it's 2014 - let's get real

gotta send 2013 out with a bang, right!?

the first pic was taken in 1997ish and the second two pics were taken in 2010.  (i had my mom show the kids my blond pics the other day at dinner and they all asked, "who is that, grandma!?"  HA!)  let's get one thing straight - i have always been comfortable with myself.  i've been an athlete my whole life (go NUSB!), gained and lost 150lbs through three pregnancies and was quite content at 148lbs (it was my college weight!).  i was and still am a human garbage disposal.  i will always love food.  i just didn't really care what i was putting into the kitchen sink.

until my neighbor went to a nutritionist one day because he needed to eat healthier and gain.some.weight.  i asked for the information he brought home because i had never been to a nutritionist.  that was over three years ago... tommy was about to turn two.  i started to clean up my eating because my friend and neighbor shared his "water-drop".  mark, thank you for that epic conversation on our beach.

the picture of me lounging in "eddie" the airstream was taken by my lucky bunny.  she and i will never forget that moment:  "click" - she looked at me and said, "we are changing.your.hair".  then she pulled up this weird website called "pinterest" and showed me a picture of this gorgeous victoria's secret model with dark "ombre" (what!?) hair.  i remember reacting incredulously to the idea of changing my locks.  slowly then, over the next two years, i began to evolve, inside and out.  hellerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.  yes please.  thank you.  really!?  will do.  love you.  (i smack her around sometimes too:)

so now you know a little prelude before i found my rope and swung into the mullies.  how my personal success with real food + golden friendships (oh chimmie you're a HUGE part of this too!) gave me some gumption when i had to drastically change abbie's food and eventually my entire family's food in sept/oct 2012.  it's a good story.  it led me to become an ambassador for the food revolution.  it's a story full of messes and successes (you wouldn't believe how real food has helped my parents!), of blunders and bloopers and it certainly has been worth it.  we're still evolving, back pedaling and lunging forward.   i hope you enjoy my new guest post for the food revolution blog entitled, "the evolution of a food revolution". 

water-drops make waterfalls.

sliding doors happen so many times in a life, every blink one takes.

do i jump or not?

should i or shouldn't i?

regret reigns when you stand still and let the world spin you on a collar.

bring it on babies - 2014 is ours to embrace.  find someone lovely who wants to ride on a bright yellow tandem with you.

7+7=14

2014 is my double lucky number and i hope it's yours too.

become a food patriot and join the food revolution.

unplug yourself from the matrix - your butt and brain won't regret it.

i love this article via foodday.org on making good food resolutions that you can actually accomplish.

and here are my top 7 real food "rezzo's" to chew on for 2014:

1.  pitch out the artificial colors & artificial preservatives.
overwhelmed with the amount in your fridge and pantry of these little bombs?  start with a category: condiments, sauces, jarred items, dressings etc and then to a perishable category.  when you run out of something, replace it with a brand that's clean.  take it slow or fast, whatever you can handle.  need a structured plan of attack?  this 6-week plan is awesome and you don't have to be battling with ADHD to try it!

2.  limit processed foods (aka the middle isles of the grocery store) & eat unlimited vegetables and fruits (organic when you can).
easier said than done with the vege - i've been at it for over a damn year.  not giving up...  the taste buds and preferences take time to evolve.  strive to eat 90% real, whole foods that come from the ground, the water or the trees.  it's not about perfection.

3.  know how & where your meat/poultry/fish is farmed so you can buy the best quality available (no antibiotics please).
yup, it's more expensive.  so we eat less animal products.  it has been eye opening and an adventure learning to cook more vegetarian and vegan meals.  who knew that plants=protein too?  jeeesh.

4.  be a nerd and educate yourself.  (read robyn o'brien's "do-onething" & the food babe's investigation page.)

5.  cook & play like there's no tomorrow. (make sure it's to loud.bad.ass.music whenever possible.)

6.  feeling pretty good with your real food?  look at your household chemicals and beauty products next.  meet saferchemicals.org to help you get your other cabinets in shape!

7.  love love love this article by kris karr... take in 2014 with "ease" and let go of monstrous resolutions!

there's no if.and.buts.about.it

happy.best.new.year.of.your.life.

to the mullies we go...

xoxo



ps

i just thought of peter pan and wendy flying when i typed that...  so silly i know...

it's a beautiful day for sending a letter

i thought i'd share my letter i sent out this morning to get things going with our school food.  it's wonderful to be part of the group who resurrected our district wellness committee (did you know your district should have one too?) and we're starting with school breakfasts.  

i hope it may light up some inspiration out there for other concerned parents who need a little "go food rev team" high-fiving this morning.  this insane story really got me going and a letter was sent home from our assistant superintendent yesterday asking parents for suggestions on how to improve test scores.  

the stars have aligned and i wrote this email last night (into the wee hours).  

i hit send about 15 minutes ago.  i think i'm still on fire.

***

Dear (insert your school food "movers and shakers" here),

It's time to gather our team and talk about Breakfast.

I became a Food Ambassador for Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution last year as soon as I realized the connection between real food, school food and academic success.  Last year, Dr Petrella wrote to the district families and asked us for suggestions on how we could help bring our District test score up from failing marks.  Today, I received a similar letter from Sandy Anderson, our Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum, Assessment and Instruction.  Her letter asked district parents for ideas on how we can help improve the quality of education for our English Language Learners (ELL) who did not meet this year's State-set achievement targets.  So, here I go...
As we all know, a large percentage of our ELL kids participate in the Free and Reduced lunch program provided by Preferred Foods.  As a first step forward, I believe that by examining & tweaking the breakfast menu options, it will not only help our kids, but it will also to help our teachers and administrators have more success teaching and reaching these students in school.  Case in point - Two years ago, Fairhaven's administrators and staff worked tirelessly to help my daughter Abbie succeed in school before our food change.  She had been receiving intensive pull out interventions since Kindergarten.  The removal of artificial additives from her diet at the beginning of last year was a catalyst that changed the "game".  Abbie's confidence, test scores and academic performance skyrocketed in dual language after removing the artificial "hand cuffs" from her diet.  The teachers were finally able to break through in two languages!!!  Could there be more Abbie's out there?  Can we help improve our District's test scores by removing artificial color from school food?  Let's find out shall we!?  

For what do we have to lose!?  Let's dream, inspire and take ACTION NOW!

1.  We can adjust the school breakfast menu to remove the worst "fake food" offenders.

2.  We can educate on how to reduce artificial ingredients and move towards eating and cooking more real foods.  It's not about perfection!

First, let us take some time and discuss last year's Wellness Committee's request to remove breakfast items that include artificial colors for the 2013-14 school year.  This conversation can be framed with some background information to get us all on the same page.  I'm sure that are aware of the recent coverage about Kraft Foods taking out artificial yellow #6 out of certain macaroni and cheese boxes marketed to children.  (Here is a link to a video created by Vani (aka the Food Babe) and and article written by Lisa Leake (100daysofrealfood) who are the co-writers of the petition who ultimately forced Kraft to change).  It is a long time in coming, but finally, artificial additives and the negative effects they have on children are receiving the media attention they deserve.  Food change stories are gaining traction all across the nation which focus on the overwhelmingly positive results when artificial color is removed from a child's diet. Here is a recent article from the Today Show's live report discussing food coloring's negative behavioral effects on children.  Moreover, check out this blog like mine which tells the same success story as Abbie's!  The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) - who recently organized the national Food Day - has a lot to say about Food Dyes and how important it is to get these fake additives out of our food, especially off of our children's plates.  In addition, here are two recent articles that are must reads about food additives:  5 Questions on Food Additives with Dr Maricel Maffini and Robyn O'Brien's - Rainbow of Risks It's Time to Cut out Artificial Color.  This is all extremely important information to consider when understanding the Wellness Committee's determination to provide the cleanest food options for all District 76 students.  Thank you for taking the time to read (even if a few) these links.

How does our breakfast menu shape up!?  Here is the District's online breakfast menu and I would like to offer feedback and ideas for improvement.  It was extremely disappointing to find the lack of information posted on the breakfast and lunch meals for our District.  One has to search elsewhere online to find the full nutrition and ingredient information.  It was interesting to note that there is no sugar amount included in our breakfast menu's nutritional information.  I was able to find this link to research a few current breakfast menu options.  Here are some fake food highlights: 

• Apple Jacks Reduced Sugar breakfast includes yellow #6, blue #1, red #40.  
• Fruit Loops includes the soon to be banned trans-fats "partially hydrogenated vegetable oil (which is allowed to read "zero trans-fats" because there is less than .5g per serving... a frequent label loop hole), red #40, yellow #6, blue #2 & #1.  
• Strawberry frosted mini wheats include red #40, blue #1&2.  

Complete nutritional information should be readily accessible on our website for parents due to the increase of allergies and other food sensitivities.  For example, here is an example of Preferred Meal's Toasty O's link, which includes the complete nutritional and ingredient information.  

**As a parent of the District and Wellness Committee member, I would like to officially request that this complete nutritional and ingredient information be provided for all district families to access.** 

As a member of the Wellness Committee, I would like to propose that the menu items with artificial colors be removed from the District 76 offerings by January.  There are other menu options that do not include artificial colors such as Rice Crispies, Raisin Bran and the original Mini Wheats (perhaps there are more I have missed!?) that can rotate and stay on the menu.  Furthermore, instead of juice are there any real, whole food options like bananas that we can afford to add within our budget constraints?  Water and milk are fine options for morning beverages.  We must put our heads together and strive to improve the sugary, processed nature of these breakfasts in order to give these students a more nutritionally dense start to their day.    

Hopefully, this email provides Preferred Foods and our District's "movers and shakers" plenty to chew on as we brainstorm how to improve our test scores across our diverse student population.  This is our chance to make change outside of the classroom FOR the classroom!  I hope to see you at our next Wellness Committee and please let us know what you need (whether it be from me, the Wellness Committee, the Administration or the Board of Education) to help make these changes towards more real food for our students - We are in this together!  

Let's go food team 76!!

Lindsey Shifley

Food Revolution Lake County

***

i'm off to a little "farm to table" field trip now with some other super awesome parents.  i am so excited that i already have my jacket & boots on.  i wonder what i'll learn today:)

let's fly!

xoxo