Someone said to me in the office the other day that perhaps in the future people will look back at this time in history and compare our current obesity crisis as the same way that we now view the harm that smoking cigarettes causes. "Why did we not do more about educating our children about good food and how to cook it?" we might be saying. Well I am happy to sat that my place of work does just that and this Friday we will be running our third Food Revolution Day. What is Food Revolution Day you may ask? Put simply we are "Calling all kids, families and grown-ups to join our global day of action on Friday 16 May. Get cooking, share your love of food and inspire others to get excited too."
Jamie's mission started over 11 years ago when he set up the charity restaurant Fifteen London where we teach young people to become top class Chefs and now this charity has grown into a world wide Foundation that includes Jamie's School Kitchen Garden Project, Jamie's Ministry of Food both here in the UK and in Australia and also Jamie's Food Foundation in the States.
Everything that the Foundation does echoes Jamie's desire to inspire people from all walks of life to make better food choices. Food Revolution Day is a a global day of action and on the day we will all be celebrating how vital it is to learn how to cook from scratch and raising awareness of the importance of eating good food.
There are many ways in which you can be involved on the day.
Here is why we believe that Food Revolution Day is so very important:
Diet-related illnesses are entirely preventable.
Children today are the first generation predicted to live shorter lives than their parents because of diet and inactivity.
Worldwide, there are already more than 43million children under the age of five who are either overweight or obese[2]. If this continues, the figure will rise to nearly 60million by 2020[3].
Type-2 diabetes, previously considered a disease specific only to adults, is now becoming prevalent in children as young as eight years old[4].
Diet-related illnesses, which include type-2 diabetes, heart failure and stroke, are among the world's biggest killers 5.
Overweight or obese children are a lot more likely to remain overweight or obese as adults, increasing their risk of disease and disability later in life 6.
Jamie says: "It's time to take action! We need every child to understand where food comes from, how to cook it, and how it affects their body. This is about setting kids up with the knowledge they need to make better food choices for life".
References:
1. The New England Journal of Medicine, A Potential Decline in Life Expectancy in the United States in the 21st Century - link
2. Harvard School of Public Health: Obesity Prevention Source 'Child Obesity' - link
3. de Onis M, Blossner M, Borghi E. Global prevalence and trends of overweight and obesity among preschool children. Am J Clin Nutr. 2010;92:1257 64 - link
4. Diabetes Care, Type 2 Diabetes in the Young: The Evolving Epidemic - link
5. WHO, The top 10 causes of death - link
6. Harvard School of Public Health: Obesity Prevention Source 'Child Obesity' - link