No more junk food in schools

Options
24567…10

Replies

  • cmcollins001
    cmcollins001 Posts: 3,472 Member
    Options
    cookie-monster-angry-vegetables.jpg
  • kfuog
    kfuog Posts: 24 Member
    Options
    I'm really for the schools supplying healthy food choices. However, there are going to be problems with implementation and there is the problem that some kids will just reject the healthy stuff. The new regulations limit how many carbohydrates kids are supposed to have over the course of a week. I heard that one school protested they would have to remove sandwiches from the menu because if a kid had a sandwich every day of the week, with two slices of whole grain bread each day, the kid is over the carb limit. I have not read the regulations, so I don't know if the school is being ridiculous or the regs are too strict. Also it is much more difficult as an institution to cook with fresh veggies and fruit instead of everything canned, so that's a problem. And it's more expensive and the school districts are voicing fears that they won't be able to feed as many kids.

    I think only healthy food should be supplied by the school, but that might mean we (the taxpayers) need to pony up more money to cover the added cost.
  • cmcollins001
    cmcollins001 Posts: 3,472 Member
    Options
    I think it's great! Some kids don't get nutritious food at home, and have parents that don't teach them how to eat right. It's awesome that they're doing this in schools.

    Besides... why would kids need to eat Snickers bars at school anyway?
    Why do they need to eat a Snickers bar anywhere? Why do you need to eat one at home or at work or anywhere else?

    Because they are yummy.
  • BrunetteRunner87
    BrunetteRunner87 Posts: 591 Member
    Options
    I ate all kinds of crap in school - and before and after school at the nearby Convenient store. Cookies and chips with every lunch, tacos, pizza, hot dogs, "chicken" patties, pop, crappy juices, etc. I was the same weight I am now though because I was super active in all of the after school activities they are cutting at a lot of schools (marching band, cross country, other girls' sports).
  • farway
    farway Posts: 1,264 Member
    Options
    In the UK we had similar a few years back, Jamie Oliver campaign, which eventually forced the government to ban junk food, like chicken nuggets, and cola, sweet machines for schools

    however some parents just did not comprehend and took fish & chips /burgers to schools and passed them over the fence, you can lead a horse to water etc

    I also remember the uphill struggle Jamie had when trying the same in US, I think he failed to convince the schools then, nice if it has finally got home
  • ClumsyArtist
    ClumsyArtist Posts: 40 Member
    Options
    Schools didn't cause this problem, but maybe they can help solve it.

    Very, very well said! I agree it's not the schools fault and that the parents need to be held accountable as well. But we're not going to change every parent's mind or eating/grocery shopping habits overnight so this could be a great first step in exposing children to healthy alternatives.
  • Marla64
    Marla64 Posts: 23,120 Member
    Options
    tumblr_m1psjcyZgK1qgcra2o1_500.gif

    ^^ This.
  • bgelliott
    bgelliott Posts: 610 Member
    Options
    So ridiculous! The government needs to stay out of it.
  • JustLindaLou
    JustLindaLou Posts: 376 Member
    Options
    The school my kindergartner will be attending this year serves free breakfast and lunch for all students. I have looked at the menus, and I am not overly impressed. However, I also know she gets lots of fruits and veggies and whole grains at home, and since she is a very early riser she will have something to eat before she goes to school, and will always have snack and lunch things packed to bring too. She only likes to drink water, maybe at a party she will drink 1 Capri-Sun. So I figure if she wants to try the breakfast or lunch they are serving that day, fine. She recently announced thatr chicken nuggets are "gross" and she does not want to eat them any more, so I am pretty confident she will make better choices than I would have in her shoes!

    However, for the kids who come from families that either are unaware or just don't care about nutrition, and I know a lot of them, I think it is a good step to helping them have better choices for at least a few hours a day.... But yeah, I was one of those kids that stopped at the convenience store for Suzy Q's and Ding Dongs... and if I didn't stop on the way home, Mom sent me back out for them when I got home LOL!!!
  • branson101
    branson101 Posts: 173 Member
    Options
    at my son's school they will either bring whatever they want from home or give the seniors money to go get them McDonald's or some other fast food. I do wonder if this means that they will have to close their Coffee bar? I'd like that. The boy just won't stay away from it.
  • victoriavoodoo
    victoriavoodoo Posts: 343 Member
    Options
    I think this is a way to let the parents who feed their kids poorly off the hook(in their minds, I mean). It isn't going to change the majority of their intake, which is outside of school hours.

    Also, I'm in college and read several hundred pages of "fun" books a week, alongside schoolwork. I discovered I love reading in elementary school when the kids who get a certain number of reading points each year get a pizza party. I WANTED that pizza party lol and love that I love reading for its own rewards now.

    ETA the pizza parties once a year in school didnt hurt me. My weight went up later, when I stopped being active. I am now remedying this.
  • mccroskey
    mccroskey Posts: 12 Member
    Options
    I sent my son to school with a cookie cake on his birthday for his class, they sent it home. Informed us that I could send like apples fruit cups, or sugar-free popsicles.
  • ncmedic201
    ncmedic201 Posts: 540 Member
    Options
    My son will be happy about that. He hates to bring lunch because there's no room in his locker and he doesn't like the bad food choices at school. He just asked me this week what he can do about eating better at lunch when the new school year starts.
  • Athena53
    Athena53 Posts: 717 Member
    Options
    I think the CA standards have been stricter than this for a long time now. You can't even send junk from home at a lot of schools. I tried to give my step-son a cookie for his snack, and he said they aren't allowed.

    My dear mother baked cakes and cookies and sent them to school with us. Our sandwiches were cold cuts- generally bologna, sometimes ham salad she made from the butt end of the ham we'd had for dinner, mixed in the blender with mayo and relish. My brother ate nothing but peanut butter and jelly. It was all on white bread, of course, although Mom did go through a stage of baking the bread from scratch to save money. My 4 sibs are in their late 50s and I just turned 60. We're all lean, healthy and active. (So are Mom and Dad although they're in their early 80s and have had a few cardiac problems.)

    What I think makes obesity a bigger problem now: kids are less active, frequent fast food and restaurant meals loaded with fat and with oversize portions, and parents who don't know how to cook so they buy crap. More kids are getting free lunches and the stuff in the free lunches is really bad in many schools. The lunch period has gotten shorter and shorter, leaving less time to actually go out and play, and meaning that most kids just gobble stuff down without tasting it- a very bad habit.

    I really hate to see more regulation. Cookies aren't the criminal here. It's more complicated than that.
  • astrampe
    astrampe Posts: 2,169 Member
    Options
    tumblr_m1psjcyZgK1qgcra2o1_500.gif

    Another reason I'm glad I moved to Canada. I'm also glad my daughter isn't in high school anymore.

    Not sure what you mean - but I'm in BC and the stuff in the vending maschines had been changed to healthier choices, and the food sold in the cafeterias in BC schools have been changed as well - and that happened a few years ago here......
  • mommy3457
    mommy3457 Posts: 361 Member
    Options
    I think the CA standards have been stricter than this for a long time now. You can't even send junk from home at a lot of schools. I tried to give my step-son a cookie for his snack, and he said they aren't allowed.

    Yes, it is all lame. I'm so glad I went to an Italian, Catholic high school where they made homemade, Italian lunches everyday. :happy:
  • watfordjc
    watfordjc Posts: 304 Member
    Options
    I think it's great! Some kids don't get nutritious food at home, and have parents that don't teach them how to eat right. It's awesome that they're doing this in schools.

    Besides... why would kids need to eat Snickers bars at school anyway?
    Why do they need to eat a Snickers bar anywhere? Why do you need to eat one at home or at work or anywhere else?

    So that your daily deficit isn't 3,000+ calories. Not everyone is inactive, and I'd rather eat my calories without it slowing me down. A Snickers every hour on an 18+ mile walk helps me more than bananas, oatmeal & raisin cookies, or McChicken Sandwiches do, plus they taste delicious.

    Restricting snacks to 200 calories to me just sounds stupid. Using stereotypes... a football player, cheerleader, computer geek and pianist should all consume the same amount at school? A 12 year old consuming the same amount as an 18 year old? Females consuming the same as males? As I said, sounds stupid.
  • ostrichagain
    ostrichagain Posts: 271 Member
    Options
    I think the CA standards have been stricter than this for a long time now. You can't even send junk from home at a lot of schools. I tried to give my step-son a cookie for his snack, and he said they aren't allowed.

    I can understand why they don't want sugary snacks. Imagining myself as a teacher with a room full of 30 kids that are hopped up sugar from their meal, then crashing a couple hours later. A nightmare. How do you teach in that situation? No wonder they're always begging for more graham crackers, half the class can't focus come 2pm.

    But yeah, not letting them have A cookie with their lunch is overkill.
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
    Options
    I think it's great! Some kids don't get nutritious food at home, and have parents that don't teach them how to eat right. It's awesome that they're doing this in schools.

    Besides... why would kids need to eat Snickers bars at school anyway?
    Why do they need to eat a Snickers bar anywhere? Why do you need to eat one at home or at work or anywhere else?

    So that your daily deficit isn't 3,000+ calories. Not everyone is inactive, and I'd rather eat my calories without it slowing me down. A Snickers every hour on an 18+ mile walk helps me more than bananas, oatmeal & raisin cookies, or McChicken Sandwiches do, plus they taste delicious.

    Restricting snacks to 200 calories to me just sounds stupid. Using stereotypes... a football player, cheerleader, computer geek and pianist should all consume the same amount at school? A 12 year old consuming the same amount as an 18 year old? Females consuming the same as males? As I said, sounds stupid.
    My question was rhetorical.

Categories