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I thought the issue was with the restrictions on what the kids can and cannot bring from home, not the school provided lunches (which have been horrible since the beginning of time)?
No, people were actually griping about attempts to improve the quality of the actual school-provided lunches. Don't ask me why.
No, people were actually griping about attempts to improve the quality of the actual school-provided lunches. Don't ask me why.
I see, I don't have kids so pardon my ignorance. Just going on the various stories I've read over the years of so called 'lunch inspectors' taking kids bagged lunches away because it didn't meet school standards.
I see, I don't have kids so pardon my ignorance. Just going on the various stories I've read over the years of so called 'lunch inspectors' taking kids bagged lunches away because it didn't meet school standards.
There was a pretty famous incident a year or two back, when Michelle Obama was visiting a school in Kentucky which had made menu changes to the school lunches to make them more nutritious (adding salads, removing pizza and fish sticks in favor of healthier entree options, adding fruit, etc.). Some of the kids told Ms. Obama "your food tasted like vomit." Goggle will probably bring the incident up.
Of course, that highlights a problem. If someone grows up eating Lunchables and frozen pizza and such, they may well not like the way a more traditional meal tastes. And we've had at least one generation by now (possibly two) where a totally processed food diet could have been the norm. How do we go back from that? We can tell kids what to eat, but not adults. How do we get adults who've largely eaten crap all their lives to like better quality food?
I disagree. The health issue is eating bad food and not exercising, whether that results in an obese person or a thin person.
I know a couple thin people who have type 2 diabetes. My father died of heart disease at 60. He was thin.
Why charge only parents with obese children when there are many out there with thin children who are eating the same foods and not exercising? Just because the negative impact isn't visible without medical tests doesn't mean it's not as real.
So because we can't "catch" everyone, we should ignore what's right in front of us?
Obesity in and of itself is a significant issue regardless of it's cause. A thin person who eats the same things and is inactive is NOT at the same risk. That's absurd. Few if any of the conditions below are present in an average weight child regardless of their eating or exercise habits.
Childhood obesity has both immediate and long-term effects on health and well-being. Immediate health effects:
Obese youth are more likely to have risk factors for cardiovascular disease, such as high cholesterol or high blood pressure. In a population-based sample of 5- to 17-year-olds, 70% of obese youth had at least one risk factor for cardiovascular disease.[SIZE=2]7[/SIZE]
Obese adolescents are more likely to have prediabetes, a condition in which blood glucose levels indicate a high risk for development of diabetes.[SIZE=2]8,9[/SIZE]
Children and adolescents who are obese are at greater risk for bone and joint problems, sleep apnea, and social and psychological problems such as stigmatization and poor self-esteem.[SIZE=2]5,6,10[/SIZE]
Long-term health effects:
Children and adolescents who are obese are likely to be obese as adults[SIZE=2]11-14[/SIZE] and are therefore more at risk for adult health problems such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, several types of cancer, and osteoarthritis.[SIZE=2]6[/SIZE] One study showed that children who became obese as early as age 2 were more likely to be obese as adults.[SIZE=2]12[/SIZE]
Overweight and obesity are associated with increased risk for many types of cancer, including cancer of the breast, colon, endometrium, esophagus, kidney, pancreas, gall bladder, thyroid, ovary, cervix, and prostate, as well as multiple myeloma and Hodgkin’s lymphoma.[SIZE=2]15[/SIZE]
The fact that obese adults defend their ability to raise an obese child is why we need far greater personal accountability as the likelihood of being obese as a child is significantly enhanced if your parent is.
I feel so sorry for the children who are raised by parents who can see, right in front of them, the impact of poor parenting choices and don't make the changes to prevent their children from living a lifetime of obesity. If that hurts people's feelings or gets their back up, so be it.
We DON'T stay silent on other forms of child abuse when we see it happening, nor would society condone it. Most of us would intervene if a child was being hit or abused in another way - what's the difference? Pease don't argue that it's hard to find good foods, I agree. It's still your job to not raise a child doomed to a lifetime of medical issues that are largely preventable (read above).
There was a pretty famous incident a year or two back, when Michelle Obama was visiting a school in Kentucky which had made menu changes to the school lunches to make them more nutritious (adding salads, removing pizza and fish sticks in favor of healthier entree options, adding fruit, etc.). Some of the kids told Ms. Obama "your food tasted like vomit." Goggle will probably bring the incident up.
Of course, that highlights a problem. If someone grows up eating Lunchables and frozen pizza and such, they may well not like the way a more traditional meal tastes. And we've had at least one generation by now (possibly two) where a totally processed food diet could have been the norm. How do we go back from that? We can tell kids what to eat, but not adults. How do we get adults who've largely eaten crap all their lives to like better quality food?
That's exactly the school lunch issue with many of the parents I know. Their kids won't eat healthy foods served at school because they've never been served vegetables at home. Surprisingly, many won't even eat fruit. Puzzling to me because I've always loved fruit.
Most of us have to learn to like vegetables, which is best done as a toddler. Serve a particular vegetable once or twice a week, and require the kid take just one bite. It usually takes 10 tastes to develop a like (or at least a tolerance) for that vegetable. Then choose another one to introduce. BTW that method works with adults too - I used it to get over my hatred for cilantro and mushrooms.
Not me. I see the over-the-top negative response to Michelle Obama's very modest and reasonable suggestions as insane. Why would anyone sensible oppose making school lunches better?
But that's part of the problem - as soon as concrete suggestions are made that would actually positively affect the quality of the food produced in this country, all too many people lose their minds. Look at the other thread here in Current Events, where people are complaining that the FDA may finally be getting around to totally banning trans-fats. Why are so many people standing up for the American consumer's sacred right to (often unknowingly) ingest a hazardous substance? What's next? Coke Plus, with added strychnine (improves muscle tone!)? Kraft Macaroni, Cheese, and Melamine Dinner? ("Hey, if you don't want to eat, it, just read the label!")
It's nuts.
Exactly. One poster on this forum asked why people in other countries are healthier. A big contributor is that those countries' governments hold a higher standard on food quality, banning dangerous additives, GMOs, requiring more disclosure on food labels and oversight on imports. Try that in America and everyone wets themselves and screams socialism and personal accountability. But as another poster pointed out, it's hard to be personally accountable when a person's food choices are limited to processed crap in a box or flavorless, chemically laden vegetables from Mexico.
There was a pretty famous incident a year or two back, when Michelle Obama was visiting a school in Kentucky which had made menu changes to the school lunches to make them more nutritious (adding salads, removing pizza and fish sticks in favor of healthier entree options, adding fruit, etc.). Some of the kids told Ms. Obama "your food tasted like vomit." Goggle will probably bring the incident up.
Of course, that highlights a problem. If someone grows up eating Lunchables and frozen pizza and such, they may well not like the way a more traditional meal tastes. And we've had at least one generation by now (possibly two) where a totally processed food diet could have been the norm. How do we go back from that? We can tell kids what to eat, but not adults. How do we get adults who've largely eaten crap all their lives to like better quality food?
I believe I am that exact generation you speak of, I grew up on mac and cheese, Chef Boyardee, school pizza, etc. Hell, my diet in high school and college was 75% McDonalds! Yet, I never gained any significant weight and was always in generally good health.
I started traveling a lot for work, which meant I was eating out at restaurants a lot. The second I turned 25 it seems, I started gaining weight fast, at first I shrugged it off until I had a full physical for an upcoming international trip and my lipid levels were WAY off the charts, at 27. I remember stopping at my parents house and the first thing my mom says to me? "Jesus you are getting FAT! That's ridiculous"
I started watching my diet more closely, running, working out, and being more active. The results of it came quickly.
So as an adult, for me, it took being fat shamed by my own mother!
So because we can't "catch" everyone, we should ignore what's right in front of us?
Obesity in and of itself is a significant issue regardless of it's cause. A thin person who eats the same things and is inactive is NOT at the same risk. That's absurd.
No, it's actually true. Sedentary behavior, in and of itself, is a better predictor of future health issues than weight is. It's actually better to be overweight and active then sedentary and thin, believe it or not.
Ditto with bad diet. Eating large qualities of crap damages your health even if you don't gain weight on it.
Best of all, of course, is to be active, eating a good diet, and a healthy weight. But thin people don't get excused from their bad habits just because the damage they are doing to their bodies can't be detected just by eyeballing them. If you're slim but are spending all your time sitting around and eating Cheetoes, you NEED to change your bad health habits ASAP!
No, it's actually true. Sedentary behavior, in and of itself, is a better predictor of future health issues than weight is. It's actually better to be overweight and active then sedentary and thin, believe it or not.
Ditto with bad diet. Eating large qualities of crap damages your health even if you don't gain weight on it.
Best of all, of course, is to be active, eating a good diet, and a healthy weight. But thin people don't get excused from their bad habits just because the damage they are doing to their bodies can't be detected just by eyeballing them. If you're slim but are spending all your time sitting around and eating Cheetoes, you NEED to change your bad health habits ASAP!
Please show data on this. I quoted the data on childhood obesity above, do you disagree with the data or simply not like how it sounds or what it means for changing behaviors?
So because we can't "catch" everyone, we should ignore what's right in front of us?
No! That's exactly the opposite of what I'm saying. I said we should not ignore ANYONE who's eating bad foods and not exercising, whether they're fat or thin.
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