Reply to Parents - your kids are bringing garbage snacks to school

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I send my child to school everyday with a healthy and balanced lunch that is cooked 80% of the time. She does not need a snack as she gets one afterschool. I do send her with a little dessert for lunch every now and then ( Those flower cookies or mini- sponge cakes from Trader Joe’s or cinnamon twists that I made for her. I am a teacher too so I know what you mean. I have 4 kids in my 2nd grade class who come to school every morning with chips, candy and a Coke. I am dead serious. I do not say anything to them because it is not my place to shame them but when they asked if my kids drink Coke the answer is no as I don’t allow soda in my house along with cereal. [/quote]

Yes, soda and breakfast cereal -- notoriously the same nutritional content.

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Cereal is one of the biggest scams in the history of nutrition. It's nothing but sugar and simple carbs. Even if you buy one without added sugar, it's over-processed simple carbs that turn into glucose in your children's bloodstream super fast. Convenient? Yes. Good for them, especially if that's the entire breakfast? No. [/quote]

Lots of cereals (not the high sugar ones with cartoon characters on the box, but like shredded wheat, bran flakes, muesli, etc.) contain a full day's supply of fiber. Many cereals are also rich in iron and B-group vitamins. These are all nutrients that many kids don't get enough of because of aversions to meat and vegetables (even kids who eat meat and veggies happily often won't eat full servings of them because of challenges with childhood dentition or limited acceptance of more bitter and savory flavors). Combine that cereal with whole milk or full fat yogurt and some fruit, and it's actually one of the healthiest breakfasts you can offer.

The hyper processed cereals are obviously not this, but I don't see anyone arguing that Cocoa Puffs are a health food. My kid eats cereal almost daily but has never had a "frosted" cereal. Probably the worst cereal she's ever consumed is Honey Nut Cheerios. Once my spouse bought Kix which I don't love (though it has similar nutritional content to a lot of the puffed snacks people on this thread consider a health food, especially if available for sale at Whole Foods and packaged in health-signifying packaging). Kid deemed them too sweet anyway. My main concern with added sugars is not that the sugar itself is bad for kids but that eating lots of foods with added sugar acclimates them to only eating hyper-sweetened foods, which makes it harder to eat healthfully and I think contributes to picky eating (my kid is actually already a pretty picky eater but at least the foods she picks aren't all super sugary).[/quote]

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