I want to expect more than a better lunch for our kids.

I miss the olden days, where school lunch was an apple, a carton of milk and a fiber-filled brown paper bag!

This major article about the bald politicization of the United States Federal school lunch program made me sad, not just because of it's detailed dissection of how federal standards for public school food is at the mercy of private industry, but because of the obvious topic outside of it's range: if the Obama administration is serious about supporting childhood health and combating childhood obesity, the federal school lunch program is not the place to start. I imagine it seems politically appealing because hey, it's food provided for free by the Federal government, should be easy to influence it's policy, amirite?

The federal school-lunch program has always invited martial metaphors, and not without reason: It was the U.S. military that first advanced the national-security implications of a healthful lunch. In the spring of 1945, at the dawn of the Cold War, Gen. Lewis B. Hershey, a former school principal who joined the armed forces before World War I, went in front of the House Agriculture Committee to deliver a stern warning. Hershey headed the Selective Service System — the draft — and he told the lawmakers that as many as 40 percent of rejected draftees had been turned away owing to poor diets. “Whether we are going to have war or not, I do think that we have got to have health if we are going to survive,” he testified.

The original and continuing purpose of serving food in public schools is to help guarantee the health of the general public, so they can succeed academically to become productive members of society, and yes, to grow strong and firm so they can fight in wars protecting our freedoms. Today, the same military that promoted the 'national-security implications of a healthful lunch' mourns the current state of the weight of our nation's children. Kids are too fat to fight.

Even if we chose to blame obesity strictly on personal choices and relieve all business practices of responsibility, does that mean the government should also blame the victim and not be concerned with the ability of the population to participate in a military key to protecting our freedom? And, uh, dumb fatties, they so funny!

 Republican lawmakers, who now controlled the House, were beginning to view the Obama-led nutrition effort as a new and pernicious form of big government.

No, this is a very old form of big government, and in one of it's very best forms -- feeding healthy food to our children to protect our future. The definition of what is 'healthy' has changed since the 1940s -- kids aren't underfed anymore, they're mostly overfed, or more precisely overfed cheap empty calories promoted by huge corporate conglomerates and underfed more costly, less processed nutritionally valid food.

So why isn't using the Federal school food program an easy place to start effecting the obesity crisis in our youth?  Money.  It is a huge Federal program where many actors in Big Food make serious bank, and they will use their army of lawyers and lobbyists and stacks of cash to make things go in the direction of their profits, regardless of the health or obesity rates of the people and kids who eat their products. (Shades of Big Tobacco, anyone?)

"Vat? I don't understand dah problem heer!"

Since it is in the nature of any Big Industry to give no compromise unless it is in their own "rational" (i.e. profitable, not moral or ethical) interest, there is really no difference in political challenge to only focus on the Federal food program or go after the real root of the problem:

• un- or under-regulated marketing to children, 
• permissible levels of sugar, salt and fat in common processed products, 
• price supports for commodity grains instead of fresh fruit and vegetables,
• USDA recommendations of consumption level paid for and vetted by the Food Industry,
• taxation to influence better consumption, i.e. incorrectly coined "soda bans"

Conservatism is all about control: control women's reproductive choices, control your freedom from God and guns, control your recreational drugs, control nonprofitable speech, control who can vote, control our access to international oil, control the uppity poor 'takers' and uppity protesters and uppity unions, control your ability to expect more from your gubbermint, etc. 

Outside of the school food issue, Big Food has shown it's power, resources and political pull in efforts to squash any and all attempts to tax sugary soda, a proven main contributor to obesity in the US. Mayor Bloomberg, he of a quite successful smoking band and large personal fortune, was no match for the Soda lobby. Recently, the far-far left politicians and very educated populace of Berkeley, California, have been inundated with media paid for by Big Soda calling for a rejection of soda ban coming to the polls there. Soda taxes have been rejected everywhere, including San Francisco, basically due to a large outpouring of money into the media and into lobbyists. Berkeley, where free pot is supposedly given to poor people, is the last and best chance to establish a beach head in the war against sugar-fueled obesity. As with the public's turn against tobacco and it's long-reigned plague of death, the turn has to start somewhere, and it's not going to start within the hardened fortresses of private industry.

Corporations are not people, it is something much less moral and accountable that is made up of people. Tomato paste is not a vegetable, it is something much less healthy made from tomatoes. Conservative and liberal viewpoints can be dismissed as doctrine, but at some point it's not about 'balance' or blind belief, it's about right and wrong facts. Corporations are not people, tomato paste is not a vegetable, one plus one does not equal three.

"Oi oi mate, I think I grok your lingo" or something.

-----

WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2580

Rough week. Work stuff. Kids are great, and that trumps all, so I should get straight next week, I hope.

-----

MONDAY COUNT: 2345

SLEPT: 9pm-6am, 1:45pm-2:45pm, 10hr
Slept a lot over the weekend, no riding during the weekend. Thought I was out of the woods, but when I tried to wake at 5 to lift, it just wasn't happening.

AM SNACK: 6:15am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 7:30am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 10am,  steel cut oatmeal, 450 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, falafel, carrot ginger soup, health salad, pickles, 745 cal 

PM SNACK: 3:30 pm, momma salad, Grazebox nut mix , 310 cal

DINNER: 6:30pm, tilapia, asparagus, poppa salad with Ceasar dressing, 680 cal
-----

TUESDAY COUNT: 2670

SLEPT: 9pm-5:45am, 8.75 hr
Stressful day on the work front, but kept eating on track despite being tempted by office pizza. Finally getting over the bug, heh, thanks to sleep. Feel bad about no weights these past two weeks, though.

AM SNACK: 6am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 8am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 10am, whole fate with honey, vanilla and almonds, 450 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, chicken meatballs, steamed string beans, mushroom curry,  pickles, 620 cal 

PM SNACK: 3:30 pm, momma salad, Grazebox nutmix , 310 cal

DINNER: 6:30pm, sautéed chicken breast,  roasted brussel sprouts, poppa salad with Cesar dressing, 630 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7pm, kind bar, 200 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7:45pm, popcorn, +/- 300 cal

-----

BIKE CREDIT: 590 cal
WEDNESDAY COUNT: 2380

SLEPT: 9:30pm-5:45am, 8.25 hr
Lower stress at work, but things will get shaken up sooner or later, TBD. Just gotta stay on my flow, hustler keep hustlin'. Stay on da sleep n' eat game hard core.

AM SNACK: 6am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 7:15am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 10am, steel cut oatmeal, 450 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, sautéed chicken breast, roasted brussel sprouts, quinoa,  pickles, 635 cal 

PM SNACK: 4:30 pm, momma salad, Grazebox nutmix , 290 cal

PM SNACK: 6pm,  poppa salad with Cesar dressing, 200 cal

DINNER: 7pm, ramen, dumplings, chocolatey dessert +/- 1000 cal

BIKE SNACK: 12am, granola bar, 235 cal

-----

THURSDAY COUNT: 2760

SLEPT: 3:30am-7am, 1:30-2:30pm, 4.5 hr
Couldn't sleep, so left the house at 11pm last night, guess it counts as a Wednesday evening ride instead of a Thursday morning ride. Ate a bit too much, prepped food, watched TV until sleep finally hit. On the positive side, got a good ride in and I'm finally over my bug. On the negative side: I'm exhausted!

Tried to eat lunch but the smell of the broc made me queasy, so I trashed it and went straight to break room to read and nap. Got a solid hour in and my appetite somewhat returned after. Indulged in some badness, but it helped.

AM SNACK: 1:30am, cashews & chocolate chips, bagel & cream cheese, +/- 800 cal

AM SNACK: 7:15am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 7:45am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 9:45am, Fage whole yogurt with honey, vanilla and almonds, 450 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, chicken sausage, black beans, roasted broccoli,  pickles, 535cal 

PM SNACK: 3 pm, momma salad, Grazebox chips , pickles, 200 cal

LUNCH: 3:45 pm, quarter pounder, diet coke, 540 cal

PM SNACK: 5pm,  poppa salad with Cesar dressing, 200 cal

DINNER: 7:30pm, duck breast with jus and greens, gelato, tea, +/- 650 cal

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, peanut butter and chocolate syrup, +/- 500 cal

-----

FRIDAY COUNT: 2745

SLEPT: 11pm-5:30am, 6.5 hr
Short but deep sleep.

AM SNACK: 6am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 7:30am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 10am, fruit smoothie, 500 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, sardine and avocado on whole wheat toast, health salad,  pickles, 12oz diet coke, 615 cal 

PM SNACK: 3 pm, momma salad, cheezits, 310 cal

PM SNORT: 5pm, 1 cocktail, 160 cal

DINNER: 7:30pm, mixed fried perogies, kraut, +/- 1000 cal