I think I am poisoning my students... Guess how much sodium I just fed them.

[Snoutport]

A couple days ago I posted about how unhealthy the lunches at my school are (CORNNUTS for a vegetable!! was the heading). I can't believe how many people have read that posting and it really boosts me up to want to take this on the project of getting better food for my kids. One of the comments made about my last post was about sodium. When I started to look at the sodium numbers I was literally HORRIFIED. I feel awful for how much salt I have been serving my students.

Ready to be disgusted? On one day at my school my students were fed this much salt:

the buttermilk bar (4 bites or so in size) they had for breakfast had 40 grams of carbs and 20 % daily sodium
the cornnuts were 12% sodium
the fritos were 18% sodium
bread slice x 2 16% sodium
slice of cheese 11% sodium
mayo: 4% sodium
mustard 2%
lunch meat:I just read a figure for jennie oh...a really good brand (the lunchmeat my students get is veeeeeery sketchy) and that was 36%
2 oreos 5% sodium (I think...the Nabisco website lists go by grams not cookies so I have no idea how much an individual cookie is...and it is Saturday and I refuse to do the math...so I'm just going to guess 2 cookies are a serving)
there was also a piece of fruit leather, a 1/4 cup portion of raisins, chocolate milk x 2 (they had four white milks and the rest were chocolate)

Total sodium in the school food on one day: 124% of the daily sodium intake. That's just in their breakfast and lunch....

The cornnuts, fritos, mayo, mustard, oreos, buttermilk bar, fruit leather all came sealed in their own mylar/plastic bags, the fruit cup was plastic, the sandwich was wrapped in plastic and the milk came in a carton. So not only am I feeding them WAY more salt than they should eat, all of the food comes wrapped in flashy cute packaging so my kids are being brainwashed with advertising even while they are eating their lunch (cute goldfish! the funny cornnut man cartoon! Oreos wrapped just like the big package so you'll recognize them at the store)

I complained about the quality of the food to the cafeteria head and their response was to have me barred from talking to them or coming into the cafeteria area. (they did try to appease me by making Wednesday chef salad say where they took some iceburg lettuce in a bowl, put on a double helping of lunch meat (64% of your daily sodium intake), cut up pieces of american cheese and a packet of Newman's own ranch dressing.... plus raisins and two packages of pepperidge farms goldfish crackers, chocolate milk)

I am sharing this with you all because the lunch programs have taken huge hits in the past years. Corporations gave the districts grants to dismantle their kitchens to become microwave kitchens or they gave great deals on packaged foods so they would become dependent on the processed food industry. Districts were also able to get rid of all those pesky unionized cafeteria workers because now they didn't need cooks...they just needed someone to open up packages and warm stuff up in the oven.

And now that those schools are dependent upon packaged foods, the corporations have gone farther and now actually package everything individually so the kids, the actual consumer of the product, gets to sit and look at the wrappers for the entire time they are sitting eating their lunch. It is an insidious practice of brainwashing our students. I mean, what are they supposed to learn from a fruit leather package that says "One serving of fruit!"--the lesson, as I see it is: fruit should come in a plastic package. Don't bother with that pesky fresh stuff.

I will get off my soapbox but, American, we are really doing a terrible disservice to our children. I think I may have to start keeping a daily chart of the food for a month.

(And, yes, I know I will hear some angry responses like: "why are we feeding them? their parents should". Almost 100% of my school are under the poverty level. All but two of my students are foster kids so the state feeds them regardless and since our school's cafeteria was closed we get bagged lunches and have no say in what is served. I pick them up another school a couple of days a week...They leave them outside the door next to the dumpster in plastic tubs so I can just pull up and load them without having to come inside).

I do what I can to make it better. We do fundraising to buy oatmeal so we make oatmeal when the breakfasts are super sugary cereal or packaged donut-like things. I buy fruit out of my own pocket and last year got a grant to keep a bowl of fruit in my room all year. I didn't get that grant this year so I just buy it. Since I buy it my assistants get to eat it too so, actually, it makes the room closer just having fruit to snack on when we need it.

I am curious from other DUer teachers...how much food do you buy your students? I bet most of us have a jar of peanut butter in our room for emergency lunch making!

[flamingdem]

1. Sodium will protect their thyroid

Look at the bright side! (iodine)

[highplainsdem]

5. If it's iodized salt. The salt used in processed food isn't iodized.

http://www.saltinstitute.org/Uses-benefits/Salt-in-Food/Essential-nutrient/Iodized-salt

[femrap]

7. I actually think

it's Sea Salt that has some benefits. All that 'processed' salt and food is just plain bad. Lunchmeats are notorious high in salt.

When I eat a lot of processed foods, I get sooooooooooooooooo thirsty. And my hands swell up.

Corporate foods are crap. But some of the corporations are starting to wake up to the meaning, 'That's too much salt.'

Glad you're aware of this situation.

[customerserviceguy]

25. Prove to me

that sea salt is any different for the body than what you call processed salt, and not just some trendy thing that the advertisers can sell for a lot more money, while pretending to transform their foods into something 'healthy'.

Salt is salt, the only thing sea salt has going for it is some trace contaminants.

[Snoutport]

26. it is made from evaporation instead of mining....?

is that better?

[customerserviceguy]

28. How would that make an iota of difference

to the body? Sodium chloride is going to affect cells in the same way, no matter where it comes from.

The analogy, "Sea salt is to Morton's salt the way whole grain flour is to bleached white flour" is simply false, but it's one that the food phonies hope people make.

[Jamastiene]

48. Morton's makes sea salt now too. n/t

[customerserviceguy]

68. Yes, jumping on the bandwagon

simply in order to sell something that people incorrectly perceive as healthier. I was hoping that people knew what I meant by "Morton's salt", meaning the common white variety that store brands sell for a pittance. This is as opposed to some boutiqued-up large crystals (that need to be ground up like peppercorns to keep them 'fresh', what a joke) that sells for many more times a pound.

[Snoutport]

53. oh...i just meant better for the earth...not that the salt was better for you

[customerserviceguy]

69. Ah, OK

But how environmentally polluting is salt mining? It's not like it leaves hazardous wastes like turning precious metal ores into something the jewelry industry will use.

Besides, aren't there salt plants at the seashore? While living in Utah, I do recall a rather large Morton's plant on the shore of the Great Salt Lake, perhaps the higher concentration of salt in that body of water made it more economical than getting it from the ocean.

[csziggy]

46. And where did the mined deposits come from? Ancient dried up seas

So that salt is "made from evaporation" - it's just older and gotten covered by later deposits.

[axollot]

64. I personally think sea salt tastes better - and need much less of it.

We don't "salt" (i.e. no table salt, very little if any added when cooking etc) at home and I do discuss w/my youngest about how bad certain foods are for her. Keep a bowl of fresh fruit and her older brother age 17 (she's 7) is a vegetarian so she has also started to learn to read labels. (she reads at a 6th grade level now).

Cheers
sandy

[MH1]

2. Thank you for your efforts.

(I'm not a teacher but am interested)

I think it's a real shame that the food is apparently such poor nutritional quality. On the other hand, I'd rather kids get that stuff than nothing, if they are so poor (or their parents so useless) that they come to school hungry.

I guess it comes down to degrees of badness.

[Snoutport]

12. yeah...but how much of the money spent on the program is just for the packaging?

nothing fresh, nothing local except the milk...and the cost of the packaging and shipping was probably nearly as much as the cost of the actual food!

[gkhouston]

3. Who is getting kickbacks on that food contract? Seriously. n/t

[cali]

4. hi snoutport. you're in Oregon according to your profile. Do you know about

Oregon Farm to School?

http://www.farmtoschool.org/state-home.php?id=47

[Snoutport]

18. yes. but since we don't have our own cafeteria, we can't do any food prep

we are at the mercy of another school...and they have barred me from even talking to them.

My district is facing a 25 % cut and I'm the 4th latest hire so my job is soooooooo close to being gone. I'll admit I'm afraid to do too much more complaining!

[Divernan]

6. Mouth-watering, freshly cooked gourmet school lunches in France

There were several articles about this recently, and someone may have posted about this on your earlier thread.
Here's a Youtube link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovO18E-hgew

[femrap]

9. I've always known that I

was born in the wrong country. Viva La France!

[ThoughtCriminal]

8. There was nothing wrong with that food!

Fry: "Egh, that's the saltiest thing I've ever tasted! And I once ate a big heaping bowl of salt!"
Amy: "Bender, is this salt water?"
Bender: "It's salt with water in it, if that's what you mean."
Fry: "My vision's fading, I think I'm gonna die!"
Bender: "There was nothing wrong with that food! The salt level was 10% less than a lethal dose."
Zoidberg: Uh oh. I shouldn't have had seconds

[Snoutport]

27. I think you summed it up nicely!!!! nt

[Turbineguy]

10. 124 percent

Just think what Fox News could do with that.

[Snoutport]

30. they couldn't have done the math...

[Arugula Latte]

11. I wonder if you could get a little funding for your healthy snacks on donorschoose.org

Your project is helping your kids to get access to healthier foods. Good luck to you; we need more like you.

http://www.donorschoose.org/teachers

[Snoutport]

45. That is an excellent idea!

I got two grants last year for food but none this year--we've done pretty good supplementing but it would be so awesome if the whole school was eating better.

[Arugula Latte]

47. If you do a request there, please post a link to it on DU if you don't mind.

I'm sure some DUers would like to chip in. :)

[Shagbark Hickory]

13. WEll you're prepared for an ice storm.

[Snoutport]

31. lol...yes...and the shelf life of this food must be DECADES!

all that salt probably counts as mummification!

[noamnety]

14. How much food do I buy my students?

I teach in a high school. I keep bread, peanut butter, jelly, cereal, fresh milk and currently frozen dinners in my room. Normally I don't have frozen foods but there was a deal at target last month and I was able to get things like weight watcher smart ones lasagna for about 15 cents a box. I stocked up, knowing the hot food would be a treat for some of them.

Any student in my room is allowed to just help themselves during class. Other students in the school - some of whom I know, some I don't, come in during lunch or after school to grab something to eat.

I would estimate that last week I gave away about 50 - 100 meals at my own expense. I remember noticing during the last hour of the day yesterday that every student in one row was eating a full bowl of cereal.

[Snoutport]

32. HERO!

You are amazing!

I think everyone on DU needs to read your post! We do bakesales and spend most of the profit on food and supplies and I was lucky enough to get some prize money donated to my classroom and my supervisor OK'd me to purchase food if an emergency (i have two diabetic students who can't eat the provided food several times a week--so it is cool I have the OK to run across the street to the store.

I've also done food drives every year for one family or other who I know has gone into hard times.

I don't think the general population knows that, in the current era with no parent at home during the day, that teachers have been forced to become a combination role of teacher, parent, social worker, nurse, hunter & gatherer & lunchlady.

All I want is some fresh, locally grown produce and food that supports the nutrition lessons we teach... and I don't want to have to pay for all of it. (though I'll chip in by buying birthday cakes when the parents don't send one in, treats for the holiday parties, art supplies, and all the other stuff I'm happy to pay for)

[noamnety]

40. I shop deals like nobody's business.

I use riteaid money (+ups) to buy milk, I use buy one get one free coupons on the cereal, when the paper has skippy coupons I'm getting multiple copies so I can stock up.

And the aldi bananas at 39 cents a pound, those are great for the room too - a lot of kids use them in peanut butter sandwiches and I can usually find small bananas there, so for a dollar I can get enough bananas for maybe 10-12 kids.

[KurtNYC]

75. if there is a Salvation Army near you

you might check with them for vegetables and fruit. Our local SA can't give away most of the fruit & veg they get.

Edit to add: btw :yourock:

[noamnety]

78. We don't have that.

I know the salvation armies around here pretty well because I buy my clothes there, and they don't have fresh produce. Unless you mean something other than the big thrift shops? I wouldn't feel right taking it from a soup kitchen.

[KurtNYC]

82. Yes I mean soup kitchen

they don't like to refuse the donation from their sources (farmers, co-ops, WalMart, etc) but then they wind up throwing much of it in the dumpster to rot. Ours distributes groceries once a week on wed mornings so if they still have it at noon it is bound for the trash. They used to force clients to take the fruit and veg but the clients didn't want to carry it so it wound up on the sidewalks and yards around SA. So they have stopped forcing them to take the fruit and veg. They have trouble giving away bread that isn't sliced. They get lots of government eggs also, too many at times.

I have to thing that the farmers and co-ops who donate would love for school kids to get it. That is their next generation of consumers.

[callous taoboy]

58. From one teacher to another: You are a saint!

[Snoutport]

83. noamnity has it going on

it sounds like she/he is doing an even better job of things than i am!

[Ilsa]

15. 125% of RDA is probably a lot less than they get on any other day away from you.

I bet they intake double RDA during summer, on weekends, etc.

It's so sad that school lunch is like that there. I can remember what used to be essentially homemade dinners at various small schools in south Texas forty years ago. They weren't gourmet, but food was seasoned versus bland, and yes, there was some fried stuff, but the kids lived their school lunch!

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[noamnety]

20. This post seems unnecessarily rude.

Why attack a teacher who is shedding light on a systemic problem in our schools, and who is paying her own money to provide fresh fruit for her students?

I can't understand your motivation.

[Phentex]

21. because the story keeps changing and if you think about it

you would wonder where there is any place in Colorado that would feed *free* lunch made up of such items to any child...the original list is a lot of food for a supposed cheap school lunch...why this teacher can't find a way to anonymously shed some light on this practice if in fact it is happening...why none of this is listed on the Portland school lunch menus, etc.

[Snoutport]

33. i've been very open in my posts

and said that I am in a small program and our food comes from a different school in a brown bag. The cafeteria in my building is now a storage room so we are not allowed to serve any hot food from the federallunch program. We can only serve refrigerated items so we get brown bag lunches. All I have done is listed the food from one day that were in the brown bags my class was given.

If we were in a building with a cafeteria it would be different. Those schools have hot food and most have a salad bar... but those things are not available to the students that attend school in my building.

So we get the pre-packaged foods in a lunch bag. I realize this gives the cafeteria fewer options on what foods they can send to us. There are many rules regarding the federal lunch program that I know of and probably even more that I don't know of. Most of the days the food is better than that. They send tuna or egg salad, but we've gotten corn nuts as the vegetable several times but the other food items made up for it by being more balanced. But this particular day it was the worst of the worst.

But it does not negate my point that I'm being asked to feed some pretty terrible food to American children and I want better than that for my country.

[chervilant]

59. Gosh...

You need to get a BIG clue! Talk to ANY teacher across the nation, and you'll hear horror stories about the JUNK we're feeding our children! AND, this issue goes FAR beyond the junk food students get in their school cafeterias. We are feeding our children fish laced with mercury, fruits and vegetables that have measurably less natural nutrients, and MASSIVE amounts of sugar--in virtually every processed food they eat!

The percentage of children who struggle with overweight issues has more than doubled since the 70s. Almost a third of our children are overweight! Along with the self-esteem issues of excess weight, high blood pressure, diabetes and elevated cholesterol levels are common challenges for overweight children.

Our species' is astonishingly inept at raising children. Not only have we poisoned the air they breathe, the water they drink, and the earth in which we grow their food; we EXPLOIT our children by compelling them to harvest cacao beans in the most adverse--and deadly--conditions (if you buy Mars, Hershey's, or Nestle's products, you are complicit in this exploitation). We EXPLOIT our children by producing and distributing child pornography. We EXPLOIT our chldren by selling them into servitude as sex slaves. We ABUSE and NEGLECT our children to such an extent that every state in the US must fund and staff child protection agencies!

Actually, I suspect that those among us who are most guilty of disrespecting children are the quickest to cry foul when faced with ANY of these statistics...

[Snoutport]

34. thank you for backing me up. i'm already worried complaining could get me fired

[noamnety]

39. There's always that risk

in any job where you're acting as a whistle blower over an issue that can be seen as politically sensitive (in this case coming forward to say the school is handling the food program in an irresponsible way).

I don't blame you at all for wanting to talk through what's going on and taking some time to ponder how to handle it.

Here's an old thread of mine you might find interesting if you missed it when I first posted it:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=236x10656

I survived one semester trying to run the lunch program for 300 people while teaching full time, then burn out hit and I had to stop. We had it down to a pretty good routine in the end though, always fresh baked middle eastern bread from a local bakery for 50 cents, hummus, plain or dried tomato cream cheese for another 50 cents, all you can fit on a plate fresh salad bar for a dollar - with no iceberg lettuce, ever! and crockpot soups or crockpot lasagna that volunteer students and I prepped fresh before school every single day. We charged 75 cents for a bowl of soup, a dollar if it was with meat. Everyone got an appropriate container of salad dressing with the salad and if they wanted extra I charged them 25 cents to discourage them from using a bad ratio of dressing to salad. It did add about 2 hours of unpaid work to my day though between getting there early to prep everything before school, washing the crockpots and prep tools and salad bar stuff after school, and doing a huge amount of shopping and unloading food for a few hundred people on a daily basis. It was grueling and I loved it and in the end I felt it was starting to interfere with my classroom work as a priority.

I know the way I was cooking was healthier and cheaper than all the packaged stuff you're getting in your program. The price was within what they charge for a full meal at a regular school program. And I didn't have that school lunch crap of offering desserts with lunch. I don't know where or why schools got the idea that they ought to be feeding junk food to children with every lunch. If you offer cake or cookies, they'll eat cake or cookies. If you offer lasagna - but only lasagna with fresh spinach ground into the cheese filling, they will eat lasagna with spinach. And I know if I could do that singlehandedly in my spare time, your cafeteria staff should be able to handle it.

[KurtNYC]

76. call it "advocating"

not only sounds better but seems more accurate than calling it 'complaining'

[dorkulon]

17. I'd like to see how much salt that is visually.

Yes, I know "see visually" is redundant, but you get my meaning. Calculate how much salt that is, put it in a bowl, and show it to people. It'd probably have more impact than a number.

[Phentex]

19. HE/she is not willing to bring this to the attention of anyone but DU...

and I can't figure out why?

[dorkulon]

22. Maybe he's just practicing.

I've done it before. Try an idea out anonymously on a relatively friendly group of people, receive feedback, suggestions, etc., and then decide how (or whether) to approach the issue in real life. Your animosity seems misplaced.

[Phentex]

23. I am just upset that there are ways to handle this...

but this teacher doesn't want to try them. Plenty of ideas were given in the first thread. I am not angry at the OP just saddened.

[dorkulon]

24. That thread was posted Thursday night.

How about we give him till Monday to figure out what he wants to do about it?

[sad sally]

29. I suggested contacting Senator Wyden's office, and while I don't

live in Oregon anymore, when I did, his staff was always helpful and very willing to tackle wrongdoings. Maybe this is a private school, but if it's public these lunches do not meet the USDA School Meal standards and are receiving federal funds for free or reduced meals for students who are eligible. Am betting the Senator's office would honor a request for anonymity so there could be no backlash from the teacher's superiors.

[Snoutport]

35. Not true--I have complained to:

the lunch lady. i pointed out that I had two diabetic students that couldn't eat any of the breakfast donuts. She told me to tell them to bring their own. I told her I would get sued. The next day the head teacher from the school told me I was no longer allowed to talk to the lunch lady or to go in the cafeteria. I could just pick up the lunches outside.

I complained to the head teacher, I complained to my supervisor who gave me permission to buy the kids with medical needs better food.

Now I am complaining in a public forum trying to figure out if this is happening to other teachers. Trying to get suggestions on how to make things better.

I've gotten two food related grants, I pay out of my own pocket for other stuff, my class does fundraising, my assistants and I bake and have bakesales and plant sales to bring in some extra money to buy food and art supplies.

I'm insulted you would say that all I am doing is complaining on here. I've been perfectly happy to complain to every single person who will listen because I think it is criminal.

Any questions?

[noamnety]

41. I don't even think you need to explain yourself.

I'd be willing to bet you are doing a hell of a lot more direct action to make sure school kids are fed than the person who is pointing fingers at you claiming you aren't doing anything.

[Snoutport]

52. THANK YOU!

I am not very thin-skinned about political stuff or even personal insults...but it hurts when it is about my students. I really appreciate the supportive words. :0)

[auntsue]

43. I have had some pretty good interactions with parents

I once suggested that a parent tell the district they would hear from her lawyer if her son didn't start getting his approved speech services. She said, "I can't afford a lawyer" I said "they don't know than!" She foolowed my suggestion and he got speech svcs in about 48 hours. If you could speak with parents, or foster patents, that might help. Or you could sent photos of a couple of weeks worth of lunches to the local paper.

[Starry Messenger]

36. Your school does not sound like it is part of the regular school district.

Many of us have looked at the menus for your Portland school lunches and your stated experience is not at all typical of the k-8 food served in the program, or of any public school menu I have ever seen. Are you in a continuation school or a charter or something? Why are you not on the regular menu for your district?

[Snoutport]

37. Here is more info: as posted above.

I wrote this a few posts above:


and said that I am in a small program and our food comes from a different school in a brown bag. The cafeteria in my building is now a storage room so we are not allowed to serve any hot food from the federallunch program. We can only serve refrigerated items so we get brown bag lunches. All I have done is listed the food from one day that were in the brown bags my class was given.

If we were in a building with a cafeteria it would be different. Those schools have hot food and most have a salad bar... but those things are not available to the students that attend school in my building.

So we get the pre-packaged foods in a lunch bag. I realize this gives the cafeteria fewer options on what foods they can send to us. There are many rules regarding the federal lunch program that I know of and probably even more that I don't know of. Most of the days the food is better than that. They send tuna or egg salad, but we've gotten corn nuts as the vegetable several times but the other food items made up for it by being more balanced. But this particular day it was the worst of the worst.

But it does not negate my point that I'm being asked to feed some pretty terrible food to American children and I want better than that for my country.

[Starry Messenger]

38. It sounds like your program has the problem

Have you talked to the school board? The PTA? The entire country does not have the food problem you are experiencing. Your district has an amazing program, including fresh fruit that could be included in the bag lunches. I seriously doubt that your district nutritionist would consider corn nuts as a vegetable.

# for Nutritional Services in your district: [phone]

[femmocrat]

42. That is a really nice menu. Ours is horrible:

Chicken nuggets, Walking Taco, Mini-corn dogs, Hamburgers, Hot dogs, Nachos, Chicken patties.... etc.

The breakfasts are even worse. I am in rural PA. You would think we could get some decent food as we are surrounded by farms.

[Snoutport]

44. We are a huge farming area as well!

It seems like it would be so easy to at least get fresh vegetables and fruit when they are in season!

[Tsiyu]

49. I would try to find someone to write a letter to the editor

Someone who won't face any "punishment" for telling what's going on. Perhaps they could encourage some local farms to donate fresh produce in their letter.

You might also try contacting some farms yourself, or local co-ops or farmer's markets. With the small number of students you have, it would not be a great burden on anyone with produce to share. Not to mention that good growers want to encourage kids to learn about the value of local produce, so this is outreach that will bring in future customers.

Good luck and thank you for bringing this to light.

[truedelphi]

67. Those are very common sense suggestions.

I hope they can be applied.

Cutting through the government bureaucracy can be quite difficult.

Whoever is the food supplier to this school has the ability to write up the proposal and have it in the correct form, know who to submit it to and by what date, etc..

I can only imagine the government "tech" description for "peas" specs - "school district requires 600 lbs of circular green objects not to exceed 3/16ths in diameter."

[They_Live]

60. Walking Taco?

What's that? Sounds spooky.

[femmocrat]

61. It's gross!

A small bag of Fritos with a scoop of "mystery meat", topped with a pinch of iceberg lettuce and about a half-teaspoon of diced mushy tomatoes. On the side they usually have salsa, (high fat) sour cream, and some kind of shredded white cheese (mozzarella?).

It's more like "spilling-all-over" than "walking" taco.

[noamnety]

72. Seconded: "It's gross!"

Our parents group sold those one day as a fundraiser at lunch and had me post to the website that we had them. I answered a phone call from someone who wanted to come in and buy some for his office. I gave him the time & cost info. I was horrified when I found out what it actually was, if I'd had any idea I would have at least warned him. It's mortifying that we advertised that - a person reading it might assume it was an actual taco, not a bag of fritos with slop thrown on top.

[They_Live]

81. Yikes!

Thanks for the junk-food update education. The menu that you posted is fairly similar to what the public schools were feeding me here in TX during the 1970's. Hamburger, corndog, burrito, lasagna, spaghetti w/ greasy meat sauce, chicken fried steak, and precursor to the walking taco, Frito Pie.

[Snoutport]

85. Gross! Have you heard of "Chicken fries"? A french fry with chicken past injected in the middle!

shudder....my old school would have them once a week. So gross!!!!

[proud2BlibKansan]

50. I buy breakfast bars and peanut butter and crackers every week for school

[Snoutport]

51. Howdy Kansas! :0) kudos from Oregon

Another unsung hero! :0)

[PatrynXX]

54. well it would cause bad breath

but garlic salt is an atkins thing :) suggest the school go to sams club. or do the Michelle Obama thing. Garden. I do like what some in other countries have been doing. Planting Garden Vegetables in the landscaping :) Where's Natalie Portman, she's a good go to. Or Jorja Fox :) Although it's hard to be a true vegan as far as I would think since not may have all the time to look in the ingredients. Although up above , dedicated teacher.

[alphafemale]

55. If you really want to pass out. Read the back of one of those "Oscar Mayer?" snak paks

I forget who makes them for certain but they are sold on the aisle next to the sandwich meat.

The fat and sodium on those things if off the charts. And it's such a puny serving of meat and cheese.

[femmocrat]

62. Unfortunately, that is what many of the "packers" bring from home.

They are called "Lunchables." The students usually bring along cookies, candy, single-serve pudding, and a Capri Sun drink. In some cases, the cafeteria lunch is actually more nutritious!

[Snoutport]

70. 72%!!!!! I saw one with 72% of the daily sodium intake!!! FOR AN ADULT diet!!!

I send a letter home every fall telling my parents NOT to buy them!!!

[swilton]

56. We're subsidizing Big Corn and the Processed Food Industry

by feeding our kids garbage. I no longer live in Maryland, but in 2009-10 they through State Senator Jamie Raskin were trying to implement a state-wide program to have local farms supply the school with nutritional food. I don't know what the status of that is - apparently that is a model program that other states/counties are trying to accomplish. Some have succeeded.

Even in France, they had to establish a local movement to get local farms to supply the schools vice 'big ag' which thanks to globalization has tentacles that are as broad as they are deep. There is a good foreign documentary about this process - can't remember the name but it is available through NETFLIX.

I wish you luck.

[callous taoboy]

57. Hey, if it's good enough for inmates then it's good enough for school kids:

:sarcasm:

I'm not kidding- Our school cafeteria has a contract with the same company that provides food to the state penitentiary. It is extremely gross food, very high in sugar, fat and salt. They refuse to not offer ice cream every day of the week, even though teachers pointed out that many students eat the crust off the corndog, have a pint of chocolate milk and ice cream for dessert and that is their lunch.

[WhiteTara]

63. we feed the children because they need to be

and they can't learn without nourishment. But the sodium thing is horrifying, isn't it?

[davsand]

65. We all give our kids a great education in nutrition, wouldn't you say?

I'm not a "Nutrition Nazi" by any means--my kid has eaten at the Golden Arches too many times over the years for me to ever lay claim to that--but school lunch really doesn't do much to teach our kids about healthy food choices. I have bitched any about the carb laden, fat saturated, salt crusted diet the school cafeteria pumps out every day, and I have been told that they feed the kids what they can afford and what they will eat. "Just because YOUR kid eats it, don't assume they all do..." was what I was told.

I was invited to be in the cafeteria one day when they served salad and I did see the amount that got thrown away. I also have heard those same kids' parents bitching about the cafeteria serving salad because, "my kid won't eat that crap..." Tell me--where are those kids gonna learn about smart food choices when parents hold that attitude?

I realize that it is not up to the schools to do everything, but clearly we have a failure in the country when it comes to this subject. Bless you for doing what you do. It has to feel like a losing battle.



Laura

[KurtNYC]

79. In my experience as a chef and a nutritionist, with either kids or adults

new foods have to be introduced one by one and in their best form. I have told many clients to look at the list of superfoods and pick just one to work into their diet each week. They don't have to stop eating junk, just add one of these and try it in its most palatable form:
- baby spinach (raw with oil and vinegar)
- almonds
- blueberries (in pancakes or fresh hot muffins)
- broccoli (the poster child of hated vegetables bc it is cooked to mush and dare I say 'unsalted')
- oats / oatmeal (with brown sugar)
- green (or black) tea
- turkey (cheap lean protein)
- walnuts
- tomatoes (on real pizza)
- yogurt (frozen)

Kids will eat tomatoes if they are sliced on top of pizza and oven roasted. Blueberries can go into pancakes or muffins. Almonds and walnuts can be added to trail mix. Turkey is pretty easy -- make it a burger.

Once people's bodies get a dose of the nutrients that are in many unprocessed foods their appetite can change. Your body tells you what it is hungry for but, for example, if you have never had the Vitamin A and B complex bomb that is in 4 oz of baby spinach then your body doesn't know what to ask your brain for. It just stays with the vague 'I'm hungry' message.

Once you have a foothold of nutrition going in, it is much easier to get the junk out, or at least reduced.

[davsand]

80. I've had good luck with baby spinach and sliced strawberries in a salad.

Don't laugh, but my daughter loves that salad and actually made it to take to the Girl Scouts' pot luck...

Wash baby spinach leaves and layer with sliced strawberries. Make a puree out of a few fresh strawberries with a bit of light oil and non-alcoholic white wine or white wine vinegar if you like it with more bite. (I add a bit of Splenda when I make it with berries that are out of season, but you really don't need it in summer or unless your palate prefers sweeter stuff like a kid would...) That is your dressing. Toss with some sliced almonds or walnuts for crunch.

Kids WILL eat this salad, and in my experience they'll go back for more if nobody is watching.

Fresh tomato is a downfall for me--I dislike the texture intensely and I don't work with them except to make something out of them like a salsa or a cooked dish.

Broccoli is usually steamed or stir fried, and up to just a couple of years ago yogurt was a dessert item in our house...

We still eat a lot of crap food, but there have been a couple of things we got right, at least...



Laura

[stevedeshazer]

66. Where do you teach?

Is this a public school district? If so, it seems pressure could be applied to improve the situation.

[slackmaster]

71. Tagged in solidarity with Snoutport's efforts to educate everyone

:kick:

[Snoutport]

77. Thanks!

I have had some really harsh words thrown at me on this post so I appreciate the support! :0)

[Cleita]

73. Fortunately a young, healthy body will take the

nutrients it needs and then excrete the excess through urine and bowels. It's not healthy though to keep liver and kidneys working overtime to do this. Over a period of time they will degenerate.

[proReality]

74. Geez, with all that salt they'll float in fresh water.

You'd think some dietitian in the school lunch program would have more sense than to allow all of that to be served to them. Someone is definitely not doing their job correctly.

[caseymoz]

84. Actually, that's not as bad as you think.

Yes, it's high, but it's nothing to panic over. Those percentages you give from the back are for the "minimum daily requirements," not the maximum daily tolerance, or the poisoning threshold or anything like that.