Ann Cooper visits Google to discuss her book "Lunch Lessons: Changing the Way We Feed Our Children".

Remember how simple school lunches used to be? You'd have something from every major food group, run around the playground for a while, and you looked and felt fine. But today it's not so simple. Schools are actually feeding the American crisis of childhood obesity and malnutrition. Most cafeterias serve a veritable buffet of processed, fried, and sugary foods, and although many schools have attempted to improve, they are still not measuring up: 78 percent of the school lunch programs in America do not meet the USDA's nutritional guidelines.

Chef Ann Cooper has emerged as one of the nation's most influential and most respected advocates for changing how our kids eat. Ann has worked to transform cafeterias into culinary classrooms. In her book Lunch Lessons, she spells out how parents and school employees can help instill healthy habits in children.

She explains the basics of good childhood nutrition and suggests dozens of tasty, home-tested recipes for breakfast, lunch, and snacks. Yet learning about nutrition and changing the way you run your home will not cure the plague of obesity and poor health for this generation of children. Only parental activism can spark widespread change. With inspirational examples and analysis, Lunch Lessons is more than just a recipe book—it gives readers the tools to transform the way children everywhere interact with food.

Originally published in April of 2007.

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