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Chef Jamie Oliver from the UK has been actively involved in working to change the diets of children and adults for several years. Jamie Oliver is a restaurant owner, chef, cookbook author, and celebrity. He has promoted healthy eating in schools and for adults as a way to try to address the obesity epidemic. His efforts have been criticized and praised by the general public, school systems, and government. The program is called the Food Revolution.
Many programs that address childhood obesity around the world have failed due to cultural traditions, the way people eat, families not having access to healthy food, and poverty. Children and adults from poor families are twice as likely to be overweight.
In the United States 19 states have an adult obesity rate of over 35%. About 12.7% of children ages two to five are obese. In the UK about 64% of adults are overweight. Over 22.6% of children ages 4-5 are obese and 33.4% of children 10-11.
Jamie Oliver is not alone in his efforts to tackle the obesity epidemic. He and others involved find it a difficult task to change how people eat and cook. In the school system in the UK and the United States he has worked with the school cafeteria staff to try to design a healthier food menu,
His Program Results In Success and Failure
In the UK, Jamie Oliver created standards in the school cafeterias for using better quality meat products for meal preparation. He has taught cooking classes for overweight men and women suffering from chronic disease to help them improve their diet. His concern is that there is too much junk food and not enough nutrition.
Jamie Oliver lobbied in the UK to change the laws surrounding junk food. He wanted to have the government put a tax on sugar and a ban on advertising junk food. In 2022, he protested the government because they delayed the rollout of a new program that addresses obesity. He protested with a large group of people and he brought a sweet cake to demonstrate his point about junk food.
They UK was supposed to ban buy one get one free advertising on junk food and tax sugar. They delayed this program because they wanted to determine how it will affect the cost of living.
In some school systems in the United State Jamie Oliver has had succeed in making changes to the school menus. In West Virginia one schools makes all their meals from scratch. They are planning to train eight other schools and the cafeteria workers to cook healthier meals from scratch.
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In some schools, Jamie found it hard for the cafeteria workers to make his recipes from scratch on time and within budget. Another problems he encountered was many kids did not like his recipes and they preferred the junk food. Few children ate his entrees, and some threw them away. Other schools did not have a budget or the money to buy fresh fruits, vegetables, meat and poultry.
Jamie Olivers intentions have been honorable, and sincere but he has failed at times and angered those he tried to help. Many people support his efforts in the UK and the United States but he has been criticized for recipes with too much fat, sugar, and salt. During the pandemic he gained some weight bringing on more criticism from the public.
Jamie Oliver says his weight gain was due to the pandemic lockdown, eating more at home, and ordering fast food. He has hired a personal trainer and is trying to address the issue.
Let's give Jamie Oliver credit for trying and finding out in reality it is not easy to solve the obesity epidemic and find a way to get consumers to eat healthy food. Many healthcare facilities have addressed obesity to find it a hard problem to change.
Jamie and his wife have five kids and find creative ways to make them eat more vegetables and healthy meals. They are making changes at home the best place to start. Perhaps more families should start at home even if they start with small changes that fits into their busy lifestyle.
Despite failure and criticism Jamie Oliver will continue to try to improve the diet of kids and adults through healthy eating and his program. We should give him credit for not giving up and quitting. Perhaps you might want to visit his website and try some of his recipes for adults and children.
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