Oh boy! ADA wants me to send a message to my senator.
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Sunny_Bunny_
Posts: 7,140 Member
So I get all kinds of emails full of tips for "healthy living" for diabetics from the American Diabetes Association.
Now they want me to send a message to my senator asking to keep "healthy meals" in schools for kids because "kids should eat more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and other healthy foods" - See more at: https://donations.diabetes.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=2909#sthash.0IZo9DRd.dpuf
Uhhhhh, I'm just gonna not...
Now they want me to send a message to my senator asking to keep "healthy meals" in schools for kids because "kids should eat more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and other healthy foods" - See more at: https://donations.diabetes.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=2909#sthash.0IZo9DRd.dpuf
Uhhhhh, I'm just gonna not...
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ADA shouldn't worry, the Big Agra lobby will do it for them. Chips and sugary cereals are healthy whole grains, you know, and ketchup and pizza are vegetables.0
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I think I would work towards sending a letter with truthful content on my own...0
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God, the crap that we feed the kids at the school. I wish I could remember the name of the one of the things we sell at my school. It is a processed food monstrosity that is no better than a frosted brownie, except it is manipulated to exactly meet the smart snack guidelines. The list of ingredients is enough to make me sick to my stomach.0
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God, the crap that we feed the kids at the school. I wish I could remember the name of the one of the things we sell at my school. It is a processed food monstrosity that is no better than a frosted brownie, except it is manipulated to exactly meet the smart snack guidelines. The list of ingredients is enough to make me sick to my stomach.
My go-to lunch in HS was a huge bucket thing of French fries covered in salt and so much ketchup you couldn't see the fries... Candy bar in the mid afternoon slump, etc... If only I knew then what I know now!!!0 -
KnitOrMiss wrote: »God, the crap that we feed the kids at the school. I wish I could remember the name of the one of the things we sell at my school. It is a processed food monstrosity that is no better than a frosted brownie, except it is manipulated to exactly meet the smart snack guidelines. The list of ingredients is enough to make me sick to my stomach.
My go-to lunch in HS was a huge bucket thing of French fries covered in salt and so much ketchup you couldn't see the fries... Candy bar in the mid afternoon slump, etc... If only I knew then what I know now!!!
Mine was a huge plate of fries with gravy...yummy!! Oh and Doritos in the afternoon with a dr. pepper. What we used to eat as kids.
When my kids were in school we just sent lunches with them. None of this crap school lunches!0 -
My son packs every day, but what he takes is pretty disgraceful. I hate that I didn't teach better eating when the kids were younger. Now my youngest is 13 and forcing him to change his eating isn't gonna happen. He tends to be more on the underweight side, so that part of the unhealthy eating isn't an issue and he's an athlete and does something physical every day without asking. That's what I keep telling myself. But every day he takes a peanut butter sandwich on white bread, chips, a fruit cup (pineapple or unsweetened applesauce and luckily lately a sugar free drink. But sometimes it's Gatorade...0
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I used to canvas for the Heart and Stroke fund and the Canadian Diabetes Association, but when I started looking into the type of diet they encourage, I stopped fundraising for them. It's just not right for everyone! Sure those moderately high carb levels may work for some, but I'd bet money that a LCHF diet would work better.
I hear you about the kids too. I really wish I knew 13 years ago what I know now. I started changing their diets a few years back, but it isn't what I'd like it to be yet. I stopped buying sugary processed foods but now a couple of them eat their weight in fruit each week.0 -
Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »My son packs every day, but what he takes is pretty disgraceful. I hate that I didn't teach better eating when the kids were younger. Now my youngest is 13 and forcing him to change his eating isn't gonna happen. He tends to be more on the underweight side, so that part of the unhealthy eating isn't an issue and he's an athlete and does something physical every day without asking. That's what I keep telling myself. But every day he takes a peanut butter sandwich on white bread, chips, a fruit cup (pineapple or unsweetened applesauce and luckily lately a sugar free drink. But sometimes it's Gatorade...
So...don't keep that kind of stuff around. "Sorry, forgot to buy that this week. You'll have to find something else to take."0 -
God, the crap that we feed the kids at the school. I wish I could remember the name of the one of the things we sell at my school. It is a processed food monstrosity that is no better than a frosted brownie, except it is manipulated to exactly meet the smart snack guidelines. The list of ingredients is enough to make me sick to my stomach.
Fiber One brownies! They're still brownies, but they're good for you, because they have 5g of fiber in each one!
I love how the ADA is campaigning, because "healthy school lunches" are "under attack" because of this review. Uh...what schools are you looking at, people? I've seen what comes of those guidelines, and it's horrid.
Here's a thought -- make a high quality protein a requirement, and the grain optional, instead of the other way around.0 -
They are worse than fiber 1 brownies. They are horrible. But made just to fit into the guidelines.0
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Dragonwolf wrote: »Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »My son packs every day, but what he takes is pretty disgraceful. I hate that I didn't teach better eating when the kids were younger. Now my youngest is 13 and forcing him to change his eating isn't gonna happen. He tends to be more on the underweight side, so that part of the unhealthy eating isn't an issue and he's an athlete and does something physical every day without asking. That's what I keep telling myself. But every day he takes a peanut butter sandwich on white bread, chips, a fruit cup (pineapple or unsweetened applesauce and luckily lately a sugar free drink. But sometimes it's Gatorade...
So...don't keep that kind of stuff around. "Sorry, forgot to buy that this week. You'll have to find something else to take."
That makes sense, but I don't do the shopping. I only buy my specific items that no one else eats.
My husband and I have a very unusual financial arrangement. I contribute an agreed upon portion of overall expenses and then pay some individual bills of my own beyond that. He buys all the groceries except the stuff that he won't get right... Like all my new special items. And, he's an everything in moderation, get your daily fruits and whole grains kind of person. So he doesn't agree that our son should be eating differently. Though I did get him to buy unsweetened applesauce and to at least occasionally get the sugar free drinks. Progress! Maybe I will get him fully on board one day.0 -
Oh man I used to eat my egg and cheese on a hard roll every morning, with an icee and two chocolate chip cookies. Mmmm. BLECH.0
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I used to eat every morning. Not anymore... life is so much easier when you don't have to worry about finding food.0
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I am guessing what kids eat from 3 PM to 10 PM may be the real issue.0
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GaleHawkins wrote: »I am guessing what kids eat from 3 PM to 10 PM may be the real issue.
While I agree that what goes on at home is at least as important as what goes on at school...
...you clearly haven't seen what passes for food at most schools, lately...
Also, in the schools with a lot of free lunches, they often also serve free breakfasts. That means 2 out of 3 meals in a kid's day are school-supplied, plus whatever's available in snack machines or elsewhere in the school (because even if they don't have machines, they very likely have fundraisers of one sort or another going on nearly all the time, often selling cans of soda, bags of chips, or candy). You can't tell me that doesn't have an impact on a kid's eating habits and resulting health.0 -
@Dragonwolf ours are seniors this year but since we homeschool it may have been 45 years since I was in a school lunchroom. I remember reading catsup is now a vegetable. With HFCS in it I guess it passes as both tomatoes and corn.0
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Found the thing we sell that irritates me the most.
http://getverticalbar.com/cocoa-cherry
This "healthy" snack is 200 calories (and the kids will buy 3-4 of them without them raising an eyebrow) with the majority of the calories from carbs. There's like 37g of carbs and 6g of fiber in them. But, they're healthy because they have a whole grain as the first ingredient and meet the other guidelines.
Look at all the sugar sources in these! Plus about a dozen other ingredients I wouldn't consider consuming these days.Ingredients: Whole Grain Oat Flour, Enriched, Bleached, Bromated Wheat Flour (Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Sugar, Cherries, Corn Syrup, Vegetable Shortening (Interesterified Soybean Oil, Hydrogenated Cottonseed Oil), Cocoa (Processed with Alkali), Dextrose, Cellulose Fiber, Salt, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Baking Soda, Lecithin.
Icing: Fondant (Sugar, Corn Syrup, Water, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean and/or Cottonseed Oil with Propylene Glycol, Monoester, Mono- & Di-Glycerides, Soy Lecithin).
Oh, and while the kids can buy 4 of these without a problem, they can't take a thing of ranch to dip their pizza in. They can only get a ranch dressing if they get carrots or a salad. And, even then, it's just one single ranch container. This is the low-fat ranch too. It's supposed to be "ok" or something. But, nope. Condiments are strictly regulated. Kids will often try and get me to get them a ranch for their pizza, but even I can't get any extra to hand out. The cafeteria is strict on that. I wonder if they would be as strict if the kids had to pay for the dressing. Hmmm.0 -
Found the thing we sell that irritates me the most.
http://getverticalbar.com/cocoa-cherry
This "healthy" snack is 200 calories (and the kids will buy 3-4 of them without them raising an eyebrow) with the majority of the calories from carbs. There's like 37g of carbs and 6g of fiber in them. But, they're healthy because they have a whole grain as the first ingredient and meet the other guidelines.
Look at all the sugar sources in these! Plus about a dozen other ingredients I wouldn't consider consuming these days.Ingredients: Whole Grain Oat Flour, Enriched, Bleached, Bromated Wheat Flour (Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Sugar, Cherries, Corn Syrup, Vegetable Shortening (Interesterified Soybean Oil, Hydrogenated Cottonseed Oil), Cocoa (Processed with Alkali), Dextrose, Cellulose Fiber, Salt, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Baking Soda, Lecithin.
Icing: Fondant (Sugar, Corn Syrup, Water, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean and/or Cottonseed Oil with Propylene Glycol, Monoester, Mono- & Di-Glycerides, Soy Lecithin).
Oh, and while the kids can buy 4 of these without a problem, they can't take a thing of ranch to dip their pizza in. They can only get a ranch dressing if they get carrots or a salad. And, even then, it's just one single ranch container. This is the low-fat ranch too. It's supposed to be "ok" or something. But, nope. Condiments are strictly regulated. Kids will often try and get me to get them a ranch for their pizza, but even I can't get any extra to hand out. The cafeteria is strict on that. I wonder if they would be as strict if the kids had to pay for the dressing. Hmmm.
Is that seriously 4.5 teaspoons of sugar?!?!?0 -
Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »
Is that seriously 4.5 teaspoons of sugar?!?!?
Yep. And, if you compare them to the Lance Chocolate brownies with nuts (and make those 2.2 oz as well to make the servings the same), the nutritional information isn't that different. The Lance end up with 10g fat, 42g of carbs, 1g fiber, and 2.5g protein. A little more calories (59), carbs, and fat but not a whole big difference.0 -
Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »
Is that seriously 4.5 teaspoons of sugar?!?!?
Yep. And, if you compare them to the Lance Chocolate brownies with nuts (and make those 2.2 oz as well to make the servings the same), the nutritional information isn't that different. The Lance end up with 10g fat, 42g of carbs, 1g fiber, and 2.5g protein. A little more calories (59), carbs, and fat but not a whole big difference.
What doesn't sound like health food about that? Lol
Wow! I don't know how this system got so stupid. It's really difficult to not be that harsh. But it's just really, really stupid!0
