In early February, First Lady Michelle Obama announced what she called a "very ambitious" program to end the American plague of childhood obesity in a single generation. Her campaign Let’s Move calls for four key initiatives: getting parents more informed about nutrition and exercise, improving the quality of food in schools, making healthy foods more affordable and accessible for families, and focusing more on physical education.
The problem—entirely self-made—is pretty shocking. One out of three American children and teens are overweight, about 25 million. Obesity leads to depression, stress, diabetes, and poor classroom performance. Several studies indicate shorter life spans for today’s children than for their parents. The government spends $147 billion a year on weight-related medical bills.
This is not good.
How did we get into this mess? Americans have fallen into the habit of snacking and drinking sugary drinks almost without interruption. Do you know anyone who eats three sit-down meals a day? Sports nutritionists recommend five small meals a day, but does that mean you or me? It’s like Gatorade—do we really imagine we are so athletic we need a sport’s drink? Get real!
To help out Ms. Obama, I have devised the Mad Housewife plan for reducing childhood obesity. Here it is.
1. Three meals a day, no snacks. Not ever.
2. Thou shall not drink calories. Except 1% fat milk. No juice, no soda. Not ever.
3. Kick your kids out of the house. Go scrape a knee! TV and computer time only after at least an hour of running around being wild and crazy.
4. Teach your kids to cook and assign them to make dinner once or twice a week. Show them how to appreciate fresh ingredients and how much fun cooking is. Praise them wildly for their efforts. Encourage their creativity. Bring them cookbooks with gorgeous pictures from exotic lands. While they are cooking, you can sit peacefully on the porch, sipping a glass of Mad Housewife wine, chuckling at the screeches and banging sounds coming from the kitchen. They’ll be fine. They know where the paper towels are.
An easy dish to start them off on is pasta. What kid doesn’t like pasta? It’s fun to make and open to every variation in the world. There are three basic sauces: tomato, olive oil, and cream. Throw in any variety of vegetable (I like to throw broccoli in with the boiling pasta), and any variety of protein cut up in bite-size pieces—meat balls, shrimp, chunks of chicken, ham, turkey, or fish. Pour the sauce on boiled pasta with some Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and fresh herbs and that’s it! Dinner! Hurrah!
When my nephew came to
We got busy in the kitchen, whipping up something with whatever I had on hand. He chopped the tomatoes and garlic, boiled the water, cleaned the broccoli. I directed, sitting on a stool, sipping a glass of Mad Housewife Chardonnay. He drained the pasta, poured on the sauce, grated the cheese, and carried it to the table.
He was proud, I was proud. It turns out we concocted one of my very favorite pasta dishes.
Venice
This dish speaks of summers on
Serves two:
1/2 pound fresh fettuccini (or 4 ounces dry pasta)
½ pound broccoli florets
1 Haas avocado
4 fresh Roma tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
1 bunch basil (parsley or cilantro will also work)
1 tablespoons olive oil
black pepper
¼ cup freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
1. While your pasta water is boiling, cut up the tomatoes and avocado in medium chunks. Toss lightly with olive oil and pepper. On a cutting board, chop the garlic and basil together to make a coarse pesto, and add to the tomatoes. Do not over mix.
2. Boil the pasta. Three minutes before it is done, throw in the broccoli. Test doneness of the broccoli with a knife. Drain the pasta. Place the broccoli around the edge of the serving bowl. Toss the pasta with the tomatoes and avocado mixture, and pour into the center of the serving bowl. Sprinkle with Parmigiano Reggiano, and serve with crusty French or Italian bread.
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