Dear Assemblyman Felix Ortiz, As a practicing family physician, who teaches nutritional education to physicians, graduate students and teachers, I applaud the efforts to offer more vegetable, fruits, beans and nuts and seeds as options for school lunch programs. I am writing this letter to support the Healthy Plant-Centered School Foods Resolution. Eight major health organizations have joined forces to encourage Americans to eat more unrefined plant foods and less food from animal sources as revealed in the Journal of the American Heart Association. This was done in an effort to protect Americans against heart attacks and cancer. The Nutrition Committee of the American Heart Association The American Cancer Society The American Academy of Pediatrics The Council on Cardiovascular Disease in the Young The Council on Epidemiology and Prevention The American Dietetic Association The American Society for Clinical Nutrition When you add up all the calories consumed from the typical foods children in America eat, you find out the calories coming from fresh fruit, vegetables, beans, raw nuts and seeds is less than 5 percent of total calories. This ridiculously low intake of unrefined vegetation guarantees weakened immunity to disease, frequent illnesses and a shorter lifespan. A body formed out of refined foods, white flour, oils, sugar, cheese and other highly processed "fake" foods develops into a sickly human, with allergies, autoimmune diseases, such as colitis, psoriasis, lupus and asthma and suffers with indigestion, reflux, headaches, irritable bowel, fibroids, tumors and fatigue in early adulthood. Serious diseases that interfere with ones quality of life are borne out of our childhood diets. Cancer and heart disease follow. Junk food isn't cheap; we pay a steep price for it years later. We must offer healthier options, teach about the critical importance of eating more natural plant foods and set an example in our schools of what healthy eating should be. Giving our children the potential for a happy and healthy life is one of our greatest gifts to them. I am thankful for the opportunity to contribute to this effort. Please contact me if I can be of any assistance in your endeavors to see this come to fruition. Sincerely, Joel Fuhrman, M.D.