White House Videos Promote Buying Non-Organic, Frozen Veggies at Big Box Stores

I heart Michelle Obama. Since the First Lady moved into the White House, healthy food and nutrition are finally getting the national attention they deserve. Michelle proved her commitment to organic, local eating by creating the White House vegetable garden and hiring eco-minded chef Sam Kass. Now she's diving headfirst into improving the health of America's kids through her Let's Move campaign, an initiative to eliminate childhood obesity within a generation. My intellectual crush on her runs deep, but I don't want anyone losing their lunch as we're discussing nutrition, so I'll try to stop gushing.

In the latest effort to help families eat healthier, the Let's Move Web site launched a series of cooking videos appropriately named Let's Cook. The instructional video series will feature Kass partnered with guest chefs. In the first segment, Kass worked with Atlanta chef and cookbook author Marvin Woods to create healthy, affordable recipes using veggies, whole grains, and lean proteins. The duo created six recipes for a family of four all for $68. The videos not only teach families how to eat healthier, but that proper nutrition doesn't need to cost an arm and a leg.

I admire Kass and Woods for lending their time and expertise to combat childhood obesity. But a couple of Woods' comments in the video made me cringe. "One of the things I tell people about affordability is you can use frozen veg," Woods says in the first Let's Cook video. "So you can go to your big box stores and get a big bag of frozen veg. That's all you have to do...It doesn't have to be organic, you know, all those things people are stuck on. Just go get some veg." Frozen veggies, and big box stores, and non-organics — oh my!

The point of the Let's Cook videos is to promote healthy eating, so I don't get why Woods would say what he said when fresh, organic produce is much healthier than frozen or non-organic goods. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) claims that "Vegetables fresh from the farm or just picked are more nutritious than their frozen or canned counterparts, but frozen and canned vegetables are an acceptable nutritional alternative." And let's not forget all the potential health risks associated with pesticides sprayed all over non-organic crops. Toxins in pesticides have been linked to hyperactivity, cancers, endocrine disorders, nervous system malfunctions, and a host of other health issues. Fruits and veggies listed on the Environmental Working Group's "Dirty Dozen" list contain especially high levels of chemical residues. Given pesticides' toxic natures, it's easy to see why folks should, in fact, get "stuck on" organics.

And while Michelle Obama's past initiatives seemed to focus on the health of people and the environment, Woods suggested buying products from big box stores. These stores — like Walmart, Costco, and other ginormous grocers — produce notoriously high environmental footprints. I would've loved for Woods to suggest purchasing produce at local farmers' markets, which at times can be less expensive than traditional grocery stores, especially considering the fact that many markets now accept food stamps. Or he might have mentioned how folks could source food from community gardens or CSAs. Woods missed an opportunity to tout the benefits of local eating, both from an environmental and economic standpoint.

I commend these videos as a good idea that promotes affordable, healthy eating. But let's not forget about what's healthy for the earth, too.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons