"Parks and Recreation" star Nick Offerman has a new job on a pizza farm. He joins the “American Heart Association” and the comedy website “Do or Die” in a hilarious, satirical piece to reveal the “healthy” choices of food that the government serves for school lunch.
“French fries are practically salad, which is why I like mine with ranch,” Offerman said, stamped with his signature grin, poking out of his bushel of mustache.
In 2010, Congress passed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act that helps “provide children with healthier and more nutritious food options, educate children about making healthy food choices, and teach children healthy habits that can last a lifetime.”
Since then, 16 percent of kids eat more vegetables and 23 percent to eat more fruit. Children who participate in the National School Lunch Program also have greater opportunities to get essential vitamins and minerals they need by consuming a higher-quality diet with more fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, dairy and whole grains and less sugar, fat and salt. More than 31 million children obtain their meals through school lunch programs. Many receive most, if not all, meals at school.
Still, about one in three children in the United States are overweight or obese, almost triple the rate in 1963. Factors that contribute to this epidemic include food choices (high fat and sugary options), lack of physical activity, increasingly sedentary lifestyles, overweight parents and genetics. Obese children are being diagnosed with many health problems that, in the past, were only seen in adults. Obese children are more likely to be obese adolescents and continue on in adulthood coupled with medical health problems such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, several types of cancer, and osteoarthritis, according to Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Roughly 80 percent of obese adolescents will be obese adults. Obese children will result in an increased amount of diseases and disorders in adulthood regardless of whether or not become obese adults.
Having healthier children in our nation will not only result in healthier adults but also saving billions of dollars.
“For example, a 9.5 percent drop in sodium intake could result in one million fewer cardiac events each year and a savings of more than $32 billion,” the American Heart Association said.
Children deserve real nutrition on their lunch trays instead of taquitos “soaking up the minerals and vitamins from the sun,” from Offerman´s orchards of taquito trees.
The American Heart Association says “our kid´s health isn´t a laughing matter” and encourages the reauthorization of the “Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act.” To protect the progress of the law that encourages and promotes strong nutrition standards, “helping give our children the longer, healthier futures they deserve,” write to your US Senator or Representative.
This act authorizes funding for USDA´s child nutrition programs; the National School Lunch Program, the School Breakfast Program, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), the Summer Food Service Program, and the Child and Adult Care Food Program. For more information on these programs, visit http://www.fns.usda.gov/
