Today, most Americans will poison themselves. That is considering poison a substance that causes death or injury, and the food eaten by most Americans today is exactly that.
Jamie Oliver opened his TED talk with brutal truth and honesty. He looks out to the audience, and tells all the parents that this world of food that they have surrounded their children with will result in a death ten years earlier than their own. He continues to grasp the attention of the startled audience when he pulls up this chart on the enormous screen behind him. Full of passion and drive, he speaks,“We spend our lives being paranoid about death, murder, homicide, you name it. It’s on the front page of every paper, CNN. Look at homicide at the bottom for God’s sake. Right? Every single one of those in the red is a diet-related disease.” (Jamie Oliver).
From the top: Heart Disease, All Cancers, Stroke, Chronic Lower Respiratory Disease, Accidents, Diabetes, Alzheimer's Disease, Influenza and Pneumonia, Kidney Disease, Septicemia, Suicide, Chronic Liver Disease, Hypertension, Parkinson's Disease, Homicide
He proposes a simple solution. Worthwhile and inexpensive; he wants to educate children about food.
Innovation and creativity are vital to our survival as a species, but even more important is health. Without it humans can't even expect to live to a point where they are able to create and make a difference in the world. Jamie alerts the audience to another disturbing statistic,“Fact. Diet-related disease is the biggest killer in the United States, right now, here today,” (Jamie Oliver). New inventions or improvements in education will do the human race no good if all have already died due to health issues. Jamie pulls a picture of a young 16 year old girl. Severely obese, her doctors don't expect for her to live for six more years. Immediate action needs to be taken to save her life. Many other things in this world are important and must be fixed, but right here and now health must be put as the top priority.
People around the world are eating themselves to death. Jamie believes that with simple education on food this problem can be fixed. He shows this clip during his TED talk, showing the disturbing lack of education on food in America.
The crowds' mouths hung open in astonishment. He quickly tells them how fixable the problem is. Within 2 one hour sessions every child in the room could name each of the vegetables with ease. Knowing what the food is not only makes them more likely to eat it, but also to eat less of the processed foods that they love since they now know the consequences of them.
We won't live to see the future of tomorrow if these health problems aren't fixed today. He brings out a wheel barrel full of sugar cubes, and dumps them on the stage. The milk drank by the children of America contains nearly as much sugar as a soda drink and the amount he dumps on stage represents the amount of sugar consumed through five years of elementary school... from milk only. Something supposed to be good and healthy for humans is nearly as processed and as detrimental to health as a soda. Most students are served two meals a day 180 days out of the year at school. Having a lack of cutlery at school means that most of the food being served is fast food. The big companies must make a change soon for the betterment of society and must hold themselves to a moral standard at which they can supply healthy, decent food to these schools.
Every word spoken during Jamie Oliver's TED talk is drenched in passion, depth and devotion. As a parent, these food issues with children hit home with him. He is almost frantic moving across the stage in a zig zag formation, bursting with the knowledge he wishes to spew out to the people of the world. He is exciting to watch, upbeat and optimistic, yet sobered by the truth and reality of the situation that many other countries, like America, have gotten themselves into.
A drastic change needs to be made in society immediately, for there is no way to continue life this way. Children must be educated about food and what they choose to put in their bodies. You truly are what you eat, because any nutrient your body requires comes from consuming food, and I doubt we live in a world where everyone wants to be made of disgusting food that is fried and processed beyond recognition. With simple education not only is obesity preventable, but also the disease caused by it.
I personally didn't eat any fried or processed foods prior to this and try to eat organic when I can, but this TED talk has shown me that I must do much more. It is my responsibility to spread the knowledge I already have about eating healthy fresh food combined with the new things I have learned from Mr. Oliver to inspire people to take their health into their own hands, and especially to encourage their kids to do so, since they are the future of this planet.
By spending a little time teaching children about how food effects their bodies, the world can slowly work to a better more positive future with children living longer, not shorter than their parents, with every generation to come.
Jamie Oliver's inspirational TED talk:
You can also find other TED talks similar to Jamie Oliver's at http://www.ted.com/themes/food_matters.html
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