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A Food Revolution is Coming

January 30th, 2010 Leave a comment Go to comments
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Huntington, West Virginia is the sickest city in the country. The stats show that almost half its inhabitants are obese. Diabetes rates are very high; people are suffering from heart ailments and other assorted maladies.

British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, who has already revamped the UK’s school lunch system is now attempting to achieve same in the home country of fast food.

Will he succeed? A new reality show, Food Revolution, will start airing on ABC in March. It will follow Jamie’s attempt to undo decades of damage, all with his cooking skills, charisma, and passion to improve people’s lives.

Should be interesting.

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  • DMH222

    I think Jamie Oliver is providing a wonderful opportunity for the citizens of Huntington, W.V. It is time for all cities to look at the future of their residents and do what they can to encourage good nutrition. I hope he is able to motivate the children and adults alike to make a healthy lifestyle change.

  • Heidi

    I am going to have to watch that. I was not aware of this before your preview but it looks great. I love Jaime because he is so passionate. It saddens me greatly that a child would not even know what a tomato is. I could understand some of the more obscure varieties of vegetables, but a tomato is a staple vegetable. It is just sad!

  • http://www.dreamworthygifts.com Mike Kunkle

    How interesting. I’m a fan of yours on Facebook and get your newsletters, but this is the first time I am commenting. As indicated here, and by some recent things that I have learned, it seems there is a positive, healthy momentum building.

    I just spent a few days with the leaders of a company in Austin, TX, Genesis Today (http://www.GenesisToday.com). The company founder, Dr. Lindsey Duncan, is a renowned naturalist and has created a company focused on superfruits | superfoods | natural health supplements. I was impressed to learn that Walmart approached Dr. Lindsey (as he prefers to be called) and asked his company to produce a line of superfood-based, nutritious foods to encourage healthier eating in America.

    So far, Genesis Today (which previously only provided products through health food stores) has created 3 superfruit juices for sales through Walmart and Sam’s Club; Acai, Goji, and one called Resveratrol. On February 14, they will launch a yogurt line based on these three superfruits, a Kiwi yogurt smoothie, and two healthy puddings based on Cacao and Acai.

    If interested, you can read more at http://www.genesistoday.com. Or, as an example, here is a PDF about the Acai juice: http://www.genesistoday.com/genesis-today-product_pdf/AcaiBerryJuice_SS_2sided_consumer.pdf

    The good news, is that there are people like Jamie Oliver and Lindsey Duncan, and perhaps surprisingly, Walmart executives, who are trying to do something to positively influence the eating and nutrition habits of Americans.

    Mike Kunkle
    @DreamWorthy | @Mike_Kunkle on Twitter

  • Bill

    Walmart doesn’t sell a product in their store because they think it’s going to offer health benefits to their customers. It’s because they can make a profit off it. After doing some research on this company it’s pretty clear they’re just jumping on the bandwagon. They got started selling nutritional detox products and then made the jump to so called super juices. Read about Lindsey Duncan’s “credentials” (http://www.genesistoday.com/dr_lindsey_duncan/) and decide for yourself if you think he’s a real doctor.

  • http://amguido.personal.asu.edu/wordpress/ Angela

    I think starting with the school lunch system is a great approach to changing the habits of our children. It disheartens me that we are known as the “home country of fast food,” but it is also a great eye-opener that this is how the world sees us, and it is time for change.

    In our county I know of several health initiatives to go right after school lunches, since this is where people develop their eating habits, especially in a peer setting. I look forward to seeing how this goes over here in America and hope it is effective.

  • http://www.betterschoolfood.org Dr Susan Rubin

    Spoiler alert! Jamie did not succeed in transforming school food!
    Why? Because our food system is broken, it costs too much to feed real food.
    The good news is that the Child Nutrition Act is up for re-authorization in the coming months. Hopefully Jamie’s show will be screening at the right time to raise awareness of this issue.
    If you want to get involved and make a difference, check out Slow Food USA’s Time for Lunch campaign. (http://www.slowfoodusa.org/timeforlunch) and let’s all get working to give kids in the US real food that they deserve!

  • Larry Tacker

    @Bill
    That’s quite a burden, Bill — for you to be the one to decide who is and who isn’t “real” at what they do. Lindsey Duncan has a doctorate in naturopathic medicine, and 40,000 hours of clinical practice in nutrition (according to the link you provided.) That seems to be a pretty credible background for someone in his business. I doubt the competition, most of it made by Coke and Pepsi, can claim that kind of experience.

  • that guy

    there’s a funny thing about genesis today and lindsey duncan you can’t read on the website. i work at the dairy that makes the yogurt products for genesis today. i personally help mix, case, and ship the product. the yogurt is made at 140 degrees fahrenheit and some of the ingredients are a 7-day shelf life. the product is a 50 day shelf life after it is made. lindsey duncan says to release it anyway. on top of that, we told him the finished product is supposed to sit for 20 days at a sustained temperature of 35 degrees. he told us to ship it over immediately, which the management did. because of this, the yogurt produced 150 complaints of mold on the first run! so it’s all been shut down until they do shelf life tests and start using preservatives. sounds like a pretty good “doctor” to me. the genesis product kept us so busy that they had to start another shift to keep up, and because of the doctor who cares, all 10 or so new guys were laid off yesterday.