the pyramid is gone, welcome the plate:

[Matt]

I'll rant a little on this,

I'll rant a little on this, too.

It's comes down to money. Grain production is BIG business in America. So we feed our cars corn, our cows corn, and our kids corn (HFCS and other corn derivatives). The politicians who know who butters their bread push grains on us, even though a large percentage of people have low tolerance for grains, and evidence keeps mounting about what high grain consumption does to our health.

And they tell us that eating fat makes us fat. How do you fatten livestock? Feed them grain.

There are a lot of players in this game. And they are all making money in various ways, profitting on our poor health. We could save a ton on our health care costs if we could stop eating foods that make us ill. And just like other things that are unhealthy, a lot of these unhealthy foods are addictive.

Most of the diseases that we consider normal parts of aging were unheard of in indiginous populations.

Oh by the way, my inflammation issues completely cleared up once I fixed my eating. It took my running addiction to make me finally start eating right.

Thanks for listening.

 

[jldeleon]

Barefoot TJ:  Yes, public

Barefoot TJ: Yes, public schools suck in that way. Which is why, not only should people always pack their kids' lunches, but they should drop in unexpectedly to see whose Ding Dongs and Twinkies they are eating out of other kids' packed lunches. LOL.



Matt: It's true about the grain thing, and the dairy thing for that matter. I've cleared up a lot of physical issues from changing how I eat too. Ironically, dropping dairy and whole grains.



They pyramid and the plate are both irrelevant to me. Proportions are somewhat useful to have a basic understanding of. However, the bigger emphasis should be on the quality of the food we eat, even more-so than the quantity. And, since "the plate" comes from a government with an agenda, doing one's own research is the only way to ever discover what true quality food is.

 

[Matt]

jldeleon wrote:Matt:  It's

Matt: It's true about the grain thing, and the dairy thing for that matter. I've cleared up a lot of physical issues from changing how I eat too. Ironically, dropping dairy and whole grains.

Humans are the only mammals that think it's a good idea to drink milk after early childhood. Not only milk, but a milk from a non-human species.

 

[Dirtbag]

*Public School Teacher

*Public School Teacher Breathes Deeply Re: Public Schools Sucking*

Schools feed most children one meal out of the three they (hopefully) eat each day. I'm never going to contend that schol lunch is as healthy as it ought to be, because it's not. Among the places money doesn't go when it comes to education is good (read: healthy) food. But what are the kids eating at home? How active are they? Are they eating McDonalds for dinner? Are their parents feeding the student breakfast at all (teaching hungry children is wonderful and super-duper easy, by the way. So focused.)? How can that parent complain about what their kid is eating at school for lunch? Lunch ladies do try in schools, they really do. Fruit is given on a more regular basis. Ketchup doesn't count as a vegetable anymore. Things are better than they were when I went to school or when you did. Gotta get the kid to eat the fruit though. The teacher teaches healthy choices in the classroom, but most aren't going to sit in the cafeteria and make sure the child eats that apple. If parents pack the child's lunch themselves and the child eats better. And cheaper, school lunches are getting more expensive. But if the parent isn't reinforcing good choices at home then yeah, the kid is totally going to try and trade for a Twinkie. You wouldn't have?

Change needs to fall down on us from up high. Change needs to be made an actual priority from the very top. And its not. Assessing teachers, assigning blame for "failing" schools, cutting funding, stopping those evil lazy teacher's unions, that's important right now. But at the school level? We're doing our best. To feed the kids. To educate them. To help them make the best possible choices in every situation. Why would public schools be out to take away from the kids?

As for fundraisers, you gotta sell the things people will buy. Yeah, its junk most of the time. But many parents won't do like TJ did and stop sending money. My grade level, in an effort to be slightly more healthy, sells mini-Jamba Juices for fundraisers once a month. I know, its not perfect, its full of sugar. But its better than cookies or ice cream (which would be against district Healthy and Wellness guidelines to sell anyway).

And our PE teacher is really good about encouraging activity during recess.

So I'll show my students the new-new food graphic. I'll keep talking to them about their choices and what it means to be healthy. I'll take them to PE (when I'm not testing them so that someone who has never taught can determine if I'm any good at what I do) so they they learn the value of being outside and learn that WiiFit is not actually working out. I'll continue to wear my race shirts to school so they see real people do that kind of thing and have fun being fit. And I'll continue to hope parents are doing their part.



Ok...this really got away from me again. I have a hard time not jumping up and down when it comes to school things. It was this or walk around talking to myself for the next day and an half.

 

[Barefoot TJ]

Appreciate the feedback,

Appreciate the feedback, Dirt. Responsibility first lies with the parents, and as long as the parents make the right decisions any secondary responsibility would be nearly void.

My kids eat pretty healthy, I would say, and I am proud of that. Most of the time for breakfast, I give them oatmeal (and toast) if they want it. I believe a good solid breakfast helps them feel full so they can be focused for school. I'm also pretty proud that my son got straight As (again), and his CRCT scores were "off the charts." (My little one isn't graded in preschool.) I cook dinner almost 7 nights a week, and we eat together at the dinner table. But I'm not a total shrewd; occasionally, maybe once a month, we take them out for pizza, and we go to Chick-fil-A once in a while too. My kids are the kind to beg to go outside to play instead of crashing in front of a video game all day long. They love swimming, and my oldest son loves running with me. So we're doing pretty good over here. Hopefully by the time they are of adult age, they will have had enough exposure to make the right decisions for themselves.