food revolution

This afternoon, First Lady Michelle Obama will be joined by corporate chiefs from Walmart, Walgreens, Supervalu, and other national and regional chains to announce a new initiative to open or expand more than 1,500 retail stores in an effort to bring healthier food to underserved areas. It's the latest push in Obama's Let's Move! campaign to solve the epidemic of childhood obesity.

These changes, according to the Domestic Policy Council, will affect 9.5 million people and could create as many as tens of thousands of new jobs. As part of the campaign, Walmart will open 275 to 300 stores in food deserts between now and 2016 and continue its efforts to make premium, healthful foods like whole wheat pasta more affordable for low-income shoppers. Walgreens will expand its fresh fruit and vegetable offerings, among other nutritious options, to at least 1,000 stores.

The USDA defines a "food desert" as a place where 33 percent or 500 people (whichever is less) live more than a mile from a grocery store in an urban area, or more than 10 miles away in a rural area. Currently, 23.5 million Americans — 6.5 million of them children — live in low-income areas that are less likely to have affordable, wholesome foods.

How exciting that fruits and vegetables will soon be available in low-income retailers — drugstores, even — across the country. Still, it's hard not to question the incentives of America's retail giants. What do you think of the announcement?

Although he received no support from the Los Angeles School District, British chef Jamie Oliver was able to shoot the entire second season of his documentary-like reality show, Food Revolution, in LA. The program will debut on April 12, and here we have the first preview. With scenes that show a teenage boy declaring honey comes from a bear and a family's living room full of the junk food they eat in a year, it's clear our nation is in need of this sort of wake-up call. Check out a sneak peek of the Revolution below and tell me what you think in the comments. Will you tune in?

Editor's note: The following is a guest post written by Annabel Karmel, the British children's chef and kiddie cookbook author. As the year comes to a close, Annabel shares her thoughts on making kid's mealtime healthier.

I always find the New Year a great time to start afresh, and I think it so important to find new inspiration to feed my family and myself a balanced and nutritional diet that will shake us out of the slightly overindulgent Christmas month that has just gone by. Below are a few resolutions that might help re-energize your cooking habits through January.

• Try to keep introducing new fruit and vegetables into your children’s diet. For example hidden in a sauce or threaded onto a straw for the lunch box.
• Variety. Give your children a wide variety of different foods, for example trying recipes from different cultures such as Asian or Italian. Encourage a balanced diet of different foods – it will reduce the likelihood of your children developing into fussy eaters and make them more interested in trying new foods.
• Try not to give into demands when taking your children to the store. Establish a rule to allow them one treat, and one treat only, otherwise you can end up with grocery bags full of sweet cereals and candy.
• Try to be organized with ‘Smart Snacking’. Kids are always hungry when they come home from school or activities. Keep a supply of healthy snacks available in the lower shelves of the fridge such as a Spanish omelette or cut up fruit.
• Try to stay clear of ready-made processed food that is high in saturated fats and sodium. Where possible make food from scratch using fresh ingredients, but if that is not possible, look for ready-meals that are designed for children and therefore lower in salt.

Have a picky eater that refuses to eat his greens or a lil girl who is begging to be your sous chef, but you don't know how she can help? Submit your cooking and feeding questions to The Children's Table group over in the LilSugar Community and we'll have Annabel answer them!

Hold the high fructose corn syrup! A mom may cheat on occasion, but there are certain groceries that you'll never find in her shopping cart. We asked mamas the foods they have banned. Here's what they said.

• Packaged goods for calicocobuble: "But I don't buy any junk food like chips, cookies or cheese puffs and that sort. Snacks I give my son are pretzels or fruit. I never buy packaged ready foods. They are so unhealthy. I cook dinner every night from scratch and bake from scratch, even pancakes and waffles. I like to know that what my children are eating is basic ingredients that have not been inserted with garbage. So when we go out for ice cream or he gets a treat like candy, it's once in a while, or on the weekends so it's special."
• Facebook fan Kathy Pape Brauer steers clear of high fructose corn syrup, as do bellafranki and an anonymous reader.
• Girl Jen avoids soda. She said, "My mom kept a steady supply of pop in the house, and as a result, my brothers and I drank 2-3 Cokes a day. As a result, I had horrible teeth and disrupted sleep and it took me years to stop feeling like I needed pop."
• Nothing said an anonymous reader. She explained, "My husband and I have found that when something is highly restricted or banned, people often go overboard when they do get the chance to have it. So, we allow pretty much everything in but keep tabs on what's eaten/drank and when!"
• Soda and juice make the list in RoaringSilence's home. "I wouldn't allow soda and juice cocktails. All other foods...yeah the occasional treat is OK in moderation. But it's harder to do that with drinks."
• Moderation is key according to amandachalynn. "I don't really totally ban anything. My sons regular diet is healthy and balanced, so I don't mind him having something that isn't exactly good for him every once in a while. He's active and is actually underweight according to his doc, so I'm really not worried about obesity in my house."