The Future of America's Nutrition

: How do you view America's nutritional future?

I'm very optimistic, that the intense interest in nutrition and health by the public is going to lead to changes that will make it possible for people to eat more healthfully. I see this great social movement going on, of people saying they're just not going to take having their food supply controlled by industry in this way and they want to have a say in it and I think that's terrific.

: How do you see that movement happening?

There is increasing recognition that marketing to children is not such a great idea. And that kids are extremely susceptible to food marketing and that has to stop. And that doing something about food marketing and junk food in schools is something that is doable on a local level, so that parents can go into a school and look at what their kids are eating and say no way, I'm not going to let my kids eat this junk, I want better food for my kids. And in places where parents have taken this action, guess what? The food is better and the kids are eating it. The kids are eating adult food, they're interested in food, they're learning about where food comes from, they're learning about why food is good for them, they like the way it tastes, they're adventurous about the kinds of food they're eating, they're not stuck in the hamburger, hotdog, pizza, chicken nuggets rut, they're eating grownup food and are really interested in it. They are learning how to cook. You go into a school like that and what's shocking about it is how normal it looks. The kids have twenty minutes for lunch, they pick up a tray, they say I'll take that, that and that. They sit down, they eat it, they go back to class. It looks perfectly normal. The teachers say the kids behave better, they're learning better, they show less signs of jumping off the walls after lunch. They're awake, they're alert, they're learning better.