tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4041351940135831902.post3236407763800042060..comments2024-02-13T17:18:33.498-05:00Comments on Better D.C. School Food: Let's Put Sugar Back in School Food!Ed Bruskehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12217850970833353800noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4041351940135831902.post-24376009195239847642010-09-20T18:23:32.535-04:002010-09-20T18:23:32.535-04:00The problem is getting support from the Principal ...The problem is getting support from the Principal and up. I am the sole cook for a small Catholic School in Jacksonville, NC. My second year at the helm, I banned Chocolate milk from my menu. Three weeks into the school year, I received a DELIVERY of Chocoalte milk ordered by the Principal herself. I spoke with Chef Ann Cooper and her advice was to compromise to maybe one day a week...answer, NO, daily. However, the rest of my menu offerings must be healthy and wholesome. If we do not have support from above we cannot win the war...we fight the battles we can and give up the rest...I'm still trying to do the best I can.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4041351940135831902.post-45273880597750764712010-09-20T12:18:53.767-04:002010-09-20T12:18:53.767-04:00Believe it or not, it's not just the dairy ind...Believe it or not, it's not just the dairy industry that is in favor of flavored milk. Some very senior people in the DC school food bureaucracy believe that:<br /><br />(1) Serving flavored milk is necessary because of the teen pregnancy epidemic in DC. (Huh?) They are worried that unborn children will not receive the proper amount of calcium they need to develop if their mothers aren't served chocolate milk in the lunch line. When asked if the teens couldn't get calcium from other sources such as cheese, senior officials scoffed. They also did not seem bothered that a plan to help unborn babies get their necessary calcium might not be in the best interests of children in kindergarten.<br /><br />(2) "There is not that big of a difference in the calories of chocolate milk versus regular milk." (Really? Twice the calories--all from added high fructose corn syrup--is not a big difference?)<br /><br />(3) "There is no scientific evidence that links chocolate milk with diabetes." (By this point I was sort of astounded and couldn't imagine that people with PhDs in nutrition could possibly be saying what they were saying. But then I remembered Michael Pollan's and Marion Nestle's arguments about the narrowness of "nutrition science" and tried to calm myself down.)<br /><br />Kudos to Jeffrey Mills and others within DCPS who made the decision to pull the plug on flavored milk even in the face of pressure not to.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4041351940135831902.post-52762823082347962862010-09-17T14:44:29.362-04:002010-09-17T14:44:29.362-04:00Some people really genuinely hate the taste of mil...Some people really genuinely hate the taste of milk. I am one of those people, probably because I am lactose intolerant. Drinking chocolate milk (which I find just as tasty as the next person) doesn't change that. It's not a great strategy to boost my calcium intake because it causes all kinds of unpleasant absorption issues. Kids who are lactose intolerant should probably decline to drink the milk, and that's ok.<br /><br />For the rest of the kids who aren't lactose intolerant, they'll get used to it. If you're absolutely dead set that your kid is being deprived by not having the option of a sugary drink at school, send him/her to school with a packed lunch and drink of your choosing.Tacomamamahttp://www.tacomamama.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4041351940135831902.post-64682980874228115922010-09-17T12:50:40.086-04:002010-09-17T12:50:40.086-04:00Dvorak’s piece is the diary industry argument word...Dvorak’s piece is the diary industry argument word for word. Does she possess any critical thinking skills at all? Or did those dairy industry come knocking at her door with free samples of their junk?<br /><br />We’ve got to shift the discussion about refined sugar. Its not just going to rot our kids teeth and widen their waistlines. Sugar is a major anti-nutrient.Dr. Susan Rubinhttp://www.betterschoolfood.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4041351940135831902.post-82909511606800654962010-09-17T10:05:10.610-04:002010-09-17T10:05:10.610-04:00Dvorak's column makes one of the best argument...Dvorak's column makes one of the best arguments for the banning chocolate milk. She reports that her child was a good milk drinker until someone gave him "vanilla milk" and now he won't drink regular milk. So, as a parent, why do you want the school training your kid to reject healthy choices.<br /><br />My child's charter school serves no flavored milk and my good little milk drinker drinks the regular milk happily. If kids think the regular milk tastes "nasty and spoiled" perhaps the schools need to do a better job keeping the milk really cold. Or maybe they just forgot what regular milk is supposed to taste like.<br /><br />If Dovrak wants her kid mainlining sugar at school, she can pack him a thermos full of whatever she wants to pack, just keep it away from my kid.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4041351940135831902.post-28642772654149182852010-09-17T09:49:37.916-04:002010-09-17T09:49:37.916-04:00I had my own battle this week over serving chocola...I had my own battle this week over serving chocolate milk at snack time. (I won!) I argued that training children's taste buds to prefer only sweetened foods will in the long run reduce their calcium intake because it will prevent them from eating foods that are calcium powerhouses (i.e. spinach, plain yogurt, cheese) that aren't sweet. <br /><br />A school's role is to educate and develop functional, productive members of society. Therefore, it is the cafeteria's job to educate children to eat whole foods that will develop functional, productive bodies. Doctoring up everything with sugar is taking the easy way out, thus not doing our job. We wouldn't let a teacher fill out the answers for a student on an exam, it would certainly be easier than teaching but it would be cheating. In my eyes, filling food with sugar is doing the same thing.Lisa R. Surianohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00640150856273107166noreply@blogger.com