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Focusing on the Tip of the Health Iceberg
By Susan Rubin —
By limiting our conversation to obesity, we focus on calories and we forget about quality of food and ingredients.
While childhood obesity grabs headlines every day, it’s important to consider other complications that result from poor quality food and drinks in our schools. Obesity is the tip of the iceberg — it’s easy to see and measure. But like the iceberg, much much more lies underneath the surface.
Beneath the surface we’ve got declining children’s health in the form of increased allergies, asthma, behavioral issues and even childhood cancer. None of these are as easy to see with the naked eye. All of these health issues are on the rise and all of them are directly connected to what our kids are eating.
When it comes to food in schools, the food and beverage industry wants to keep the conversation on obesity. That way, they can play the calorie game. It’s easty to lower the calorie count in a food product by changing the serving size, creating lower-calorie “enhanced water” products or adding artificial sweeteners. They make even more money packaging up those “100 calorie” food products. Are they really healthier because they are 100 calories, or are they just less junk for more money?
What the food industry does not want us to do is look beyond calories at the questionable chemicals in these products.
Research shows that many of the colors found in sports drinks and other beverages are directly connected to hyperactivity and other behavior issues. Lancet, a highly respected medical journal recently published a study that clearly backs this up.
When a teacher has even one child with a behavior issue, all kids in the class are affected as a result. Just another example of “second-hand smoke” in the toxic food environment. Your kid might not be swilling the windex-blue or neon-green colored “electrolyte enhanced” sugar water, but he or she will still be negatively impacted in the classroom when another child is bouncing off the walls from sugar or food dyes.
Let’s not forget that sports drinks and sugary waters are a significant source of tooth decay. Some studies show that sports drinks may even be more cariogenic than soda. It’s really lots of fun to take your kid to the dentist. Doesn’t everyone enjoy taking time out of their busy day to do that? The food industry argues that these beverages have less calories than soda but when your teeth are washed in frequent sips of liquid sugar, they rot- whether it’s low-cal or not!
The beverage industry has been working very hard to get diet sodas into schools. By playing the calorie game, they argue that these beverages are better for our kids than soda. Anecdotal reports show diet soda to be even more addictive than regular soda. Neurological and behavioral problems have been reported in both children and adults. Some studies show that diet soda drinkers are likely to gain more weight! Also, solid evidence points to weak bones due to the phosphoric acid in diet sodas. The bottom line is that no doctor, government agency or scientist is 100 percent sure that artificial sweeteners are safe for human consumption, especially for consumption by our children. If someone told you that a product or a toy or a piece of clothing for your child cannot be guaranteed to be safe, wouldn’t you put it back on the shelf?
Why not set legislation to protect our kids instead of protecting the profits of the food and beverage industry?
Let’s make it really simple. Let’s make sure kids have access to clean, healthy water in school - the kind that comes from a tap or drinking fountain. Not “water beverages” with added colors and chemicals. Not bottled water that drains streams and aquifers while adding plastic bottles to the waste stream.
Check out the Better School Food top 10 list for other really great ideas for food standards in schools.
March 17th, 2009 at 8:52 pm
Beautiful photography.
I think your Leave a Reply field could use white in the input fields.
Good work, Debbie.
I enjoy your site.
Michael
March 19th, 2009 at 11:43 am
The “wellness policies” are a joke. They look at snacks as being the only place that needs fixing. However, when it comes to spending more money on better quality foods and fresh fruits and vegetables provided at lunch they look to cut costs. I know I have been fighting a losing battle when it comes to getting them to increase the buget for higher quality ingredients. I have an advantage (if you can call it that) that I am not funded by the government. So you would think that i could have more control, wrong. They came out with this wellness policy that dose not allow the kids to bring in unhealthy treats for birthdays and for thier snacks, but they forget that the food we serve for lunch is a bigger priority. I worry more about giving fresh vegetables and fruit and higher quality meat than if a child is going to eat a cupcake one day in class.
March 19th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
As a parent, I see other school districts all around ours that are able to offer salad bars and more than one choice for entrees, at least one vegetarian entree every day, and in some of the neighboring districts they even offer orange juice as an alternative to milk. Yet our district continues to only offer one entree (so if it’s a hamburger being offered and you’re a vegetarian then guess you’re just having an apple for lunch). All of the districts that are near ours have contracts with outside providers for their lunch programs, whereas our district has its own central kitchen and staff.
Our district’s wellness policy is very vague and really only targets the snacks and parties as well and I am equally frustrated because in my mind the lunch (and at my kids’ school, breakfast as well is offered) is the bigger issue. The focus is still too much on calorie count, fat content, sugar content, while I feel the thing they should be focusing on is the quality and freshness of the ingredients. There is still way too much of the HFCS, preservatives, and flavorings.
To their credit, the district does a pretty good job with the fresh fruit and veggies (really just carrot sticks) they offer as side dishes with their lunches - it’s the entrees that need to be tackled. They have also introduced the Harvest of the Month program at our school, so far just with 2 classes of 2nd and 3rd graders, where they get to taste and learn about a different fruit or vegetable once a month. So far the kids are loving it, and it complements our school’s expanded gardening program nicely. They are growing, harvesting, eating, and studying a wide variety of produce in their gardens at school.
I am working on getting a survey out to the families so we can figure out how to go about approaching our school board with suggestions on what we would like to see changed. I already know it is going to come down to money, so that will be one of the main issues we will be looking at.
March 20th, 2009 at 6:58 am
Good for you Cari, it is the parents that can push for better food in our schools. We in the industry have our hands tied, but we are just as frustrated as you are, we love these kids and want to do what is best for them. The price will always be an issue but in your survey, ask parents if they are willing to pay a bit more for better food. It could be a help to have that in your arsenal when you go talk to the administration. Best of luck and keep fighting for all our kids.