I have a feeling I am going to do a lot of these kinds of activities, until I realize it's a huge hassle and the kid always wins (ie: I have to bribe them). I'll be interested in hearing what Kyla-in-5-years has to say about this.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Another fun worksheet for the refrigerator
What can I say, I think these supermarket worksheets for kids are super cute. I don't have any kids yet so I'm not sure if kids would actually think these are fun. I'm sure it depends on the kid's age and general willingness to play games that are not actually all that fun but make the adult in their life happy.
I have a feeling I am going to do a lot of these kinds of activities, until I realize it's a huge hassle and the kid always wins (ie: I have to bribe them). I'll be interested in hearing what Kyla-in-5-years has to say about this.
I have a feeling I am going to do a lot of these kinds of activities, until I realize it's a huge hassle and the kid always wins (ie: I have to bribe them). I'll be interested in hearing what Kyla-in-5-years has to say about this.
Monday, June 6, 2011
USDA's New Food Graphic
Well, here it is.
Not as thrilling or a graphically pleasing as I had hoped for. But it gets the point across: fill half your plate with fruits and vegetables and cut back on bread and protein.
I feel like this is very understandable for small children, which I believe is the intended demographic (as well as lowest common denominator for the American public).
I like how the USDA links its graphic to lists of what kinds of foods fall into each category. Unfortunately, potatoes are still a staple in the veggie category. Being an Irish-American from the Midwest, I will never give up my love for the great potato. But it ain't no match for a leafy green.
I feel like this is very understandable for small children, which I believe is the intended demographic (as well as lowest common denominator for the American public).
I like how the USDA links its graphic to lists of what kinds of foods fall into each category. Unfortunately, potatoes are still a staple in the veggie category. Being an Irish-American from the Midwest, I will never give up my love for the great potato. But it ain't no match for a leafy green.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
The High Cost of Cheap Meat
New York Times editorial
June 2, 2011
The point of factory farming is cheap meat, made possible by confining large numbers of animals in small spaces. Perhaps the greatest hidden cost is its potential effect on human health.
Small doses of antibiotics — too small to kill bacteria — are fed to factory farm animals as part of their regular diet to promote growth and offset the risks of overcrowding. What factory farms are really raising is antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which means that several classes of antibiotics no longer work the way they should in humans. We pay for cheap meat by sacrificing some of the most important drugs ever developed.
Last week, the Natural Resources Defense Council, joined by other advocacy groups, sued the Food and Drug Administration to compel it to end the nontherapeutic use of penicillin and tetracycline in farm animals. Veterinarians would still be able to treat sick animals with these drugs but could not routinely add the drugs to their diets.
For years, the F.D.A. has had the scientific studies and the authority to ban these drugs. But it has always bowed to pressure from the pharmaceutical and farm lobbies, despite the well-founded objections of groups like the American Medical Association and the World Health Organization, which support an antibiotic ban.
It is time for the F.D.A. to stop corporate factory farms from squandering valuable drugs just to promote growth among animals confined in conditions that inherently create the risk of disease. According to recent estimates, 70 percent of the antibiotics sold in this country end up in farm animals. The F.D.A. can change that by honoring its own scientific conclusions and its statutory obligation to end its approval of unsafe drug uses.
June 2, 2011
The point of factory farming is cheap meat, made possible by confining large numbers of animals in small spaces. Perhaps the greatest hidden cost is its potential effect on human health.
Small doses of antibiotics — too small to kill bacteria — are fed to factory farm animals as part of their regular diet to promote growth and offset the risks of overcrowding. What factory farms are really raising is antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which means that several classes of antibiotics no longer work the way they should in humans. We pay for cheap meat by sacrificing some of the most important drugs ever developed.
Last week, the Natural Resources Defense Council, joined by other advocacy groups, sued the Food and Drug Administration to compel it to end the nontherapeutic use of penicillin and tetracycline in farm animals. Veterinarians would still be able to treat sick animals with these drugs but could not routinely add the drugs to their diets.
For years, the F.D.A. has had the scientific studies and the authority to ban these drugs. But it has always bowed to pressure from the pharmaceutical and farm lobbies, despite the well-founded objections of groups like the American Medical Association and the World Health Organization, which support an antibiotic ban.
It is time for the F.D.A. to stop corporate factory farms from squandering valuable drugs just to promote growth among animals confined in conditions that inherently create the risk of disease. According to recent estimates, 70 percent of the antibiotics sold in this country end up in farm animals. The F.D.A. can change that by honoring its own scientific conclusions and its statutory obligation to end its approval of unsafe drug uses.
Friday, June 3, 2011
The White House Kitchen Garden in 2012
The White House Kitchen Garden today looks a lot like American kitchen gardens - by design. It's filled with lettuces, tomatoes, beets, rhubarb, broccoli and other delicious, nutritious growing things. But if the White House Kitchen Garden, and American kitchen gardens across the country, reflected U.S. farm subsidies that are likely to be continued in the 2012 U.S. Farm Bill, our gardens would change dramatically. We'd be eating corn, wheat, cotton (can be a little dry in the mouth) and soybeans, with a little tobacco sprinkled in for good measure (and straight cash!).
Roger Doiron, founder and “weeder-in-chief” of Kitchen Gardeners, thinks we should take a hard look at the lack of federal funding for fruits and vegetables. He writes:
Let's make the 2012 Farm Bill reflect our kitchen gardens, not what's been traditionally subsidized on large-scale farms.
Roger Doiron, founder and “weeder-in-chief” of Kitchen Gardeners, thinks we should take a hard look at the lack of federal funding for fruits and vegetables. He writes:
As a nation, we’re saying one thing and doing another and need to bring our words and actions in line with one another. We’re saying we should be eating 5–7 portions of fruits and vegetables a day (depending on who you ask) but we’re not supporting the food, farm, and garden infrastructure needed to deliver that diet to 307 million Americans. In fact, we’d need to grow another 13 million acres of produce in the United States if we we’re to meet the minimum daily requirements of fruits and vegetables set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.Read more by Margret Aldrich in the Utne Reader.
Let's make the 2012 Farm Bill reflect our kitchen gardens, not what's been traditionally subsidized on large-scale farms.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
The American Dinner Plate...
Do you remember the food pyramid from first grade? That rainbow-striped chart was on every classroom wall and pounded into the brains of unknowing youth for decades. But it was seriously flawed. Though it did get the point across that you should eat more of some things (starch! starch! starch!) and less of other (delicious sugar and oil!), it had us eating 6-11 servings of breads and only 5-9 of total fruits and veggies. That bagel you had for breakfast? That was your 6 bread servings. That bit of broccoli you moved around on your plate and avoided? That was 1 serving. Oops.
Lots of new versions have been created since the original food pyramid, and not all are pyramids. In fact, later this week the USDA will reveal its latest and greatest, based on the 'newest research.' Can't wait!!
Monday, May 23, 2011
Talk to me in numbers
Here's another sweet interactive data visualization tool:
Food Environment Atlas
Basically, this map helps show that "food environment factors"—such as store/restaurant proximity, food prices, food and nutrition assistance programs, and community characteristics—interact to influence food choices and diet quality. Maybe that's a "duh" statement, but it's a good first step in a super complex problem. The USDA qualifies that more research is needed to identify causal relationships and effective policy interventions.
There are 13 indicators you can choose from and within each of those, another set of more detailed choices. Whatever you choose gets mapped and shown on the atlas. I love to visualize, and this is an excellent first step in visualizing what factors cause food insecurity.
For example, you could click on one indictor and get a map that shows where the price ratio of green, leafy veggies compared to starchy veggies is high. Or you could find out the percentage of recreation and fitness facilities per 1,000 people across the country. Is spinach way more expensive than potatoes, and there aren't any gyms nearby? That's going to add up to more obesity and more health problems.
You can even get up close and personal with your map. Try clicking on your county. In my home county - Portage, Ohio - there were 1,386 households in 2006 that owned no car and would have to travel more than a mile to a grocery store (not a convenience store). In 2008, there were 79 stores where you could use food stamps, and 88 in 2009. Unfortunately, the county level is a close as you can get. Challenges and solutions tend to be most effective when viewed on the most local level possible, so I hope they get even more down and dirty in the next iteration.
I'll admit the map's a little slow. I'd love to see these folks work with Google to come up with an awesome map that's even more user-friendly (though this ain't bad). Google - do it!
Food Environment Atlas
Basically, this map helps show that "food environment factors"—such as store/restaurant proximity, food prices, food and nutrition assistance programs, and community characteristics—interact to influence food choices and diet quality. Maybe that's a "duh" statement, but it's a good first step in a super complex problem. The USDA qualifies that more research is needed to identify causal relationships and effective policy interventions.
There are 13 indicators you can choose from and within each of those, another set of more detailed choices. Whatever you choose gets mapped and shown on the atlas. I love to visualize, and this is an excellent first step in visualizing what factors cause food insecurity.
For example, you could click on one indictor and get a map that shows where the price ratio of green, leafy veggies compared to starchy veggies is high. Or you could find out the percentage of recreation and fitness facilities per 1,000 people across the country. Is spinach way more expensive than potatoes, and there aren't any gyms nearby? That's going to add up to more obesity and more health problems.
You can even get up close and personal with your map. Try clicking on your county. In my home county - Portage, Ohio - there were 1,386 households in 2006 that owned no car and would have to travel more than a mile to a grocery store (not a convenience store). In 2008, there were 79 stores where you could use food stamps, and 88 in 2009. Unfortunately, the county level is a close as you can get. Challenges and solutions tend to be most effective when viewed on the most local level possible, so I hope they get even more down and dirty in the next iteration.
I'll admit the map's a little slow. I'd love to see these folks work with Google to come up with an awesome map that's even more user-friendly (though this ain't bad). Google - do it!
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