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I have to admit that I am a huge fan of Jamie Oliver (in more ways than 1).  I'm a big man.  I weigh 293lbs as of yesterday.  I'm trying very very hard to win the war of weight loss...and its been an uphill battle.  I joined Weight Watchers and that helped.  But it aint easy.

I was raised on Southern Country cooking.  Lots of deep fried foods with gravy.  Sugary ice tea and drinks.  Cornbread, peas cooked in lots of salt, oil, etc.  Fried Chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy.  When I got older I began to eat fast foods.  Lots of it too.  Pizza, Big Macs, greasy fries, tacos, etc.  and I smoked.  And I drank like a fish.

By 40 I was pushing 300lbs and was pre diabetic, suffering with high blood pressure, high cholesterol and sleep Apnea (all 3 are killers).

So when Jamie Oliver came on with his tv show in America, I enthusiastically jumped on board.  Having been forced to try to shop for good, healthy food at the stores, figure out how to cook them properly and all that, I know very well how difficult it is for big folks like me to lose weight.

One of the first problems I encountered was at the supermarket.  Why does diet food cost so much more than regular food???  And why is it relegated to one small section of the supermarket???  I go down the food aisles and look at the ingredients. 95% of them are high in fat, high in sugar and sodium.  

When I was in elementary and High School, we had a choice at lunch time.  We could eat what they served us...or we could bring our own lunch.  But a typical lunch when I was in high school went like this:

Pizza
Mashed potatoes
Tiny bit of lettuce with fat ladened dressing.
Or you could have a hamburger or hot dog and greasy fries.  Sometimes they served us fried chicken.

for drinks, we could get plain milk, chocolate milk or a sugary soda.

That aint healthy.  furthermore, we grew up thinking this was the way people should eat.

Well...some 30 yrs later along comes Jamie Oliver!  Jamie is going into our schools in America and trying to teach our servers in the lunchrooms that we need to get away from all the trans fats and fried food that is poisoning our kids and start serving good, healthy meals!  Do away with the sodas and flavored milk too.

He's hitting a brick wall.  While many parents support Jamie, school administrators are becoming problematic.  They refuse to change!  In LA, the school administrators were outright hostile to Oliver.

And Michelle Obama has tried to make changes in the way our kids have their meals as well.  She is championing the cause of good quality healthy meals for students in our schools and she's meeting the same type of criticism.

Why?

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Well, the fast food industry is a pretty big industry, and there's a lot of vested interest that want to keep things as they are. So, there's a serious effort out there to keep people buying the cheap, processed crap instead of more natural healthy foods. At the end of the day, most people will pick convenience and cost over quality - especially when the money is tight. So, the big companies produce their crap in bulk and then sell it at a low cost with special offers to keep people coming back - why just buy a whopper with regular fries and a drink when you can double up for 50c extra?  And what applies to individuals/families applies to the school boards as well, by doing a deal with bug catering companies they save money. So that's why they are against Jamie & Michelle - if people realise there's an alternative to the crap that's being shoved into their kids, then the schools would have to spend more and lose all their fast food endorsements.

You should take a look for the British series of "Jamie's School Dinners", is very similar. Here's an article comparing his US efforts to his UK ones: http://www.thecurvynerd.com/2010/04/12/jamie-olivers-food-revolution-vs-jamies-school-dinners-fat-vs-unhealthy/

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Interesting article.  Those turkey twizzlers look like something the cat forgot to bury in the litterbox.  Eeww.  

Yeah, the radio personalities in Huntington accused Jamie of being arrogant, but I never understood that.  Jamie was a nice guy throughout everything I saw.  And he did run into a lot of red tape and insanity that our USDA imposes for school lunches.  So that article was accurate.

Do you guys get to see the current Food Revolution show in your country?  Jamie is running into what I think is a corrupt bureaucracy.  It really looks like the guy who orders the food for the LA school system is getting his palm greased by the local distributors.  Its the only explanation I have.  And its clear that the LA superintendent of education has nothing but pure contempt for the Brit.  He refuses to meet with Jamie, refuses to listen to him and pawned him off on the guy who is in charge of ordering the food.  (Who, btw, pulled him aside, said 'lets meet in private, then sent a lackey out to talk with Jamie.)  He wouldnt even talk with him!

As for the fast food industry, the only way I can see it ever changing is if a guy like Jamie will open up a business, use only healthy foods and outsell everyone else!  I dunno if that's possible either.  Most folks arent gonna buy a $6 hamburger at a fast food joint.  so he's gotta figure out a way to get the stuff cheap and sell it cheap...plus make a profit.

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Dennis, the only thing I can think of for schools not wanting to change is perhaps the cost, or maybe they are afraid the kids won't like that food & get it somewhere else?  I haven't watched that show, though I know about it.  FYI, Jamie wrote the blurb about Michelle Obama in Time mags top 100 influential people issue. Many people have criticized her for telling people what they should eat.  What bullshit. They should be glad someone cares about the health of people. You are right.  It does cost more to buy healthy food at the store.  I think that is why lower income people/families tend to have weight problems.  When you are eating cheap, filling food like macaroni, potaoes, beans & rice, etc you tend to be heavier. It sucks that carbs make one heavy, cuz I love carbs!  

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Amen to all that.  (I'll probably get criticized now by someone for saying 'amen'.  Lol!  But yeah...Michelle is getting a bad rap.  She's one who is actually trying to do something about a bad system we have here in our food industry.  I can understand say...Wendys or McDonalds not wanting to be forced to have healthy food.  But kids in school rarely have a choice (especially if they are poor).  They have to eat what the school serves, or bring it from home.  and usually its much cheaper for kids to eat lunches the school provides.  So why not feed them healthy food, fruits and veggies and lower fat stuff?

But the food industry seems to be blocking this imo.  I cant prove it mind you.  But I bet they are.

If you get a chance, check out the Food Revolution eps.  Jamie Oliver is terrific and really seems to care.  and believe it or not, the eps arent boring at all.  

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well now that i'm hungry....

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I saw something years ago (possibly Super Size Me?) that briefly documented a continuation school that had improved student behavior and health by only feeding the students healthy, freshly made products, all for the same price the other schools were spending on preprocessed crap.  It makes no since to me either.

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what makes no sense to me are these school districts where parents aren't allowed to pack their own kids' lunches, because then the food nazis can't have their say.