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June 10th, 2010
01:24 PM ET
Rachael Ray: Time to help kids to eat healthierBy Katherine Dorsett Daytime television host and author Rachael Ray joined a bipartisan group of lawmakers Thursday to unveil new child nutrition legislation in Washington. Among other things, the proposed $8 billion bill would improve access and funding to school meal programs, improve access to out-of-school meal programs, help schools and child care improve the quality of meals and encourage public and private partnerships to improve child nutrition and wellness. Ray said the "Improving Nutrition for America's Children Act of 2010" will dramatically improve the quality of food children eat both in and out of school and in child care settings. "I consider this a big opportunity to have a voice in this legislation," said Ray. Rep. George Miller said at a media briefing Thursday that in 2008 more than 16 million children lived in homes without access to enough nutritious foods. "America's children should not have to go hungry and they should have access to healthy foods year round, even when school children are on summer break," said Miller. This legislation, according to Miller, will answer President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" initiative to support efforts to improve school wellness and support public and private partnerships to improve child nutrition. |
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Doesn't do a bit of good as long as lazy lunch servers are still making processed food for the kids. Also doesn't help as long as parents continue to feed their kids from the plethora of fastfood places peppering our roadways. Change has to start with the parents and schools servers.
It's a shame Rachel doesn't include nutrition and calorie information in her magazine. The recipes look good, but I don't know what I'm getting.
I actually canceled my Rachael Ray magazine subscription because so many of her recipes were unhealthy. Her food is meat topped with cheese & more meat. Occasionally, she'd have a few vegetarian recipes, but they were also high in fat. She makes no bones about the fact that her food is not health conscious. She is more interested in getting the family around the table to eat together, so let's give them what tastes good. I think you can do that but still keep the meals relatively healthy. Now, for her to stand up and call for healthier lunches is a bit hypocritical, but I'll take her support for the issue, because she has a famous name to lend to an important cause. Hopefully, this will cause her to revamp her recipes a bit.
Wow...lots of people seem to think highly of themselves on here. Rachel is using her celebrity to push a worthy issue, let her do it. Did she make a personal attack on you? Are you feeling guilty for not feeding your children right, is that it? So what she did a few dunkin donuts commercial...no biggie....most things are fine in moderation...moderation being the key word....and as far as her size...she really isn't that big...self-concious or just a judgemental hater???
First of all: Rachel Ray has been improving her recipes to be more healthy for the last few years. She has lost a lot of weight as a result, so I would say that makes her NOT a hypocrite at all.
Second of all: The 8 Billion dollars is going towards school lunch programs which are currently so underfunded that the only options are unhealthy ones since canned/processed food has a longer shelf-life, is easier to prepare, and is actually cheaper (because you can buy in bulk). We absolutely should be footing this bill since it is something that most Americans will use (either for themselves or their children).
While partly true Veganman, they can be considered "healthy" they usually have lower muscle tone so if you like people that look like a skeleton when they are older, veg out... There are benefits to a well rounded diet and that includes 2 servings of red meat a week. Eating a diet of only red meat can be harmful but so can a vegetable only (with occasional fish).. Going too far to either side isn't wise. To each his own though.
@dwighthuth – you can't use olive oil and especially extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) for frying. You generally do not use olive oil for high temperature cooking. EVOO has to be used at an even lower temperature.
Besides.... there is no need to deep-fry anything. It's not healthy to deep-fry, no matter what kind of oil you use.
When I was young, my mother provided ALL of my meals. I agree that all kids should have access to healthy food year round, but I disagree that we don't hold the parents of these children accountable to provide them. Let's require parents to do the parenting.
The revolution began with Chef Jamie Oliver in West Virginia. Once he left the area, the schools returned to the same old crap.
Ms Ray is a delight who is enjoying wonderful successes. I suspect this effort will not appear in the success column.
I hope I am completely wrong.
Rachel Ray calls herself a cook, I think that is clear that she enjoys
what she does and has been successfull as a talk show host. Rachel is a not a Registered Dietitician and with her input laws will be created, and that made headline news today?
You can not make the SuperMarkets lower their prices on Veggies. So who is going to help buy this healthy food for me to cook?
I completely agree with this legislation being passed, but the moron below me should not be forcing her kids to be vegan. That is completely insane and I am sure that they hate you for it. If you want to eat tofu and greens that is your choice but your children should not be forced into the eating habits you chose.
Education needs to start at home. I've been behind mothers with their "food stamp" card with not have enough on the card to buy everything. I have watched them leave the fresh fruit behind and keep the soda!!! Then, with the little cash they had, bought a magazine!!UNREAL!!
People in this country don't know how to cook a good veg. meal. Veges are either eaten raw or sauteed in butter with salt and pepper. On the other hand asian indian cooking involves cooking the veges with different spices and lentils, which gives it a lot of flavour and makes it a lot more palatable. If you want the kids to eat healthy u should change the way of cooking.
these are probably the first words to ever come out of this lady's mouth that i'm happy to hear.
Hey, I've seen her show and I'm not a fan. Nevertheless, I applaud her for supporting a national healthy foods program for children...
Of course, education on proper nutrition and fitness are critical for today's youth. You'd have to be an imbecile to not realize that.
But, we also know from firsthand experience, just how difficult it is to lose weight and stop eating foods that are bad for us. Many of us are well educated and we still can't change our bad habits!
Ray may be fat and a hypocrite as many of you have so rudely mentioned, but at least she's doing something about it. And, whatever we do about the obesity epidemic in this country, it must start with the kids...
...The adults are just too deep in denial to ever see a reasonable return on investment, imo.
To dwighthuth:
Fast food restaurants don't use olive oil to deep fry as it has a low smoke point. It's also expensive. A better thing to do is not deep fry meat or shallow fry, but bake, roast or poach instead. Or you could use a spray of peanut oil to fry meat in the skillet. Healthy kids should be eating less deep fried food altogether or less meat altogether. A plant based diet is best.
Not so quick veganman, not all kids on a vegan diet are eating correctly either. Real issues here are kids who eat portion that would probably keep an elephant going for a week and then sit in front of the video screen for hours on end exercising only their thumbs. It was the late Julia Childs who said 'eat everything in moderation' and it was good advice. Until we get our kids up off the couch (and that also means making the neighborhoods they live in safe enough for them to actually go outside without risking their lives) there is no way for them to be truly healthy.
I agree with the person who identified themselves as "truth." She needs to publicly admit she regrets doing the Dunkin Donut endorsement instead of defending it while simultaneously saying she wants kids to eat healthy. She cannot play both sides.
Rach's recipes on her website do not show nutritional information and with all the cheese she uses in practically every recipe, it's no surprise. This is just another ploy to sell more books and stuff.
Rachael Ray is gorgeous, and this is an important cause, but I don't think the taxpayers should be funding it. Tax junk food and fast food at a higher rate to fund it.
I Believe there should be healthier alternative restaurants as opposed to what we have now. Why doesn't someone come out with a chain of restaurants that has a healtheir version of pizza hut, mcdonalds, etc......... every little bit of calories and fat taken off helps. ...that would put pressure on these high calorie high fat restaurants to change things up and would also allow people to consume less of the bad calories and fat. Someone should do this and commercialize it heavily. If I had a million dollars I would do it.
Why is she even speaking to Congress? She has no idea what a healthy anything is. Has anyone seem her latest revolting meal? Grilled cheese sanwich rolled in nuts and fried. It's all cheese.
She is not an expert on anything except making meals that have so many ingredients in them that most poor people can't afford even one spice. Her meals are full of sodium when excess is unneeded, butter and olive oil to fry bacon, cheese and lots of it, and if there is a vegetable it's never a dark green vegetable and it's alway covered in some oily concoction that makes eating it a waste.
Why not have nutritionists like Ellie Krieger, and other people who actually know what a healthy and good diet is and what the benefits will do for kids and that healthy can look just as good as it tastes and tastes even better than it looks.
This woman who is now the spokewoman for "healthy children and healthy school lunches" has no idea the nutrional value of any food let alone the benefits for anyone. All of her food looks like bodily .... and she seems to avoid eating her own food.
I have watched Ellie Krieger and she always seems to enjoy what she makes and her food looks so healthy and edible.
Rachael Ray is should not be talking about childhood nutrtion when everything she makes is in oil...nothing is baked, steamed or lightly seared. Oil oil oil.
Ellie Krieger's recipes are really good. I have tried several and I'm always surprised how good they taste and she includes the nutritional information for knowing what is going into your body and what a realistic and healthy serving size is.
I say bring on the nutrionists and the healthy experts! Yay!
I think it is great that she is trying to help the kids in our country. It seems petty to make snide remarks about her weight. The point is she is trying to help kids. She is by no means obese! Focus on the positive and the real issues here.
The McDonald's facts are disgusting! They should be ashamed of themselves for even offering such food!
School lunches were developed to compensate for the calories that many kids would not be able to get from home for whatever reasons. This is why they are heavily subsidized.
Nothing wrong with helping those who are less fortunate, financially. But I think there's something wrong with the help when the quality of the help flagrantly shows disdain for those on the receiving end.
I promise that healthy and clean does not cost a lot of money and I promise that it's cheaper than eating McDonald's [and the like], and what's currently served in most public school lunches. Serving a truly healthy meal may cost a bit more time, but seriously, isn't giving a little more time worth it all?
@ sunlover & Howard K, she has changed her eating habits and lost 30 lbs from what I've read. Hopefully she will change her ingredients on the show.
Howard K you are insane- Rachael is a very healthy weight, Are you one of these people who think if you skin and bones "THEN" you are healthy? Her cooking IS healthy, everything is in moderation! The problem these days are parents are too lazy to cook an actual meal every night and eat out 4-5,6 times a week!
It will always be healthier to eat VEGANS, especially the tender veal offspring of vegans
Working in schools while putting myself through med school, I've been shocked at what I see being served to the kids. The school orders in Blackjack Pizza, and their menu includes things like nachos on a daily basis... and many kids eat ONLY these things every single day. Then kids even get pizza for breakfast from the breakfast lines before school. While on the one side, the financially disadvantaged kids are getting at least two meals a day from the schools, those two meals are often anything BUT healthy. Studies have shown that schools that serve healthier foods and include things such as salad bars have significantly fewer behavior problems among the kids. Wake up, America. Nutrition isn't only important for our bodies... it's important to our minds as well!
Im suprised to see so many people hate on this woman for trying to do something positive. Who cares if she has made money from Duncan Donuts. She has to pay her bills just like everyone else, and considering most americans only eat unhealthy garbage it probably means some of her time on her show will encorporate that.
The queen of olive oil should be taken seriously when it comes to nutrition? 2 tablespoons of olive oil (in other words, not much) has 23g of fat and around 220 calories. People can talk about "good fat" and "bad fat" all they want, but in the end, calories are calories!
Tell it like it is Martina. What a joke that she has the nerve to get up and run her mouth on a subject she knows nothing about....kids nutrition. Just look at her recipes full of cheese, pasta and meat, not to mention her beloved "EVOO". I don't believe for one second that she runs three miles a day either. She's not toned at all like a runner and her her face looks bloated...well, she just looks fat. The only reason she's out there speaking is to draw attention to herself, as usual. She's nothing more thant a media and product whore. Just unbelieveable that people actually belived this woman has credibility on this subject. Cool-Aid anyone???
Healthy Kids Challenge (www.healthykidschallenge.org) is a non-profit supporting healthier families for over a dozen years. We don't need to legislate or reinvent – the evidence-based content and options are already available.
Leah, you're forgetting that two tablespoons of olive oil isn't eaten by one person. For one, most recipes we use at home call for 1-1.5, but regardless, that much olive oil typically goes into a recipe that serves 5-8 people. Divide those 220 calories among 5-8 people and you have something not worth worrying about.
It is hilarious to hear this from the Dunkin Donuts queen. Who does she think she's fooling when she puts that sad face and tells the world that kids aren't eating healthy nowadays?
Not only that but he recipes are so rich and full of fat that it makes you wonder if they were made by her twin evil sister (the same from the Dunkin Donuts commercials).
Rachel, go back to advertising round pastries with holes in them. At least you're making money and not embarrassing yourself like you did in front of all these people by talking from both sides of your mouth!
Wow...everyone seems ready to jump on the government and schools to solve this problem. Where is parent responsibility? I agree that healthy food needs to be served in schools and available to all, but at some point parents and kids need to take some responsibility on themelves for their health. You can cut all of the junk out of school lunchrooms, but it won't make a difference if kids continue to bring lunches with chips, soda, and candy, then go home to sit in front of the tv or computer. Somewhere, we need to teach kids about nutrition and hold some parents responsible for their stupid decisions in regards to healthy lfestyles.
In response to "J" and the question "who is going to help me buy this healthy food to cook", no one. Why should someone help you buy healthy food? If you find produce too expensive, certain canned vegetables or frozen can carry just as many nutrents, or maybe you can just give up something else you spend money on and buy healthy food instead. It's all about priorities.
While EVERYONE should eat healthy and it should begin with Parents teaching by example, I don't think ANYONE without kids is qualified to tell parents what to do.
I simply can't stand when people that aren't even parents and are CLUELESS tell parents what they should and should be not doing! Sorry! You aren't a parent- then STFU because you have no idea what you are talking about! And "I have nieces and nephews" doens't count!
I work in a school and I won't eat in the lunch room. Pizza is served a couple times a week. Everyday, they serve potatoes formed into cute shapes (i.e. smiley faces) and then fried. Mystery meat. And so many overweight children. PE class only 2 times a week.
I don't watch Rachel Ray and don't care that she's a spokesperson for Dunkin Donuts. I'm just grateful that she's using her celebrity status to bring attention to the lunchroom issue.
craig wiatrek – If I thought she was truly trying to do this from her heart as a passion, I would whole heartedly support her. I just think she's a publicity hound. As far as paying her bills...she makes over 6 million a year pimping out fat loaded, expense recipes, recycled cookbooks and crappy, soddy merchandise to unsuspecting fans. It's pathetic that people with hard earned dollars spend it on her products then wonder why they don't meet their expectations. It's just confusing to me why people look up to this clown.
To Parent Responsibility? – Parents aren't going to be enforcing healthy eating at home until healthy foods are more attainable. They must be cheaper and more prevalent, and food manufacturers need to be held responsible. This will not happen without heavy government intervention. The only other way it could happen is if consumers started boycotting these processed foods but it will never happen. It's convenient, cheap, and easy to prepare.
Megan: No, I'm not forgetting that. I think we can agree anyway that with an adult obesity rate of 67%, most families aren't just using 1-2 tablespoons to cook with. Plus, I'm looking through a Rachael Ray cookbook right now, and there are very few "healthy" recipes...and many call for cooking with 1-2 tablespoons of EVOO AND putting it in sides, dressings and sauces.
If she wants to switch gears, fine, more power to her. However, education is more important than being lulled into a sense of security by a celebrity cook...
So now the government is going to feed us. Give us healthcare. Give us money when we don't work. Hey uncle sam, I need some new clothes while you're at it.
The food kids eat in school is garbage, just a bunch of junk the corn lobbyists push the gov't to buy. She wants to extend that through the summer? Or is she just a corn lobbyist now?
Hey Rachel, how about stop smoking? Can you spread that message to kids? Not without being a hypocrite, huh?
family, not government, is where this kind of education happens.
I appreciate efforts to help educate kids and families about healthy eating, so the obesity epidemic can end, but many of you who commented above hit the nail on the head. Rachael Ray is a hypocrite. However, I am more angry at the "officials" who hail her as a nutritional guru than I am at her. She is a fame whore who gets off on the attention. Dr. Gupta, Bill Clinton, Barak Obama, and anyone else who requests her advice on how to get kids to eat well have obviously never seen her shows, choosing only to listen to her pay lip service to anyone who will listen. If they actually watched her shows, they would see the obscene amounts of meat, cheese, oil and pasta she calls one serving. It's enough to choke a stable full of horses. I am a vegetarian who eats pretty healthy, and I would rather dine on a Big Mac than eat any of her abominations.
When family meals are a rarity, and everyone is in a rush and forgetting how to savor life, why choose the self-proclaming queen of 30 minute meals? I agree education and responsibilities need to begin with parents (as for many things). Many parents need to be better educated and realize that fresh or frozen and better choices can be alot less expensive in the long run. Kids are faced with unhealthy choices at school and there needs to be change in the way the cafeterias work. Nutritionists educating kids, making it fun and letting the kids be part of the menu and learing about the foods they are eating: the good and the bad and the benefits and the disadvantages. If kids see how meals are made and where it comes from they may have a better appreciation-slowly- about what they eat. Eventually passing that on to their parents.
Rachael Ray not the right choices to be speaking about healthy kids and families when her meals swimming in oil, butter, cheese, salt unhealthy meats. Many of the ingredients she uses are expensive and not widely available. Who needs a 20 ingredient meal?
Someone do a calorie calculation on the meals she cooks and comments on all of the time on how healthful they are. It is shocking.
Rachael Ray preaching healthy eating is like Cookie Monster preaching Slimfast.
Megan~Healthy food are very much attainable, what is comes down to is lazy parents who don't take the time to shop healthy, or cook. It's up to people and personal responsibility. Some of us actually do go gerenally without processed foods and live a generally nutritious life, without the governments help, go figure.