This week I was stunned. Literally stunned into a fury of silence ~ well not really silence because I’m not really a “silent” kinda gal. 
You can’t turn on a news program without a camera following around a bunch of obese people and complaining about how America is getting FAT. The highest obesity rate ever and on and on and on. And yet, in a public school meal program, on the first day of school they serve pop tarts toaster pastries to my preschooler for breakfast!
Now come on. I simply can not believe with all the “federal regulation” there’s any way on this green Earth that someone (a nutritionist supposedly creates these meal plans) can truly believe that toaster pastries are a good way for preschoolers to start the day/are good for their bodies/supply them with the nutrients to get their brains going.
What I find even more astounding about the situation is I seem to be the only parent in the class that thinks this is a problem.
The next day I looked at the menu before I sent her to school only to see Corn Dogs with French fries, baked beans and canned mixed fruit on the menu. Corn Dogs?!? Really? Oh hell no.
Here’s the deal. Monday when Hanna came home from school the poor child could not even control her body. She was off the walls. She was making noises that I’d never heard before. She could not sit for a minute and seemed quite miserable. She and I went out for a walk and probably walked a mile or so. Nothing. Later that night her Dad came home and they went for a walk ~ just trying to walk out the excess energy ~ they walked at least 2 miles, probably more like 3 and NOTHING. She was still bouncing off the walls. It took me forever to get her to sleep, which means she didn’t get a full night’s sleep and then was sleep low the next day ~ you know ~ for brain growing food, corn dogs.
I sent Hanna with lunch on Tuesday. A simple romaine lettuce salad with tomatoes, topped with grilled turkey breast we’d had the night before, and a cheese stick. She ate it all up and was glad she had “food that was good for her body”. Now would that lunch have been approved by the government? It certainly didn’t have the requisite 5 carb servings in it did it. Well that’s ok with me. In fact, I think it’s actually better for my kiddo’s health to not stuff her full of processed carbohydrates.
What’s the deal people? Are we not ready to take some of the responsibility for the childhood obesity rate upon ourselves? I’ve been reading the Primal Blueprint, and spending a lot of time on MarksDailyApple.com reading up on how carbohydrates really affect our bodies, and how this government sanctioned 12 servings a day of grains is really affecting our bodies.
Look around… all you have to do to see the effect is look around. Do you see healthy bodies when you do? Or do you see obese bodies that don’t move and people who are downing prescription drugs so they can manage all the symptoms brought on by the excessive carbohydrate intake.
Now don’t get me wrong. I love me some carbs. I love a good crusty French bread and I love pancakes. But those kind of carbs just don’t do my body right! After reading the research I can’t in good conscience eat it, and I can’t in good conscience serve it to my 4 year old.
No pancakes? But she has to have the chance to be a kid ~ right? I heard this recently on a primal blog where they were talking about cereal and the high fructose corn syrup that goes into them. One reader was saying she didn’t think she could eat Primally because she didn’t want her kids to do it. HUH? It’s unhealthy for you to eat all this processed crap and deal with the health ramifications of it, but it’s not too unhealthy for your kid? I was stunned ~ again.
The Primal Blueprint offers not a diet, but a lifestyle ~ a lifestyle that does not include grains, sugar and processed carbs. You get your carbs from healthy sources, and other nutrients from plants, animals, seeds and nuts ~ just as our Paleolithic ancestors did ~ before evolution stopped.
If you see something as being healthy for you ~ why on Earth would you decide it’s not healthy for your kid? So they can have popsicles and pop tarts for breakfast? I don’t think so.
Apparently this has turned into a rant. I’m not sure what I’m going to do about the school food program. At this point I think I will keep an eye on the menu, and on days that the food is just not OK with me I’ll send her lunch or breakfast. The teacher offered that I could keep her home for breakfast and then bring her in when the kids are done eating (they eat family style at a couple tables)~ which isn’t really an option for me ~ part of her preschool experience is definitely meal time with her friends.
On a larger scale I’m not sure what I’m going to do. Next year she’ll be in kindergarten (full day) and I can much more easily send a lunch with her. I’d love to hear what you’re doing about school lunches. If you’ve gotten involved with trying to change your school lunch program I’d love to hear from you!
Twitter: francivile
says:
I completely understand your reaction Jackie, and I think the school’s excuse is
that they want to serve something they know the children will eat because it is how they eat at home!
Once upon a time I directed a not-for-profit child care center and you should have seen those kids eating broccoli,spinach, carrots,celeri … old fashioned quacker oatmeal with raisins and old kinds of good stuff.
Then once in a while we, the staff, would laugh while killing the poor kids with Ding Dongs or Twinkies for a special occasion!
I could go on and on about that period of my life (40 years) raising kids … I retired in 1994 so we might have been ahead of the times – we had a subscription to Nutrition Alert published by Science in the Public Interest!
Good luck in your efforts Jackie … it sounds like Hanna already knows what good food is!
Fran
.-= Fran Civile@A Powerful Life´s last blog ..Staying Fit as we Age means Living Well =-.
Some parents at my daughter’s school finally got nachos removed from the lunch menu. It was, believe it or not, considered an entree for lunch. Processed, canned cheese topping off fried tortilla chips was considered an entree for growing children’s bodies!
Something seriously seriously needs to be done about our nation’s school lunch programs. These people called nutritionists who are paid by the school districts seriously need to be retrained completely.
My daughter eats very well. We try to always eat Real Food. Meaning, food we have prepared from basic ingredients with no preservatives or additives. We do eat carbs but have cut back considerably. Vegetables make up the majority of our food intake.
Are you kidding? Nachos as lunch? Oh heavens. I just don’t know where these “nutritionists” get their ideas from! Not sure we’ll ever go completely to no processed foods ~ not sure I can get hubby on board. But when I cook we are pretty much vegetables/fruits and meat. Weaning ourselves slowly off the processed carb sidedish.
Twitter: fnnkybutt
says:
That’s just crazy. I worked daycare for many years back home, and we had very strict rules for what we were allowed to give the kids because we had state funding for our meal program – I can assure you, pop tarts and nachos were NOT on it.
We eat super carb loaded meals now because, well, that’s Peru. Rice and potatoes are the main ingredient in any meal. But I make sure to serve veggies and salads along side it.
.-= Kelly´s last blog ..To Forgive and Forget =-.
Twitter: francivile
says:
I need to clarify the “we would laugh while
killing the kids” I wrote above …
we laughed at the irony of putting those items on the shopping list because it “would make them happy to get their familiar treats” while at the child care center they were usually “deprived” of such
“goodies”
.-= Fran Civile@A Powerful Life´s last blog ..Staying Fit as we Age means Living Well =-.
Twitter: fivekidsandme
says:
Pop tarts for breakfast served to anyone is a recipe for disaster: a blood sugar roller coaster! Whoever allowed this to be put on any menu should be fired. Apart from the obesity issue this kind of food is creating Type II Diabetes.
I’m in the UK and we have the same issues of growing obesity and one of the main problems it seems (apart from all the labour saving devices we have)to me is the utter rubbish that we are sold by manufacturers. They produce nutritionally impoverished and, I think, physically poisonous rubbish to us and even have the temerity to advertise it as healthy. I’ve trained in nutrition and when I go to the supermarket now I’m struck with the thought, ‘where’s the food?’. Great post Jackie.