Rambling About Food Issues

I was a substitute for the first half of today for a high school Pre-Algebra teacher. In one of the classes I taught, I met a 15 year old boy who drinks 3-4 energy drinks each day - his preferred brands seemed to be Amp and Monster (he had a collection of drink tabs on a cord in his backpack). I asked him where he purchases the drinks and he told me that there is a vending machine on the high school campus that sells the drinks. He told me that if he doesn't drink the energy drinks, he has headaches and his energy levels crash. I asked him about his daily eating habits and I found out that he only eats one meal per day - dinner. One of the reasons he gave for his one meal per day rule is that he can keep from getting "fat" this way - I have to mention that he is not an overweight child. He did not have an athletic build, but he didn't look like he was carrying much extra weight. He said he usuallyeats dinner by himself in his bedroom at his house because he doesn't like to be around his family. I found out that he really only eats with other people - family or friends - if he goes out to eat at a restaurant, the most common place for that is at Red Robin. Because he doesn't eat lunch at school, I asked him what he does during the school's 30 minute lunch period - his answer was that he hangs out with his friends. I also asked him if the caffeine from the energy drinks he is consuming affects his sleep schedule, and his answer made me sad, he ssaid that he has trouble sleeping anyway so he takes a prescription to help him sleep. He didn't seem to think there was a connection between the energy drinks he consumes and his sleep problems. Interestingly though, he told me that the energy drinks have affected his adrenal glands - essentially making them shut down. I'm not a doctor, but I do know how to look up medical terms on the internet, medterms.com gave this definition of adrenal glands:

Adrenal gland: One of a pair of small glands, each of which sits on top of the kidneys. The adrenal is made of of an outer wall (the cortex) and an inner portion (the medulla).

The adrenal glands produce hormones that help control the heart rate, blood pressure, the way the body uses food, and other vital functions. The adrenal cortex secretes steroid (cortison-related) hormones and mineralocortoids that regulate the levels of minerals such as sodium and potassium in the blood.

The adrenal medulla makes adrenaline and noradrenaline. Adrenaline is secreted in response to low blood levels of glucose as well as exercise and stress; it causes the breakdown of the storage product glycogen to the sugar glucose in the liver, facilitates the release of fatty acids from adipose (fat) tissue, causes dilation (widening of the small arteries within muscle and increases the output of the heart. Noradrenaline is a neurohormone, a neurotransmitter, for most of the so-called sympathetic nervous system.

The name "adrenal" comes from the Latin "ad-", toward + "rebes", kidney. It refers to the perch of this gland atop the kidney. The adrenals are also called the suprarenal glands, "supra-" in Latin meaning "on top."

I try not to be an overly judgemental person. Also, I've worked with high school students for the past seven years and I realize they often do not share the entire story when it comes to their home lives and their relationship with their parents. However, if I took everything that this student told me today at face value, it is a pretty grim story. I can't help but wonder why his parents have not stepped in. He is not establishing healthy life-long habits. I didn't get around to asking him about exercise and activities he is involved in, but I bet I could make some guesses.

Later in the day, I ended up doing another half-day substitute job at a middle school. Part of the job included supervision in the lunch room. Also on duty in the lunch room was the school's principal. I introduced myself and chatted with her for a bit. I asked her whether there were energy drinks available on the middle school campus. She told me that the drinks are not available for purchase on her campus. She went on to explain that even though the district does not yet have a policy about students drinking energy drinks on their campuses, when she sees an energy drink in a student's hand, she makes a point to ask the student not to drink it or to bring it onto campus. It felt good to hear that.

So why am I writing about this, why do I even care what middle and high school students in my area are eating and drinking? Why am I posting pictures of the sushi I ate for lunch when I was done with my substitute jobs? That last one is easy, I thought the sushi made a cool picture and I wasn't brave enough to take a picture of the food I saw in the middle school lunch room or the energy drinks I saw on student's desks at the high school. But to answer the first question, I have struggled with my own weight since I was about 9 years old. I have gained weight and lost weight several times over as an adult. I know how frustrating it is to struggle with "body image issues", so I tend to pay closer attention when I hear things about issues of childhood obesity and the general obesity epidemic in the United States.

Lately, I have been following Michelle Obama's "Let's Move!" campaign. I am proud of her for setting a wonderful example by planting the White House vegetable garden. The blog, Obama Foodorama, is currently my favorite means of staying up-to-date on what our First Lady is up to. I think she has her work cut out for her, her mission is huge!

Since January, I've also been following another blog, Fed Up With Lunch: The School Lunch Project. It is being written anonymously by an elementary school teacher - she is staying quiet about her identity to protect her job (can't say that I blame her for that!). She has committed to eating the same school lunch served to her students on every school day of 2010. Her observations are interesting and honest. She discusses taste, variety, freshness, ingredients, nutritional value, the affect the lunches seem to have on her students behavior, the opinions that the students share with her about the food, and she has even mentioned recess (does not happen) and physical education (happens once a week) at her school.

There is quite a bit of attention from the media being given to food issues recently, I shared in the past that I read Barbara Kingsolver's book "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" and Michael Pollan's "Omnivoure's Dilema." I also saw Michael Pollan's documentary "Food, Inc." twice last summer (one of those viewings was part of the Seattle showing that was sponsored by Chipotle). I'm not alone, I frequently find myself discussing these books and the documentary with friends and acquaintences. More and more frequently the line between what I'm reading and what I'm doing in my own life is getting blurred.

At our house, we have been paying close attention to what we are eating for about the past three years. My husband gets migraine headaches if he eats foods that contain preservatives, so I've become a vigilant "label reader" whenever I'm buying packaged foods. The best thing for us has been to make our meals from whole ingredients and to start canning our own fruit and marinara sauce. There are other reasons that we have become more careful about the foods we eat. The husband and I both have family members who are diabetics, and I currently weigh more than the healthy range for someone of my height and build. Since last September, I have made time to exercise 4-6 times a week. I have been eating more consciously. Though my choices have been far from perfect, I have been able to loose about 11 pounds without doing any true "dieting", just regular exercise, better portion control, healthier food choices and a substantial increase in sleep. It is interesting how infrequently I hear sleep mentioned as an important part of staying healthy and fit.

It has been an easy decision (followed by lots of hard physical labor) to plant a vegetable garden over the last three years. Each year my garden has produced more and I've gained wonderful knowledge from getting my hands in the dirt and paying attention to what is happening. I hope that this coming summer will be the best year so far - we've expanded like crazy with our raised beds.

Being fruit lovers, another easy decision was to add to the number of fruit trees in our orchard. One of the first things that the husband and I ever did together on our property was to plant our orchard. It was how we spend our first Valentine's Day together as a couple long before we were married or even engaged. I guess deep down I was fairly confident our relationship would go the distance, I knew even then that most trees take 3-5 years to begin producing fruit.

Deciding to raise chickens for fresh eggs wasn't as simple a decision, the husband was pretty hesitant at first, but the decision has been one that we have not regretted. The chickens were also quite a bit of work initially and then again when we built their new protected area because of the issues we were having with hawks. They are a great part of our lives, our ten new Buff Orpingtons are growing like crazy and so far seem to be much more friendlier than our group of Americauna chicks from last year. If all goes well, we will have 14 hens laying this fall...plenty of eggs for us and to sell.

Just the other day, we had a conversation about committing to eating locally for a year, though it wouldn't happen until a few years from now. We both would like to live a more sustainable and healthy lifestyle, but we realize that takes many small changes over time to add up to a significant difference. I can tell you right now that when (if?) I have my own child(ren), they will not be drinking 3 or 4 energy drinks a day and eating dinner by themself in their bedroom. One of the [many] things I have loved about the two trips I have been able to take to Italy has been the slow food attitude there. Meals are a time to gather with loved ones and to be nourished through food and fellowship. I want that for myself and for those I love.