A new French Revolution?

Patrick Henry is reputed to have said "Give me Liberty or give me death" in a speech on March 23 1775 at St John's Church in Richmond Virginia. It seems that Americans everywhere have taken and modified this cry for freedom and instead now express their wish for both liberty and

American are now free to eat what they like and what they like seems to be killing them in great numbers.

The revolutionary war against British rule was, at least in part, inspired by the French Revolution and so it was with some relief that I read that the French who inspired the bases of the American constitution, are perhaps on course, once again, to inspire some changes to a different type of American constitution. The constitution of American bodies, by their suggestions for altering eating habits.

Already much taken by French fashions, there are now millions of Americans who would find it difficult to fit into any of the fashions that come from that country simply because of the epidemic of obesity that seems to have struck the USA in recent times. Even worse there are rumours that this epidemic has only just begun with childhood obesity ever on the increase in all parts of the country.

America is arguably among the most obese nations on earth and death. Mississippi is the fattest of all!

I suspect that the notion of "Let the good times roll" (Louis Jordan and BB King) has been taken to excess by those who now seem to consume vast quantities of various take away foods and end up being the focus of national programs to reduce obesity - if for no other reason, than to reduce the cost of health care in the future.

The Americanisation of the world has led to outbreaks of this epidemic in other western nations. The English and the French in particular seem to be suffering from the obesity epidemic.

The French it seems are fighting back!

In this case it is the town of Evereux in Normandy that is at the forefront of a French program to prevent childhood obesity. The program is called EPODE and its main focus is on primary school children. This small quiet town has been running the scheme called for three years and it has been adopted by 127 French towns and has even spread to Spain. Thus it should present no problems of cultural acceptance by those parts of the USA that have a history of association with French and Spanish cultures.

It could, for example come as a great contribution to Mississippi in the Deep South which is proud of its hospitality and of being the home of Blues music and it's association with a French Heritage. One thing it is not proud of is being classified as the fattest state in the union (The figures come from an annual survey by the Trust for America's Health.)Perhaps it's time for them and many others it seems, to learn from the image and food conscious French, another way of attacking the problem of obesity that is both nutritious and tasty.

EPODE is a program where Dieticians visit the schools to run special lessons on food.The aim of the exercise is to encourage children to eat something in the morning and to ensure it is a balanced meal. The French don't see it as simply nutrition but something to savour, to celebrate.

This means both variety and moderation. Breakfast can and does include a nice slab of Camembert and lunch in the school canteen while consisting of three courses has small portions.

Two-year-olds are having lunch started with cold cooked asparagus, raw cauliflower and carrots - all with sauce dips. The idea is to introduce different tastes to the children early on, to get their palates used to more bitter and acid foods. The children apparently love it.

I wonder how many two-year-olds (not to mention their parents) in the USA would welcome something like this being introduced into THEIR schools?

"We concentrate on prevention because we know that a child who is overweight at age 12 has 80% chance to be obese all their life," said Sandrine Raffin, director of the EPODE program.

"To gain a healthy lifestyle you need the whole of childhood to build good food habits and incorporate physical activity."

Nationally, big names in the food industry, like Nestlé help fund the EPODE programme, but they do so at arm's length. In the large supermarket in Evreux there were signs promoting the programme. Groups of children are invited in to learn about seasonal produce and how food is produced."

What a wonderful example to America where world wide food companies abound and where the supermarket concept was started. Indeed it may be a recipe for preventing obesity, designed by an image-conscious and food-loving nation, which might once again come to the aid of Americans who need inspiration for a new revolution in their fight on fat!