OK, let me rephrase. I have never seen anything that's convinced me that school lunches can be changed on anything other than a federal level, and the meat and dairy lobbies have a lot of influence on making sure that does not happen. This show seems much more about shaming the parents and schools than about making actual changes.

That's just not going to work.

I'm sorry, I just can't agree with that.

My school always had skim. There was no battle at all. I don't think that's a regulations thing so much as local crap.

I think drawing attention to it is one of the only ways you're going to show parents that those lobbies do have such a strong hold on the nutrition programs, though.

And I don't get that he's shaming anyone. Not intentionally. He seems to genuinely care about health.

What processed foods are required? The regulations are that if you take any gov. subsidies you can't buy any foods that aren't?

The government funding for school lunches are partially in cash and partially in "commodity foods." For each school lunch sold at regular price, the school gets a certain amount of cash plus a certain amount of food, which is generally frozen or canned vegetables, fries and tater tots, instant mashed potatoes, cheese, ground beef, and chicken patties. The schools usually don't have much choice about what foods they get as commodity foods. They get more cash and more food for reduced-price and free lunches. If the school doesn't use the processed food that they get as commodity foods, then they're wasting a pretty significant part of their food budget.

Hooray shame! If Jamie Oliver won't shame the fatties, who will???

Oh, right- EVERYONE.

I get so tired of Teh Humans. Hmm, maybe I'm just tired?

And yet I keep hearing about pilot projects (ok, in better school districts) doing just that. I just won't be defeatist about this. And hell, Michelle Obama's on the bandwagon. It's not as if there isn't already some discontent afoot. Yes, it probably "officially" needs to be changes on the federal level. But you can start with just not contracting to Sysco's chicken patties.

I don't really have issues with shit-stirring tv. I know it's tv. It's got an angle. I saw frustration and frankly, willful naivite, but that's tv.

I think drawing attention to it is one of the only ways you're going to show parents that those lobbies do have such a strong hold on the nutrition programs, though.

But so far, there has been not a word mentioned about the lobbies. The USDA regulations are treated as some silly rules that he's trying to get around, not as federal rules that the school has to follow or else they don't get food at all.

And I don't get that he's shaming anyone. Not intentionally. He seems to genuinely care about health.

I can't see telling a parent "You are killing your child!" as anything other than shaming. Same for looking at a family's meal and telling them, "This is disgusting."

On the skim milk thing, the school's explanation was that the whole, 2%, and chocolate milk were required, and thus subsidized. Skim milk was not required, and thus they had to pay full price for it.

He seems to genuinely care about health.

Hee- Jamie Oliver's a Concern Troll!

FitDay is good for tracking food against activity level, plus giving a breakdown of how much fiber, etc.

I've been using the MyPlate function at LiveStrong for a while now, but I've been using one of the preset activity levels and possibly was doing myself a disservice. I walk 3-4 miles during the course of an average work day, more if I run errands, which means carrying bags and going up and down a ton of stairs, and that's all before I hit the gym or the weights or the yoga mat.

I made JZ a totally from scratch and tasty stir fry tonight that met her vegan-for-lent requirements: minced onions and garlic in the oil, spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms, green onions, and tofu. I added a sauce made of soy sauce, crystalized ginger (one piece finely chopped), mustard and hot sauce.

(Then I made a TJ's cheese pizza for the rest of us. It was organic! Okay, I cheated there.)

Then we ate strawberries which are hitting the market in abundance all of a sudden and are gorgeous deep red and flavorful and cheap.