Chefs From Across the Nation Gather at the White House Kitchen Garden

Michelle Obama with Chef Sam Kass addressing chefs at the White House.

BY Susan Belsinger, ACHS Instructor

On Friday, June 4, 2010, over 500 chefs from 38 states gathered at the White House by invitation of the First Lady Michelle Obama in support of her Chefs Move to Schools initiative. I was one of the fortunate chefs invited to participate. Besides Mrs. Obama’s Let’s Move! program, which has been designed get our children to exercise regularly, the concept of the chefs’ program is to get our talented and creative chefs across the nation into schools to teach kids about healthy eating and making it fun, as well as work with the administrators, teachers and cooking staff to create better meals for our children. Many of the chefs are helping to create school gardens, which of course, is the best way to acquaint kids with the food they eat—from the ground up! [...]

So, this is a nationwide mission and it is evident with the number of chefs who came to D.C. on a very hot summer day to gather in support and commitment to Mrs. Obama’s call. We began our day at 8 am at the JW Marriott nearest the White House where we had a breakfast put on by Share Our Strength, who were the organizers for this event and are working closely with the White House, along with many other generous sponsors. The enthusiasm in the room was enormous and contagious; the speakers from White House Executive Chef Sam Kass to high school principals reporting how having chefs gardening and cooking in their schools had changed the whole community where they lived were quite moving.

Just after 10 am we walked en masse to the gates of the White House and there was a great feeling of empowerment—a gathering of highly-charged committed professionals. Although we had to be checked out beforehand and our names were on a roster, getting through security with that many people took a bit of time, however, once we were on the grounds, we were allowed to walk about and all of us headed for the recently planted and highly-touted organic kitchen garden.

I was in the front of the herd, so I made it to the garden before the crowds and was able to take photos. (To see photos of the garden, click here.) My hat’s off to the gardeners who maintain and plant the grounds of the presidential house—the garden was picture-perfect. I had a copy of the original plan, which has changed, as gardens do. Peas were hanging full-podded on netted trellises; tomatoes were flowering and staked with wooden stakes; brassicas, chard, spinach, lettuce and onions were planted in tidy raised beds. Huge rhubarb plants and mints overflowed raised wooden boxes. I looked for the herbs in particular—and noted there could be more—in fact, I would lobby for an herb garden on its own! There was a large and lovely patch of blooming chamomile (which I thought appropriate for calming the world leaders residing inside!), flowering chives, Italian flat-leaved and curly parsley and basil, in addition to a large showy bed of fennel.

Fortunately there were a few apple trees nearby, with a water station, so we could cool off and drink since it was about 95° F. We were waiting to hear the First Lady and chef Sam Kass speak to us at noon, so at about 11:30 am we crossed the South Lawn to go sit near the White House. It was hot as Hades out there and we were in a large group, however the spirits were high. Both chefs and gardeners are used to sweating anyway.

The First Lady was finally announced at 12:30 pm and we all stood as she came out. She is much taller than I thought and she is very statuesque; a lovely woman, poised and well spoken. Chef Sam Kass spoke to us about their joint mission for healthy well-nourished children and planting and harvesting the kitchen garden. Then he introduced D.C. chef Todd Grey of Equinox restaurant and he told the story of how he planted a garden at his kid’s school, then the principal there discussed the positive impact it had on the children, school staff, parents and community.

At last, Sam Kass introduced Michelle Obama. The First Lady joked about the heat and then set upon discussing her Let’s Move! program which is all about getting our kids to exercise regularly. Then she thanked the chefs for coming to the White House and gave us her views and intentions on her initiative Chefs Move to Schools. She was very comfortable and talked about her girls and how Sam can’t keep them out of the kitchen. And how we can help to change the lives of many children, encouraging us to sign up to be paired with a school. There are nearly 2,000 volunteers already signed up.

To read more, go to www.whitehouse.gov/blog/. Scroll down to June 4 entry ‘Chefs Move to Raise a Healthier Generation of Kids’ by Sam Kass to read his report for the day and Mrs. Obama’s commentary and see a few photos. There is also a video to click on to hear what she had to say. Also check out www.strength.org and www.letsmove.gov for more information. If you go to the latter and click on "Chefs Move to Schools" link, you can access the chef sign-up form to adopt a school.

Note, this article was originally published on the www.vegetablegardener.com. To read the complete article, and to see more photos of the White House garden, visit www.vegetablegardener.com.

Education About Healthy Lifestyle Important In Fight Against Obesity

Earlier this year, President Obama produced a report with more than 70 recommendations for strategies to help reduce childhood obesity. The goal of this initiative is to reduce the childhood obesity rate from 20% to 5% by 2030.

"According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention," the American Botanical Council HerbClip News reports, "two-thirds of U.S. adults and 15% of U.S. children are overweight or obese, which places them at risk for developing heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. [Note: The percentage of overweight and obese children may be higher, with other sources saying 20-30%.] "

To help combat these numbers, Obama's report focuses on prevention, including prenatal care, breast-feeding, community education, and providing healthy food and nutrition education at schools. The White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity is leading these efforts.

"Complementary and alternative medicine practitioners, botanical and supplement companies and organizations, and health food companies have a wonderful opportunity to participate in this initiative, " ABC's Managing Editor Lori Glenn adds. "While much of the focus has been on botanicals' abilities to decrease obesity and its subsequent ailments (See the FasTrak HC 051031-401 which covers green tea's benefits of reducing obesity and diabetes), providing proven ways to maintain a healthy lifestyle and weight can also be a core message."

To read ABC's original article, go to: http://cms.herbalgram.org/herbclip/401/news140.html

To learn more about nutrition education, check out the ACHS Certificate in Holistic Nutrition Consulting and to help support the health and wellness of you and your family, check out Introduction to Nutrition.

National Women's Health Week

On May 7 President Obama released a proclamation declaring May 9-15 National Women's Health Week!

President Obama says: "We have taken steps to provide access to high-quality, affordable health care, but individuals must also lead healthy lives and set a good example for their children. From scheduling regular medical examinations to applying sunscreen, simple, everyday activities can make a positive impact on the lives of women. Regular exercise, coupled with a nutritious diet, helps prevent heart disease, obesity, and other chronic conditions."

We couldn't agree more! Health is a holistic endeavor--body, mind, and spirit--and requires a commitment to a health-promoting lifestyle including exercise, smart eating, and a positive attitude!

This week, share the message of Women's Health with the women in your life and encourage them to prioritize their good health!

To help get a jumpstart, here's a link to our free download Antioxidants and Herbs by ACHS Graduate Amanda Lattin. Learn more about the health benefits of antioxidants and how easy it is to start incorporating herbs into the daily diet. It's time to plant, after all!

You can also download and share the ACHS Wellness Guide by ACHS President Dorene Petersen, which has more than 100 pages of great tips for men and women!

>> Click here to read President Obama's Presidential Proclamation--National Women's Health Week.

Healthcare Reform Bill Passed March 21 to be Signed by President Obama

On Sunday, March 21, the House passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (or H.R. 3590). The final vote was 219 to 212, as reported on the NPR website, and the bill will now go to President Obama to be signed.

More than 30 million Americans will now have access to healthcare. The $940 billion bill will "extend health coverage to most Americans," as reported on NPR. "Medicaid, the federal-state program that provides health insurance to the poor and disabled, will be expanded to cover all adults earning less than 133 percent of the federal poverty level."

Additional highlights of the healthcare bill include:

• Individuals and small companies will have access to private health insurance via exchanges run by the states
• Those who do not buy insurance, and "most employers who do not offer coverage to workers," face fines
  
• "All but about 5 percent of non-elderly Americans will ultimately be covered"--about half through Medicaid and half through private insurance
• "There will be a broad education effort, so that people understand what's in the legislation," said Executive Director of Families USA Ron Pollack
• The Congressional Budget Office "has estimated that the legislation will reduce the federal deficit by $143 billion over the next 10 years"

>> To read the original NPR article "House Passes Historic Health Care Bill", click on this link: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124997304

>> To read the related article "What Are The Immediate Effects of Health Bill Passing?", click on this link http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124999058&ps=rs, which includes specific information about help for the uninsured, healthcare changes we may see in 2010, Medicare, coverage of kids, changes to insurance, and tax credits for businesses.

8 ways healthcare reform helps those with or without coverage

No Discrimination for Pre-Existing Conditions
Insurance companies will be prohibited from refusing you coverage because of your medical history.

No Exorbitant Out-of-Pocket Expenses, Deductibles or Co-Pays
Insurance companies will have to abide by yearly caps on how much they can charge for out-of-pocket expenses.

No Cost-Sharing for Preventive Care
Insurance companies must fully cover, without charge, regular checkups and tests that help you prevent illness, such as mammograms or eye and foot exams for diabetics.

No Dropping of Coverage for Seriously Ill
Insurance companies will be prohibited from dropping or watering down insurance coverage for those who become seriously ill.

No Gender Discrimination
Insurance companies will be prohibited from charging you more because of your gender.

No Annual or Lifetime Caps on Coverage
Insurance companies will be prevented from placing annual or lifetime caps on the coverage you receive.

Extended Coverage for Young Adults
Children would continue to be eligible for family coverage through the age of 26.

Guaranteed Insurance Renewal
Insurance companies will be required to renew any policy as long as the policyholder pays their premium in full. Insurance companies won't be allowed to refuse renewal because someone became sick.

>> For more information, go to: http://www.whitehouse.gov/health-insurance-consumer-protections/

GIY gardening makes for good nutrition and fun

Most of us have a general idea of what the term organic means. We’ve seen the labeling on grocery store products and know that it is “a good thing.” But, beyond knowing that we want to be healthy and feel good, what do we want from our organics?

This question was the focus of a community wellness workshop about organic gardening and standards attended by about 30 people at the Australasian College of Health Sciences in Portland, Oregon, March 21. During the three-hour, free community workshop, Master Gardener and Senior Vice President Erika Yigzaw, repeatedly asked the audience, “Why organic?” Participants shared some of the expected, such as: to protect the environment, to reduce dependence on GMO (genetically modified organism) crops, to save money.

But, as Yigzaw pointed out, there is a bit of unexpected practicality too. Since the end of WWII and the use of victory gardens, subsequent generations have become more and more removed from the garden. This growing dependence on outside food suppliers has also created a gap in education. If we no longer know where our food comes from, we can no longer make informed decisions about health and nutrition. A solution, Yigzaw emphasized, is going organic, gardening within your means. Meaning, you don’t have to go large scale to grow your own; rather, you only need a plot large enough to grow what you can reasonably maintain and eat. (For example, with the help of seedling heat mats, apartment dwellers can start container gardens on their kitchen tables.)

Further, GIY gardening (grow-it-yourself gardening) is an important community-building activity, which teaches children about self-reliance and nutrition. As seen on the news show 60 Minutes and the March 20 New York Times article, “Obamas to Plant Vegetable Garden at White House,” Michelle Obama is making nutrition a top priority.

Evidence of her commitment to community education, Mrs. Obama publically broke ground for an organic garden on White House property, which, according to the Times, will educate children about healthy, locally grown foods “at a time when obesity and diabetes have become a national concern.”

Like Mrs. Obama, this is an effort we can easily make in our own backyards. Teaching children about grow-it-yourself gardening and the health and environmental benefits of organics (namely, synthetic pesticide free fruits and vegetables, increased nutrients, environmental protection, self reliance, cost savings, and sustainability, to name a few), is perhaps one of the greatest investments we can make in the future health of our nation.

For more information and garden-to-kitchen tips, PowerPoint presentations from the ACHS workshop can be downloaded from the Apothecary Shoppe College Store website: https://www.apothecary-shoppe.com/index.php?cPath=45.

Downloads include workshop topics: family-friendly GIY food-growing projects, seed starting, organic composting, soil requirements, health benefits of growing and eating organic, nutrition, and a presentation about organic standards, processing of organic botanicals from garden to teacup, by ACHS Master Herbalist Christina Suarez, owner of The Good Herb Company.

Upcoming ACHS community education events include: a summer kick off open house, a lavender harvesting and distillation workshop, a holistic health fair, and an herb day celebration. For specific dates, check the ACHS Community Wellness calendar: http://www.achs.edu/course-desc.aspx?pid=179&id=6.

Obamas to Plant Vegetable Garden at White House

WASHINGTON—Michelle Obama will begin digging up a patch of the South Lawn on Friday to plant a vegetable garden, the first at the White House since Eleanor Roosevelt’s victory garden in World War II. There will be no beets— the president does not like them—but arugula will make the cut.

While the organic garden will provide food for the first family’s meals and formal dinners, its most important role, Mrs. Obama said, will be to educate children about healthful, locally grown fruit and vegetables at a time when obesity and diabetes have become a national concern.

“My hope,” the first lady said in an interview in her East Wing office, “is that through children, they will begin to educate their families and that will, in turn, begin to educate our communities.”

Twenty-three fifth graders from Bancroft Elementary School in Washington will help her dig up the soil for the 1,100-square-foot plot, in a spot visible to passers-by on E Street. (It is just below the Obama girls’ swing set.)

Students from the school, which has had a garden since 2001, will also help plant, harvest and cook the vegetables, berries and herbs. Virtually the entire Obama family, including the president, will pull weeds, “whether they like it or not,” Mrs. Obama said with a laugh. “Now Grandma, my mom, I don’t know.” Her mother, she said, will probably sit back and say: “Isn’t that lovely. You missed a spot.”

Whether there would be a White House garden had become more than a matter of landscaping. The question had taken on political and environmental symbolism, with the Obamas lobbied for months by advocates who believe that growing more food locally, and organically, can lead to more healthful eating and reduce reliance on huge industrial farms that use more oil for transportation and chemicals for fertilizer.

Then, too, promoting healthful eating has become an important part of Mrs. Obama’s own agenda.

The first lady, who said that she had never had a vegetable garden, recalled that the idea for this one came from her experiences as a working mother trying to feed her daughters, Malia and Sasha, a good diet. Eating out three times a week, ordering a pizza, having a sandwich for dinner all took their toll in added weight on the girls, whose pediatrician told Mrs. Obama that she needed to be thinking about nutrition.

“He raised a flag for us,” she said, and within months the girls had lost weight.

Dan Barber, an owner of Blue Hill at Stone Barns, an organic restaurant in Pocantico Hills, N.Y., that grows many of its own ingredients, said: “The power of Michelle Obama and the garden can create a very powerful message about eating healthy and more delicious food. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say it could translate into real change.”

While the Clintons grew some vegetables in pots on the White House roof, the Obamas’ garden will far transcend that, with 55 varieties of vegetables—from a wish list of the kitchen staff— grown from organic seedlings started at the Executive Mansion’s greenhouses.

The Obamas will feed their love of Mexican food with cilantro, tomatillos and hot peppers. Lettuces will include red romaine, green oak leaf, butterhead, red leaf and galactic. There will be spinach, chard, collards and black kale. For desserts, there will be a patch of berries. And herbs will include some more unusual varieties, like anise hyssop and Thai basil. A White House carpenter, Charlie Brandts, who is a beekeeper, will tend two hives for honey.

The total cost of seeds, mulch and so forth is $200, said Sam Kass, an assistant White House chef, who prepared healthful meals for the Obama family in Chicago and is an advocate of local food. Mr. Kass will oversee the garden.

The plots will be in raised beds fertilized with White House compost, crab meal from the Chesapeake Bay, lime and green sand. Ladybugs and praying mantises will help control harmful bugs.

Cristeta Comerford, the White House’s executive chef, said she was eager to plan menus around the garden, and Bill Yosses, the pastry chef, said he was looking forward to berry season.

The White House grounds crew and the kitchen staff will do most of the work, but other White House staff members have volunteered.

So have the fifth graders from Bancroft. “There’s nothing really cooler,” Mrs. Obama said, “than coming to the White House and harvesting some of the vegetables and being in the kitchen with Cris and Sam and Bill, and cutting and cooking and actually experiencing the joys of your work.”

For children, she said, food is all about taste, and fresh and local food tastes better.

“A real delicious heirloom tomato is one of the sweetest things that you’ll ever eat,” she said. “And my children know the difference, and that’s how I’ve been able to get them to try different things.

“I wanted to be able to bring what I learned to a broader base of people. And what better way to do it than to plant a vegetable garden in the South Lawn of the White House?”

For urban dwellers who have no backyards, the country’s one million community gardens can also play an important role, Mrs. Obama said.

But the first lady emphasized that she did not want people to feel guilty if they did not have the time for a garden: there are still many changes they can make.

“You can begin in your own cupboard,” she said, “by eliminating processed food, trying to cook a meal a little more often, trying to incorporate more fruits and vegetables.”

Click here to read the original article.

© New York Times March 18, 2009 By: Marian Burros

Obama Calls for Health Care Reform in 2009

WASHINGTON (CNN)--President Obama pledged Tuesday night to cure Americans from what he called "the crushing cost of health care," saying the country could not afford to put health-care reform on hold.

President Obama tells Congress Tuesday night: "I have no illusions this will be an easy process."

"This is a cost that now causes a bankruptcy in America every 30 seconds. By the end of the year, it could cause 1.5 million Americans to lose their homes," Obama said in his speech to a joint session of Congress.

Obama pointed to the increasing number of uninsured and rapidly rising health-care premiums, which he said was one reason small business closed their doors and corporations moved overseas.

Obama's prescription for health-care reform included making "the largest investment ever" in preventive care, rooting out Medicare fraud and investing in electronic health records and new technology in an effort to reduce errors, bring down costs, ensure privacy and save lives.

"I suffer no illusions that this will be an easy process," the president said, adding that he was scheduling a gathering next week of "businesses and workers, doctors and health-care providers, Democrats and Republicans."

"The cost of health care has weighed down our economy and our conscience long enough. So let there be no doubt, health-care reform cannot wait, it must not wait and it will not wait another year," Obama said to a standing ovation.

The president also said Americans would see a cure for cancer "in our time." Obama's mother, Ann Dunham, died of ovarian and uterine cancer at 52.

Obama made health-care reform a central theme of his presidential campaign and promised not only to achieve universal health care in his first term, but also to cut the average family's health care health-care costs by $2,500.

In his speech Tuesday, he placed health-care reform alongside education and energy reforms as central pillars of his recovery plan.

An estimated 45.7 million Americans are uninsured, and for those with coverage, and health-care costs have been rising four times faster than wages, Obama said.

The average cost of family health-care coverage more than doubled from 1999 to 2008, from $1,543 to $3,354, according to a report by the Institute on Medicine released Tuesday.

During his speech, Obama touted changes in the health-care system already passed in his month-old administration as part of The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

"Already, we have done more to advance the cause of health-care reform in the last 30 days than we have in the last decade," he said. "When it was days old, this Congress passed a law to provide and protect health insurance for 11 million American children whose parents work full-time."

Signed into law on February 17, The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act also includes $87 billion to bolster state Medicaid programs and offers a 65 percent subsidy for nine months to help the unemployed pay for their COBRA coverage.

COBRA allows the unemployed to pick up the payments and continue the health insurance coverage they had with their former employer. The subsidy would help an estimated seven million Americans, according to a congressional estimate.

The president's health-care message was applauded by Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, a national organization for health care consumers.

"President Obama is absolutely correct that the nation's economy and the federal budget deficit cannot be fixed without meaningful health-care reform," Pollack said in a statement.

© 2009 CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/24/obama.health.care/