Jamie Oliver Food Revolution

Dear Jamie Oliver,

Thank you for your new show, Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution. To be honest, at first, I avoided it. You see, I am overweight. I figured I didn’t need another show reprimanding me and making me feel guilty and bad about myself. Then, a friend I respect a lot wrote about your show and made me curious and I decided to check it out myself. I've been very pleasantly surprised, it was not what I thought and although I'm still making my way through the series, I had some thoughts I wanted to share.

Please, please, please be careful with your facts. Your entire message gets diluted and weakened when you rely on inaccuracies. There are enough problems with our country's school lunch program without relying on sensational, but inaccurate information.

An example. You're fond of saying chocolate milk has more sugar than your favorite soda. When I heard this repeatedly on your show I was horrified as my younger daughter drinks chocolate milk and I would never allow her to drink soda. Now, I think there's a valid argument that white milk would be a better choice, but chocolate milk does not contain more sugar than soda. Chocolate milk has 27 g of sugar, white milk has 12g. Therefore, 15g of sugar are added to chocolate milk, approximately 4 teaspoons worth. That's a lot, more than I would have thought, but no where near the 39 g of sugar, almost 10 teaspoons of sugar, in a Coke. I love the school districts that have upped white milk consumption by serving it ice cold and with paper straws, eliminating the paper cartons that tend to smell. Why not just make the point that white milk is a better choice? I might be tempted to argue that chocolate milk a child will drink is a better choice than unopened white milk in the garbage, but it's a truthful debate whichever side you're on. When you rely on inaccurate statements that sound horrifying but don't hold up, I tend to question everything you're saying. Your message is too important for that.

I completely agree that obesity is a major crisis in this country. I can not find one source that claims the next generation is in danger of dying in their 30's and 40's from it however. Again, make the points you can accurately and leave sensationalism out of it. The rising rates of diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and joint degeneration should provide you with more than enough accurate information to convince people a change is direly needed.

Could you also quit telling kids to clean their plates, eat up, etc.? That kind of rhetoric is just plain wrong, old-fashioned, and potentially damaging. I encourage my kids to eat until they're satisfied. To learn to listen to their bodies. It doesn't work all the time, granted. Sometimes kids do need encouragement, especially when trying new foods, but please don't tell them they should be cleaning their plates.

I love what you've done in England, I love that you're calling attention to problems in the American school lunch program. I'm very sad that our country has failed our children so miserably. It's ridiculous that french fries and ketchup count as vegetables. There is much wrong and definitely much to be fixed. It's horrifying that kids are not being served freshly prepared foods instead of frozen, heat to eat foods chock full of fillers, preservatives and chemicals. I bemoan the fact that my kid's school serves canned vegetables that no kid would eat instead of fresh, tasty alternatives. There's definitely a lot to criticize and a lot to work to change. May I say however that it was more than a little arrogant to show up in a town that desperately needs help determined to force your fix upon it without playing by the rules? Yes, the rules are archaic and wrong, but they're still the rules, they still need to be played by. If you can not even come in at or under budget how in the world do you expect the school system to? If you are ignorant of the FDA requirements, and neglect to meet the current nutritional standards, how do you expect the people in charge in Huntington to take you seriously and respect you? Speaking of respect, you would probably get a lot further with people if you showed them more respect, especially the people in charge who are meeting you more than halfway. How much easier would the Huntington food administrator's job have been if you had done your homework and known the standards? If the high school standard is 1 1/4 cups of fruits/vegetables per lunch, you should have not only known that, you should have delighted in it and respected it. You created a wonderful dish of stir-fried vegetables and noodles. How simple would it have been to add a small oriental salad? Instead of mocking the fact that none of the kids were taking the salad that makes up the requirement on the other line, offer them something that they will eat. You're a chef aren't you?

If kids love chicken nuggets and pizza you're not going to make great strides taking their favorite foods completely away from them. Indeed, most nutritional experts would agree there's no reason to. Why not teach the cooks how to make a healthy chicken nugget? It can definitely be done. Ditto pizza on a whole wheat crust with low-fat cheese and turkey pepperoni. If your message is that people's favorite foods are "bad" and should be eliminated, long-lasting change is not very feasible.

I think you're on the right track. I think you raise a lot of very valid and important points. I'm just disappointed that you've chosen to do it in a way that leaves critics so much room to avoid the real, and important, issues.