs in at 4 oz. Yet only 10% of Americans consume the recommended three servings of whole grains a day.. How do we ensure the grains our kids eat are whole grains?

Identifying Whole Grains in the Supermarket

It’s not as easy as it seems to tell which foods contain whole grains. As always, it's important to check the ingredient list for the word "whole" preceding the grain (such as "whole” wheat flour). You are looking for the whole grain as the first ingredient in the list, indicating that the product contains more whole grain than any other ingredient.

A quick scan of the bread, snack or cereal aisle and you will find just about every package touting its whole grains. However, not all of them are actually whole grain. Things like “100% wheat”, “multigrain” or “stone ground” may confuse you as none of these labels actually indicate the product is whole grain. Did you know some manufacturers strip the outer layer of bran off the whole kernel of wheat, use the refined wheat flour, add in molasses to color it brown, and call it "100% wheat" bread? It may be 100% wheat, but it is NOT a whole grain.

For a cheat sheet, refer to this list of some popular whole grains:

• Whole-grain corn
• Brown rice
• Oats
• Popcorn (really!)
• Quinoa
• Whole-grain rye
• Bulgur
• Wild rice
• Buckwheat
• Whole-grain barley
• 100% whole wheat flour

The Whole Grain Council has also made it easier than ever to find whole-grain products - look for the Whole Grain Council's whole-grain stamp, which shows how many grams of whole grains are in each serving. If all of the grain is whole grain, the stamp also displays a "100%" banner.

Getting your Kids to Eat Whole Grains

Here are some easy ways to work more whole grains into your kids’ diets:

• Eat popcorn. What could be easier than eating air-popped popcorn as a snack? A study in the 2008 May issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association found that people who regularly ate popcorn averaged 2.5 servings of whole grains per day, while non-popcorn eaters got less than one serving.

• Make your snacks whole grain. Snacks account for one-third of whole grain consumption – but be sure to pick the right ones, whole grain snacks can sometimes be high in fat, calories and sugar.

• Incorporate whole grains into breakfast. Look for cereals with the whole grain symbol and get those grains in early in the day! Keep in mind that even when a product is made from whole grain, it's not necessarily healthy. Read the label and select cereals based on the whole-grain content and amount of sugar it contains. The less sugar, the better. Many popular, well-known and kid-favorite brands aim to confuse consumers by drawing attention to their whole grains so you are less likely to notice the high sugar content, artificial colors lurking inside.

• Add whole grains to your baked goods. Try blending half whole-wheat flour with all-purpose flour to boost the whole-grain content of your homemade baked goods.

• Choose brown rice and whole-wheat pasta. Wholesome Tummies uses ONLY whole-grain and hi-fiber pastas in our recipes and our customers love the taste. The key is choosing the right ones that still taste similar to the white pastas your kids like (at least until your kids are used to the heartier taste). There are some great options available – some that even look “white” - in the supermarket.

Start Them Off Right

Start off young kids with a diet of all whole grains. It’s much easier to start your preschooler off right when they are young, then to try to adjust his diet later on. For older kids, try the white whole-wheat flour first and slowly increase the amounts of whole grains in the recipes you make at home.

By slowly swapping out white-wheat breads in small increments, you can gradually transition your family’s diet to include whole grain items.

-SG

How do Lunchables take something so simple and complicate it?

2011-02-21T07:11:00.001-05:00

Lunchable Turkey and Cheddar Cracker Stackers. Easy right? Crackers and cheese? Not so much. Here's the ingredient list: Ingredients: ROAST WHITE TURKEY – CURED, SMOKE FLAVOR ADDED: WHITE TURKEY, WATER, POTASSIUM LACTATE, MODIFIED CORN STARCH, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF SALT, DEXTROSE, CARRAGEENAN, SODIUM PHOSPHATES, SODIUM DIACETATE, SODIUM ASCORBATE, SMOKE FLAVOR, SODIUM NITRITE, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR. PASTEURIZED PREPARED CHEDDAR CHEESE PRODUCE: MILK, WHEY, MILK PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, MILKFAT, SODIUM CITRATE, SALT, LACTIC ACID, SORBIC ACID AS A PRESERVATIVE, OLEORESIN PAPRIKA (COLOR), ANNATTO (COLOR), CHEESE CULTURE, ENZYMES, WHEY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, WITH STARCH ADDED FOR SLICE SEPARATION. CONTAINS: MILK, WHEAT CRACKERS: ENRICHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE [VITAMIN B1], RIBOFLAVIN [VITAMIN B2],FOLIC ACID), SOYBEAN OIL, WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR, SUGAR, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED COTTONSEED OIL, SALT, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, LEAVENING (BAKING SODA, CALCIUM PHOSPHATE), WHEY (FROM MILK), SOY LECITHIN (EMULSIFIER). CONTAINS: WHEAT, MILK, SOY.

Hungry??

Meatless Mondays are coming to Wholesome Tummies!

2011-01-28T14:57:00.000-05:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For information, contact:

Sara R. Brady

407-702-6632

Wholesome Tummies Launches
“Meatless Mondays” in March

International program benefits health of people and the planet

Orlando, Fla. – Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2011– In an effort to encourage less consumption of animal proteins and more consumption of veggies, healthy school lunch business Wholesome Tummies is launching “Meatless Mondays” starting in March.

“Meatless Monday” is an international public health awareness program in association with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center for a Livable Future, which developed the initiative. The goal is to reduce meat consumption by 15 percent and improve the health of people and the planet.

“Meatless Monday” has been endorsed by over 20 schools of public health and embraced by more than 30 U.S. colleges. “Meatless Monday” programs have been developed in Britain, Brazil, Holland, Canada, Finland, Taiwan and Australia.

“Eating meatless once a week can reduce the risk of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer,” said Samantha Gotlib, Wholesome Tummies co-founder. When Gotlib heard about the health benefits of the national “Meatless Monday” campaign, she began using meatless recipes for her family at home.

Why Monday? Most Americans start their week on Monday, and get back into the structure of their everyday routines. Studies suggest that people are more likely to maintain behaviors begun on Monday all week long.

An Orlando-based company created by two mothers, Wholesome Tummies serves as a total healthy lunch solution for the nation’s childhood obesity crisis. Wholesome Tummies chefs and expert food service professionals are available to manage school kitchen operations. In addition, Wholesome Tummies offers nutritionist-approved healthy lunches daily to schools that do not have kitchens. Parents simply order the meals online, and they are delivered directly to area schools.

“I made homemade pizzas and served fresh salads, and it wasn’t difficult at all,” Gotlib said. “Wholesome Tummies will feature items such as Grilled Veggie Fajitas, Organic Bean and Cheese Enchiladas, Ratatouille Pasta and` Roasted Vegetables with Couscous.”

Wholesome Tummies will offer completely vegetarian menus in Orlando and franchise wide —in Jacksonville, St. Petersburg, Tampa and Palm Beach County.

Wholesome Tummies creates foods that cajole picky eaters to make healthy food choices. The menus are designed to ensure that developing minds and muscles are fueled by wholesome ingredients. The company’s goal is to develop eating patterns that lead to lifelong good health.

For more information about Wholesome Tummies, visit www.wholesometummies.com

For more information about “Meatless Monday,” visit www.meatlessmonday.com

###

Distributed by Sara Brady Public Relations, Inc.

407-702-6632

www.sarabradypr.com

222 W. Comstock Avenue, Suite 111

Winter Park, Florida 32789

Reading and Understanding Food Labels - for Kids!

2011-01-27T07:30:00.004-05:00

We all know that the nutritional label is the “table of contents” for a food product. By scanning this handy box, we can learn fairly quickly whether the item is good for us or not. But our kids may not yet understand what a “trans fat” is or whether having “21% Daily Value of Sodium” is a good or bad thing! Teaching your kids a simple way to read food labels will help them quickly decode whether the item is OK to eat!

The best place to learn about labels is in your local supermarket. Take your children with you the next time you go shopping and have them try some of these exercises at the store or once you get home with your new purchases.

Tip #1 SERVING SIZE: Have your children portion out what they think is an appropriate portion for kids of their age. Then show them what the label lists as the portion size. Take out a measuring cup and show them the difference. Learning this critical aspect of the label will set them up for a lifetime of proper portion control. Especially with sugary drinks - often a bottle of soda doesn’t contain one serving, but 2 servings, which is very surprising for many!

Tip # 2 TRANS FAT: Even though the FDA allows for any food product with .05g of trans fat or less to state it is “Trans Fat Free”, savvy eaters know that no amount of trans fat should be accepted. Therefore, teaching your children to find that line on the label might be misleading. Instead, have them check that the item has 0g of trans fats, and that it does NOT have “Partially Hydrogenated Oils” in the ingredient list.

Tip #3 SUGARS: It’s true that fat doesn’t make us fat, sugar does. Studies routinely point to sugar as the major culprit in childhood obesity. So kids can easily scan the label for “Sugars” and aim for the lowest possible amounts. When shopping for breakfast cereal for instance, have them choose 2-3 they like and pick the one with the least amount of sugar. (6g or less in cereals would be ideal). As a bonus, your kids will get a little math workout too! For instance, if an item has 12 grams of sugar, they can divide that by four to find out the number of teaspoons of sugar per serving (4 grams of sugar = 1 teaspoon). That means, a cereal with 12 grams of sugar will have 3 teaspoons (or 1 tablespoon) of sugar PER serving.

Tip #4 FIND THE GOOD STUFF: Nutrients like fiber and vitamins are good for our kids (and for us too!) So have them get excited about eating foods that are high in fiber and vitamins – which can easily be found on the nutritional label.

With a little investigative work and a bit of fun, your kids can learn to be label sleuths and maybe get a little healthier in the process!

-SG

Picking Good Choices at the Supermarket

2011-01-27T07:26:00.002-05:00

With so many foods and drinks trying to pass themselves off as “healthy” these days, it can be hard to distinguish the good from the bad in the supermarket.

“Bad” foods would include those that contain multiple “junk” or “fake” ingredients, deceptive health claims or very misleading information on the packaging or box.

Take yogurt, for example. Yogurt gets high acclaim for its health benefits. Typically high in calcium and protein, yogurt can be an excellent snack or meal choice for most kids. Unfortunately, many yogurts today are high in sugar, and some contain more sugar than ice cream! For instance, on Breyers YoCrunch Cookies n’ Cream Yogurt, the ingredient list reads like a novel with shocking findings such as: modified food starch, enriched flour (really!), high fructose corn syrup, vanillin (an artificial flavor) and the word “sugar” 2 more times. This sounds more like food science than breakfast!

And, it’s not only conventional brands that are to blame - even some organic brands can be cause for concern. Stonyfield Farms is a wonderful brand, with lots of great, healthy and organic choices. However, some of their items are notoriously high in sugar.

Their 6oz Vanilla Truffle has 210 calories, 5 grams of fat and 33 grams of sugar per serving! To put this in perspective, Stonyfield’s Oikos brand of vanilla-flavored Greek Yogurt has just 110 calories and 11 grams of sugar. It has all the taste and flavor, but leaves lots of harmful added sugar behind.

Food manufacturers go to great lengths to emphasize their “healthy” ingredients, which can sometimes be misleading to consumers. Terms and phrases like “antioxidants”, “whole grains”, “Zero Grams Trans Fat”, and “heart healthy” are all examples of the jargon used to entice shoppers. Here’s a good tip: Avoid reading the advertising jargon on the front of the packaging and go straight to the nutrition label. Even items that tout “Zero Trans Fats” may contain up to 0.5g of trans fats per serving! That’s right, the FDA allows this loophole! (And there is NO amount of trans fats that are considered healthy in our diet.) Also, remember that ingredients are listed in order of amounts used in the item, so avoid products with ingredients such as sugar, high fructose corn syrup, or enriched flour at the top.

Bottom line: Read the ingredients list, especially on packaged or processed foods, and opt for those items made with real, whole foods (with words you can pronounce!). Scan the nutritional label too, keeping an eye out for serving sizes. Or better yet, skip the packaged foods and head to the produce section - it’s easy to find wholesome ingredients in there!

- SG

How to get the most out of "snacking"

2010-12-05T21:48:00.004-05:00

We live in a food culture that is centered around 3 meals a day. Snacks are considered taboo and therefore, snacking, an unhealthy habit. However, for kids, snacking can be as essential as main meals, if not more so. With the right offerings and frequent rotation, you will find that snacks can actually help improve your child's eating habits.

Kids should have 1-2 small, balanced snacks a day - just to tide them over until their next meal, not to serve as an 'additional' meal. We do not want to create a scenario where children are constantly eating and parents are constantly preparing food! The New York Times wrote a very humorous take on that here.

Most children will happily eat the foods they are exposed to most often. This is why pizza, chicken nuggets and mac ‘n cheese are almost always gobbled up - it's what they are more familiar with. Research shows that the more fruits and vegetables you serve, the more used to them kids will be and the more of them they will eat!

40% of the calories children consume today are empty calories. We can turn a lot of this around just by changing our snack habits. Drop the goldfish (which contain approximately 1/4 of the calories a child should consume in a day) and replace with a few whole grain crackers and a small piece of low-fat cheese. Ryvita Crispbread gets an 87 Nuval Score - read about Nuval scores here) Slice up some apples, separate some orange sections, unpeel a banana or cut up some cucumbers. Once these snacks become a habit, children will be more open to trying new foods which means mealtimes will be more enjoyable for all! Now that's something to chew on!

Keeping good habits over the holidays

2010-12-05T21:25:00.003-05:00

The holidays are a time of memories, family get-togethers, and of course, an overabundance of sugary treats at every turn.

Since the majority of holiday traditions happen around the dinner (or dessert) table, it can be a challenge to keep kids from going overboard. (Let's be honest, it's hard for us adults, too!)

Here are a few tips to help keep those good habits going, even through the holiday season.

1. Keep plenty of fresh fruit, raw veggies and other healthy snacks in close reach. When sliced red pepper and hummus are just sitting out, children will find it hard to bypass it for the fattening stuff.

2. Let kids help with more than dessert baking. Ask them to help toss the salad, or prepare a soup (with help, of course). Kids always want to help in the kitchen and they can be relied upon for more than cookies! They’ll be filled with pride when their item hits the table, and be more likely to eat it, too!

3. Set a good example. It's hard to ask kids to just take a small sampling of sweets when they see their parents with 3 huge slices of pie! Lead by example and enjoy the dessert table, but in moderation.

4. Make memories with something other than food. Spend time going through old pictures with your kids, making crafts or handmade gifts for friends. Take them to a soup kitchen or shelter to prepare meals for those less fortunate, or hang out with Grandma and have her tell stories about when she was young. Those are the real, cherished memories of the holidays and when you focus on those, the food becomes secondary!

How important is peer pressure with picky eaters?

2010-09-30T13:14:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow, the WT team will be out at The Geneva School where we sponsor "Tasty Fridays". This is program, in partnership with the Winter Park Health Foundation, that will help expose students to new foods in an effort to expand their palates.

Last year when we launched the program, we brought out a variety of fresh, exotic fruits and veggies and watched (and marveled) and the differences between the oldest kids and youngest kids. The older kids watched to see who else would grab a plate, before they would take the plunge themselves. The younger children, all grabbed a plate without a word- for they assumed it was expected.

We know that peer pressure matters in just about every area, but food too? A fantastic article, published this month on BBC, says that "school lunches can help fussy eaters try new foods".

Researchers found that four out of five children in England who ate school lunches had tried food at school that they had not tried at home. The program commissioned the survey because too many parents packed lunch from home fearing their child wouldn't eat lunch at school.

"....it seems that once at school there's a desire to fit in with everyone else and even some positive peer pressure to boast about the variety of what foods you can eat.

Our work with the Be Healthy Program further validates this research. Last year, when we served lunch to an entire Kindergarten class at St. Andrew Catholic School, we found that the kids overwhelmingly ate their lunches because they were eating Wholesome Tummies as a group.

So maybe the secret is more exposure as a group- let kids come together and try new foods in a group setting (like we are doing at The Geneva School tomorrow with Tasty Fridays) or even as part of a class curriculum. What better way to learn about your fruits and veggies than to TRY those fruits and veggies!

A sad loss today...

2010-08-31T22:28:00.003-04:00

We were sad to learn that Orange County Public Schools has decided to no longer allow us to distribute lunches at Audubon Park Elementary and Lake Sybelia Elementary (the two OCPS public schools we were serving) See Link to our letter here.

We were told a variety of reasons but the major one is that we are a "competitive" food and it's no different than a "fast food company coming out and selling their foods". After researching some of the USDA guidelines ourselves we found that is not entirely true. According to the USDA the guidelines to vary by state. In Florida it does state that no competitive foods are allowed. However, in most states the rule is that competitive foods are allowed as long as they meet or exceed the nutritional standards of the National School Lunch Program. Clearly, Wholesome Tummies does that. While we are not sure the harm it is in offering students a different, fully healthy, all-natural option, we have complied with their requests and will no longer be serving OCPS for the time being.

We are hopeful that things will change. We have found that the relationship with Seminole County Schools has been non-adversarial and very positive. Childhood obesity and poor eating habits are NOT getting better. We have to work together as a community to come up with REAL solutions for as many children as we can.

We understand that our lunches cost more than the school lunch program. (Of course, the National School Lunch Program is subsidized by the Federal Gov't!) We also know that right now, not every student can afford 4.00-5.00 a day for lunch. As Americans, we have GOT to make better food a priority for our children. Our future depends on it. Its time we start appropriating real money to this issue so that ALL children can eat fresh, pure, non-processed foods in school. We are open to working with any gov't agency on how we can provide healthy foods at a lower cost.

The way our system is now is broken:

Public School Food Service offices are motivated to sell unhealthy foods to keep their jobs. When they remove the "bad stuff" sales go down and they could put themselves out of work.
Major manufacturers can offer rebates with product or merchandise to push sales of their items up.
Children are required to take a milk with lunch each day, even if they do not want it. Typically they grab the strawberry or chocolate milk adding an additional 185 calories and 5 grams of fat, on average, for their lunch.
Lunch room employees are not allowed to "push" the veggies or fruit onto the kids or they can lose their funding.
A reimbursable lunch is simply taking 2 items from the line. Those two items can be the mac and cheese and the apple, or they can be the mac and cheese and the roll. How are these laws really helping our children grow strong and healthy.

As parents we need to support those organizations doing everything they can to make change. In addition to Wholesome Tummies there are some excellent efforts put out there by Chef Ann Cooper, Chef Jamie Oliver, Rachael Ray, Michelle Obama and more. Write to your congressmen and let them know that school lunch is important to you.

Back to School...Back to Reality!

2010-08-24T16:01:00.002-04:00

We have been busy this summer during our (not so much) break! We have launched a brand new look and website. We have added 3 new prep cooks in our Orlando kitchen and 3 new delivery drivers too! (Who said there was an unemployment crisis?!), tested and retested over 20 new menu items (yum!) and opened our first franchise (with more on the way!).

We have been training HQ for our newest Wholesome Tummies franchisee- Tampa Bay! They have been making frequent visits so they could get up to speed by August and we are proud to say that they are well on their way! After a long summer of kitchen, delivery, technology, operations and sales/marketing training - Wholesome Tummies in the Tampa Bay area has arrived!

Back in Orlando, we are thrilled to be partners with Seminole County Public Schools this year. Their support and dedication to the health and nutrition of their students has been nothing short of remarkable. We are energized about all the exciting things the future holds for the kids of Seminole County!

So whether you are a loyal WT Orlando customer or a new WT Tampa Bay customer, we are excited to be serving you and hope that your children enjoy, better yet, LOVE their Wholesome Tummies lunches this year!

Wholesome Tummies Tasting Event Recap

2010-04-25T21:31:00.004-04:00

Thursday, April 22 we held our Spring 2010 Tasting Event!

Our customers (and some guests!) sampled potential new menu items such as Breakfast Pie, Burrito Bowl, Captain Sunshine Chicken Tenders, Brainy Brownies and more! After they sampled they were asked to fill out a short survey and rate the items.

We have compiled the survey results and the good news is- most of our items will be found on future menus! We are very excited to have the opportunity to test our recipes with the kids directly and hope to have more events like this in the near future

Here are some cute pictures from the event.

Tasting Event!

2010-04-22T14:32:00.002-04:00

Our FREE Wholesome Tummies' Insiders Tasting Event is TODAY from 3:30pm-5:30pm.

Come out to Lake Island Park in Winter Park (on Denning between Aloma and Morse) to sample our newest items hitting our menu in May.

We would love your feedback! So come over after school and fill those tummies with a great after-school snack!

National Oatmeal Cookie Day!

2010-03-18T08:21:00.002-04:00

Today is National Oatmeal Cookie Day!

Here is a very yummy and VERY healthy recipe!

Healthy Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

Dry ingredients

1 cup whole wheat flour (a pinch more depending on the moisture of the mix)
1 1/2 cups of Large Flake Rolled Oats (smaller flake is ok too)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp Cinnamon

Wet ingredients

1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup canola oil * you can also use some applesauce to replace some of the oil if you wish*
1 Tablespoon Molasses
1 egg (beat with 1 Tbsp Water)
1 tsp Vanilla

Mix Ins

1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup walnuts (you can omit and replace with antioxidant rich dark chocolate chips!)

Preparation:

In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together.
In a medium bowl, mix all the wet ingredients together. Hint: when measuring out the honey, spray the measuring cup with oil or baking spray--your honey won't stick).
Mix the wet stuff with the dry stuff. Add the raisins and walnuts (if using) and mix. If the mixture seems too wet, add a bit of flour. If it isn't binding together very well, you may wish to add an egg white.
COOL the mix for 20 minutes in the fridge.
Preheat the oven to 335 degrees (lower temperature due to the honey in the recipe which will burn more easily).
Drop by teaspoonfuls onto your baking sheet (I recommend lining the baking sheet with parchment paper). Press down with a fork to ensure even cooking.
Bake for about 15 - 20 minutes or until golden on the bottom of the cookie. The cookies freeze very well and make a great snack! Enjoy.

Are School Lunches setting up Children for Obesity?

2010-03-03T12:37:00.000-05:00

Are School Lunches Setting Kids Up for Obesity and Poor Nutrition?

By Jill Richardson, AlterNet
Posted on February 25, 2010, Printed on March 3, 2010
http://www.alternet.org/story/145803/

Michelle Obama launched her "Let's Move" campaign to fight obesity with a flood of media attention and a Presidential Memorandum, signed by her husband, establishing a new Task Force on Childhood Obesity. But how does the rhetoric of the Let's Move campaign stack up against what President Obama's administration is actually doing to address childhood obesity? While many of the president's priorities have lost steam in Congress, tackling childhood obesity is thankfully not one of them. But are the administration's efforts on the right track?

While the First Lady has been a champion for healthy, sustainable food since the creation of her historic garden in her first days in the White House, the title of her campaign, Let's Move, rings of food industry influence.

After all, junk food manufacturers have long advocated that Americans can eat whatever they want, so long as they work out afterward. (The industry-favored term for this is "energy balance.") Such an outlook carelessly ignores nutrients that contribute to good health, putting 100 calories of French fries on par with 100 calories of fruit. It also ignores the simple fact that, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture numbers, Americans today eat more than they did in the past -- over 500 calories more per day, if you compare 1970 with 2006. So, just moving is not going to solve our obesity epidemic, especially in kids.

While there are many factors that contribute to children being overweight, the big kahuna of the child obesity debate is our National School Lunch Program. Each day, approximately 10 percent of the American population participates in the National School Lunch Program, eating at least one meal that was entirely governed by federal policies. For some kids, school meals (breakfast and lunch) contribute over half of their calories for the day. The day-to-day decisions are in the hands of individual school districts and schools, but the parameters that govern the program and determine what can and can't be served are decided at a federal level. The USDA sets nutrition standards for school meals and even provides about one-fifth of the food served in school cafeterias. Congress determines the amount spent on each meal and oversees the USDA's administration of the program.

As it happens, Michelle Obama announced Let's Move at an extremely opportune time to influence the school lunch program, because the entire program is up for reauthorization in Congress this year. Furthermore, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) recently proposed new federal nutrition standards for school lunches and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack recently announced his intent to implement them.

Several aspects of the school lunch program require examination and (hopefully) reform. The Obama administration should be commended for aiming to adopt the IOM's recommendations, which would increase the amount of fruits and vegetables served to students and specify that dark green and bright orange vegetables as well as legumes are served during the course of each week. (Under the current standards, fruits and vegetables are interchangeable.) The new standards also call for an increase in whole grains served and it sets a maximum amount of calories per lunch. (Current standards only specify a minimum number of calories.)

Additionally, the Obama administration seeks to reform a decades-old loophole that restricts the USDA's ability to exercise any control over the a la carte items served in cafeterias or school vending machines. With executive branch support for such a change, it's likely that Congress will act, giving the USDA the authority to regulate any food served in schools during school hours. It's shameful that federal nutrition standards over school lunch are as lax as they are, but it speaks volumes that the Obama administration is the first in a long line of administrations willing to make the necessary changes.

However, the Obama administration should not stop there. Even with current weak nutrition standards, only 30 percent of schools serve lunches that meet the saturated fat standard and only 6 to 7 percent of schools serve lunches meeting all of the government's standards. Presumably, raising the bar alone will result in fewer schools meeting federal standards, not more. The government needs to find out why schools are failing to serve healthy lunches and then work to provide them with the tools they need to do so.

In some cases, the Obama administration is already on it. For example, Vilsack recently called for more grants to help schools upgrade their kitchen equipment. Kitchens equipped to do little more than reheat food are one of the reasons school lunches are so poor. Grant money to upgrade kitchens can lead to healthier school food, particularly if enough money is allocated in the grant program to reach a large number of schools.

However, federal oversight should be exercised to ensure that the kitchen upgrades actually lead to healthier foods. A recent Washington Post column described a D.C. school kitchen that was upgraded to serve "fresh cooked" meals but actually did little more than assembling and heating unhealthy, processed ingredients. Baked ziti consisted of beef crumbles ("grayish-brown bits of extruded meat and soy protein") mixed with egg noodles and "a six-pound can of pale-looking spaghetti sauce" containing "dextrose and/or high-fructose corn syrup [and] potato or corn starch," topped with cheese. Clearly, kitchen equipment is needed but it's just a first step toward reform.

Vilsack also calls for providing more commodities (food purchased by the USDA and provided directly to schools), particularly to the school breakfast program. USDA-provided food will certainly help schools stretch the approximately $1 per meal they have to spend on food (the rest of their money goes to equipment and labor), but it won't help schools meet nutrition goals unless the USDA provides nutritious food.

Unfortunately, this is currently not the case. The commodities the USDA provides to schools make up about 20 percent of food served in lunches. A review of commodities provided to California schools found that a few items comprise the majority of commodities provided: coarse and fine ground raw beef (26 percent), low moisture part skim & light mozzarella (13 percent), small and large chilled chickens (11 percent), and barrels, blocks and slices of yellow or white cheddar cheese (10 percent). In fact, USDA commodities provided for school lunches turn the USDA's own food pyramid on its head. Whereas the food pyramid recommends a diet rich in whole grains, fruits and vegetables, the USDA usually provides schools with meat and dairy products often high in saturated fat. Only 13 percent of commodities provided are fruits and vegetables (including fruit juice and legumes) -- and about half of the vegetables provided are potatoes.

The problem with commodities is two-fold. It's true that schools choose to order highly processed items from the USDA, but the USDA also offers very few healthy options. Of the 44 listed meats offered, only six are described as lean. Only 11 percent of fruits offered do not contain added sugars, and only 19 percent of grains offered were whole grains. And over half of the commodities go to processing facilities before they reach schools, frequently adding salt, sugar or trans fat to the food.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (author of the study that revealed this information) recommends that Congress "set a required proportion among the major food groups to which school districts must adhere when ordering commodities" to bring the commodities back in balance with the government's own nutrition recommendations. They also ask that the USDA "improve the nutritional quality of individual commodities, aligning them with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans."

In other words, if the government recommends choosing lean meats, the USDA should actually offer schools lean meats. They agree with Vilsack's call for increased grant money for kitchen upgrades, but they add that the upgrades should specifically focus on equipping kitchens to store and prepare fruits and vegetables (like refrigeration space, knives and cutting boards).

Lastly, and perhaps most significantly, Congress is currently considering the future of the "reimbursement rate" -- the amount the government reimburses schools for each child who eats school breakfast or lunch. The funds come from the federal government because the National School Lunch Program is a federal program. The government reimburses schools the most for students who qualify for free lunch (students whose parents make 135 percent of the federal poverty rate or less), slightly less for students who qualify for reduced cost lunch (students whose parents make 135 to 185 percent of the federal poverty rate), and less still for students who buy the school lunch. Unless a school district receives additional money from the state (as some do), the federal reimbursement rate determines how much the schools can spend on each lunch.

Currently, the government spends $2.68 for each child who qualifies for free lunch, totaling $8.7 billion for 5.1 billion lunches served in 2007. President Obama previously proposed spending an extra $1 billion on school lunches, but his 2011 budget splits the money between the school lunch program and another program. Because some of the 5.1 billion lunches are served to children who pay for their lunch, it's uncertain how far Obama's budgeted $1 billion would go to increase the reimbursement rate.

The School Nutrition Association, a group that receives funding from some of the same corporations that sell processed foods to schools, wants an extra 35 cents per lunch. Others, like Slow Food and "Renegade Lunch Lady" Ann Cooper, say we need to provide schools with an extra dollar per meal. A House Democratic aide noted that the $1 billion commitment from Obama is a significant and historic increase in funding relative to the total budget of the child nutrition programs (projected at $18.4 billion for the 2011 fiscal year). According to the aide, Congress is following a "PAYGO" (pay-as-you-go) budget strategy, which was signed into law by the president on February 12, 2010 so they will be unable to allocate more resources to school lunch unless they can find another area of the budget they can cut to offset that investment.

President Obama and the First Lady have demonstrated their commitment, however, to taking action and making an investment to improve children's health and preventing obesity. Congress and the administration are also looking for ways to use our existing resources more efficiently, such as by helping schools reduce administrative costs for school lunch so that as much money as possible can go to buying and preparing healthy food.

With extra money to spend on each meal, schools can purchase higher quality foods. Junk food often provides calories cheaper than healthy food and schools are required to serve at least a minimum number of calories. Thus, choosing fried, fatty or sugary foods allows them to meet their calorie minimum for a lower price. Perhaps that's why so few schools meet the USDA's nutrition standards. Healthy foods also often require more preparation, which means skilled labor or equipment. An increase in the reimbursement rate (in addition to equipment grants) could help schools afford this. Also, with the reimbursement rate at $2.68, each lunch served adds so little to schools' overheads that they must serve as many meals as possible. Thus, they often opt for kid-friendly meals like corn dogs, tater tots, or other unhealthy fast foods. If they weren't so pressured to sell as many meals as possible, they would have more room to offer healthy choices even if it meant a decline in sales.

Perhaps the most hopeful part of the Obama administration's stated goals is its push for increased farm-to-school programs, bringing more local, healthy food into our schools. Debra Eschmeyer, spokesperson for the National Farm to School Network, said:

We can move closer to a healthier generation by moving closer to what is on our children's trays through programs such as Farm to School. Secretary Vilsack emphasized the significance of support for Farm to School programs recently, which the USDA has put a backbone to with a seven person Farm to School Tactical Team working to link local farms to schools. Farm to School meals result in consumption of more fruits and vegetables with an average increase of one serving per day, including at home. And for every dollar spent on local foods in schools, one to three dollars circulate in the local economy. It's a win-win solution just like Let's Move.

But even a generous allocation like $50 million for Farm to School is still a drop in the bucket compared to the $8.7 billion spent on all of school lunches, and a broader solution to inadequacies in the school lunch program is clearly needed.

The entire Obama administration -- and especially the First Lady -- deserve credit for tackling such an important issue and making several long overdue reforms. However, they seem entirely unwilling to confront junk food manufacturers head on. Even the labels on the campaign ("Let's Move" and "Task Force on Childhood Obesity") obscure the true problems with nutrition by putting the blame on overeating and lack of exercise. Obesity is not our problem, it's only a symptom of our unhealthy lifestyles and a predictor of a host of diet-related illnesses. Yet stating that would show that our real fight is not against childhood obesity itself (and certainly not against obese people) -- it's against those who make, market and sell unhealthy foods to children.

A great day with little foodies...(or future foodies!)

2010-02-01T15:12:00.003-05:00

Today was the first delivery of lunch for the winners of the Be Healthy Lunch Program.

Florida Hospital, the Orlando Magic and Wholesome Tummies has partnered to provide 1 class a healthy, all natural lunch everyday from Feb 1 until the end of the school year. The winning class was Mrs. Auger's Kindergarten at St. Andrew Catholic School.

The menu today was BBQ Chicken Sandwiches (with all-natural, hormone and antibiotic free chicken and house-made BBQ Sauce), Fresh, crisp broccoli and a yogurt ranch dip and an organic dried fruit mix.

Many of these children never have access to fresh fruits and veggies and we were a bit concerned that the broccoli would be met with lots of "YUCKS and EWWWS"..but they (and the whole lunch!) were a hit! The kids delighted in trying new foods, dripping their broccoli and chewing on dried mango slices!

Bo Outlaw from the Magic was such a hit with the little kids. He was funny and down to earth and really made the kids laugh.

We are so excited about the next few months with these kids and really hoping that thru some great education (provided by Florida Hospital), great entertainment (provided by the Magic) and of course healthy, nutritious and delicious lunches (provided by US!) that we can make a difference in these kids lives.

Do you need to order from the kid menu?

2009-11-18T21:54:00.001-05:00

By: Samantha Gotlib, Co-Founder, Wholesome Tummies, LLC.
November 18, 2009

Head out to any restaurant these days and the menu choices are abundant. A diner looking for salads often has several from which to choose. Pastas? An entire section. Fresh or new entrees?- check out the daily specials. Vegetarian? Any dish can be customized to accommodate. But, what about our kids? What choices might they find lurking amidst the word scrambles, coloring pages and fill in the blanks on the children’s menu? Not many and certainly not healthy ones.

When did kids food become ubiquitous with chicken nuggets, pizza, hot dogs and Mac n cheese? Children are not born with the taste for these foods; they evolve over years of exposure. But kid food can be different; in other countries children eat so differently than American kids. In a small Italian town called Piacenza, school lunch is comprised of a fresh caprese salad, zucchini risotto and pesto lasagna. In Paris, kids start with cucumbers and fresh herbs followed by Basque chicken with organic bell peppers and couscous.

Kids can and will eat better when given the choices that will appeal to all their senses.
Restaurants will continue to put these “kid” items on their menus because they think that’s what parents want and parents order them because it’s a cheap and easy choice for their children. Restaurants are more than happy to market them since they are low-cost and low labor to produce.

So what do you do if your kids are picky? If they already got set up earlier in life for these tastes, what can you do now? Do you really need to order from the kids’ menu?

• First of all, it’s important to go easy on yourself. Strive to do better 80% of the time and 20% of the time let them have those typical kids’ foods.
• Instead of ordering each of your kids something from the kids’ menu, order 1 kid item and 1 item on the adult menu and share. Ask the server if they can make you a mini plate or half plate of the entrée. Often times, they will accommodate.
• Grab an extra empty plate and make a mini buffet of selections from all the adult portions for them to try. Kids love variety and color so arrange all the items on the plate and encourage them to try each one and rate them.
• Experiment! Don’t assume your kids won’t like a particular item just because it sounds exotic. Different cultures have so many dishes that with a few minor adaptations- make great kid food. Try a mild Indian masala sauce, fajitas with a chunky salsa, roasted chicken with fresh herbs.
• Speak to the manager- voice your concerns over their kid offerings and suggest changes. Swap out white pastas for whole wheat. Ask if they can include a fresh vegetable instead of French fries. Fried and/or high fat foods and soft drinks should NOT dominate their kids’ menus. These children are their future customers- why not jump-start their tastes with kiddie versions of their “grown up” meals?

Eating out with children is difficult. Any parent can attest to that- maintaining their attention span long enough to get served is a herculean effort by itself. But with a few minor tweaks and changes you can avoid the unhealthy pitfalls of the kids’ menu and use the kids menu for its only true virtue- a coloring book.

Have a Healthy Halloween!

2009-10-12T11:36:00.000-04:00

Have a Healthy Halloween! By: Samantha Gotlib, Co-Founder Wholesome Tummies

Halloween is definitely a kid’s holiday- costumes, parties and tons of candy. It is also a dreaded night for parents who try desperately to curb the amount of sticky, chocolate or sugary treats that arrive home. Did you know that the average child will consume 3 cups of sugar from Halloween candy? Now that is frightening!

So, how do you let your kids have a great time and enjoy the festivities without sacrificing their health (and their teeth)?

1) Set an example. Choose your own Halloween candy with a bit more care. Opt for mini pretzels, natural fruit roll ups, granola bars or packages of sugar free gum. Even better, avoid candy all together. Who needs another package of M&M’s? Your house will sure to be the most popular if you give out things like, spider rings, mini bubbles or glow sticks this year!

2) Start the dialog early. Talk to your child before the “candy buying” rush starts in the stores. Ask them for ideas for some healthy treat ideas. Talk to them about dividing their candy so they can enjoy smaller amounts of it over a longer period of time.

3) Be firm when necessary. Set rules for Halloween night. Make sure your children know that all candy must be inspected at home before they are allowed to eat it. Knowing up front will help stop any temper tantrums on the 31st!

4) Handling the leftovers. Encourage your kids to make small baggies of the candy they want to keep and to donate the rest.

View Halloween as a great opportunity to educate your children about nutrition and help them make better choices on their own. Halloween is a fun holiday that involves candy, but does not only have to involve candy. A night out, strolling the neighborhood with their friends is a wonderful part of childhood!

Summer Camp List

2009-06-03T16:57:00.002-04:00

Is your child attending one the camps listed below this summer?:

Aiguille Rock Climbing Center
College Park United Methodist Church School
Lake Forrest Prep Star Camp
Maitland Montessori Summer School
The Learning Tree
Winning Ways Sports Management
All Saints of Winter Park
Altamonte American Karate Academy
Crealde School of Art
Dreadhead Full Day Basketball
Dreadhead Full Day P.E.
Dreadhead Full Day Soccer
JCC North
Misty Forest
Orange County Regional History Center
Orlando Museum of Art
PACE Brantley Hall
Spark! Enrichment
Trinity Prep: Academic Credit Camp
Trinity Prep: Creative Camps
Trinity Sports & Aquatics
Tuskawilla Montessori School
Wesley FUMC Orlando

If so, you are in luck - you can leave the lunchmaking to us! We are a convenient choice you can feel good about so go ahead, indulge and take break from packing lunches this summer. We got it :)

Fuel for our kids

2009-01-12T17:18:00.002-05:00

Here is some information that we found surprising regarding the use of fresh fruits and their packaging. It shows that you just cannot trust the marketing labels we see on the outside of the package. Its so vital to read the ingredient lists so you know definitively what your child is really eating.

Over half of the most aggressively advertised children's foods that prominently feature fruit on their packaging contain no fruit at all,according to a study released by the Strategic Alliance for Healthy Food and Activity Environments. The study - Where's the Fruit? reveals that 51percent of these products do not contain fruit, and another 16 percent contain only minimal amounts of fruit despite prominent fruit promotions on the packaging.

"Parents drawn to products that seem healthier for their children based on references to fruit on the packaging are being deceived," explains Leslie Mikkelsen, a registered dietitian with the Strategic Alliance and lead author of the study. "Food and beverage companies are some of the most sophisticated communicators in the world and are clearly capable of accurately reflecting what is in their products if they wanted to."

The Where's the Fruit? study identifies the most heavily advertised children's food products that include words and images of fruit and/or fruit ingredients on the packaging. A total of 37 products were included in the final study, and their ingredient lists were analyzed to determine the presence of fruit ingredients. A full 51% of the products contained no fruit ingredients at all despite the images of fruits and use of words such as "fruity," "fruit flavors" and "berry" on the packaging.

"The nation is facing a staggering epidemic of chronic diseases that result from poor eating and physical inactivity," cautions Dr. Andria Ruth, a pediatrician for the Diabetes Resource Center of Santa Barbara. "Children are particularly affected and these food companies are making parents' job seven harder by using misleading packaging to lead them to think that they are making a healthy choice when they are not."

Students eat more whole grains when it's gradually added to school lunch

2008-11-07T21:19:00.001-05:00

Students eat more whole grains when it's gradually added to school lunch

Elementary school students will eat more whole grains when healthier bread products are gradually introduced into their school lunches, a new University of Minnesota study shows.
Whole grain breads are strongly recommended as part of a healthy diet, but children and pre-teens won't always eat them.

For this study, researchers from the university's department of food science and nutrition monitored how much bread students threw away, and whether that amount increased as the percentage of whole-grain flour in the bread and rolls was gradually increased. The study included meals fed to kindergartners through sixth-graders at two Hopkins, Minn., elementary schools over the course of a school year. Red and white whole-grain flour was added incrementally to products, but students showed no strong preference for either type of flour. Students didn't throw away more bread products until the percentage of whole-grain flour in the bread and rolls reached about 70 percent.

The research is important because it shows that a gradual approach to improving children's overall diets can be successful both for parents and school food-service workers, said Len Marquart, one of the study's authors and an associate professor at the university.

Source: University of Minnesota

10 Things the Food Industry Doesn't Want you to Know

2008-10-21T11:32:00.000-04:00

10 Things the Food Industry Doesn't Want You to Know

By Adam Voiland Adam Voiland

Two nutrition experts argue that you can't take marketing campaigns at face value

With America's obesity problem among kids reaching crisis proportions, even junk food makers have started to claim they want to steer children toward more healthful choices. In a study released earlier this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that about 32 percent of children were overweight but not obese, 16 percent were obese, and 11 percent were extremely obese. Food giant PepsiCo, for example, points out on its website that "we can play an important role in helping kids lead healthier lives by offering healthy product choices in schools." The company highlights what it considers its healthier products within various food categories through a "Smart Spot" marketing campaign that features green symbols on packaging. PepsiCo's inclusive criteria--explained here--award spots to foods of dubious nutritional value such as Diet Pepsi, Cap'n Crunch cereal, reduced-fat Doritos, and Cheetos, as well as to more nutritious products such as Quaker Oatmeal and Tropicana Orange Juice.

But are wellness initiatives like Smart Spot just marketing ploys? Such moves by the food industry may seem to be a step in the right direction, but ultimately makers of popular junk foods have an obligation to stockholders to encourage kids to eat more--not less--of the foods that fuel their profits, says David Ludwig, a pediatrician and the co-author of a commentary published in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association that raises questions about whether big food companies can be trusted to help combat obesity. Ludwig and article co-author Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition at New York University, both of whom have long histories of tracking the food industry, spoke with U.S. News and highlighted 10 things that junk food makers don't want you to know about their products and how they promote them.

1. Junk food makers spend billions advertising unhealthy foods to kids.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, food makers spend some $1.6 billion annually to reach children through the traditional media as well the Internet, in-store advertising, and sweepstakes. An article published in 2006 in the Journal of Public Health Policy puts the number as high as $10 billion annually. Promotions often use cartoon characters or free giveaways to entice kids into the junk food fold. PepsiCo has pledged that it will advertise only "Smart Spot" products to children under 12.

2. The studies that food producers support tend to minimize health concerns associated with their products.
In fact, according to a review led by Ludwig of hundreds of studies that looked at the health effects of milk, juice, and soda, the likelihood of conclusions favorable to the industry was several times higher among industry-sponsored research than studies that received no industry funding. "If a study is funded by the industry, it may be closer to advertising than science," he says.

3. Junk food makers donate large sums of money to professional nutrition associations.
The American Dietetic Association, for example, accepts money from companies such as Coca-Cola, which get access to decision makers in the food and nutrition marketplace via ADA events and programs, as this release explains. As Nestle notes in her blog and discusses at length in her book Food Politics, the group even distributes nutritional fact sheets that are directly sponsored by specific industry groups. This one, for example, which is sponsored by an industry group that promotes lamb, rather unsurprisingly touts the nutritional benefits of lamb. The ADA's reasoning: "These collaborations take place with the understanding that ADA does not support any program or message that does not correspond with ADA's science-based healthful-eating messages and positions," according to the group's president, dietitian Martin Yadrick. "In fact, we think it's important for us to be at the same table with food companies because of the positive influence that we can have on them."

4. More processing means more profits, but typically makes the food less healthy.
Minimally processed foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables obviously aren't where food companies look for profits. The big bucks stem from turning government-subsidized commodity crops--mainly corn, wheat, and soybeans--into fast foods, snack foods, and beverages. High-profit products derived from these commodity crops are generally high in calories and low in nutritional value.

5. Less-processed foods are generally more satiating than their highly processed counterparts.
Fresh apples have an abundance of fiber and nutrients that are lost when they are processed into applesauce. And the added sugar or other sweeteners increase the number of calories without necessarily making the applesauce any more filling. Apple juice, which is even more processed, has had almost all of the fiber and nutrients stripped out. This same stripping out of nutrients, says Ludwig, happens with highly refined white bread compared with stone-ground whole wheat bread.

6. Many supposedly healthy replacement foods are hardly healthier than the foods they replace.
In 2006, for example, major beverage makers agreed to remove sugary sodas from school vending machines. But the industry mounted an intense lobbying effort that persuaded lawmakers to allow sports drinks and vitamin waters that--despite their slightly healthier reputations--still can be packed with sugar and calories.

7. A health claim on the label doesn't necessarily make a food healthy.
Health claims such as "zero trans fats" or "contains whole wheat" may create the false impression that a product is healthy when it's not. While the claims may be true, a product is not going to benefit your kid's health if it's also loaded with salt and sugar or saturated fat, say, and lacks fiber or other nutrients. "These claims are calorie distracters," adds Nestle. "They make people forget about the calories." Dave DeCecco, a spokesperson for PepsiCo, counters that the intent of a labeling program such as Smart Spot is simply to help consumers pick a healthier choice within a category. "We're not trying to tell people that a bag of Doritos is healthier than asparagus. But, if you're buying chips, and you're busy, and you don't have a lot of time to read every part of the label, it's an easy way to make a smarter choice," he says.

8. Food industry pressure has made nutritional guidelines confusing.
As Nestle explained in Food Politics, the food industry has a history of preferring scientific jargon to straight talk. As far back as 1977, public health officials attempted to include the advice "reduce consumption of meat" in an important report called Dietary Goals for the United States. The report's authors capitulated to intense pushback from the cattle industry and used this less-direct and more ambiguous advice: "Choose meats, poultry, and fish which will reduce saturated fat intake." Overall, says Nestle, the government has a hard time suggesting that people eat less of anything.

9. The food industry funds front groups that fight antiobesity public health initiatives.
Unless you follow politics closely, you wouldn't necessarily realize that a group with a name like the Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) has anything to do with the food industry. In fact,Ludwig and Nestle point out, this group lobbies aggressively against obesity-related public health campaigns--such as the one directed at removing junk food from schools--and is funded, according to the Center for Media and Democracy, primarily through donations from big food companies such as Coca-Cola, Cargill, Tyson Foods, and Wendy's.

10. The food industry works aggressively to discredit its critics.
According to the new JAMA article, the Center for Consumer Freedom boasts that "[our strategy] is to shoot the messenger. We've got to attack [activists'] credibility as spokespersons." Here's the group's entry on Marion Nestle.

The bottom line, says Nestle, is quite simple: Kids need to eat less, include more fruits and vegetables, and limit the junk food.

6 Food Mistakes Parents Make

2008-09-16T14:46:00.001-04:00

Great article today from the NY Times- I found it very useful myself and will try some of these new tips!
Samantha

September 15, 2008

6 Food Mistakes Parents Make

By TARA PARKER-POPE

HARRIET WOROBEY, a childhood nutrition instructor, knows firsthand that children can be picky eaters, but even she was surprised by a preschooler last year who ate a mostly chocolate diet.

“Chocolate milk, chocolate chip muffins, chocolate chip pancakes — it was unbelievable,” said Ms. Worobey, director of the Rutgers University Nutritional Sciences Preschool in New Brunswick, N.J. “His mother just thought, ‘That’s what he wants, so that’s what I’m going to do.’ ”

While most parents haven’t resorted to the chocolate diet, they can relate to the daily challenge of finding foods that children will eat. Although obesity dominates the national discussion on childhood health, many parents are also worried that their child’s preferred diet of nuggets and noodles could lead to a nutritional deficit.

Fussiness about food is a normal part of a child’s development. Young children are naturally neophobic — they have a distrust of the new. Even the most determined parents can be cowed by a child’s resolve to eat nothing rather than try something new. As a result, parents often give in, deciding that a bowl of Cocoa Puffs or a Pop-Tart, while not ideal, must be better than no food at all.
“I think parents feel like it’s their job to just make their children eat something,” Ms. Worobey said. “But it’s really their job to serve a variety of healthy foods and get their children exposed to foods.”

A series of simple meal-time strategies can help even the pickiest eater learn to like a more varied diet. Here’s a look at six common mistakes parents make when feeding their children.

Sending children out of the kitchen With hot stoves, boiling water and sharp knives at hand, it is understandable that parents don’t want children in the kitchen when they’re making dinner. But studies suggest that involving children in meal preparation is an important first step in getting them to try new foods.
Researchers at Teachers College at Columbia University studied how cooking with a child affects the child’s eating habits. In one study, nearly 600 children from kindergarten to sixth grade took part in a nutrition curriculum intended to get them to eat more vegetables and whole grains. Some children, in addition to having lessons about healthful eating, took part in cooking workshops. The researchers found that children who had cooked their own foods were more likely to eat those foods in the cafeteria, and even ask for seconds, than children who had not had the cooking class.

When children are involved in meal preparation, “they come to at least try the food,” said Isobel Contento, professor of nutrition education at Teachers College and a co-author of the study. “Kids don’t usually like radishes, but we found that if kids cut up radishes and put them in the salad, they love the radishes.”
Pressuring them to take a bite Demanding that a child eat at least one bite of everything seems reasonable, but it’s likely to backfire.

Studies show that children react negatively when parents pressure them to eat foods, even if the pressure offers a reward. In one study at Pennsylvania State University, researchers asked children to eat vegetables and drink milk, offering them stickers and television time if they did. Later in the study, the children expressed dislike for the foods they had been rewarded for eating.

“Parents say things like ‘eat your vegetables and you can watch TV,’ but we know that kind of thing doesn’t work either,” said Leann L. Birch, director of Penn State’s childhood obesity research center and a co-author of the study. “In the short run, you might be able to coerce a child to eat, but in the long run, they will be less likely to eat those foods.”

The better approach is to put the food on the table and encourage a child to try it. But don’t complain if she refuses, and don’t offer praise if she tastes it. Just ask her if she wants some more or take seconds yourself, but try to stay neutral.
Keeping ‘good stuff’ out of reach Parents worry that children will binge on treats, so they often put them out of sight or on a high shelf. But a large body of research shows that if a parent restricts a food, children just want it more.
In another Penn State study, researchers experimented to determine whether forbidden foods were more desirable. Children were seated at tables and given unlimited access to plates of apple or peach cookie bars — two foods the youngsters had rated as “just O.K.” in earlier taste tests. With another group, some bars were served on plates, while some were placed in a clear cookie jar in the middle of the table. The children were told that after 10 minutes, they could snack on cookies from the jar.

The researchers found that restricting the cookies had a profound effect: consumption more than tripled compared with when the cookies were served on plates.

Other studies show that children whose food is highly restricted at home are far more likely to binge when they have access to forbidden foods.

The lesson for parents? Don’t bring foods that you feel the need to restrict into the house. Instead, buy healthful snacks and give children free access to the food cabinets.

Dieting in front of your children Kids are tuned into their parents’ eating preferences and are far more likely to try foods if they see their mother or father eating them. A Rutgers study of parent and child food preferences found that preschoolers tended to like or reject the same fruits and vegetables their parents liked or didn’t like. And other research has shown girls are more likely to be picky eaters if their mothers don’t like vegetables.

Given this powerful effect, parents who are trying to lose weight should be aware of how their dieting habits can influence a child’s perceptions about food and healthful eating. In one study of 5-year-old girls, one child noted that dieting involved drinking chocolate milkshakes — her mother was using Slim-Fast drinks. Another child said dieting meant “you fix food but you don’t eat it.”
A 2005 report in the journal Health Psychology found that mothers who were preoccupied with their weight and eating were more likely to restrict foods for their daughters or encourage them to lose weight. Daughters of dieters were also more likely to try diets as well. The problem is, restrictive diets don’t work for most people and often lead to binge eating and weight gain. By exposing young children to erratic dieting habits, parents may be putting them at risk for eating disorders or a lifetime of chronic dieting. “Most mothers don’t think their kids are soaking up this information, but they are,” Dr. Birch said. “They’re teaching it to their daughters even though it doesn’t work for them.”

Serving boring vegetables Calorie-counting parents often serve plain steamed vegetables, so it’s no wonder children are reluctant to eat them. Nutritionists say parents shouldn’t be afraid to dress up the vegetables. Adding a little butter, ranch dressing, cheese sauce or brown sugar to a vegetable dish can significantly improve its kid appeal. And adding a little fat to vegetables helps unlock their fat-soluble nutrients. The few extra calories you’re adding are a worthwhile tradeoff for the nutritional boost and the chance to introduce a child to a vegetable.

Giving up too soon Ms. Worobey said she has often heard parents say, “My kid would never eat that.” While it may be true right now, she noted that eating preferences often change. So parents should keep preparing a variety of healthful foods and putting them on the table, even if a child refuses to take a bite. In young children, it may take 10 or more attempts over several months to introduce a food.

Sibling dynamics and friendships can also change a child’s eating habits. Dr. Birch of Penn State noted that her first child was always willing to try new foods, but that her second child was not. “Part of it was just him defining his place in the family,” she said. By the age of 10 or 11, he didn’t want to be outdone by his sister and was far more willing to try new foods.

Susan B. Roberts, a Tufts University nutritionist and co-author of the book “Feeding Your Child for Lifelong Health,” suggested a “rule of 15” — putting a food on the table at least 15 times to see if a child will accept it. Once a food is accepted, parents should use “food bridges,” finding similarly colored or flavored foods to expand the variety of foods a child will eat. If a child likes pumpkin pie, for instance, try mashed sweet potatoes and then mashed carrots. If a child loves corn, try mixing in a few peas or carrots. Even if a child picks them out, the exposure to the new food is what counts.

“As parents, you’re going to make decisions as to what you want to serve,” Ms. Worobey said. “But then you just have to relax and realize children are different from day to day.”

Inspire Healthier Choices by Exposing Kids to Fruits & Veggies!

2008-08-25T01:03:00.004-04:00

One of the many reasons Wholesome Tummies packs our kids menu with tons of good-for-you foods!

As reported in the Capital Times...
Study: Students' exposure to produce inspires healthier choices
Doug Shore — 8/18/2008 6:34 pm

As child obesity continues to be a major health concern nationwide, results from a new study indicate children may be influenced to eat better simply through exposure to healthier foods.

The study, which was published in the most recent Wisconsin Medical Journal, involved data from two groups of Wisconsin fourth-, seventh- and ninth-grade students. One group, consisting of 784 students, received fruit and vegetable snacks in school as part of a USDA program. The other 343 students in the study were not being given fruit or vegetable snacks at school.

After the first three months of the USDA program, students in both groups were asked about their willingness to try new fruits or vegetables at school. Researchers found the 784 students receiving snacks as part of the USDA program were twice as likely to try a new fruit at school compared to the children not taking part in the program.

"The basic conclusion is that after only three months, the students in the USDA program were more willing to try fruit and vegetables at school," said Eric Jamelske, associate professor of economics at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and one of the lead authors of the study.
After looking at the data, Jamelske also hypothesized that the USDA snack program had more of a positive effect on the fourth-graders.

"The data seems to indicate that the sooner kids are introduced to fruit and vegetables, the more likely they are to choose them as snacks instead of candy and soda," Jamelske said.
Jamelske and Lori Bica, an associate professor of psychology at UW-Eau Claire, will continue to conduct research on the program and the eating habits of children. They hope to produce more specific data regarding exactly which fruits and vegetables kids are willing to eat.

"We're a little too dependent on the schools for data," said Jamelske.

Sherman Middle School in Madison took part in Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP) last year. Principal Michael Hernandez said the program was an unqualified success, and almost all of the kids were excited to get the fruit or vegetable snacks.

"About 95 percent of the students looked forward to the snacks," said Hernandez. "Kids, teachers and parents all thought it was a great idea."

Blueberries and kiwis were two of the most popular items at Sherman. He said the program did well in exposing kids to healthy foods they normally do not eat.

"Most students had not tried kiwis before, but they were a big hit," Hernandez said. "And I am always seeing kids eating blueberry-flavored candy, so it was nice to be able to offer kids real blueberries, which they loved."

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) created the FFVP in 2002 to help improve nutrition and help children avoid becoming overweight or obese. The program provides funding for students from selected schools to receive free fresh fruit or vegetable snacks for an academic year.

According to Jamelske, Wisconsin was one of 14 states to receive funding for the snack program last year, but thanks to changes in the most recent farm bill all 50 states will now participate in the FFVP. However, legislation will limit the program to 25 elementary schools in each state.
Although Sherman Middle School will not receive the FFVP grant for the upcoming school year, Hernandez believes the program should be expanded.

"This program is what schools should be doing," said Hernandez. "It's much better than having candy and soda machines in the lunchroom."

WE ARE LIVE and OPEN for Orders!!

2008-08-11T17:21:00.001-04:00

www.wholesometummies.com is up and running.

Browse and Order!!

Sneak Peek at Week #1

2008-08-07T09:24:00.004-04:00

Well we are putting the finishing touches on the website, the first months menu is all completed and we are ironing our uniforms and cleaning out the delivery vehicles! Wholesome Tummies is ready for launch!

While our site does not officially go live until Monday, August 11th for ordering I wanted to send this little sneak peek at week one.
We have two neat features on our site and with our menus. One is highlighted in yellow, this is called Easy Order. The Easy Order feature is for really time starved moms that just want to get in and get it done! You simply click easy order for each day and you will get the combo that is highlighted in yellow.
Fast and Easy!
Otherwise, you can go in and choose items individually for a more customized experience.

The second is what we call Kid Favorites. Each week you will see one item that is repeated each day. This item is what we believe is more kid "comfort food". Favorites that even the pickiest eater will love. We change those out every week so keep an eye out for new kid favorites added each Monday.

Here is our first week's menu- don't forget to log on to www.wholesometummies.com on Monday to register and start ordering!

Full Steam Ahead!!

2008-08-01T18:02:00.002-04:00

The Wholesome Tummies website is just about completed. We have the graphics done and all the inner workings and now we are finishing up some copy and we hope to go live in about a week! Cross your fingers for us.

We are gearing up for opening day, August 18 and can use your help spreading the word. Right now we are active with International Community School, Parke House Academy, Maitland Montessori, United Methodist Church of College Park and Lake Forrest Prep. We will be adding more schools during the fall months as well.

Our first month menu will be finished this weekend and will post a sneak peak on our blog, Monday so keep a look out for that.

If you have questions about how to order, how it works or anything at all please email us at info@wholesometummies.com

Looking forward to a great year!

Sam and Debbie

How America's Children Packed on the Pounds

2008-06-17T21:12:00.002-04:00

From Time Magazine- June 12, 2008

Fantastic (but yes lengthy article on the state of food in our country and for our children)

32% of American Children are overweight- We can turn this around!- SG

________________________________

Americans disagree about a lot of things, but we rarely quarrel when it comes to our food. For a nation built on grand democratic virtues, there is still nothing that defines us quite like our love of chow time.

We have plenty of reasons to fetishize our food — not the least being that we've always had so much of it. Settlers fleeing the privations of the Old World landed in the new one and found themselves on a fat, juicy center cut of continent, big enough to baste its coasts in two different oceans. The prairies ran so dark with buffalo, you could practically net them like cod; the waters swam so thick with cod, you could bag them like slow-moving buffalo. The soil was the kind of rich stuff in which you could bury a brick and grow a house, and the pioneers grew plenty — fruits and vegetables and grains and gourds and legumes and tubers, in a variety and abundance they'd never seen before.

With all that, was it any wonder that when we had a chance to establish our first national holiday, it was Thanksgiving — a feast that doesn't merely accompany a celebration but in effect is the celebration? Is it any wonder that what might be our most evocative patriotic song is America the Beautiful, in which an ideal like brotherhood doesn't even get mentioned until the second-to-last line, well after rhapsodic references to waves of grain and fruited plains? "We've defined an American version of what it means to succeed," says neuroscientist Randy Seeley, associate director of the Obesity Research Center at the University of Cincinnati Medical School. "And a big part of that is access to an environment in which there is a lot of food to be consumed."

The problem is, all those calories come at a price. Humans, like most animals, are hardwired not just to eat but to gorge, since living in the wild means never knowing when the next famine is going to strike. Best to load up on calories when you can — even if that famine never comes. "We're not only programmed to eat a lot," says Sharman Apt Russell, author of Hunger: An Unnatural History, "but to prefer foods that are high in calories." What's more, the better we got at producing food, the easier it became. If you're a settler, you eat a lot of buffalo in part because you need a lot of buffalo — at least after burning so many calories hunting and killing it. But what happens when eating requires no sweat equity at all, when the grocery store is always nearby and always full?

What happens is, you get fat, and that's precisely what we've done. In 1900 the average weight of a college-age male in the U.S. was 133 lb. (60 kg); the average woman was 122 lb. (55 kg). By 2000, men had plumped up to 166 lb. (75 kg) and women to 144 lb. (65 kg). And while the small increase in average height for men (women have remained the same) accounts for a bit of that, our eating habits are clearly responsible for most. Over the past 20 years in particular, we've stuffed ourselves like pâté geese. In 1985 there were only eight states in which more than 10% of the adult population was obese — though the data collection then was admittedly spottier than it is now. By 2006, there were no states left in which the obesity rates were that low, and in 23 states, the number exceeded 25%. Even those figures don't tell the whole story, since they include only full-blown obesity. Overall, about two-thirds of all Americans weigh more than they should.

"Sit down on a bench in a park with a person on either side of you," says Penelope Slade-Royall, director of the U.S. Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. "If you're not overweight, statistically speaking, both of the other people sitting with you are."

If there was any firewall against the fattening of American adults, it was American kids. The quick metabolism and prodigious growth spurts of childhood make it a challenge just to keep up with all the calories you need, never mind exceed them. But even the most active kids could not hold out forever against the storm of food coming at them every day. In 1971 only 4% of 6-to-11-year-old kids were obese; by 2004, the figure had leaped to 18.8%. In the same period, the number rose from 6.1% to 17.4% in the 12-to-19-year-old group, and from 5% to 13.9% among kids ages just 2 to 5. And as with adults, that's just obesity. Include all overweight kids, and a whopping 32% of all American children now carry more pounds than they should. "There's no way to overestimate how scary numbers like this are," says Seeley.

Obese boys and girls are already starting to develop the illnesses of excess associated with people in their 40s and beyond: heart disease, liver disease, diabetes, gallstones, joint breakdown and even brain damage as fluid accumulation inside the skull leads to headaches, vision problems and possibly lower IQs. A staggering 90% of overweight kids already have at least one avoidable risk factor for heart disease, such as high cholesterol or hypertension. Type 2 diabetes is now being diagnosed in teens as young as 15. Health experts warn that the current generation of children may be the first in American history to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents'. "The more overweight you are, the worse all of these things will be for you," says acting U.S. Surgeon General Steven Galson. And, warns Seeley, the worse they are likely to stay: "When you're talking about morbidly obese kids, zero percent will grow up to be normal-weight adults."

It's hardly a secret how American children have come to this sickly pass. In the era of the 64-oz. soda, the 1,200-calorie burger and the 700-calorie Frappuccino, food companies now produce enough each day for every American to consume a belt-popping 3,800 calories per day, never mind that even an adult needs only 2,350 to survive. Not only are adults and kids alike consuming far more calories than they can possibly use, but they're also doing less and less with them. The transformation of American homes into high-def, Web-enabled, TiVo-equipped entertainment centers means that children who come home after a largely sedentary day at a school desk spend an average of three more sedentary hours in front of some kind of screen. Schools have contributed, with shrinking budgets causing more and more of them to slash physical-education programs. In 1991, only 42% of high school students participated in daily phys ed — already a troublingly low figure. Today that number is 25% or less.

Washington, too, is dropping the ball. Seven years ago, Congress allocated $125 million for a smart new health campaign dubbed Verb, aimed at getting preteen kids to become more active. Boldface names such as teen star Miley Cyrus and quarterback Donovan McNabb headlined public-service ads, and volunteers set up booths at public events. In the program's first year, up to 80% of kids polled were aware of the Verb message, and communities began sponsoring their own Verb-based activities. But that success could not survive congressional budget cuts, and the program's funding was steadily slashed. By 2007, funds were shut off altogether, and Verb was past tense.

The government insists that the decision was a fiscally prudent one and that local and state programs, like the widely publicized fitness initiatives launched by California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger or the less publicized INShape program begun in 2005 by Indiana governor Mitch Daniels, are a more efficient way to get the message out. "Obesity is not the kind of problem that is going to respond to just the flow of federal funds," says Galson. The fact is, however, that in the case of Verb, responding was precisely what it was doing — even if only a little.

In all of this, there are flickers of hope. In May, epidemiologists were thrilled when the Journal of the American Medical Association published a study of 8,165 children, which showed that for the first time in decades, the increase in U.S. childhood obesity had leveled off. It's not certain if the plateau is a sign that public-awareness programs and improved menus in many school cafeterias are producing results or merely that some kind of saturation point has been reached, with most kids genetically susceptible to gaining too much weight having done so. "Whether this is meaningful data, we don't know yet," says Seeley. "But anyone who wants to stick a flag in this and declare victory is just crazy."

Clearly, nobody is going that far. Victory may indeed come, but it will be only after a long, multifront war, one that, as the following stories in this TIME special section show, is at last being joined. Parents are fighting it in the home as they learn how to make healthier meals available to their families, set better examples with their own food choices and manage the critical issues of self-esteem that can be so disabling for overweight kids. Policymakers are fighting it as they study the growing body of research showing how everything from income to race to education plays a role in how much kids weigh and as they craft local solutions to solve these local problems. Doctors are fighting it as they deal daily with the ills associated with childhood obesity and work to repair the damage that's been done. And perhaps most important, teachers, mentors and public role models are fighting it as they help kids navigate a culture that fosters fat but idealizes thin and as they teach them that what truly counts is getting themselves as fit as their body type and genes allow — and then loving that body no matter what.

Do all these things — and do them right — and the national obesity epidemic just might be brought under control before some kids struggling with their weight today even reach middle age. "If we got this way over the last 30 years," says Galson, "it's not going to take us centuries to get back. We could reverse things at the same speed or even faster." Americans will continue to love good food; the trick will be to learn to love good health even more.

New School Sign Ups!

2008-05-16T21:19:00.002-04:00

We are proud to announce today that we are ready to roll in our first three schools August 08!

College Park United Methodist School, Maitland Montesorri and Parke House Academy are all officially partner schools with Wholesome Tummies.

This is very exciting for us, but even more exciting for the kids and parents at those schools. If you know of someone attending any of those schools please let us know so we can get them the info they need to get started with us.

Welcome aboard!

What a big difference small changes can make

2008-04-25T22:39:00.000-04:00

Schools that cut fat and sugar saw dramatic results

TRALEE PEARCE
Globe and Mail

April 22, 2008 at 9:06 AM EDT

Schools that get rid of high-fat snacks and soda may see quick results in the battle to prevent children from becoming overweight, new research shows.

A Temple University study, published in the current issue of the journal Pediatrics, found that schools that overhauled their nutrition policies saw a 50-per-cent reduction in new cases of overweight children in two years.

The growing rates of overweight and obese children have driven researchers to get outside of the health clinic and into the schools to study solutions, the study's lead researcher, Gary Foster, said in a statement. "We focused on school because children spend most of their lives there and eat at least one if not two meals there."

The study was conducted with 1,349 students in Philadelphia over a two-year period, looking at the results of 10 elementary schools that had adopted a revamped nutrition policy and five comparison schools. Under the revised policy, developed by the Food Trust, a non-profit organization, soda was replaced with water, fruit juice and low-fat milk; snacks were capped at 7 grams of total fat and 2 grams of saturated fat; and candy was eliminated.

Additionally, students received 50 hours of nutrition education a year and were rewarded with raffle tickets for prizes such as jump ropes and bicycles. The program also involved parent education.

Only 7.5 per cent of the students became overweight in the schools that transformed their nutrition policies - compared with 15 per cent in the control group. The number of new and existing obese students was constant at both sets of schools, suggesting different measures might be more successful for obese children.

While the changes were able to reduce the incidence of new cases of overweight in the students, Dr. Foster, director of the Center for Obesity Research and Education at Temple University in Philadelphia, says more needs to be done, such as intensifying physical education in schools and even trying to convince nearby corner stores to stock healthy and single-serving snacks.

Canadian observers say the findings support efforts being made here to encourage healthy eating in schools.

Last week, the Ontario government announced legislation banning trans fats in schools. Education Minister Kathleen Wynne said Dr. Foster's study is very encouraging to proponents of those efforts. It builds on a policy banning junk food in elementary vending machines - she says 97 per cent of the province's schools have complied - and increasing daily physical activity.

"This kind of research strengthens what we're trying to do here," Ms. Wynne said. "And it supports what we've already done."

Not that it's a hard sell to parents or educators. "This is something school communities want to do," she said. "It isn't a push for them."

While the Philadelphia study shows a nutrition makeover can work, physical activity should also be a high priority for elementary schools, said Marla Gold, director of McGill University's Cardiovascular Health Improvement Program in Montreal, which runs a summer program for teens to improve their eating and physical activity habits.

Physical activity should be more than the typical hour a week, and it shouldn't focus solely on sports, she added.

"They need to be lifelong activities in addition to sports and fitness," she said.

And, as the study found, parental involvement is crucial, she said. Often kids who are overweight also have inactive and overweight parents. Psychological support and group therapy are also important.

Sacrifices being made for school lunches

2008-04-16T22:29:00.001-04:00

I think this is a travesty that schools are having to make cut backs like this at the expense of our children's health.

Schools Get A Lesson in Lunch Line EconomicsFood Costs Unravel Nutrition Initiatives

By Maria Glod

Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, April 14, 2008; Page A01 New York students will have to settle for pizza without tasty turkey pepperoni topping. In Montgomery County schools, tomato slices were pulled for a few weeks from cafeteria salads in favor of less-expensive carrots or celery. And in Davie County, N.C., Yoo-hoo drinks, which had been taken off the shelf in favor of healthier options, are back. Sure, officials would rather the kids chugged milk. But each Yoo-hoo sale brings in 36 cents of profit. Sharp rises in the cost of milk, grain and fresh fruits and vegetables are hitting cafeterias across the country, forcing cash-strapped schools to raise prices or pinch pennies by serving more economical dishes. Some school officials on a mission to help fight childhood obesity say it’s becoming harder to fill students’ plates with healthy, low-fat foods. Several Washington area school systems — including those in Prince George’s, Fairfax and Prince William counties and Alexandria — are proposing to increase lunch prices next school year. For Prince George’s schools, it would be the first increase in a decade. For Montgomery schools, this year’s dairy bill is expected to be about $600,000 more than last year. Officials expect to decide in June whether to seek an increase in meal prices. Becky Domokos-Bays, director of food and nutrition for Alexandria schools, said schools need to raise prices to cover rising food and labor costs but worries that even small increases will strain middle-class families who don’t qualify for a price break. The School Board approved a 10-cent increase for students who pay full price, raising the lunch price in elementary school to $2.15 and in middle and high schools to $2.45. “There’s a tipping point somewhere, and I think we’re there,” Domokos-Bays said. “I don’t know how much more families can afford to pay.” School meal programs across the country are run somewhat like restaurants, relying on federal and state subsidies and profits from meal and snack sales and catering services to buy food and pay workers. Rising labor costs, coupled with the recent push for healthier meals, which has meant serving higher-priced foods such as whole grain breads and fresh vegetables, has squeezed budgets. Soaring food prices make it even harder to break even. Miami-Dade County schools are on track to pay $4.5 million more for milk this year than last year, about a 47 percent increase. Penny Parham, administrative director of the schools’ department of food and nutrition, came to Washington last month to urge federal lawmakers to raise subsidies. “We do not want to serve our students highly refined sugar and flour products, which are more affordable,” Parham told the House Education and Labor Committee, “but we are continually being pushed down this path.” Each year Uncle Sam, in an effort to ensure the neediest children get healthy meals, gives schools a little more cash to help feed students. But school officials nationwide say the federal share hasn’t kept pace with rising costs. This year, the U.S. Agriculture Department is giving schools $2.47 per lunch to serve free meals to children from the poorest families, up from $2.40 last year, a 3 percent increase. In the same time, milk prices rose about 17 percent and bread nearly 12 percent. The federal government provides $2.07 per meal for students eligible for a reduced-price lunch and 23 cents a meal for students who pay full price. Schools also receive some foods, including meat, cheese and canned goods, purchased by the federal government.

Why It's So Important to Always Read a Food Product's Label...

2008-04-11T11:49:00.005-04:00

This is a great article. Don't you find it shocking that there is no formal, regulated definition for the term "Natural" on food labels in this country?

That means things like High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) can be an ingredient in an "All Natural" product even when HFCS is anything but natural and an FDA representative agrees that HFCS is not natural (See article below).

Confusing? Misleading? You bet it is!

Remember to always read a product's label before you buy....and stay away from unnatural, synthetic products like HFCS, especially for your children!

HFCS is not 'natural', says FDA
By Lorraine Heller

Here's the link:
http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/news/ng.asp?n=84404-fcs-natural

Here's the text:
02-Apr-2008 - Products containing high fructose corn syrup cannot be considered 'natural' and should not be labeled as such, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has said.
The decision is likely to cause a massive stir in the food and beverage industry, where a discreet battle has been raging over the status of the controversial sweetener.High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is derived from corn, and used primarily to sweeten beverages. The trade group Corn Refiners Association and numerous industry members have long maintained that HFCS is a natural sweetener.

However, the sugar industry is more critical, as HFCS comes into direct competition with sugar as a sweetener. Industry group Sugar Association, as well as consumer groups such as the Center for Science in the Public Interest categorically maintain that HFCS cannot be considered natural because its chemical bonds are broken and rearranged in the manufacturing process. The debate raged on for one simple reason: FDA does not define the term 'natural', and it has therefore been left open to different interpretations.However, in response to an inquiry from FoodNavigator-USA.com, the regulatory agency examined the composition of HFCS, which it said is produced using synthetic fixing agents."Consequently, we would object to the use of the term 'natural' on a product containing HFCS," the agency's Geraldine June said in an e-mail to FoodNavigator-USA.com. June is Supervisor of the Product Evaluation and Labeling team at FDA's Office of Nutrition, Labeling and Dietary Supplements.

FDA on 'natural'FDA has received two petitions to define the term 'natural' - one from the Sugar Association, and one from bakery firm Sara Lee. Although the agency had not provided a formal response to these petitions, it told this publication that it has no plans to define the term in the near future, due to limited resources. "We're not sure how high of an issue it is for consumers," it said.Nevertheless, FDA does have a longstanding policy regarding the use of the term. This states that a 'natural' product is one that has not had any artificial or synthetic substances added to the product that would not normally be expected to be in the food - including artificial flavors or color additives, regardless of source. FDA also does not currently restrict the use of the term 'natural' except on products that contain added color, synthetic substances and flavors as provided for in Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), section 101.22. FDA on HFCS Although FDA provides no definition or detailed guidelines for the use of the term 'natural', it said it has a system in place for manufacturers with doubts to approach it and ask for guidance on the use of particular ingredients.

Under this system, FoodNavigator-USA.com submitted an inquiry about HFCS.FDA responded that HFCS is prepared from a high dextrose equivalent corn starch hydrolysate by partial enzymatic conversion of glucose (dextrose) to fructose using an insoluble glucose isomerase enzyme preparation. The glucose isomerase enzyme preparation is fixed (rendered insoluble) using safe and suitable immobilization/fixing agents, it said."The use of synthetic fixing agents in the enzyme preparation, which is then used to produce HFCS, would not be consistent with our (…) policy regarding the use of the term 'natural'," said Geraldine June."Moreover, the corn starch hydrolysate, which is the substrate used in the production of HFCS, may be obtained through the use of safe and suitable acids or enzymes. Depending on the type of acid(s) used to obtain the corn starch hydrolysate, this substrate itself may not fit within the description of 'natural' and, therefore, HCFS produced from such corn starch hydrolysate would not qualify for a 'natural' labeling term," she concluded.

HFCS and industryAlthough FDA's conclusion may not be welcome by some industry members, who would have liked to have promoted their HFCS-containing products as 'natural', it will at least prevent any future misinterpretations.Last year for example, both Cadbury Schweppes and Kraft faced lawsuits after making 'natural' label claims on beverages that contained high fructose corn syrup. Both companies changed the labeling of their products before any legal action was taken. The market for 'natural'The quest for natural foods and beverages has burgeoned on the back of an overall consumer move towards healthier nutrition.According to Mintel's Global New Products Database, 'All Natural' was the third most frequent claim made on food products launched in the US in 2007, appearing on 2,617 products. It ranked fourth most popular claim for beverages, used on 542 items.In Europe, 878 'All Natural' food products and 509 beverage products were launched last year.Additionally, the Natural Marketing Institute reported in 2004 that 63 percent of US consumers have a preference for natural foods and beverages. In 2006, a Harris Interactive survey found that 83 percent of people wanted a government definition of the term.If you would like to comment on this article, please contact lorraine.heller'at'decisionnews.com.

MORE NEWS ARTICLES ON THIS SUBJECT
How natural is 'natural'?
7UP changes label to avoid misleading 'natural' claims
Natural, organic market set to soar
'Natural' will remain undefined, says FDA
Kraft faces lawsuit over 'all natural' drink claim
7UP makeover targets natural soft drinks trend

Banning junk food in lunches - in Qatar?

2008-03-29T08:06:00.001-04:00

Look what is going on in the middle east! This is fantastic!

Ban fast food in schools, says WHO expert

DOHA • A visiting expert from the World Health Organisation (WHO) has called for a blanket ban on fast food in school campuses to save the younger generations all over the world from the danger of obesity and diabetes.

A Samad Shera, (pictured) honorary president of the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), and director of WHO Collaborating Center for Treatment, Education and Research in Diabetes and Diabetes Pregnancies in Pakistan is in Doha attending the regional workshop on diabetes being hosted by the Qatar Diabetes Association (QDA).

Talking to The Peninsula yesterday on the sidelines of the workshop, Shera said, the IDF has been urging governments all over the world to issue directives to control fast food and junk food in schools but the call had fallen on deaf ears so far.

"Obesity is the major risk factor leading to diabetes and the modern fast food culture is an important factor behind the increasing number of overweight children and adults all over the world. Unfortunately, governments and policy makers do not take the issue with the seriousness it deserves," said Shera.

He hinted that the influence of powerful business groups controlling the fast food industry all over the world could be a factor that prevents governments from acting.

He said, the IDF itself had failed to issue a resolution calling for a ban on fast food in schools all over the world due to opposition from a member organisation representing a powerful country. Diabetes associations from 162 countries are members of

the IDF.

The Doha workshop is being organised by QDA in partnership with IDF- EMME (Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East Region), which has diabetes associations from 16 countries in the region as members. The three-day workshop will put guidelines for setting national diabetes programmes in the respective countries.

By 2025, Shera said, the number of diabetes patients in Asia is expected to reach 380 million, which will be more than 50 per cent of the total expected number of diabetics all over the world by that period.

Currently, there are about 284 million diabetics all over the world, with nearly half of them from Asia. According to estimates, an equal number of diabetes cases remain undetected all over the world as the victims are not aware of their disease.

The prevalence of diabetes is 15 to 20 per cent in the Gulf, against 8 to 11 per cent in the South East Asian countries.

Family Festival 2008

2008-03-24T23:17:00.002-04:00

We hope you all can make it on Sunday, April 13th from 10am-5pm at Lake Eola Downtown.

The JCC is holding their annual Family Festival and this year will be their biggest ever. They are expecting over 25,000 people! (Wholesome Tummies will be exhibiting as well!)
magine a full day of fun, filled with main stage entertainment throughout the day (provided by Walt Disney World) a second stage of interactive children’s artists and programs, an inflatable forest and numerous interactive activity areas spanning the entire park! Admission is free and open to the community.

Enjoy a day of fun and entertainment for the whole family!

There will be many activity zones for you to enjoy.

- Toddler Town
- Workshop Village
- Health & Safety Zone
- Teddy Bear Clinic
- Circus Town
- Planet Earth & Go Green

The GO Green area sounds awesome with Earth friendly crafts and activities!

Please come on out and have a wonderful, fun day at Lake Eola and stop by the Wholesome Tummies booth to say hello and grab some fun giveaways!

An Update (and finally back online)

2008-03-18T08:17:00.003-04:00

Well my MAC was in the Apple hospital for a week so we are finally back up posting!

Here is a little update to all things Wholesome Tummies!

We have secured our kitchen! This is great news, we are able to use the facilities of a top notch, professional caterer in the Orlando area while we build our own kitchen. We are so excited about this as we can get up and running so much faster now. We are in process of finalizing our lunch packaging and our menus as well.

We have also hired a nutritionist consultant, Ms. Sherri Flint of Florida Hospital. She is the co-author of Super Sized Kids.
Sherri is a dietitian and she's head of the Florida Hospital Center for Nutritional Excellence. She will be reviewing our menus monthly making sure they are maximizing nutrition for all our students and giving them the right balance of proteins, fats, carbs and vitamins they need for strong growth. We are so happy to have Sherri as part of the Wholesome Tummies team!

Our next steps is to begin the process of signing up partner schools and are asking for your help! If you are interested in being a Wholesome Tummies' customer please contact us at info@wholesometummies.com to let us know where your child goes to school and a contact person.

We hope to sign up a couple camps in May and at least 5 schools for Fall 08, so we can use your help!

Also, our website (while under major construction) has at least a place holder and a sign up spot for updates so please check it out as well.

Getting a Healthy Breakfast into our kids

2008-03-03T16:47:00.003-05:00

One of the biggest dietary problems I see for kids (and adults) in the modern world is the addiction to refined breakfasts: boxed cereal, pancakes, rolled oats, toast, even "health bars". Yes... they're easy, they're quick, there's no clean up and they give a quick boost in energy. But what about an hour or two later? How are the kids doing in class when the quick energy drops hard?

Kids need carbs, there's no doubt about that. My concern is that kids are getting too much refined carbohydrate in the morning and not enough long-sustaining energy foods like protein and good fats.

There's also a concern for developing food allergies and intolerances. Most kids are eating the same foods everyday for breakfast -- usually refined wheat products. Small bodies aren't quite ready to tolerate the same foods each and every day, especially allergy-triggering foods like wheat, milk and sugar. It's fine to serve boxed cereal or pancakes one or two times a week; the problems arise when the same foods are consumed every day.

The best way to address both these issues is with a rotating morning diet. This way, kids are getting a variety of foods each morning throughout the week. Here's an example:

Monday - Turkey sausage or scrambled eggs and hashed browns
Tuesday - Steel Cut Oats with Brown Sugar and dried fruit
Wednesday - Fruit Shake with Protein Powder and Flax
Thursday - Granola Cereal with Ground Almonds and Yogurt
Friday - Sneaky Chef Breakfast Cookies (Full of Protein and Fiber)
Saturday - Low sugar boxed cereal (mixed with nut butter for protein and fat)
Sunday - Whole wheat pancakes with flaxseed

Try the rotating breakfast for a few weeks and ask the kids how they are doing in their morning classes. Some kids will need more carbohydrate in the morning, others will fair better with more protein and fat. If you find it's too hard to rotate foods every morning, start with rotating the foods every four days.

The easiest breakfasts are yesterday's left-overs: Hearty soups with grains; hamburgers, turkey or soy patties scrambled with eggs and veggies; casseroles and even steamed vegetables from dinner last night make super weekday breakfasts in a hurry. It's only cultural conditioning that says we need to have sweet foods in the morning.

Choosing safe plastics

2008-03-03T09:11:00.002-05:00

With all the confusing information out there today on the use of plastics, I found this article and thought it really helps to sort it out.

-SG

How to Choose and Use Better Plastics

Check recycling codes on the bottoms of containers.

#1 PET or PETE (polyethylene terephthalate) containers are recyclable and safe for single use. But studies indicate that with repeated use, PET containers may release di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, an endocrine-disrupting compound and probable human carcinogen. Recently, some PET bottled-water containers were also found to leach the elemental metal antimony (an eye, skin and lung irritant at high doses), according to the January 2006 Journal of Environmental Monitoring. And in an animal study, rats that drank very low levels of antimony for most of their lives died sooner than rats that did not. Although the levels found fell within safe drinking-water standards, study author Bill Shotyk notes that concentrations in bottled water increase over time.#3 Vinyl or PVC (polyvinyl chloride), which releases carcinogenic dioxins into the environment and can leach hormone-disrupting phthalate plasticizers.

#2 HDPE (high-density polyethylene) is durable and widely recyclable.

#4 LDPE (low-density polyethylene) is used in some food wraps and sandwich bags.

#5 PP (polypropylene) is popular in reusable containers, though not frequently recycled.

#6 PS (polystyrene), used in coffee cups and take-out containers, can leach styrene, a possible human carcinogen.

#7 (miscellaneous), includes polycarbonate, a transparent plastic that contains hormone-disrupting bisphenol A, which may stray into contents when stressed by heat or age. Found in Nalgene Lexan and other sports bottles, baby bottles and food containers

Kids in the Kitchen Event

2008-03-01T18:29:00.004-05:00

Wholesome Tummies exhibited at our first event today, Junior Leagues' Kids in the Kitchen
We met some wonderful Central Florida parents, gave away a lot of promo goodies and talked about WT all day long! IT was a fun and tiring day.

Here are some pictures.

School Lunch

2008-02-29T22:38:00.000-05:00

February 29th, 2008

School Lunch

http://www.naturalnews.com/022740.html

School Lunch in the Era of Processed Food: To Buy or Not to Buy?

(NaturalNews) This should not even be a question for most parents. But, unfortunately it is. When asked what she thought of the school lunch program in public schools, Camele McIntosh, certified holistic health practitioner and store manager for Harvest Health Foods in Grand Rapids, Michigan, responded, “Disgusting. It’s absolutely disgusting.”

She packs a lunch full of organic foods for her children on a daily basis and sees the decline of the school lunch program as the result of a lack of caring on the part of a large portion of American people.

“Nobody cares anymore, nobody respects the organic farmer. They think it’s best to buy cheaper products to save money, but in the end, those products rob us of our health and cost us even more money,” she said.

In 2006, more than 30.1 million children consumed a hot lunch each day under the National School Lunch Program, according to the USDA’s Web site. Although all food served under this program meets Federal nutrition requirements, decisions about what foods are served and how they are prepared is decided upon by local schools.

Ann Cooper, known as the Renegade Lunch Lady and author of the new book “Lunch Lessons: Changing the way we feed our children,” said the current state of school lunches across the country is probably even worse than most people think.

“It’s all frozen, processed foods,” she said. “Google any school district in the country and you’ll find menus filled with pizza pockets, corn dogs, chicken nuggets.”

Originally, all of the food served in public schools was homemade and cooked on site. By the time frozen foods became more prevalent, it was time for all of the lunch ladies and their equipment to retire.

“Big business said to the schools, ‘why cook when you can easily use all these frozen, prepared foods?’” Cooper said.

Part of the issue is obviously money – specifically not enough of it. The main challenge for many school districts is to pull together a menu that fits into the budget, while also trying to appeal to hundreds of tiny palettes that have grown up with a diet filled with mostly processed foods. Food that is good for them usually doesn’t taste good to them. Unhealthy food is generally cheaper to buy, and contains preservatives, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and partially hydrogenated oils (trans fats) – all the fixings that make things taste especially good to children (and adults as well, for that matter) and keep them coming back for more.

Cooper said that schools are reimbursed $2.30 for every hot lunch served. Two-thirds of that goes toward payroll and overhead, which leaves about $.80 left, which must include the required serving of milk.

“How is it possible to serve a healthy meal to children on less than $.80?” Cooper asks.

“What part of the chicken does the McNugget actually come from anyway?” is a question that was posed in Morgan Spurlock’s documentary “Super Size Me.” As funny and tongue-in-cheek as it may be, it’s a question that most parents should ask with regard to the food that is being served in schools.

A quick call to the food services director at the school can let a parent know what their children are eating and where it’s coming from. A school in Kent County, MI is trying to make an effort to offer more healthful choices, such as no fried foods, baked selections, lean meats and more veggies. However, parents should watch out for the HFCS and trans fats that come along with packaged and processed foods. Although a child may walk away with a tray full of baked chicken, a side of green beans, canned peaches, mashed potatoes, and juice, it’s probably not as healthy as it looks. There more than likely is butter and salt in the green beans and mashed potatoes, and HFCS and added sugar in the peaches and juice.

So, what can parents do? It may sound extreme, but we might have to go back to the old fashioned way of preparing food. In 1914, a health officer in Florida did an experiment in a rural school to see the results of giving each child a half a pint of milk each day. In addition to the milk, they eventually served a bowl of soup along with the milk.

The results were so outstanding, that according to the USDA Web site: “a group of mothers and the principal planned and carried out the project serving the children a hot bowl of soup with crackers and one-half pint of milk. The meat and some of the potatoes were donated by the mothers. They also furnished the utensils, and the principal supplied the vegetables grown in the school garden.”

Obviously, during the early 1900s, all mothers were stay-at-home-moms and could devote a generous portion of their time to a project such as this. They never had to worry about a commute, a full-time job, their children’s extra-curricular activities and the chauffeur duties that come along with them. But these are our children, and every effort should be made to ensure them a lifetime of healthy eating habits and the chance to know what real food tastes like.

Cooper said that parents can begin by checking to see if the Wellness Program in their school district is being implemented and followed, and to make sure everyone involved is being held accountable. Don’t be afraid to be vocal at PTA and school board meetings.

“It is everyone’s responsibility – not just the schools, and not just the parents – to teach healthy food habits,” Cooper said. “Of the children born in 2000, 40 to 45 percent of them will have diabetes and be insulin-dependant. This is the first generation that has a lower life expectancy than that of the previous generation.”

Switching to more natural foods will not only improve the physical health of children, it can have benefits on their mental health as well.

“There are people out there, including children, who are helped physically and mentally by eating organic,” said Kathleen Wood, a certified clinical nutritionist and employee with Harvest Health Foods. “Kids are realizing they are feeling a whole lot better when they eat the right stuff. They stay away from the bad stuff – it makes such a difference to them.”

McIntosh also believes that switching to more natural and organic foods and being more in tune with what one’s body can and can’t handle can make quite an impact.

She recalled a woman who had come into the store frequently with her seven-year old autistic son, who was unable to speak. She and the woman got to chatting one day and McIntosh suggested that the boy may have a gluten and/or dairy intolerance. The mother cut both out of his diet and came back to the store two weeks later.

“Within two weeks of cutting these foods out of his diet, the little boy started saying Mommy and Daddy. She was ecstatic – it was the first time that she had heard her little boy talk to her,” McIntosh said.

Our First Public appearance!

2008-02-29T22:32:00.002-05:00

If you are in the Orlando area, we urge you to come see our first public apperance! Wholesome Tummies will be exhibiting at the "Kids in the Kitchen"- a junior league sponsored event. We will be giving away our signature (can we have a signature item before we even launch?) granola bars, tshirts, promotional goodies and more.

Kids in the Kitchen is in Winter Park across from the farmers marketing on Saturday, March 1!
We will post some pictures tomorrow.

Healthful Eating is on the rise!

2008-02-21T23:43:00.000-05:00

Today’s consumers are showing greater concern about healthy eating.

Fifty-two percent have made major changes in their eating habits, according to an International Housewares Association survey. Most significantly, they’ve switched to organic food products and increased consumption of fruits and vegetables.

One focus group began using recipes from Jessica Seinfeld’s cookbook, Deceptively Delicious, which features recipes designed to “sneak” vegetables into children’s meals. One-third started purchasing cholesterol-reducing and/or heart-healthy cooking oils and spreads.

Almost 30% purchased new tools for food preparation during a 3-month period, including food processors, choppers, juicers and slicers. Some purchased blenders to make smoothies or protein drinks, while others now use mandolines, peelers or apple slicers for ease in preparing fruits and vegetables. Some purchased appliances or cookware like steamers or woks to help cook healthier foods.

School Lunch Beef Recall

2008-02-17T22:27:00.000-05:00

43 Million Pounds of Beef Recalled

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: February 17, 2008

Filed at 9:52 p.m. ET

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Sunday ordered the recall of 143 million pounds of frozen beef from a California slaughterhouse, the subject of an animal-abuse investigation, that provided meat to school lunch programs.

Officials said it was the largest beef recall in the United States, surpassing a 1999 ban of 35 million pounds of ready-to-eat meats. No illnesses have been linked to the newly recalled meat, and officials said the health threat was likely small.

The recall will affect beef products dating to Feb. 1, 2006, that came from Chino-based Westland/Hallmark Meat Co., the federal agency said.

Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer said his department has evidence that Westland did not routinely contact its veterinarian when cattle became non-ambulatory after passing inspection, violating health regulations.

''Because the cattle did not receive complete and proper inspection, Food Safety and Inspection Service has determined them to be unfit for human food and the company is conducting a recall,'' Schafer said in a statement.

A phone message left for Westland president Steve Mendell was not immediately returned.

Federal officials suspended operations at Westland/Hallmark after an undercover video from the Humane Society of the United States surfaced showing crippled and sick animals being shoved with forklifts.

Two former employees were charged Friday. Five felony counts of animal cruelty and three misdemeanors were filed against a pen manager. Three misdemeanor counts -- illegal movement of a non-ambulatory animal -- were filed against an employee who worked under that manager. Both were fired.

Authorities said the video showed workers kicking, shocking and otherwise abusing ''downer'' animals that were apparently too sick or injured to walk into the slaughterhouse. Some animals had water forced down their throats, San Bernardino County prosecutor Michael Ramos said.

No charges have been filed against Westland, but an investigation by federal authorities continues.

Officials estimate that about 37 million pounds of the recalled beef went to school programs, but they believe most of the meat probably has already been eaten.

''We don't know how much product is out there right now. We don't think there is a health hazard, but we do have to take this action,'' said Dr. Dick Raymond, USDA Undersecretary for Food Safety.

Most of the beef was sent to distribution centers in bulk packages. The USDA said it will work with distributors to determine how much meat remains.

Federal regulations call for keeping downed cattle out of the food supply because they may pose a higher risk of contamination from E. coli, salmonella or mad cow disease because they typically wallow in feces and their immune systems are often weak.

About 150 school districts around the nation have stopped using ground beef from Hallmark Meat Packing Co., which is associated with Westland. Two fast-food chains, Jack-In-the-Box and In-N-Out, said they would not use beef from Westland/Hallmark.

Jack in the Box, a San Diego-based company with restaurants in 18 states, told its meat suppliers not to use Hallmark until further notice, but it was unclear whether it had used any Hallmark meat. In-N-Out, an Irvine-based chain, also halted use of the Westland/Hallmark beef. Other chains such as McDonald's and Burger King said they do not buy beef from Westland.

Raymond countered a claim leveled by Humane Society President and CEO Wayne Pacelle, who said a USDA inspector was at the Westland plant for about two hours each day. USDA inspectors are there at slaughterhouses ''continuously,'' Raymond said.

Federal lawmakers on Thursday had called for the Government Accountability Office to investigate the safety of meat in the National School Lunch Program.

Upon learning about the recall, some legislators criticized the USDA, saying the federal agency should conduct more thorough inspections to ensure tainted beef doesn't get to the public.

''Today marks the largest beef recall in U.S. history, and it involves the national school lunch program and other federal food and nutrition programs,'' said U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, chairman of the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry. ''This begs the question: how much longer will we continue to test our luck with weak enforcement of federal food safety regulations?''

Advocacy groups also weighed in, noting the problems at Westland wouldn't have been revealed had it not been for animal right activists.

''On the one hand, I'm glad that the recall is taking place. On the other, it's somewhat disturbing, given that obviously much of this food has already been eaten,'' said Jean Halloran, director of food policy initiatives at Consumers Union. ''It's really closing the barn door after the cows left.''

Creative Lunches

2008-02-13T10:06:00.001-05:00

Wholesome Tummies will not only deliver fresh and healthy lunches, but creative and delicious ones as well!

Here is one of our favorites that we will incorporate into our menu, let us know your thoughts!
The "Banana Dog!"

Packaging Commitment

2008-02-09T08:39:00.001-05:00

We are fully committed to sourcing packaging that is earth friendly and recylcleable. This is a core tenent of our beliefs and we will strive to make as little waste as possible with our lunches.

Hopefully by now you have learned about HD Plastics, BPA's (and the danger they impose) etc. Here is an excellent recent article on the use of BPA's in baby bottles. New Born Free makes excellent baby bottles that are completely free of BPA's and I would highly recommend them!
_____________________________

Bottles linked to health risk

Friday, February 8, 2008

BY JIM WRIGHT

STAFF WRITER

Most plastic baby bottles sold in the United States could be hazardous to a baby's health, according to a new report by a coalition of environmental groups.

The report, "Baby's Toxic Bottle," found that when the polycarbonate plastic bottles made under six major brands are heated during normal use, they leach Bisphenol A, a hormone-disrupting chemical that has produced adverse effects in animals.

"Some of our research showed that leaching also occurs at room temperature, and it becomes worse over time with more and more use," said Rebekah Scotland, legislative associate with NJPIRG.

Scotland said consumers should use glass baby bottles, plastic bottles that are advertised as "Bisphenol A-free" or polypropylene bottles labeled with recycling code No. 5. Plastic bottles with Bisphenol A typically are stamped with a "7" on the bottom.

The report, released Thursday by NJPIRG and other coalition members in the United States and Canada, was based on a study of the six most popular brands of baby bottles -- Avent, Disney/The First Years, Dr. Brown's, Evenflo, Gerber and Playtex -- purchased in nine states. The study found that Dr. Brown's baby bottles leached the highest levels of the chemical, while Avent bottles leached the least.

The report, which echoed the findings of a California study of a year ago, called Bisphenol A "a developmental, neural and reproductive toxicant that mimics estrogen and can interfere with healthy growth and body function" -- a claim that the chemical industry strongly rejects.

Steven Hentges of the American Chemistry Council dismissed the report.

"Polycarbonate baby bottles have been safely used for decades, and the scientific evidence supporting the safety of those products has been reviewed by many independent, government and scientific bodies worldwide," he said. "Every one of those reviews supports the conclusion that these products are safe and that there is no risk to human health."

New Jersey Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein, D-Mercer, said she is drafting a bill that would require manufacturers of plastic baby bottles and toys containing Bisphenol A and certain phthalates to use the least toxic alternative instead.

As a result of the study and previous research, the coalition is petitioning retailers and manufacturers of polycarbonate baby bottles to switch immediately to safer products and to phase out bottles containing Bisphenol A.

E-mail: wright@northjersey.com

Most plastic baby bottles sold in the United States could be hazardous to a baby's health, according to a new report by a coalition of environmental groups.

A new report found that when some plastic bottles are heated during normal use, they leach a chemical that has produced adverse effects in animals.

"Some of our research showed that leaching also occurs at room temperature, and it becomes worse over time with more and more use," said Rebekah Scotland, legislative associate with NJPIRG.

Steven Hentges of the American Chemistry Council dismissed the report.

Playground Magazine

2008-02-05T17:20:00.000-05:00

We met with Playground Magazine today. They are a brand new magazine start up for Central Florida Moms. Their target audience is more affluent, hip, modern and sophisticated moms (just like the target for WT). We are most likely going to be an advertiser for their second issue and we hope that their magazine is successful and we can forge a long standing relationship with them.

On other news, our kitchen designer sent us our second round of drawings based on our location and we think that we are finally on a good track. It will have ample storage space, a walk in refrigerator and freezer, 4 convection ovens, a huge gas range and the biggest mixer I have ever seen! (Can you say WT Cupcakes!?) Even a little conveyor belt for our assembly- pretty snazzy!

Its just damn scary to start a business. Let me give a little 'shout out' to all the brave business owners out there who have forged ahead before us...wow its daunting but exciting too!

-SG

Babies that are just too cute

2008-02-01T14:41:00.000-05:00

Well completely unrelated to all things Wholesome but certainly 4 cute tummies here.
This is just absolutely adorable..

Laughing Babies - The funniest videos are a click away

Harmful pesticides found in everyday food products

2008-01-30T22:39:00.000-05:00

Its a long article, but please read it!

Harmful pesticides found in everyday food products

Mercer Island children tested in yearlong study

By ANDREW SCHNEIDER
P-I SENIOR CORRESPONDENT

Government promises to rid the nation's food supply of brain-damaging pesticides aren't doing the job, according to the results of a yearlong study that carefully monitored the diets of a group of local children.

The peer-reviewed study found that the urine and saliva of children eating a variety of conventional foods from area groceries contained biological markers of organophosphates, the family of pesticides spawned by the creation of nerve gas agents in World War II.

When the same children ate organic fruits, vegetables and juices, signs of pesticides were not found.

"The transformation is extremely rapid," said Chensheng Lu, the principal author of the study published online in the current issue of Environmental Health Perspectives.

"Once you switch from conventional food to organic, the pesticides (malathion and chlorpyrifos) that we can measure in the urine disappears. The level returns immediately when you go back to the conventional diets," said Lu, a professor at Emory University's School of Public Health and a leading authority on pesticides and children.

Within eight to 36 hours of the children switching to organic food, the pesticides were no longer detected in the testing.

The subjects for his testing were 21 children, ages 3 to 11, from two elementary schools and a Montessori preschool on Mercer Island.

The community has double the median national income, but the wealth of Mercer Island made no difference in the outcome, he said.

"We are confident that if we did the same study in poor communities, we would get the same results," he said. The study is being repeated in Georgia.

The study has not yet linked the pesticide levels to specific foods, but other studies have shown peaches, apples, sweet bell peppers, nectarines, strawberries and cherries are among those that most frequently have detectable levels of pesticides.

Measuring the harm

Lu is quick to point out that there is no certainty that the pesticides measured in this group of children would cause any adverse health outcomes. However, he added that a recent animal study demonstrated that persistent cognitive impairment occurred in rats after chronic dietary exposure to chlorpyrifos.

Death or serious health problems have been documented in thousands of cases in which there were high-level exposures to malathion and chlorpyrifos. But a link between neurological impairments and repeated low-level exposure is far more difficult to determine.

"There's a large underpinning of animal research for organophosphate pesticides, and particularly for chlorpyrifos, that points to bad outcomes in terms of effects on brain development and behavior," Dr. Theodore Slotkin, a professor of pharmacology and cancer biology at Duke University in North Carolina, said in the April 2006 Environmental Health Perspectives.

Lu says more research must be done into the harm these pesticides may do to children, even at the low levels found on food.

"In animal and a few human studies, we know chlorpyrifos inhibits an enzyme that transmits a signal in the brain so the body can function properly. Unfortunately, that's all we know."

Not many chemicals, including pharmaceutical products, were designed specifically to kill mammals, which was genesis of organophosphates.

"It is appropriate to assume that if we -- human beings -- are exposed to (this class of) pesticides, even though it's a low-level exposure on a daily basis, there are going to be some health concerns down the road," said Lu, who is on the Environmental Protection Agency's pesticide advisory panel.

The EPA says it eliminated the use of organophosphates on many crops and imposed numerous restrictions on the remaining organophosphate pesticide uses.

Congressional concern that children were being harmed by excessive exposure to pesticides led to the unanimous passage of the Food Quality Protection Act. At its heart was a requirement that by 2006, the EPA complete a comprehensive reassessment of the 9,721 pesticides permitted for use and determine the safe level of pesticide residues permitted for all food products.

"As a result, the amount of these pesticides used on kids' foods (has undergone) a 57 percent reduction," said Jonathan Shradar, the EPA's spokesman.

But that's not nearly enough to prevent birth defects and neurological problems, said Chuck Benbrook, chief scientist of the Organic Center, a nationwide, nonprofit, food research organization.

"The pesticide limits that EPA permits are far, far too high to say they're safe. And, the reduction that EPA cites in the U.S. has been accompanied by a steady increase in pesticide-contaminated imported foods, which are capturing a growing share of the market," he said.

Yet the EPA continues to insist that "dietary exposures from eating food crops treated with chlorpyrifos are below the level of concern for the entire U.S. population, including infants and children."

That statement is "not supported by science," Benbrook said.

"Given the almost daily reminders that children are suffering from an array of behavioral, learning, neurological problems, doesn't it make sense to eliminate exposures to chemicals known to trigger such outcomes like chlorpyrifos?" he asked.

What to do

While the gut reaction of some parents might be to limit the consumption of fresh produce or switch completely to organic food, Lu cautions not to make the wrong decision.

"It is vital for children to consume significantly more fresh fruits and vegetables than is commonly the case today," he says, citing such problems as juvenile diabetes and obesity.

"Nor is our purpose to promote the consumption of organic food, although our data clearly demonstrate that food grown organically contains far less pesticide residues."

Lu says an all-organic diet is not necessary. He has two sons, 10 and 13, and he estimates that about 60 percent of his family's diet is organic.

"Consumers," he says, "should be encouraged to buy produce direct from the farmers they know. These need not be just organic farmers, but conventional growers who minimize their use of pesticides."

Understanding how fruits and vegetables grow can help guide the consumer, he says.

For example, organic strawberries probably are worth the money because they are a tender-fleshed fruit grown close to the dirt, so more pesticides are needed to fight insects and bugs from the soil. He adds apples and spinach to his list.

"It may also be money-smart to choose conventionally grown broccoli because it has a web of leaves surrounding the florets, resulting in lower levels of pesticide residue," Lu says.

He is greatly concerned about one finding from the study.

"Overall pesticide (marker) levels in urine samples were even higher in the winter months, suggesting children may have consumed fruits and vegetables that are imported. The government needs to ensure that imported food comply with the standards we impose on domestic produce," he said.

Dangerous science

Chlorpyrifos, made by Dow Chemical Co., is one of the most widely used organophosphate insecticides in the United States and, many believe, the world.

For years, millions of pounds of the chemical insecticide were used in schools, homes, day care centers and public housing, and studies show that children were often exposed to enormously high doses. Just as the EPA was ready to ban the product, which analysts said would have damaged Dow's overseas sales, the company "voluntarily" removed it from the home market. Yet, with few exceptions, the agricultural uses continued.

The EPA's Web site is a study in contradictions when it comes to chlorpyrifos.

At one section, it "acknowledged the special susceptibility and sensitivity of children to developmental and neurological effects from exposure to chlorpyrifos."

But in another section, the agency reports that infants and children face no risk from eating food crops treated with chlorpyrifos. However, the agency doesn't say how it reached that conclusion. There is no agreement of how much of the neurotoxin is too much.

Benbrook said the EPA has refused orders from Congress to study the cumulative developmental risk to children from low-dose exposures.

"Perhaps we can rest assured that EPA has protected us adults from acute insecticide poisoning risk, but our kids are on their own," Benbrook said.

ABOUT THE STUDY

Chensheng Lu's study was published this month in Environmental Health Perspectives (ehponline.org), a publication of the National Institute of Environmental Health Science. It was funded by the Environmental Protection Agency and used federal laboratories to confirm the accuracy of his findings.

Unlike many previous studies, Lu's team focused on children living in an urban/suburban area who were tested for multiple days in each of the four seasons with urine and saliva sampled twice a day.

The organic produce was sent to the Department of Agriculture lab in Yakima to be tested for pesticides. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tested the urine samples and the Food and Drug Administration laboratory is completing its quantification of pesticide residues in samples of the conventional food the children consumed.

The team included scientists from Emory University, the CDC and the University of Washington.

P-I senior correspondent Andrew Schneider can be reached at 206-448-8218 or andrewschneider@seattlepi.com.

A possible home for us!

2008-01-30T16:09:00.000-05:00

We went today to see a great flex/warehouse space that would be great for our location.
Its about 1200 sq ft, with a small office, bathroom and a roll up door for deliveries. We would have to put in A/C , a grease trap in the floor and ventilate the roof for our hood but other than that ;) its great. The location is very close to I-4 and only 4 minutes from Baldwin Park.

Here are some photos:

We need a few days to work thru all the numbers and make sure that its the right play but we both feel ...THIS IS IT!

Everyone loves the nugget..

2008-01-29T22:05:00.000-05:00

Great article from the Baltimore Sun. I am guilty of this pleasure as well. Chicken "nuggets" were a favorite of my childhood and I still have a hard time not finishing off the kids' plates when they have them. What do you think? Do you think that even the "healthy" ones are O.K? I thought I was doing an alright thing buying them from Whole Foods- organic, baked nuggets..but perhaps not?

We were strongly considering baked chicken nuggets on the Wholesome Tummies menu so please share your thoughts!

-SG

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nuggets, or not?

Chicken nuggets have gotten more healthful - even gourmet - in the last 25 years, but parents still struggle with whether to feed them to their kids

By Tanika WhiteSun ReporterOctober 10, 2007Here’s a twist on an age-old question: Which came first, the chicken or the nugget?

After all, it’s hard for many parents to remember a time when tiny dinner plates decorated with cartoon characters weren’t filled, in part, with golden-brown, roundish or boot-shaped objects, and accented with a colorful dipping sauce.

Twenty-five years after McDonald’s introduced the Chicken McNugget to the world, the boneless, battered treat has clucked its way to the top of the list of kids’ favorite foods - no matter if the nugget comes with fries and a toy in a little cardboard box or is poured out of a bag from the family freezer and microwaved for a quick post-soccer-game, pre-bath-time meal.

Kids love chicken nuggets so much, says author Michael Pollan in his best-selling book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, that the finger food is the reason chicken has edged out beef as the most popular food in

America.Frozen-food companies sell bags of nuggets in kid-friendly shapes, such as dinosaurs. Many a restaurant that offers a kids’ menu tops it off with nuggets. Yet nutritionists point to chicken nuggets as a prime culprit in developing a taste for salty, fatty food among U.S. children, who are more likely now to be overweight and unhealthy than ever before. And many a mom who might favor grilled chicken breast and salad with dressing on the side for herself still struggles with feeding nuggets to her children.“They’re so easy, and they’re kid-sized, and some companies even make them in fun shapes,” says Annelies Koob of Cockeysville, the mother of a 4-year-old son and 1-year-old daughter. “[But] I’ve really tried to phase them out of their life. I just don’t buy them.”Some try to balance nuggets with more healthful foods. Patrick Huff of Washington says he realizes nuggets are “not the healthiest thing in the world” for his 6-year-old daughter, Sydnei.“But she eats oatmeal for breakfast, so she can have chicken nuggets in the afternoon,” says Huff, an educator.Ann Cooper, author of Lunch Lessons: Changing the Way We Feed Our Children, says, “McDonald’s has taught an entire generation of children that that’s all they can eat. And they’re not going to eat anything else.”Joyce Weinberg, a New York catering expert, food-tour leader and mother of a 22-month-old, says, “Parents love them because they’re ‘hand-eating,’ and they do have protein. And kids like them because they have a crunchy outside and they taste good.”“But,” says Weinberg, “you don’t want to clog up those tiny little arteries.”The ingredients for the McNugget, as described in Pollan’s book as well as the documentary Super Size Me, include dreaded trans fats, TBHQ and something called dimethylpolysiloxane. That latter, long word is an “anti-foaming agent.” And critics point to the fact that TBHQ is a derivative of butane.“[Chicken nuggets are] not soda or candy, but that’s how high it ranks for me [on the list of bad things for kids to eat],” says Cooper, who writes a blog at lunchlessons.org. “It’s really bad and it’s really bad for a number of reasons. Most chicken nuggets just aren’t good food.”

So what is a parent to do?

The good news is moms and dads aren’t the only ones to realize that the chicken nugget is here to stay. And in the past few years, many chefs, retailers, school-dining programs and even fast-food companies have come up with ways to make the finger food more healthful.

Some have dumped the dark meat in favor of all-white meat breast pieces. Others have cut out the “chicken” in the chicken nugget all together, opting for soy, veggie or tofu nuggets.

In a new cookbook, funnyman Jerry Seinfeld’s wife, Jessica, says she hides vegetables such as spinach, broccoli or beet puree in the homemade chicken nuggets she prepares for her three children, or she makes “faux” nuggets out of tofu and flaxseed meal.

“When I serve [tofu nuggets], my kids think they’re eating chicken or cheese,” Seinfeld says in her book, Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food.

Perdue recently launched a baked whole-grain nugget made with white chicken meat toasted with whole-grain bread crumbs, says Chris Alexander, senior marketing manager of Perdue Ready-to-Eat Chicken.

This past summer, Ian’s Natural Foods company - which specializes in more healthful food choices for kids - unveiled what it calls the first ever organic chicken nugget, made with organic chicken and bread crumbs, and without bleached flours or hydrogenated oils.

Even some college campuses have spruced up their cafeteria menus to get fast-food-loving students to choose more healthful chicken nuggets.

“Rather than pull run-of-the-mill, chopped, formed, who-knows-what’s-in-it from the freezer and drop them in the fryer, we now serve boneless, skinless chicken breast” carved into pieces, says Dave Furhman, director of dining programs at the

Johns Hopkins University.Then there are others who have taken the chicken nugget to an even higher level: They’ve made it gourmet.“Absolutely,” nuggets are gourmet, says Michel Richard, renowned chef of the Washington restaurant Citronelle.“It’s one of the best-sellers in my new restaurant, Central,” Richard says. The chef is even presenting his recipe - complete with sea salt, thyme, peanut oil and poaching - at the Gourmet Institute in New York this month.McDonald’s push to clean up the chicken nugget has made the finger food even more popular.In 2003, the mega-company switched its nugget recipe to one with all-white meat. The result, says Chris Mann, owner/operator of four McDonald’s restaurants in Dundalk and Essex: “14 percent fewer calories; 16 percent less fat; 20 percent less saturated fat and 32 percent less cholesterol than the old chicken nugget.”The move, Mann says, made the four-piece nugget offering (the best-seller at Mickey D’s) a better choice calorie-wise than a grilled-cheese sandwich, a hot dog or a slice of pizza. (But the four-piece box of McNuggets still has 1 gram of trans fats and the six-piece box has 1.5 grams, according to the company’s Web site.)The switch was a boon for the company, as well.“You wouldn’t think that it would make a huge difference,” Mann says. “But the numbers of chicken nuggets that we began selling really jumped through the roof.”

Even more nuggets? The idea makes Cooper cluck her tongue.

“What if we didn’t have chicken nuggets?” Cooper, who also is the director of nutrition services at the Berkeley, Calif.,

Unified School District, asks. “What if we just said, ‘OK. We want to roast or saute or grill chicken?’ Children do not need chicken that looks like stars and giraffes and dinosaurs. Just serve children real food.”

Happy Meals for Good Grades?

2008-01-28T20:19:00.000-05:00

If the sad, state of affairs in our public school lunch system wasn't already bad enough- this is happening right here in Central Florida!
Do our children really need another incentive to eat at McDonalds?
-SG

Junk Food Companies Market to Kids at School

67% of Public School Children See Junk Food Ads at School

By RUSSELL GOLDMAN

Dec. 10, 2007 —

Elementary school students won’t receive gold stars but rather a taste of the Golden Arches for their good grades in Seminole County, Fla., under a corporate-sponsorship program that awards high-achieving students with Happy Meals.

The “report card incentive,” as the program is known, is explained on the front of specially produced envelopes bearing the image of Ronald McDonald and in which the report cards for every student in the county’s 37 elementary schools are sent home.

The incentives are described as “food prizes,” and a report card of all A’s and B’s or an attendance record blemished by just two absences is enough to earn a student a free Happy Meal.

The county school board insists the program is necessary to fund academic programs, but critics contend that this initiative, like thousands of other in-school advertising programs across the country, adds little to school budgets and instead allows corporations to peddle unhealthy goods to children.

“We value McDonald’s and other companies that support education,” said Bill Vogel, superintendent of the county’s schools. “We have over 900 business partners that provide incentives.”

Vogel insisted that McDonald’s offered healthy options on its menu and that the report card envelope features images of both chicken McNuggets and sliced apples dipped in a sugary sauce the company calls Apple Dippers.

“It is a wonderful idea,” said John Banzhaf III, a law professor George Washington University who has sued tobacco companies and the fast food industry. “The next thing the school should offer is cigarettes and alcohol. & Why aren’t schools selling Hustler or Playboy magazines out of vending machines too? Schools shouldn’t be selling things that endanger children just to make a buck. ”

About 20 million children in the United States qualify as overweight or clinically obese, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, leading many public health experts to point their fingers at fast food and junk food companies that market high fat and high calorie foods to kids.

According to a study on marketing unhealthy foods in public schools by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, between 26.6 and 30.3 million students are exposed, in school, to marketing by corporations that sell unhealthy foods. Incentive programs, along with fund-raising activities and exclusive agreements, make up the bulk of the campaigns.

About 67 percent of all schools nationwide allow for advertising by companies that sell “foods of minimal nutritional value and food high in fat and sugar conduct the majority of the marketing that is found in schools,” the study found.

“We depend on corporate partners in Seminole County and we appreciate and support those companies that support us,” said Vogel.

Vogel would not say how much money corporate sponsorships contributed to the schools in his county, but according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation study most schools do not receive significant funds as a result of allowing corporate advertising.

“Some 73 percent of schools that have marketing by corporations that sell unhealthy foods reported receiving no income in the previous year. Some 86 percent of schools with food marketing reported that no programs or activities would be cut back if such marketing were prohibited,” the study found.

Though the Seminole County program is sponsored by local franchisees, the McDonald’s headquarters in Illinois said in a statement that the Florida program “promotes academic excellence and rewards academic achievement. & McDonald’s provides parents with Happy Meal choices including chicken McNuggets made with white meat, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, Apple Dippers, apple juice and low-fat milk, so they can choose the Happy Meal that is appropriate for their child.”

McDonald’s isn’t the only company to offer incentives. Pizza Hut until recently offered a similar program in Seminole County and throughout the country called Just Book It.

Other companies, including Coca-Cola and Pepsi have exclusivity rights with some schools, offering to build scoreboards or sponsor sports teams for rights to sell their products on campus.

“It is sometimes called Coke for kickbacks,” said George Washington’s Banzhaf. “Schools get money for every sugary soft drink sold and use it for class trips or sports teams. & Everyone is making money off of ruining these kids’ health.”

Corporations also send schools educational materials pegged to a particular product. General Mills has a program called Spark Creativity With Fruit Loops that encourages preschool and elementary school students to make craft projects with the sugary cereal.

Schoolchildren are also subjected to electronic advertising through News 1, an in-school television network that according to Susan Linn, a Harvard University professor and director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, plays two minutes of ads for every 12 minutes of programming. Some of those ads are not just for junk food but also violent video games.

Another company called Bus Radio broadcasts to students while riding to and from school.

But fast food is the largest industry targeting kids in schools. Fast food makes up more than a third of the total dining industry, about $170 billion in 2006.

“In 2000, the GAO [Government Accountability Office] called marketing in school ‘a gross industry’ and it has only escalated exponentially since then,” said Linn.

“Companies love to market in schools because they have a captive audience. Moreover, everything marketed in schools carries the school’s endorsement. Even if kids don’t like school they knows it’s good for them, so schools are basically saying these products are good for you.”

In 2003, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit brought against the company by two obese teenagers. Since then, McDonald’s has made an attempt to introduce healthier items to its menu and remove the supersize option for french fries and soft drinks.

The company has also introduced a program in which an individual dressed as corporate mascot Ronald McDonald enters schools to teach children about fitness.

Critics contend that a fitness program sponsored by McDonald’s is comparable to Big Tobacco’s anti-smoking campaigns or alcohol companies’ campaigns against drinking and driving.

“These ads are all directed at kids, no matter how McDonald’s tries to spin a promotion, even if they call it a fitness program,” Banzhaf said, “Ronald McDonald is a clown, there are some places where the only playground for miles is at McDonald’s, and they even host birthday parties. It is impossible for anyone to argue that they aren’t trying to get kids hooked, and once hooked every study shows they get fat and they get sick.”

Our Entrepreneurial Adventure

2008-01-28T09:41:00.000-05:00

Welcome to our blog! We will update you on all things WT (Wholesome Tummies) and keep a record of our adventures to small business ownership.

For those not yet aware, Wholesome Tummies is a brand new, exciting kids' food initiative. We are seeking to change the way our kids view their school lunches and to assist those time starved parents everywhere with a task that represents nothing but a hassle each day!

WT will provide to your child each day a healthy, fun and delicious lunch that is delivered directly to their school! We will use only fresh ingredients - never processed with no hydrogenated oils, refined sugars or artificial anything. "The Dirty Dozen"
will always be organic, hormone and pesticide free - only the best for your children.

Imagine the day when you will no longer have to stare into the refrigerator and think "What do I make for lunch today?" Imagine the day when your child will enthusiastically look forward to lunchtime! With menu items such as Whole Grain Pizza Dippers with Veggie filled Tomato Sauce or Sweet Potato Pancake sandwiches, lunch will never be boring again.

We look forward to launching this at your child's school by Fall of 08. For more info, email us at info@wholesometummies.com.

Wholesome Tummies Fresh, Delicious and All-Natural School Lunches

Top 100 Pantry Staples

HEALTHY HABIT #2: STOCK YOUR SHELVES WITH YOUR TOP 100

Healthy Habit # 1 Be the CEO of your Kitchen!

Family Dinner is Important and Easy - 30 Minute or Less Tips and Tricks

Don't be afraid! Make Your Own Pie Dough!

We're already thinking about the leftovers!

In Season: Watermelon

Summer Picnic Salads

In Season: Rhubarb

Exposing Processed Foods

10 Ways To Make Vegetables More Exciting

Spring Clean Your Pantry

Wholesome Tummies add Chef and Culinary Expert, Dawn Viola to Corporate Team

Whole Grain Recipes!

Making the Transition to Whole Grains

How do Lunchables take something so simple and complicate it?

Meatless Mondays are coming to Wholesome Tummies!

Reading and Understanding Food Labels - for Kids!

Picking Good Choices at the Supermarket

How to get the most out of "snacking"

Keeping good habits over the holidays

How important is peer pressure with picky eaters?

A sad loss today...

Back to School...Back to Reality!

Wholesome Tummies Tasting Event Recap

Tasting Event!

National Oatmeal Cookie Day!

Are School Lunches setting up Children for Obesity?

Are School Lunches Setting Kids Up for Obesity and Poor Nutrition?

By Jill Richardson, AlterNetPosted on February 25, 2010, Printed on March 3, 2010http://www.alternet.org/story/145803/

A great day with little foodies...(or future foodies!)

Do you need to order from the kid menu?

Have a Healthy Halloween!

Summer Camp List

Fuel for our kids

Students eat more whole grains when it's gradually added to school lunch

10 Things the Food Industry Doesn't Want you to Know

10 Things the Food Industry Doesn't Want You to Know

6 Food Mistakes Parents Make

Inspire Healthier Choices by Exposing Kids to Fruits & Veggies!

WE ARE LIVE and OPEN for Orders!!

Sneak Peek at Week #1

Full Steam Ahead!!

How America's Children Packed on the Pounds

New School Sign Ups!

What a big difference small changes can make

Schools that cut fat and sugar saw dramatic results

Sacrifices being made for school lunches

Why It's So Important to Always Read a Food Product's Label...

Banning junk food in lunches - in Qatar?

Family Festival 2008

An Update (and finally back online)

Getting a Healthy Breakfast into our kids

Choosing safe plastics

Kids in the Kitchen Event

School Lunch

February 29th, 2008

School Lunch

Our First Public appearance!

Healthful Eating is on the rise!

School Lunch Beef Recall

43 Million Pounds of Beef Recalled

Creative Lunches

Packaging Commitment

Playground Magazine

Babies that are just too cute

Harmful pesticides found in everyday food products

Its a long article, but please read it!

Harmful pesticides found in everyday food products

Mercer Island children tested in yearlong study

Measuring the harm

What to do

Dangerous science

ABOUT THE STUDY

A possible home for us!

Everyone loves the nugget..

Happy Meals for Good Grades?

Our Entrepreneurial Adventure

By Jill Richardson, AlterNet
Posted on February 25, 2010, Printed on March 3, 2010
http://www.alternet.org/story/145803/