School Lunch Realities

It's been far too long since I posted!  School is well underway, to 2nd quarter and the school lunch program is motoring right along.  There are still  the Styrofoam trays, chocolate milk, canned fruit filled with heavy sugars, juice cups with red 40 added, burgers and popcorn chicken in wrappers or boxes.  Kids pay their 2.50, line up, get their lunches and in some cases have less than 10 minutes to eat.  Do you see anything wrong with this?  For one, Styrofoam trays.  Goodness, in an effort to go green or even make a small attempt at going green, lets ditch the styrofoam.  Really, is anyone still using this?!  If you have a sink, you should be able to have a tray that you can wash and reuse.  We have several sinks.  Chocolate milk; our school requires 2 beverage choices.  The selection is 2% white milk or chocolate milk loaded with artificial flavors.  The 2% milk is no better, treated with bovine enhancement hormones. Couldn't we offer water as a choice?   Canned fruit, you know the kind.  When I was a kid it was called fruit cocktail.  It's a mixture of xxxxx ladled with heavy syrup.  Where's the apple?  Banana?  Popcorn chicken in a box.  I think this is the lunch companies way of relating to fast food.  How about a grass fed chicken drum stick?   And fruit juice cups.  Sure it says 100% juice but if you read the label you will find red 40 in the ingredient list.  Again, an apple, banana, orange.  Fresh fruit anyone?  This represents one single days lunch, a lunch provided to 1st thru 5th graders as the only hot lunch option and also offered to 6th thru 8th grade as the hot lunch option.  Cost for this tasty feast of additives, $2.50.  Yikes!


My kids do not eat hot lunch.  I wish I could say they never eat it.  I do however sit down with the one binder of hot lunch items and the ingredients in each item offered.  Red 40 listed, an automatic no.  The same goes for yellow 5 or 6, BHT, Vanillin, and MSG.  These are some of the things that most affect my kids.  These are some of the things that effect a great number of kids.

A recent article that riled me was a testimonial segment in the school newsletter from 2nd graders  about the yummy factor of the school lunches.  I will share those with you now and I will also share the ingredient list for those lunches, the list the parents never see unless they head over to the school and ask to see the ingredient binder.


Hot Lunch a BIG hit for Second Grade
 ...My favorite hot lunch is French toast. - L,  My favorite hot lunch is corn dogs! - S. Ms. X's  class says, My favorite hot lunch is pizza dippers and marinara sauce. -Z,  My favorite hot lunch is chicken nuggets with animal shaped cookies. -B   My favorite hot lunch is popcorn chicken. –C  My favorite hot lunch is tacos. -E  My favorite hot lunch is pizza. -K   From Mrs. X's class, My favorite hot lunch is spaghetti meat balls - K, My favorite hot lunch is pizza. E & V, My favorite hot lunch is pizza dippers. - P, My favorite lunch is pizza.  I love pizza. - K, My favorite lunch is popcorn chicken. - B.


Hmmm, I see a pattern here.  I'll follow this post with the ingredient list for those items listed.


I think I should submit an article for next month titled;
Hot Lunch, A Nutritional Strike Out

The Importance in Reading Labels

Recently a brand new Farmers Market popped up near my neighborhood.  I've been anxiously awaiting this since I heard about it a month or so ago.  It was close to my house, I knew some of the vendors from other markets that were going to be there and I was supporting local interests.   I know not all markets can boust certified organic or even organic labeling but I had become used to the vendors I've become to know and purchase from, with confidence.  This time I was caught off guard and purchased an item without reading the label until I got home.  When I read RED 40 on the ingredient list, I just about fell over.  All the indicators were there, the color WAS red.  Why I didn't think to look is really a lesson I will take with me moving forward on all new future purchases.  I'm so passionate about this because we are a family who has been on diet therapy removing ALL artificial colors.  Colors like red 40, yellow 5 and 6, blue 1 and have done so very successfully resulting in immediate results in my kids behavior and temperment and eliminating my migraines.
There was no deception on this particular vendors part, but it definately re-ignited my need to always read the label. 

With The Help of Friends - Blog Buttons

I have been blogging along now for a little while, learning things and picking up different ideas here and there and I have made some fantastic blog friends along the way! 

I love the buttons I've been seeing, you know the ones that you can "grab" and put on your own blog....kinda like a blog referral.  To my blog friends, if you have a button, let me know and I will place it on my sidebar.  If you are interested, I have just figured out how to have my own button.  I didn't do this by myself, however, and special thanks go to C at The Stylish House for this first design when I was fumbling my way around blogger and J at Day & Age Design for the tutorial on how to make my own.  Maybe I'll try to come up with a new pic to make my very own picture, but for now, I'm pretty darn impressed that I figured this out. Ladies, you are the best teachers, Thank You!
And in the meantime..........please feel free to grab my new button! :)

<center><a href="http://http://butmomsaid.blogspot.com//"><img border="0" src="http://i865.photobucket.com/albums/ab214/mompics10/MOM_SAID_copy.jpg"/></a></center>


   

Twinkies vs Carrots with Michael Pollan

Chew on this and let me know your thoughts.
I haven't purchased twinkies in years but have always secretly wondered what a fried twinkie would taste like.

Cereal Bar Comparison

The news that the Food and Drug Administration, in response to CSPI’s 2008 petition will convene an advisory committee meeting to discuss the link between food dyes and children’s behavior is welcome and overdue. Yellow 5, Red 40, and other commonly used food dyes have long been shown in numerous clinical studies to impair children’s behavior. But for years, FDA—which actually commissioned one of the first controlled studies—dismissed the mounting evidence against the dyes.  Fast forward ahead to 2011 and the FDA finally held their hearing.  In a close vote of 4 to 3, warning labels were shot down but there is agreement that more research needs to be done.

I love visuals.  This is one of the first visuals I saw when I started to research artificial colors like Red 40 and how they can effect you. 
You see two packages for Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain cereal bars. One is made here for us. The other is made in the UK for Europeans. Both use food coloring.  In the UK, the coloring is achieved using beet root. But in the US, the coloring is Red No. 40, a dye that has been associated with hyperactivity, and some types of cancer.
Why not use the beet root? The answer is that Kellogg’s probably saves half a penny on each bar using an artificial dye rather than using a natural one.
So why does Kellogg’s use the beets in Europe? Because in Europe the regulator has required WARNING LABELS on products with Red 40. Just like cigarettes. Kellogg’s did the bottom line calculation and decided the loss in sales would cause much more damage than the savings on the food dye.

C'mon US.  Why are we so behind on this issue?

Here is the U.S. ingredient list:

Filling (High Fructose Corn Syrup, Corn Syrup, Strawberry Puree Concentrate, Glycerin, Sugar, Water, Sodium Alginate, Modified Corn Starch, Citric Acid, Natural and Artificial Flavor, Sodium Citrate, Dicalcium Phosphate, Methylcellulose, Caramel Color, Malic Acid, Red No. 40), Whole Grain Rolled Oats, Enriched Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate [Vitamin B1], Riboflavin [Vitamin B2], Folic Acid), Whole Wheat Flour, Sunflower and/or Soybean Oil with TBHQ for Freshness, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Sugar, Contains Two Percent or Less of Honey, Dextrose, Calcium Carbonate, Soluble Corn Fiber, Nonfat Dry Milk, Wheat Bran, Salt, Cellulose, Potassium Bicarbonate (Leavening), Natural and Artificial Flavor, Mono- and Diglycerides, Propylene Glycol Esters of Fatty Acids, Soy Lecithin, Wheat Gluten, Niacinamide, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Vitamin A Palmitate, Carrageenan, Zinc Oxide, Reduced Iron, Guar Gum, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Thiamin Hydrochloride (Vitamin B1), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Folic Acid.

Red 40 in Designer Waters and Other Dangers

I find this article extremely important and very alarming. It's rather long but very informative.


By now you have probably seen the ads for MiO Liquid Water Enhancer, Kraft Foods' new gimmick aimed at young consumers seeking "cool" new ways to stand out among their peers. Leave it to the food and beverage industry to find a way to turn your perfectly healthful water into a mixture of toxic chemicals. This latest craze has you squeezing brightly colored flavor drops into your water from a cute little purse-sized bottle, and watching the mesmerizing nebula of color diffuse slowly into the clear water.

Very clever… a science experiment you can drink.

The market has been flooded with "functional waters," fortified (supposedly) with everything from vitamins and minerals to electrolytes, oxygen, fiber, and even protein. Supermarket beverage aisles can entice you along a virtual sea of beverage choices—energy drinks, vitamin waters, fitness waters, and sports/electrolyte concoctions in every imaginable color and flavor.

You can even buy a bottle of water infused with positive affirmations, said to "raise the consciousness of humanity" (Aquamantra). Or how about this one—bottled water fortified for your dog, called FortiFido?

But if you take a closer look at the labels, you'll discover they're spiking your punch with a lot of unsavory ingredients, many capable of wreaking havoc on your metabolism, hormones, and other physiological processes—and some of which are outright carcinogenic.


If you aren't already a label reader, it's time you became one, lest you fall prey to these clever marketing ploys.


Flashy labels, pretty colors, and seductive scents are not always harmless to your health—but they are incredibly alluring, especially to kids. Your child will be drawn in like an Emu to dangly earrings. So what's in this cute little bottle of liquid "water enhancer" with the equally cute name?


Mama MIO! More Like Factory Runoff than a Beverage
Here is the ingredient list for the Mango Peach variety of MiO:


Water, Malic Acid, Propylene Glycol, Citric Acid, "natural flavor," Sucralose, Acesulfame potassium, Potassium citrate, Polysorbate 60, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Red 40, Potassium Sorbate (preservative).


Basically, this is a scary mixture of TWO artificial sweeteners, THREE dyes, one preservative, and propylene glycol (PG)—a solvent that can potentially result in cell mutations and skin, liver, and kidney damage, if ingested in high enough amounts. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) rates propylene glycol as a moderate hazard.


Artificial sweeteners are bad news for your health (they can lead to impaired kidney function, depression, headaches, infertility, brain tumors, and a long list of other serious health problems) and are unnecessary food additives—because there are SAFE natural sweetener alternatives.


All artificial sweeteners are risky, and MiO contains TWO of them!

Let's look at the rap sheets for some of MiO's flavor "enhancements":


•Sucralose (an artificial sweetener otherwise known as Splenda) is associated with respiratory difficulties, migraines, seizures, gastrointestinal problems, heart palpitations, and weight gain, and the list of reported problems is growing by the day.
•Acesulfame potassium (or Acesulfame-K) is another artificial sweetener that has been linked to kidney tumors.
•Food dyes have been connected to a variety of health problems, including allergic reactions, hyperactivity, decreased IQ in children, and numerous forms of cancer—and MiO has THREE of them.
•Polysorbate 60 is an emulsifying agent that, like PG, is rated as a moderate health concern by EWG and can be contaminated with ethylene oxide and 1,4 dioxane, two carcinogenic industrial pollutants.
Now, why go to the trouble of purifying your water, only to dump right back into it what you have just filtered out—a bunch of toxic chemicals?


This makes NO sense at all.


But MiO is just one example of a much larger problem. Enhanced waters have become an enormously lucrative business as people have begun to abandon soda pop for what they believe are better alternatives. Beverage battles (and now, water wars) have left manufacturers clamoring to come up with products that outdo all the rest. Are these beverages really better for you than soda? Not by a long shot.


Dysfunctional Beverages… Think Before You Drink
I don't want you to think I've singled out MiO as the big villain—it's just the most recent new recruit.

USA Today February 22, 2011


Guardian March 31, 2011


Fooducate April 11, 2011


Men’s Journal October 23, 2009

Jaime Olivers Vanilla Ice Cream Demonstration on David Letterman

oh gosh! Please know what you are eating. Please read the labels. You ARE what you eat! Check this out!  This was on Jaime Olivers Food Revolution reality show last night.  It's one of the best visual demonstrations I have seen on fake food!  My family has been on diet therapy following the Feingold program for just over 2 years now.  We started the program when we noticed behavioural problems in our child.  Then our eyes opened and we realized the foods we were eating were causing my kids many problems including being able to fall asleep and stay asleep, self esteem issues, speech problems, migraines, IBS, cognitive thinking, impulsiveness, rage and more!

Did you know the secretion from the North American Beaver anal glands is used in many foods as an additive for flavor! 


This vid is from Jaime Olivers interview with David Letterman.  As soon as the vid from last nights show becomes available I will add that.