Tomorrow is July 1st. It is the day that many school districts have been panicked  about. It’s big change for some and not so big for others.
The Healthier Hunger Free Act goes into effect. That means children will have plenty of fruits and vegetables to choose from every week. All students will be required to take at least 1/2 cup of fruit or vegetable in order to be eligible to receive a reimbursable meal.

I am not going to go into all the details here but you can email me if you have questions @ walksofwellness@gmail.com.
What I do want to address is we as adults need to support and teach our children to eat fruits and vegetables. They are going to come home upset because the mean lunch lady  would not allow them to take just chicken nuggets and a milk or chicken nuggets a roll and a milk. For those of you who live in school districts that still fry your kids will survive. We have not had fried french fries  or any other fried foods in our district for several years. We also only serve baked fries no more than once a week.

Don’t be surprised if your childs lunch cost more. We have not changed pricing schedules however if your child does not take a fruit or vegetable for lunch they will pay ala carte pricing. This means they will need to pay  seperately for each item they take. Example: child chooses chicken nuggets $1.25, a roll $.25 and milk $.50 and no fruit or vegetable = their meal’cost $2.00. If they take the 1/2 cup fruit and /or vegetable with this meal it will only cost them,  in my district for elementary students $1.50 and secondary $1.75 for their meal. 

I am asking parents and guardians to think about becoming food educators and educate your child on eating healthier by encouraging them to take these items. Become a food ambassador and eat these items yourself with your child.

Together we will make a change and we will be rewarded with healthier children.

I am so grateful for each of you! Susan thanks for your note and thanks to all my YCDA group,Melissa and Sarah for all your support. I do live a busy life but I carry each of you in my heart daily.

This post may be a little long as I have much to tell.

Last week I was given the opportunity to speak  to a group of men and women about walking the talk of wellness

and the experience was awesome.
There were so many levels of accomplishment that I am truly humbled by the opportunity. The best thing of all I was not nervous. I knew my material
and there was nothing going to stop me from spreading my message. Not my computer that did not want to cooperate or my music would not play or the distractions of a standing room only audience with people being turned away because there was no more room .

This room was filled with people that have huge responsibilities. We all feed our nations largest treasure our future our children. We have a huge responsibility and we want to do it right. We get so caught up in our work that many times we forget to take care of ourselves. We forget we are our children’s  everyday heroes and they look to us as their leaders. Therefore my message to them was we need to take a look at ourselves in the mirror and be the change. We need to not just talk the walk of wellness but L.I.V.E. the walk of wellness .

Many people left that room with a different outlook as well as many left re-energized and motivated. My experience as a speaker is only the beginning of exciting things to come. You see I know now deep in my heart that I make a difference in the lives of many and I am a part of change.

Love to you all.

The last blog post I wrote was about purchasing a pair of shoes. What I did not tell you was why I really needed the shoes.So I am going to share the rest of the story.

First of all I still do not have new shoes but not for a lack of trying. I tried on 54 pair of shoes yesterday and did not find the right color in the right size. What I did find a really cute dress that I feel pretty in and a suit that I look really great in. I guess it just not meant for me to have new shoes for my anticipated exciting Monday and Tuesday.

On Monday morning in Austin Texas for the Texas Association of Child Nutrition at 9am and Tuesday at 2:30 I will fulfill something I have wanted to do for a long time. I will stand in front of 200 people for one hour each day and speak on Walking the Talk of Wellness . Surprisingly to me I am not scared. I have never done this and it is an exciting  window of opportunity for me to grow and touch many lives with the anticipation of changing or enhancing at least one life and I am okay with it  if it is only my own life.

I look forward to sharing this life experience with each of you and Thank each of you for your support and for being a part of my life.

I have been so busy for the last 3 weeks that I barely had time to breathe. Today is my day to take care of me and something is holding me back. Not sure why or what but I know that I don’t want to do it.
Not sure why I don’t want to go buy myself a new pair of shoes. It is so scary. I haven’t been shopping since last March and have not bought a new pair of shoes in over 4 years.
Gotta figure it out. Have to have the shoes for work and panic has set in. What’s happening what’s really going on?
I will figure this out.

More later.