This drives me nuts:
The government for the first time is proposing broad new standards to make school snacks healthier, a move that would ban the sale of almost all candy, high-calorie sports drinks and greasy foods on campus.
Under new rules the Department of Agriculture proposed Friday, school vending machines that once were full of Skittles and Sprite would instead be selling water, lower-calorie sports drinks, diet sodas and baked chips. Lunch rooms that now sell fatty “a la carte” items like mozzarella sticks and nachos would have to transition to healthier pizzas, fruit cups and yogurt.
Lower-calorie sports drinks, diet sodas and baked chips? Really?
Why can’t we just settle for water, low-fat milk, or nothing? (Remember that “nothing” is a perfectly acceptable choice your kids can make). Let’s do the healthier pizzas, fruit cups, and yogurt and call it a day. Maybe a few peanut butter and banana or peanut butter and fruit spread sandwiches on whole grain bread (or cream cheese and fruit spread on whole grain. Never had that? Toast the bread and tell me it’s not awesome!). Protein (not simply meat which, in school cafeterias, is gross), carbs (not sugar), and fat (not grease). It’s all there. Keep it simple, keep it fresh, keep it healthy. Good nutrition at lower cost with less waste. It’s win-win-win.
Sure, some kids (and parents) will complain about the lack of chicken nuggets or cheeseburgers (or things that look like chicken and beef), french fries, white bread and white bread pizza from the food line. They will complain that they can’t buy sugar in water or eat their soft white bread. Those families can choose to pack lunches for those kids instead.
The folks who will moan the loudest, however, will be the special interest lobbyists — pushers for sugar and processed foods — in your nation’s capital.
Read Mary Clare Jalonick’s AP article here.