Community Benefit- A Peek Inside What Others Are Doing

       Lets take a look at some things people are doing out there that truly are inspired, and inspiring people by nutrition! First here are a few overviews of some things I have seen in the media.
      Jamie Oliver's food revolution: Jamie saw a problem in public school with the cafeterias feeding the students what essentially was a bunch of junk. The schools had some pretty messed up idea of standards for nutrition that may as well have been non-existent. Oliver worked very hard to petition these school as well as individual families he saw that had a problem. He was interested in getting people in the community to restore their health starting at a young age! To see his dedication and hard pushing of his changes was amazing to me, because some people out there really just don't recognize how to improve their nutrition! The people in the unhealthiest city in America (Huntington, West Virginia) were collectively originally fairly resistant to his attempts to change. People get comfortable in their routines it seems and don't want to be told they live in a town of people living their lives wrong. They view eating healthy as "eating lettuce" for a meal, something that is boring, awful, and painful. They don't realize how dynamic and variable eating well really can be.
Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution Episode 1(preview without Hulu Plus)
ABC Show Website

     Another one of my heroes for the same reason is Jillian Michaels. She has created an entire industry off helping people change their lives to become more active and healthy. Between training contestants on Biggest Loser, and her own workouts among the other side projects she has including her website with personalized plans and informational articles, she also ran a show called "Losing It With Jillian" that spoke to me. She came into the homes of families who really needed her help. They might have been disease candidates, lost their job due to lack of motivation, or have otherwise extreme circumstances. Jillian would come raid their kitchens, teach them how to eat better and then proceed to train them like a drill sergeant, and work them physically and mentally in a week inspiring them to the point where they could change their mentality and open up the things that were mentally blocking them from success in becoming healthy. In a week she was able to make some changes that showed to have a lifetime of beneficial value with some crazy impressive results for the individuals.
Loosing it Episode 1 (preview without Hulu Plus)
Losing It- NBC Show website

     More recently, at University of Washington, the following video describes re-implementing home economics classes in order to help fight obesity rates. One of the key problems they see with the youth of this "time-starved" generation is that they don't know how to cook. Without cooking knowledge, the diet of eating out and microwave dinners definitely puts them at risk. UW wants to modernize home economics so it isn't just geared towards preparing women for home duties. The following link has the video article from King 5 news.

http://www.king5.com/video/featured-videos/Home-economics-classes-are-making-a-comeback-116715334.html

     The message: You don't have to have a big name like Jillian or Jamie to make a difference. Take their dedication and serving as key examples. Think of things you can do to help out your own community, or maybe just someone you know. Don't stop just because there is someone who is resistant to your ideas! Chances are, they are simply afraid to admit they themselves have a problem. Be a supportive individual and be a role model. Anything you can do helps, and while many Americans are finally starting to become more health informed, not everyone has enough resources or motivation to make those crucial life changes.