This Mother's Day is an opportunity to think about the connection between our moms and the food we eat.  Even though my mom never liked cooking (she prefers to boil water for coffee), she always ensured that we were eating nutritiously balanced meals every day. Our kitchen table was always inviting for every meal, with dishes beautifully laid out (even if it was just a simple salad). These practices are rapidly disappearing as  we've become a 24/7 society of on-the-go families eating take-out and prepared foods. Not to say that moms aren’t still working tirelessly to provide their children with healthy food, however the time and budget constraints of our modern era are stacking up against middle and lower class mothers in their struggle to get nutritious food on the table. Lunch boxes have been replaced with purchased school lunches that are laden with sugary, processed, high-fat foods. Sodas and junk foods are easily available too. And, kids suffer the most from these poor eating habits.

This food landscape is dangerous for America’s children and any parent should be alarmed.   The shocking reality is that one in three US kids is now either obese or overweight.  It's a serious health crisis that is actually solvable through diet and exercising.  We can also make changes in schools by demanding that soda and junk foods be removed from all public schools nationwide. Imagine walking into a school and finding that all of the vending machines normally filled with candy bars, chips, soda and sweets have been replaced with baskets of fresh fruits and vegetables. Ok, so I perhaps some kids might complain but think about how much more nutritious these options are for kids. And wouldn't you feel better knowing that they are eating a healthy, balanced meal that will help them to focus better in class, keep their energy and moods more balanced and improve their over-all health and well-being?

On this Mother's Day, you can honor mom and your kids by helping to create healthier school environments for kids. The Social Action campaign for the Oscar-nominated documentary, Food, Inc. is working to ban soda and junk foods. Make your voice heard by signing our pledge to ban soda and junk foods in schools as part of the Child Nutrition Reauthorization bill pending in Congress. We already delivered 50,000 signatures last year, thanks to the support of Moms Rising and Center for Science in the Public Interest. We're headed back again this spring with our goal of 250,000 names. This legislation only comes up once ever five years  and Congress has unfortunately been sitting on it for a year already. We have an opportunity this year to make a significant impact to improve kid's health by ensuring the legislation is passed and with the soda and junk food ban.   This will help to changes millions of kids lives. What mom wouldn't ask for this? I think it''s the best gift any mom could have.