Sesame Street announced last week that, as part of an ongoing story arc, Cookie Monster will learn about healthy eating through a song called “A Cookie Is a Sometimes Food”. More details from CNN…
Everyone who grew up with Sesame Street seems to have the same reaction to this news — absolute shock. I certainly felt the same way — how can Cookie Monster not be, well, Cookie Monster? The more I think about it, however, the more I realize that health education in this country is disasterously bad, and that any improvement to that will be a good step towards fixing our obesity problem.
Obviously, this problem runs far, far deeper than Sesame Street, but if we put our feelings of nostalga aside, it’s clear that teaching children about eating healthy at an early age can only have a positive influence. Let’s just hope that the writers don’t try to focus on faddy low carb dieting and instead focus on strategies for long term healthy living: whole grains, fruits & vegetables, and fish.