Hunger Games

Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, is a book rapidly spreading through the teenage (and adult!) population. The protagonist, Katniss, spends her days in the woods hunting and gathering. She knows the fruits, roots, veggies, and game in season for every day of the year. This knowledge of sustenance keeps her family fed in an otherwise starving community. AND she is healthy, lean, and strong; if you know the book you understand how dire these traits are for the hunger games!

The story line for such an awesome book has of course already been purchased by Lionsgate. I'm excited by this for multiple reasons, one of them being this is the PERFECT opportunity to teach kids about wholesome, simply prepared nutrition. Ms. Collins has depicted a diet of fresh ingredients for her heroine, who's admired for her conditioned body and ability to perform stealthy tasks. I'm a huge proponent for meals consisting of minimal, whole ingredients. We need to make a move into this type of lifestyle, no more packaged "foods" with ingredients we can't pronounce. Meals are fuel! Treat them as such! Would you fill your car's fuel tank with a mixture of gas, pine-sol, and windex?? Hopefully not, so on the same note, minimize your intake of non-food foods. Any which way preservatives, flavors, dyes, and extra sugar get used or stored in the body is adverse. Get to know what each item has to offer , you can even see fast food items here.

Make soda, candy, pastries, etc. treats for yourself (i.e. eat sparingly). I would lose my mind if I couldn't have a Hershey's bar with almonds, or gooey melty cheesy anything every know and then. It's just a matter of budgeting it into the calories, vitamins, and minerals I've consumed that day.

I hope a discussion is started about Katniss's diet. In this society of children raised to accept obesity and diabetes as normal, we sure can use a role model to remind ourselves what food really is.

Thanks for introducing me to the series Katie!