From Your Health Journal…..”A really great story from the Gazette Extra By Ester Cepeda entitled Some cold water on school meals. As you know, childhood obesity is on the rise, and many children suffer from obesity related illnesses such as cancer, type 2 diabetes, weak joints, asthma, and heart disease. Many worry that this could be the first generation of children whose life expectancy may be shorter than their parents. There has been some good news, as First Lady Michelle Obama has claimed obesity has been reduced in some cities. Today’s article points to the fact that a recent analysis from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that between 1999 and 2010, boys daily consumed 7 percent fewer calories (2,100) and girls 4 percent less (1,755). This is good news, as hopefully children are making healthier choices for meals, filling up on fibers and complex carbohydrates, which help the children feel fuller without the excess calories. Please visit the Gazette Extra web site (link provided below) to read the complete article.”
From the article…..
It’s not that I don’t welcome good news, but here’s a caveat to go along with recent reports that children in the U.S. are consuming fewer calories: All calories are not created equal.
A recent analysis from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that between 1999 and 2010, boys daily consumed 7 percent fewer calories (2,100) and girls 4 percent less (1,755).
Most news coverage noted that the researchers were surprised by the drop. But they surely weren’t more shocked than moms and dads across the country who pay close attention to what their kids are served in public schools.
Stricter guidelines calling for meals with lower sodium and calories went into effect at the beginning of this school year. Yet some of the things you might find in your local school’s cafeteria for lunch — or during breakfast, if your community feeds children in the morning in an effort to combat chronic food insufficiency — are still driving some of us parents crazy.
Just days after the good news on calories broke, Sally Kuzemchak, a registered dietician and mother of two boys, 4 and 8, articulated my angst perfectly with her blog post “The Trouble With School Breakfast.”
Describing her son’s alarming fatigue with Cocoa Puffs, she lamented that managing the extra meal served before classes has become a minefield.
“Should I not feed him a healthy breakfast at home if he’s going to eat a school breakfast, even though he’s hungry when he wakes up? Ask that he take the sugary cereal and then throw it away uneaten? Limit the added sugar he gets the rest of the day to make up for the load he gets in the morning? Allow him to make his own choices and hope (as with the Cocoa Puffs) he grows tired of it? Refuse to let him eat school breakfast entirely and take away one of his favorite social scenes of the day?”
To read the full article…..Click here