the touch screen world

(photo from takepart.com)
On Wednesday I rode the subway for an hour and a half to a preschool which is run out of a church in Queens. I am currently working for a small research project which has me traveling across the 5 boroughs a few days a week. Not only am I part of a physical activity and nutrition project for children, (which to say the least is “right up my alley”), but I get to spend about 8 hours a day in the presence of three year olds, and that my friends can be quite entertaining. I have been practically everywhere in the 5 boroughs, expanding on my familiarity with the city I love so much. From West Harlem to Central Brooklyn to Far Rockaway, I am there with my enthusiasm for whole grains and 30 minutes of recess each day.

“Toto we’re not in Kansas anymore” would be a perfect one line description of my job these days. What I see, and what I hear sometimes amazes me, sometimes concerns me, but most of the time makes me laugh. There was the center that was taught primarily in Spanish; at 8 am that day I was greeted with 14 “hola”s as each kid walked into the classroom. In another school I was asked to play a game with a little boy on the playground who told me we were guarding our castle (the jungle gym) against Vashti. When I asked who this person was, the response I got was “she’s a bad guy! She makes you work on shabbos!” (This was a school run by orthodox Jewish women). Then there was the Russian school, where one beautiful little girl with a blonde braid all the way down her back approached me and spoke in her teeny voice in Russian, words I could not understand. “I’m sorry, in English please?” I asked. She looked at me as if she needed a minute, and then spoke slowly: “what’s your name?” These children danced to instrumental music with scarves before nap time, and the music sounded exactly like the music that used to play in my ballet classes. I sat there in awe, wishing I could be back in a pair of pink tights with my hair in a bun. It was also at this school that I was told by the director “our kids are fed well, but of course most of them are taken care of by their grandparents who are old school in their beliefs and give them pancakes every morning for breakfast! (she starts chuckling in her thick Russian accent) “you know! Oh eat eat! You are too skinny! Have cakes! That’s what the grandparents want”. And nothing beats a day in the life for me than when a child says “is lunch soon? I am going to eat all of my vegetables first! Watch!”

This Wednesday though I had the pleasure of enjoying lunch with the other teachers in the school. When I ran to get my purse for money for the lunch order, my cell phone fell out of my sweater and smashed on the floor. Oh blackberry, we had a good run. I sat at the lunch table trying to revive my phone, but the white screen and buzzing noises of text messages coming through that I would never be able to read was making it clear that I needed to say goodbye. “You should go fix the phone now while you can! I’m sure there is an At&t store around here” said one of the teachers. “Oh there’s no way” I said, “I can’t leave and possibly miss part of the school day”. “Oh, we won’t tell anyone you left” one giggled, and continued: “you must be thinking my goodness these Christian Women and look at what they are telling me!” Everyone starts laughing. “Yes, we’re good Christian women! Now when you go to At&t don’t tell them you dropped it. Just say you took it off the charger and the screen went white on you” another teacher says. I was laughing pretty hard at this, and I joined in with a few of my own jokes, mostly about how I don't go to church, but would be way too scared to lie to at&t. Even though we laughed and made peaceful conversation about religion, what the women all really wanted from me it turns out was nutrition advice. Word got out before the a.m. snack time for the kids that I was in the food field and by lunch they had reported to the cafeteria with all of their questions. I don’t mind this stuff at all. In fact, as long as I have the answer to the question I enjoy it very much. One of the teachers has been diagnosed with pre diabetic blood sugar levels and she is concerned about becoming diabetic if she doesn’t better control her diet starting immediately. She had heard about the glycemic index, but was unsure of what it was, and was looking for the easiest way to know what was OK from it to eat, and what was not. Below is how I summed it up for her.

I think the glycemic index is great for anyone. It gives food and beverages a score (1-100) that is determined based on the blood glucose effect that food has on you. Foods high on the glycemic index such as white bread and baked potatoes (skinless) absorb quickly into our cells, requiring a fast and abundant amount of insulin. Foods low on the index like sweet potatoes and apples, digest and absorb more slowly. Gradual absorption means gradual breakdown and release of glucose into the bloodstream, and a more balanced insulin/uptake process into the cells. This is important for those with diabetes who need to manage their blood sugar levels, and are taught to “carb count” by spreading their carbohydrates evenly throughout the day to maintain energy without having any spiked levels of blood glucose. You do not need to be diabetic in order to eat based on the index. Some people believe the index can be used as a weight loss tool. As I always say about any diet tool, I use the index as more of a reference and not for any complicated “diet”. There are a lot of books out there that turn eating into a chemistry project, but I don’t believe it is always that complicated. Unless you have a medical condition you can use the index as a reference too. Turns out most of the time the healthier foods are on the lower end of the index, and higher in fiber, which most Americans are not getting enough of. Foods that are high in fiber (soluble fiber specifically) digest and absorb into our cells at a slower pace, which is why they will have lower scores on the index. Remember though, fiber itself never absorbs into our cells. We do not digest it, which is why fiber is not considered a nutrient. I told the teacher to stick to whole grains, oatmeal, apples and sweet potatoes, but to avoid white breads, white rice, sugary breakfast cereals and gatorades. Also, physical activity never hurt anyone in managing their diabetes.

PS: I ended up with an iphone after my visit to at&t that evening. I have entered the touch screen world, and I am awful at it. I have so much to learn still :)