HEALTH FOOD NAZIS IN OUR CHILDREN'S SCHOOLS

[Anonymous]

If you saw the way kids can hardly run at my dd school you might be less concerned about cupcakes and more concerned about getting them to run. I look at these 60 pound kindergardeners and see rampant diabetes and heart disease, compromised knees, hips. This problem will not get solved in the schools but they sure should not contribute to the problem.

[Anonymous]

So glad I'm not the only health food "nazi" here. Some moms can't believe I never go to McD's, and my own father says I've brainwashed my kids against McDs (they say ewww everytime he offers to take them).

[Anonymous]

I'd rather see daily PE and recess than all the food restrictions (of course the nut thing is understandable from an allergy standpoint, but that's different than the cupcake/candy restrictions). My diet as a kid wasn't bad by standards back then but would be absolutely horrifying today, and I wasn't and have never been overweight, because I got a TON of exercise.

[Anonymous]

"Back when we were kids..."

Ugh, stop already. Time has moved on and so has the world. So stop wasting time comparing all the things we did and had and start getting with the way things are now and working with that. We are not going to go back the way things were in the 70's and 80's so get over it.

Schools ban food because they are unhealthy and way too available today and there is more information about allergies available (thanks you Internet!)

Back in the 70's, Hamburger Helper was billed as a "healthy" way to provide dinner for a family.

[Anonymous]

I agree with the exercise. Why does physical education take a back seat? Physical activity can help mental focus, boost academic performance as well as establish healthy life habits.

[Anonymous]

I would never have made it out of elementary school w/o daily recess. How do they expect these kids to pay attention or enjoy school when they are inactive all day long?

[Anonymous]

First they came for the peanuts,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a peanut.

Then they came for the Twinkies,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't Twinkie.

Then they came for the chocolate ice cream,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a chocolate ice cream.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

[Anonymous]

What schools don't have a daily recess after lunch? I never heard of that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When we went to school there were maybe 15 kids in a classroom not 25-30. The cupcakes we had back then were the small ones with one spreading of frosting. The cupcakes that most parents, including myself, grab at Giant or safeway are twice the size and have 10X the frosting that we had with homemade ones. In a class with 25-30 kids there will be a birthday cupcakes activity everyweek sometimes more than once. We go to a Montessori preschool with large classes and the teachers do allow cupcakes but request that they be the mini ones without the 4 inches of frosting or small mini muffins. Its reasonable and everyone complies but it is a smaller and closer community. Across the board in all public schools, it would be difficult to monitor whether people are ignoring the small treat compromise so no cupcakes makes more sense.

We also did not have chocolate milk in school when I was a kid. When you were in high school, did you ever hear about a McDonalds being in your school? McDonalds was a treat and back then the fries were half the size that they are now. There certainly were not any vending candy machines or soda machines in school. We also did not have chocolate milk as a milk option back then either. The school food may have tasted just as bad back then as it does now but the sugar and fat content significantly soared over the past few decades. Highly processed, poor quality foods are cheap and it is a crime that this is what we are giving our kids in school. Many of the "health food trends" actually are just trying to get back to what portions and food types were available when we were kids.

Schools are larger and life threatening nut allergies are more common now. Nut allergies require very little exposure. The kid does not have to take a bite of your child's PB sandwich, he just needs to be in the vicinity so this ban is considered reasonable by most rationale people.

I completely agree about recess. My child is going to go insane next year with only 30 minutes of recess a day and PE once a week. We will be getting up an hour earlier next year so that my 1st grader can run around the backyard for an hour before school. When it stays light out until 7pm she can get a few hours outside but once it starts getting dark really early I'm not sure what else we will do.

Where did you go to school? Was Beaver in your class? Did June bring in the cupcakes?

Where I went to school (in an upper middle class suburb), we routinely had over 25 kids in the class, chocolate milk in the lunchroom (you could also buy lemonade and fruitpunch), and recess stopped after 4th grade in favor of 2x per week PE. I graduated highschool in 1985. Oh, and nobody ever brough snacks to school for birthdays--first I heard of that was when my kids started school.

Now can we stop with the "when I was in school it was so great" and focus?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School lunches are sickening. I can't imagine what the kids who eat breakfast AND lunch at school must feel like. Yuck.

Sometimes just happy that they're getting food. You should see some of them on Monday mornings--it's pretty sad. No complaining, just silence as they wolf it down....

That is sad. I saw something on the news about a program that sends food home in their backpacks on Friday afternoons. I'd like to contribute if anyone knows about it.

The Capital Area Food Bank runs a Weekend Bag program and I know the need is large. They would gratefully accept your donation.

http://www.capitalareafoodbank.org/feeding-hope/#10

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:School lunches are sickening. I can't imagine what the kids who eat breakfast AND lunch at school must feel like. Yuck.

My daughter eats school breakfast every day. It is cereal and milk and a piece of fruit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd rather see daily PE and recess than all the food restrictions (of course the nut thing is understandable from an allergy standpoint, but that's different than the cupcake/candy restrictions). My diet as a kid wasn't bad by standards back then but would be absolutely horrifying today, and I wasn't and have never been overweight, because I got a TON of exercise.

True about not being overweight and the importance of exercise--but unhealthy food (high in fat and sugar, chemicals) can lead to other health problems that are not necessarily obesity, i.e. diabetes, high blood pressure, certain cancers. Also thin people can be out of shape based on diet, not just amount of exercise. We need to tackle both problems, exercise and diet in our children. When my brother was in high school, he was athletic and thin-however, he ate unhealthy--he was diagnosed with high cholesterol and had to make diet changes so he wouldn't die of a heart attack at an early age! My mom was surprised as he was getting tons of exercise and "appeared" healthy-- please keep this in mind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School lunches are sickening. I can't imagine what the kids who eat breakfast AND lunch at school must feel like. Yuck.

My daughter eats school breakfast every day. It is cereal and milk and a piece of fruit.

That's great for your DD but not all kids eat that. Here is the menu for mont. co. public schools breakfast:

Monday -- French Toast Sticks, OJ, Choice of Milk

Tuesday -- Egg and Cheese Wrap, Apple Juice, Choice of Milk

Wed. -- 3 Pancakes, OJ, Choice of Milk

Thursday -- Ham and Cheese Breakfast Sandwich, Apple Juice, Choice of Milk

Friday -- Cinnamon Roll, OJ, Choice of Milk

The "daily alternate selections" are cereal, bagel, 3 pancakes, yogurt and fruit of the day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:First they came for the peanuts,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a peanut.

Then they came for the Twinkies,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't Twinkie.

Then they came for the chocolate ice cream,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a chocolate ice cream.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School lunches are sickening. I can't imagine what the kids who eat breakfast AND lunch at school must feel like. Yuck.

Sometimes just happy that they're getting food. You should see some of them on Monday mornings--it's pretty sad. No complaining, just silence as they wolf it down....

This is very true. I think a lot of us don't realize how important school meals are in terms of getting kids basic nutrition.

Many on this board, including me, have the means to send our kids whatever we want from home, and to make sure they get healthful and wholesome foods. But other kids depend on school nutrition for this -- just one more reason to ensure that they get the nutrition they need.

If you want to send your kid "comfort foods" that's fine -- send it in a Thermos. But I want school meals to be good food. Look at it this way: do you want to pay for the healthcare that these kids will consume as overweight adults?