So I read this article this morning about how bake sales and other food fundraisers would be affected by the child nutrition bill:
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2010/12/school-bake-sales-will-have-to-be-approved-and-infrequent/
My question is this... why are people or would people be enraged about this bill? I don't want a bunch of junk in Finn's school if I can help it and some kids don't even have the opportunity for healthy food at home, so why not make it available for them somewhere? And WHY for the love of God are we feeding our children crap? To save a buck? Because that is all they know? Because change sucks?
People, we should be PISSED our kids don’t know how to identify a tomato or an eggplant or an ear of corn.
I am by no means a food nazi, Finn gets candy and chips and crap sometimes though I really am still a freak about no fast food. I just guess if given the choice of a healthy school lunch or a non-healthy sodium filled, fat laden, zero vegetable lunch, wouldn't you choose healthy?
And when you’re done weighing in {no pun intended} about this, hop over to my friend Mindy’s blog, scroll down and read about pre-school lunches in France.
I would move to France for the school lunch for SURE. I have seen that on another blog.
ReplyDeleteHave you read "Fed Up with School Lunch?" The teacher who is eating school lunch everyday this year?
I can see your point. But as one who is a chronic dieter... do you know how much more expensive it is to eat healthier?
ReplyDeleteWhat they ought to do is reverse the way things cost. Junk should be more expensive because junk is considered a delicacy these days. That way, if healthy food could be cheaper, it would be more accessible and sales for healthy food would rise and become standard like soda, chips and candy have. Could that possibly work in this world of ours? *sigh*
Most of me agree with you though. Make it available to those who wouldn't get it otherwise. And we should be happier that healthier food would be more available, so our kids can learn better eating habits earlier on.
I think that maybe its the TIMING thats got people mad. The economy really sucks, nobody can really afford extra expenses so they're thinking in terms of cents, not health.
I agree with you....but we do get a treat of McD's every once in a while. My kids go to a small private school and for years they have encouraged parents to only send healthy daily snacks for their kids. I do, but kids come home complaining "no one else is eating good snacks anymore, why am I" I try to explain it is healthier and the right thing to eat. But then they started asking parents to send only store bought - healthy snacks for birthday and holiday parties. And it is harder to find healthy but still reasonablly priced items for 20 or so kids!!! Our school does allow the bake sale items, but it is only a couple of times a year. For the most part they eat very well balanced lunches. Just my opinion!
ReplyDeleteI think this is great! You are right, so many kids don't get the option of healthy at home and there are a lot of people that have financial restrictions that cause them to go the easier, and often not so healthy, route. I know that my sister, for example, has pretty extreme financial limitations and it keeps her from buying some of the better stuff because it is more expensive. Her kids qualify for free lunches, though, and this is a great thing for her! Her kids get that healthy option that I know she wants to provide for them and for free!
ReplyDeleteI do allow our little guy the occassional trip to McD's but we don't allow him the fries...I just can't do it. We let him have a grilled cheese, apple slices and milk. It's all about the toy anyway, right? :)
ok, so i didn't read the article, but omg the school lunch thing enrages me! i used to work in los angeles public schools and i would literally get sick looking at what the kids were served for lunch...everyday...pizza, french fries, hot dogs, really gross mac n cheese, ice cream, chocolate milk (think the lowest possible quality of food available), i mean literally nothing good...i think they may have had apples/bananas but none of the kids ever chose those. needs to change.
ReplyDeletePeople are enraged because they are being told to be without any deductive reasoning or common sense. Apparently the conservative wing of our country has chosen to fight any and all bills presented/endorsed by the White House including this one. I wouldn't be surprised if Fox News had some bull-sh*t story(ies) about how this bill is bad, blah blah blah. They have a huge number of viewers which is mother-effing scary. Nevermind the lobbyists for the food manufacturers supplying cafeteries. Bah.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much to Lisa for pointing out this blog, it is fascinating!
ReplyDeletehttp://fedupwithschoollunch.blogspot.com/
I agree with the comment above - it IS more expensive to eat healthy. And it can be varying degrees of expensive depending on what you buy. My monthly food budget is very high. But I will do without other things to keep it that way. BECAUSE MY FAMILY IS WORTH IT. I am worth it. I whole-heartedly disagree with the way our government handles food issues in this country. We are a sick nation and our government condones and promotes unhealthy eating. There's no way around that. The companies that produce crap food have too much money invested in the government for it to go any other way. How sad is it that we don't think enough of our children to see that healthy food is provided to our kids in school? SAD!
ReplyDeleteOkay, I'll jump off my soap box before I get really scary. This is a subject that burns right down to the core of my being. I do laughingly call myself a food nazi. But it's because I freaking care and I've taken the vast amount of time to research and learn and realize the realities of food.
-Ally
I have had issues with school lunches since my student teaching days at an inner-city junior high. They had a freaking ICEE machine for goodness sakes, there was also a nacho cheese dispenser, ya know because every growing kid needs nachos every day. The "salad bar" was only once a week and it looked more like condiments for a burger than a salad bar. It made me ill to just walk through the cafeteria let alone eat there, we definitely need to work for something better for our children!
ReplyDeleteI seriously cannot believe that someone would be more worried about a bake sale than their child's daily food offerings; lets think about it people, you can make money in a lot of different ways, most of which are more profitable than a bake sale anyways! Hell we used to sell flowers and oranges and magazines etc. when I was in school and I know we made a boat load of cash doing it, get creative people!
Ok I'm done now!
Our district has supposedly gone low fat, everything healthy. But, the kids are not eating what they are being served. It is not fresh vegetables, etc. It seems more processed than before the change.
ReplyDeleteSo true!!!
ReplyDeleteLast year, the school board decided that the ice cream machine should only be on once a month in the 4th-6th building, instead of twice a week. You should have heard the uproar in the teacher's lounge! It was ridiculous!
Schools aren't in charge of our children's nutrition. Its up to parents to make the decisions. Obviously I wouldn't want my kid eating ice cream, cookies, and burgers at school everyday and I do think they need to offer healthy choices in the cafeteria, but this goes outside of the cafeteria. I think that is what people are up in arms about. I personally oppose this bill. It puts HUGE amounts of bureaucracy and unnecessary regulation into place that is completely unnecessary across the food lifecycle, from farming to foods sold at schools. Once this type of thing is set into motion, it is very difficult to reverse. Less control by the government is almost always better. Allow me and my family to make the appropriate choices in our own lives. That's my view, probably a differing one from yours and most of your readers.
ReplyDeleteI watched Jamie Oliver's food revolution and cringed over the reactions he was receiving from Americans. Really? Your child's health isn't worth the extra money? Really?
ReplyDeleteI get that it's more expensive, but priority-wise, the well being of children should be number 1. Kids not being able to identify a potato from a tomato is just pathetic. And the Frankenfoods currently served in schools is absolutely horrendous. If it's a powder that you mix with water to "make" a recognizable food like mashed potatoes, that can't be good.
I had no idea people would so doggedly oppose good food for their children. For the first time ever, the life expectancy for the next generation is actually decreasing instead of increasing due to obesity and all of the associated health issues that come with it. Clearly something needs to change!