Actress Marilu Henner Headlines Event Calling for Healthier School Lunches
Community Event Invites Students and Parents to Share Concerns and to Call on Congress to Help

WHAT: School Lunch Sound Off!
WHEN: Saturday, Aug. 22, noon to 2 p.m.
WHERE: a.Muse Gallery, 614 Alabama St., San Francisco
SPONSOR: The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
COST: FREE
REGISTRATION: 415-832-9113

SAN FRANCISCO—Concerned about childhood obesity and about the quality of foods your children are fed in schools? Want Congress to help schools serve more fresh fruits and vegetables and other healthy foods? Join actress and mother Marilu Henner at the School Lunch Sound Off on Aug. 22 at a.Muse Gallery in San Francisco.

This open mike event hosted by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) will offer students, parents, and other community members a chance to share concerns about the National School Lunch Program and ideas for improving school food. Nutrition experts, school food service workers, and Marilu Henner, best-selling author and star of Taxi, will discuss how Congress could improve school meals by reforming the Child Nutrition Act, which comes up for reauthorization this fall.

Students are encouraged to bring their experiences and, if they wish, drawings, paintings, comics, skits, and songs to share about school lunch. Prizes will be awarded for creativity and thoughtfulness. The winning ideas will be presented to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Congressman George Miller, D-Martinez, as a part of PCRM’s campaign to reform federal nutrition programs.

“America’s children have never been at greater risk for obesity, diabetes, and other diet-related health problems,” says PCRM staff dietitian Kathryn Strong, M.S., R.D. “Congress needs to hear from young people who want more vegetables, fruits, and other vegetarian foods in their school lunchrooms.”

The House Education and Labor Committee, chaired by Rep. Miller, will soon take up the Child Nutrition Act, which regulates the National School Lunch Program and other federal nutrition programs. PCRM’s campaign points out that current federal policies aimed at subsidizing agribusiness end up pushing schools to serve high-fat, high-cholesterol foods that contribute to skyrocketing obesity and diabetes rates.

Founded in 1985, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is a nonprofit health organization that promotes preventive medicine, conducts clinical research, and encourages higher standards for ethics and effectiveness in research.

Hi everyone!

I have to turn everything in by tomorrow morning, so … back to it!

The people who seem to get the most out of life are the ones who show up and really throw themselves into every experience.

People who hold back, sit on the sidelines, and criticize never seem to be having as much fun as those who go out there and dive in, even if it means making a mistake or making a fool of themselves. Fear of not being perfect (or even good enough) keeps you from being your best.

Imagine what you can achieve and what you can enjoy by putting your whole heart into everything you do.

Don’t just show up. Show up to play. Every single day.

Do you spend precious time looking for a buried item?
Do you spend precious money buying something you didn’t realize you already had?
Do you limit your activities because you can’t use a space that is occupied by clutter?

***If you don’t use it, it’s clutter.***

Now go look at your kitchen counter, your dining room (or kitchen) table, the top of your desk, the spot next to your bed. Is there so much stuff there you don’t even know what it is anymore?

Check out your kitchen cupboards, pantry, linen closet, clothes closet, and dresser. Is there so much stuff crammed in there that you really have no idea what’s in the back, or on the bottom?

Look at the space in front of your television – is there room for you to follow a fitness video or play Wii sports? Is your treadmill a coat rack? Is your mini-tramp a holding place for the ironing?

If it’s too nice, too old, too new, or too large, it’s clutter.

Do you use your fine china regularly? Keep that silver polished, so you can pull it out on any given night?
Do you wear your “good” clothes, or are you waiting for something special?
Are the family antiques in a box in the basement because you have no need for them?

If you’re not using it, give it away to someone who will use it. Or, you know, throw it away, if it’s really garbage. But don’t let it control your life.

Marilu is in the current issue of Woman’s Day magazine (September 1, 2009).

She’s in an ad for cranberries (because they’re good for you!), and she talks about the September online class! Are you ready for Booty School?

Standardized tests are a horrible way to test individuals. Unfortunately, they’re all we’ve got to work with, so they are used for almost everything.

I have the same feeling about weight charts.

My suggestion is that your idea weight is within a certain range of weight. Any woman can tell you that her weight can fluctuate as much as five to ten pounds for a number of reasons. Lack of sleep, drinking alcohol, PMS, flying, and of course, diet issues such as excessive salt, which causes water retention.

I say your idea weight should be based on what feels good to you and what is healthy. Use how your clothes are fitting as a barometer.

~ Marilu Henner, Total Health Makeover

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Just for one day – today or maybe tomorrow if you need to plan for it – eliminate all flour products from your meals and snacks. That means no bread, pasta, bagels, tortillas, etc.

Instead, choose to eat whole grains, like oatmeal, brown rice, or quinoa. Find more grain suggestions and even some recipes here and here.

Enjoy all the nutrients of the grain, and let your body do the processing. You won’t believe how much better your food will digest with more fiber and less flour.

… have you accomplished what you wanted to?

Have you enjoyed being outdoors?
Have you played with the kids? Or your friends?
Have you taken time to relax?
Have you read that book you said you were going to read?
Have you finished that home improvement project you started?

It’s four weeks until Labor Day. Make a plan. Get it done.

Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: “What! You, too? Thought I was the only one.”

~ C.S. Lewis

People come to this website to get information, to get healthy, to get support while they try to figure out how to get healthy with the information they have. And if they stick around a bit, they make some pretty good friends.

On this Spirit Sunday, connect with a friend.

SPArty Photo by Jay or Michael

The SPArtiers took a brisk walk with Marilu this morning.

We know from experience that Marilu’s pace is, well, aerobic. So here’s a song to get your heart rate up – one of Marilu’s favorites from her treadmill playlist.

Come on – get your heart pumping!

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