PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Lianna Levine Reisner, Cofounder and Network Director of Plant Powered Metro New York
3:05:57
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146 sec
Lianna Levine Reisner, representing Plant Powered Metro New York, testified in support of the Healthy NYC Plan and provided recommendations for improving Intro 641 regarding nutrition standards for children's meals. She emphasized the importance of plant-based nutrition in preventing and reversing chronic diseases.
- Urged for more ambitious and far-reaching food-based solutions in the Healthy NYC Plan
- Recommended incorporating recent US dietary guidelines that encourage nutrient-dense plant-based meals into Intro 641
- Suggested improving the bill by recommending mostly whole grains and prioritizing plant proteins like beans, peas, and lentils over red and processed meats
Lianna Levine Reisner
3:05:57
So my name is Liana Levine Reisner.
3:05:59
I'm a cofounder of and the network director of Plant Powered Metro New York.
3:06:03
We're a nonprofit organization whose mission is to make sure every New Yorker knows that whole food plant based nutrition can prevent, treat, and even reverse many chronic diseases, including high blood pressure, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
3:06:16
We have proudly signed up to be a healthy NYC champion because we offer programming that has already proven its value in reducing New Yorkers' blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides, weight, and many other markers of health, including measures of depression and anxiety.
3:06:31
The Healthy NYC Plan is laudable in naming quantifiable goals to increase life in expectancy.
3:06:36
I'd like to point out that reducing deaths from infectious diseases, pregnancy associated deaths, and the prevalence of mental health conditions and chronic diseases, including asthma and many screenable cancers, must involve a significant change in how we view and mold our food system.
3:06:52
The truth is that we can't make substantial changes to these issues with with incremental food system adjustments.
3:06:57
We need to go all in.
3:06:59
So as you provide oversight to the health department, please make it clear that food based solutions must be ambitious and far reaching, that we must confront the elephants in the room that the norm of eating animal based and processed foods is creating these epidemics.
3:07:12
Regarding intro 641, the intent of the bill is good, and I also urge you to consider these ways to improve upon the nutrition standards articulated in the bill.
3:07:21
Earlier this fall, the US dietary guidelines advisory committee made a draft of its recommendations for the 2025, 2030 guidelines, which for the first time encourages a shift to a nutrient to nutrient dense plant based meals, an idea that could be incorporated into this bill as a way of providing positive guidance.
3:07:39
The committee also advises that grains served are mostly whole grains rather than at least 50% whole grains.
3:07:46
A third recommendation is to change the order of protein subgroups to first recommend bees beans, peas, and lentils because plant proteins are associated with health, whereas we continue to be advised to reduce our intake of red and processed meat, like the hamburgers and hot dogs found on kids' menus.
UNKNOWN
3:08:02
Your time has expired.
3:08:03
Thank you.
Lynn Schulman
3:08:04
If you can
Lynn Schulman
3:08:05
just sum up.
3:08:06
Go ahead.
Lianna Levine Reisner
3:08:07
You can give us a The nutrition standards in the bill don't differentiate meat from meat alternatives nor do they recommend plant proteins.
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So as the federal committee is poised to do, I believe we can do more to set higher standards locally for vulnerable children who are at the whims of our food system.
3:08:22
Thanks so much.
