Food concerns
Today I feel like the world is out to get me, nutritionally speaking. Rob's been quite sick for the past few days, so I'm doing more of the household stuff. He usually bakes the bread we eat, but I didn't feel like I had time to bake, so I went out to buy some along with a few other items.
I have a few requirements for the bread I eat:
1. It should be whole grains only
2. It should not contain trans fat
3. It should not be high in sugar, and it should not list glucose-fructose as an ingredient because I suspect that is manufacturer's speak for high fructose corn syrup, a particularly damaging type of sugar that no one should eat unless they are really hankering for diabetes to strike.
There was not a single loaf of bread in IGA that met those requirements. Which is why I find it odd that one of the prime nutritional strategies in society today is reading labels. Yeah, I read the labels. Every brand was unhealthy. What good is reading labels if every choice that we have is unhealthy? There should be significantly more pressure applied to manufacturers to produce healthy foods. I don't buy that they can't afford it. Voortman's eliminated trans fat from their products before it even became an issue. It's a matter of will and ethics, not economics. Our health should not suffer for shareholders' profits.
I'm also tired of feeling like I'm fighting for my children's nutrition. We are in the midst of a childhood obesity crisis, and I'm doing all I can to make sure my children do not become statistics, including my own 47 pound weight loss, but everyone around me seems to want to feed my kids junk. Examples:
1. On "Blue Day" Ashlin's nursery school fed the kids blue juice, which automatically means coloured sugar water.
2. Another day they gave the kids Kraft Dinner, which I'm quite sure contains trans fats.
3. Fundraisers at nursery and elementary schools are things like selling chocolate and cookie dough.
4. Hot lunches at school are disgusting entities like hot dogs and chicken nuggets.
5. Every single week Taryn's music teacher gives the children candies.
6. Every single week the kids' grandparents have multiple treats such as chocolate bars, doughnuts, popsicles and freezies for the kids, and although I've talked again and again about limiting the treats I hear later from my kids that Grandpa and Grandma are sneaking them treats behind my back.
It is very frustrating to try to fight this onslaught all the time. Ashlin especially looks like she's inherited my body type - i.e. easily prone to weight gain - and I don't want her to follow my path. It is horrible to grow up fat. Are these people who push junk at my kids well-meaning? Absolutely. And I'm sure most of them would say, "These things are okay once in awhile." What they miss is that once in awhile plus once in awhile plus once in awhile soon equals all the time. I don't want to become the nutrition gestapo but it feels like it's either that or slowly let people ruin my kids' health with bad food.
I have a few requirements for the bread I eat:
1. It should be whole grains only
2. It should not contain trans fat
3. It should not be high in sugar, and it should not list glucose-fructose as an ingredient because I suspect that is manufacturer's speak for high fructose corn syrup, a particularly damaging type of sugar that no one should eat unless they are really hankering for diabetes to strike.
There was not a single loaf of bread in IGA that met those requirements. Which is why I find it odd that one of the prime nutritional strategies in society today is reading labels. Yeah, I read the labels. Every brand was unhealthy. What good is reading labels if every choice that we have is unhealthy? There should be significantly more pressure applied to manufacturers to produce healthy foods. I don't buy that they can't afford it. Voortman's eliminated trans fat from their products before it even became an issue. It's a matter of will and ethics, not economics. Our health should not suffer for shareholders' profits.
I'm also tired of feeling like I'm fighting for my children's nutrition. We are in the midst of a childhood obesity crisis, and I'm doing all I can to make sure my children do not become statistics, including my own 47 pound weight loss, but everyone around me seems to want to feed my kids junk. Examples:
1. On "Blue Day" Ashlin's nursery school fed the kids blue juice, which automatically means coloured sugar water.
2. Another day they gave the kids Kraft Dinner, which I'm quite sure contains trans fats.
3. Fundraisers at nursery and elementary schools are things like selling chocolate and cookie dough.
4. Hot lunches at school are disgusting entities like hot dogs and chicken nuggets.
5. Every single week Taryn's music teacher gives the children candies.
6. Every single week the kids' grandparents have multiple treats such as chocolate bars, doughnuts, popsicles and freezies for the kids, and although I've talked again and again about limiting the treats I hear later from my kids that Grandpa and Grandma are sneaking them treats behind my back.
It is very frustrating to try to fight this onslaught all the time. Ashlin especially looks like she's inherited my body type - i.e. easily prone to weight gain - and I don't want her to follow my path. It is horrible to grow up fat. Are these people who push junk at my kids well-meaning? Absolutely. And I'm sure most of them would say, "These things are okay once in awhile." What they miss is that once in awhile plus once in awhile plus once in awhile soon equals all the time. I don't want to become the nutrition gestapo but it feels like it's either that or slowly let people ruin my kids' health with bad food.
posted by Jude | 8:59 PM
3 Comments:
do you think that obsessing over these things will cause the same food obsessions in your kids later?
My Mother was so health conscious....it made junk food the never-reachable-goal for me. When she wasn't around to *tsk* at bad choices, I'd binge on them.
Maybe your issues won't be your kids issues if you just don't make food such a huge issue....
I don't feel I'm obsessing. Concern is not the same as obsessing.
My parents did not put any effort into helping me make good food choices, and that did not keep me from becoming fat.
Ashlin's genetics are her genetics, whether or not I "make food an issue". If she is prone to weight gain, she will have a harder time than most keeping the weight off. My just ignoring that will not give her the skills she needs to remain healthy.
And, as I said, there is an obesity EPIDEMIC going on among children. Type 2 diabetes is SKYROCKETING. This is not a time for parents to just say "Let's not make it a huge issue." It is a huge issue - literally. What is wrong here is NOT that I'm concerned but that so few parents and other people are.
It was a different world a few years ago. Food has steadily gotten more and more unnatural and unhealthy. Children naturally played outside instead of sitting in front of screens for hours on end. Different influences require different responses. My just sitting on my butt will not assist my children in becoming healthy adults.
If I sound ticked off it's because I am.
As you should be.
Aside from your in-laws, have you made alternative suggestions to the other offending parties? Like, perhaps the music teacher could hand out stickers instead of candy. The nursery school could be provided with a list of "healthy snacks". I know our schools are supposed to be moving that way. Candy is not allowed at Kelvin's school at all.
Unfortunately, Kel's school has decided to sell pizza pops as a fundraiser. I don't mind my kids having pizza pops - homemade ones with whole wheat crusts and no known transfats. I HATE the processed ones and feel the pressure now to buy just to support the school. I know they've chosen a fundraiser that people will actually buy - as opposed to the clutter stuff they usually find, but it butts right up against their healthy food policy...
Matt's class gets snack foods provided from Wpg. Harvest. And THAT means he gets INSTANT KD - oh yeah, that's even worse! - along with the milk and sugar-filled "fruit drinks". Sadly, I think MY kid is the only one who is fed better at home...
Other than continuing to educate your kids, I'm not sure how much you can do. Matt's class is learning about healthy food and such, and we've used it as a bridge to talking about stuff that's healthy and unhealthy for our spirits... But that's another post - on my own blog...
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