No Mo Ho-Hos: Hungry Kids Need Healthy Food

Michelle Obama may go down in history as the First Lady of Healthy Eating. Her "Let's Move" campaign aims to cut rates of childhood obesity and complements one of her first actions at the White House: establishing a vegetable garden tended by elementary school children.

Meanwhile, the President allotted $400 Million to the "Healthy Food Financing Initiative" in his 2011 budget. The initiative specifically targets underserved communities that don't have full-service grocery stores.

Advocates for school gardens and healthy school lunches show that the country is concerned for its kids. Maybe it's easier to regulate our youngsters' diets than our own, or maybe we don't want our children to repeat our mistakes. But never before has the connection between sustainable food to poverty and childhood hunger been so widely drawn.

Programs like Jenny Kessler's at Automotive High School in Brooklyn educate kids about food justice and where their food comes from. Kessler, whose English elective course "Food, Land and You," goes further than tending the school garden or advocating for healthier choices in the cafeteria. Kessler takes students on field trips to local sustainable vendors and farms (marking a first farm visit for many students). Kessler's class is cutting edge in a time when the efficacy of school gardens is still hotly debated.

Still, the arguments for school gardens, healthy school lunches and increased food access abound. As the economy slumps, discounted meals for students are in higher demand. Advice on using food stamps for healthy meals bubble up nationwide, and studies showing that students' achievement is related to adequate nutrition demonstrate that the health of low-income kids is officially on the national radar. The challenge now is to follow up on the lip service and photo ops the first family has provided to the cause, and put into place programs that truly provide healthy food to under-privileged children.

Photo via StockXchng