Cravings

My dear husband (AH) stayed home from work today (he has a terrible cold) and so as I prepared to head out to do my weekly grocery shopping he asked me to pick up a few items on his food list.  The problem with his list is that nearly every item contained ingredients that are essentially banned from our house: high fructose corn syrup and/or hydrogenated oil. 

As a compromise to the food changes we have been making in our home the last few years, I have agreed to keep buying him his favorite brand of peanut butter (a particular brand that was once labeled by Dr. Oz (via the Oprah Show) as the worst possible peanut butter on the market) with the trade off being that our daughter will ask him, “Daddy, why do you want to die?”, every time he gets it out (seriously she does this of her own accord).  It’s his one food vice that I won’t forcefully ban from our home (mine is box macaroni & cheese – though currently I have none in stock; the guilt of eating it has become too much for me).

As we discussed his food requests, and my reluctance to purchase much of it, AH pointed out that his diet has always consisted of three snack staples:  eggs, cookies and cold cereal.  I have all but eliminated cookies from our house (unless homemade, which are very rarely made) and cold cereals have been limited to the expensive, minimally processed healthy stuff – not nearly as appealing to AH or his wallet.  So he’d down to eggs and possibly getting a little tired of them.  He needs his cookies and cereal, he craves them! (or so he told me today)

I am not a total food tyrant so I said I would consider the granola bars on his list provided I can come across some that weren’t made with HFCS.  I told him I would pick up a few different brands and then we could taste test until he finds one that he likes and that I can tolerate having in our house.

A few hours later I am standing in Costco reading all the different granola bar ingredient labels.  Each one has HFCS within its top 5 ingredients (for most it was actually the second ingredient).  I came across one that doesn’t have HFCS as an ingredient however it does have other corn based components, but I can compromise so long as they are not a top 5 ingredient.  (I also picked up some bars from PCC for AH to try that are much better options – we’ll see which one he chooses). 

I then headed over to buy AH his peanut butter.  As I reviewed the choices, crunchy or smooth, I could not remember which he favored so I called him to ask.

“Hello”, he answered.

“Crunchy or smooth?” I asked.

“What?” he laughs while trying to sound confused by the question.

“Do you want crunchy or smooth toxic peanut butter?”

“Crunchy, of course,” he responded. 

“Okay.  Also, I checked out your granola bars and nearly every brand has HFCS in its top 5 ingredients so I won’t be buying those.  I did find one brand here (Costco) that was somewhat acceptable and a few others from PCC so I’ll bring them home and you can pick which one you like best,” I told him. 

He quickly responded with sarcasm, “Really how awful can HFCS be?  It seems to be in everything so it must not be that bad.”

I laughed and laughed all the way to pick out his sugary cereal, of which I refused to read the ingredient label.

BTW – AH is encouraged to keep all the cookies and sugary cereals he wants in his office. .  at work.

Chicago School Bans Homemade Lunches

An interesting article is making the rounds about an elementary school in Chicago that has banned homemade lunches requiring all students to eat cafeteria food, unless allergies or other special conditions apply. The ban started six years ago (I am not sure why this is making the news now) when the principal watched students bringing "bottles of soda and flaming hot chips" as part of their lunches during school field trips.

The school is in a lower income area of the city and historically low income areas have a very high obesity rate due to the cheap cost of highly processed sugary foods. In a related article writer Lize Goodwin of "The Lookout" wrote:

"Change in Chicago's school cafeterias feeds into a larger effort to combat the country's childhood obesity epidemic. About a third of America's kids are overweight or obese, and since children consume at least 30 percent of their calories while in school, making lunches healthier is seen as one way to counter that problem. Poorer kids are also more likely to be obese or overweight than middle class kids, and to consume a bigger proportion of their calories while at school. Forty-four percent of American kids living below the poverty line are obese or overweight, according to a 2010 study published in Health Affairs."

While I haven't been able to locate the schools menu a parent comment in the article indicates that the food this school provides is much healthier than what has been traditionally offered or brought from home. If it is anything like to food offered in our local schools I would not be a happy parent either, but I withhold my judgment as I haven't seen what they are actually serving these students.

This isn't the only school making changes. Nationwide many schools are making big nutritional modifications for the better by banning foods high in fat or sugar, removing flavored milks and soda vending machines. One example is a small school located on the south side (that would be a lower income area) of Chicago called the Academy for Global Citizenship. This school offers its students organic foods that are prepared on site (which is reimbursable under the National School Lunch Program), has planted a school garden and has chicken coop with three laying chickens. (read more about a sample lunch (with pictures) and the writers experience on her blog "Fed Up With Lunches")


If you want to be really inspired by school lunches take a look at this video that shows France's school cuisine (I'll take it! . . . minus the snails). Doesn't it open your eyes to the possibility of gourmet school lunches as well as how it teaches life long healthy eating habits to the students?

Though many of the comments about the Chicago school homemade lunch food ban are hostile and outraged I'll hold my formal opinion until actual details are known about what is really being served in that particular school. Of course if it is similar to what is being offered at the Academy for Global Citizenship I'll be asking if I can eat there too!