I have cafeteria duty on Mondays. It's only for thirty minutes but here's the food I was seeing. AND it's not just in the lunch boxes. It's on the cafeteria menu.
- Gatorade (otherwise known as sugar and sodium...though the sugar is not as bad as the next one in the flavor I saw at school which was 14 grams. The sodium is 165 grams. Other ingredients include: Natural Flavors (MSG), sucrose syrup; fructose syrup. And let's not forget Red 40 and Blue 1)
- Apple and Eve juice boxes (sugar range is 22-32 grams; one ingredient is listed as "Natural Flavors" which is another way to hide MSG)
- Lunchables (sugar 32; sodium 510; fat 8. The list of ingredients is so long that I'm not sure what the kids eating these are ingesting. But I'm pretty sure it's not food.One kid had a Reese's and a juice box with his lunchable. Good grief.)
- Smucker's Peanut Butter and Jelly--also on the cafeteria menu (sugar 13; sodium 330; fat 16. High fructose corn syrup? Check. Loads of ingredients that are really long and hard or impossible to pronounce but mean CHEMICALS galore? Absolutely)
- Del Monte fruit cups (sugar 12; sodium 40. Natural AND artificial flavors (MSG and other chemicals), sucralose...).
- Danimals yogurt (14g sugar and TONS of chemicals)
- A canned juice that claims 100% fruit juice (29 grams sugar)
And THAT, my friends, is a huge contributing factor as to why the cafeteria is so freaking LOUD.
And part of the reason why so many kids are having trouble exhibiting behavior conducive to learning.
It's shameful that so many lunch options available today are fooling parents into thinking their kids are eating and drinking in a healthy way. It's shameful that big corporations are more interested in padded their already inflated pocketbooks at the expense of the health of our children. It's shameful that consumers are not paying attention. It's shameful that we let greedy corporations control what our kids eat.
What do y'all think?
And part of the reason why so many kids are having trouble exhibiting behavior conducive to learning.
It's shameful that so many lunch options available today are fooling parents into thinking their kids are eating and drinking in a healthy way. It's shameful that big corporations are more interested in padded their already inflated pocketbooks at the expense of the health of our children. It's shameful that consumers are not paying attention. It's shameful that we let greedy corporations control what our kids eat.
What do y'all think?
Hi Pam :) We've tried the Honest Kids organic juice boxes, but my kids hate them, so basically we are down to water bottles or milk. I have Danimals, but never realized they were so sugary!! And we also have the fruit cups, but I only get the no sugar added ones. I try to be informed but it is so overwhelming sometimes... It almost feels like there is nothing left out there to feed my kids that doesn't have SOMETHING harmful in it unless it comes from my own garden. :(
ReplyDeleteHey girl! I know what you're saying and I hate that the choices are what they are. I'm hoping that parents will revolt and demand better. :) Hope all is well with you and yours!
DeleteI agree with you! We had good meals when I was in school (in the 60s). The cafeteria workers actually cooked for us...though we did have pasta a couple of times a week. We ONLY had milk to drink. No sodas, tea, coffee, juice. Milk.
ReplyDeleteThey still cook. But it's all processed food. Water is an option now but, with the high sugar drinks, guess what gets picked?
ReplyDeleteYeah, I feel sorry for the kids, to eat that and then have to sit. Just reading the ingredients made me want to jump up and run outside.
ReplyDeleteI remember when I was a kid, an after school snack at my house was an apple. That was how I discovered pine nuts, my Mom wouldn't let us eat between meals so I found I could get them from the tree in my grand mother's yard. I went home one day with a girl from school and she had Oreos and milk for a snack. I had never seen one and she thought I was from another planet. I never took my lunch when I was in school because the school had more junk. :) My favorite? The cookies home made and Apple Brown Betty. From scratch. Aw good times. Poor kids though. Sorry this is a novel.
It's gotten ridiculous trying to find healthy foods to eat these days! I don't know how we got to this point, but I know our health, and that of our kids, will ultimately suffer because of it!
ReplyDeleteOf course, some parents don't care anyway...
Kim- I don't mind reading a novel. :) I remember no one being home when I got home from school. I hated that. My cousins got kool aide and cookies. I had iced tea or water and fruit. Sometimes a cookie or something but those were monitored. Our meals were always from scratch too.
ReplyDeleteKathy- It is. And COSTLY. I think we've been content to let the big corporations take control. Now, we need to take it back.
Its sad!! When my kids were little I didnt pay any attention!! I think its probably because when I was young I worked on a farm. We worked hard and we ate and didnt worry!! But of course we canned our own fruit and didnt have juice boxes or yogurt! Now that my kids are grown, I wish I wouldve paid more attention!!!
ReplyDelete