British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver

His efforts made the subject of school dinners a political issue in Britain and changed the types of food served in schools. A similar campaign in the US was much less successful, and he has expressed dismay at how newly affluent youth in China and India have embraced Western-style fast food, and the well-documented rise in obesity and diabetes in both countries.

"The lack of food knowledge and cooking skills is having a really negative impact on our health and life expectancy," he says of British families. "To cut a long story short, for the first time in history, younger generations are expected to live shorter lives than their parents, because of poor diet and a lack of food skills."

The years they do have are increasingly unhealthy, he says.

An American fan of Oliver's, Lindsey Shifley, became concerned when her daughter Abbie lost interest in school.

"Abbie was a full year behind in reading, had clinically significant attention and sensory-processing issues and could not follow simple two-step directions in the classroom," she recalls in a posting on Oliver's foodrevolutionday.com.

"I made the simple, yet challenging decision to eliminate the 'fake food ingredients in Abbie's diet," she says, acknowledging that packaged and processed foods had become 90 percent of the family diet.

"To everyone's shock, Abbie became symptom-free in under three weeks. She began to blossom in school, and ultimately, she completed her 1st grade year exceeding expectations."

Lindsey Shifley credits Oliver for her change in approach, and now acts as an ambassador for his eat-smart campaign.

"Our bodies are not meant to eat artificial colors, they are not meant to eat preservatives, chemicals, refined sugars and fats developed in labs," she says.

Problems like Abbie had are preventable, says Oliver, who hopes on Friday's events will excite viewers around the world to make healthy choices about the food they eat.