Efforts to combat the U.S. obesity epidemic have been ongoing in earnest for nearly two decades, informed by a substantial body of knowledge and guided by numerous programmatic and policy recommendations. Yet, although there are some bright spots, I sense frustration in the public health community with the overall lack of clear progress in…

This Conversation Currents features Chef Kevin Gillespie, owner of Atlanta restaurant Gunshow, contestant on Bravo's "Top Chef Las Vegas" in 2009, and food activist for various organizations. He shares his journey to becoming a chef, ways to integrate healthy foods in schools, and the role of literacy in nutrition.

In this webinar, Dr. Charles Basch, Richard March Hoe Professor of Health and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, presented the causal connections between health factors and the motivation and ability to learn. This Q&A addressed the questions participants had for Dr. Basch following the webinar. The webinar recording and…

Writing on social movement learning and environmental adult education invokes particular views on knowledge that need further examination and development in relation to food social movements. Although food social movements take different forms, the paper argues that the politics of food knowledge is at the centre of many of these movements.…

As superintendent, the author works diligently to meet the demands by the West Virginia legislature, catalyzed by the aggressive role of West Virginia's First Lady Gayle Manchin, to fight child obesity. Recently, the state department of education agreed to enter the fight to curb the serious obesity and health problems among the children in the…

In this interview, David Kessler, former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, explains why so many people overeat. Changing lifestyles promote the constant availability of food and around-the-clock eating. In today's highly processed foods, food companies are able to dial in the exact amount of fat, sugar, and salt that will make…

To the extent that social science scholarship engages real-world developments it remains grounded and better able to resist elite agendas. With this in mind this article argues for the critical encounter with what I argue is the most significant struggle around food and agriculture today--the amorphous and broad-based movement that strives to…

It is the position of the American Dietetic Association (ADA), School Nutrition Association (SNA), and Society for Nutrition Education (SNE) that comprehensive, integrated nutrition services in schools, kindergarten through grade 12, are an essential component of coordinated school health programs and will improve the nutritional status, health,…

Today, teachers complain about the lack of physical education time and the lack of physical education programming. In addition, a great deal of time is spent advocating the relationship between "healthy mind-healthy body." Today's drive to show a relationship between physical fitness/activity and academic achievement is really not different than…

A senior researcher and hospital Chief of General Pediatrics, testifies about his work with a California school district to prevent obesity by developing a middle school program to promote healthy eating and physical activity. A two-year study has found that students have limited access to drinking water, especially at meals. In the schools being…

Promoting student health and well-being in school has long been a component of education. Traditionally, sports and physical education programs have stressed the importance of staying physically healthy through exercise. More recently, school-based sexual education and nutrition programs have informed young people about the importance of sexual…

For more than 20 years, the Center for Public Policy Priorities (CPPP) has been a nonpartisan, nonprofit 501(c)(3) research organization committed to improving public policies and private practices to better the economic and social conditions of low- and moderate-income Texans. CPPP believes the upcoming reauthorization of the child nutrition…

In this article, the author relates how she became concerned about the eating habits of her students. She found out that some of her students would come with a medium-sized bag of cheese curls and a 16-ounce soda. To help her students understand the benefits of healthy lifestyle, she incorporated several exercises in her classroom techniques.

It is obviously possible to argue that education is always an arm of social policy. However, there are just as surely degrees of directness between the agendas of noneducational authorities and what happens in school and university classrooms. This article considers what appears to be a direct example of a particular public policy agenda, the…