A Bake Sale with out Baked-Goods?
Preposterous.
There was an interesting article in the NY Times today that exposed an issue affecting NYC schools and parents. School officials in NYC have banned the sale of baked goods except for once a month or weekly after 6pm. Otherwise, only fruits, vegetables and the 27 foods that meet the Health Department's standards can be sold on school premises. Unfortunately, Reduced Fat Cool Ranch Doritos and other highly processed foods are the stars of that list.
As both an avid home-cook and student at a health-supportive culinary school, I think this is an outrage. Yes, these tempting sweets are better in moderation, but they are still at least less processed than the Little Debbie cakes you purchase at the grocery store.
I am an advocate for teaching our children about healthy eating. They need to learn how to make the right choices when it comes to diet. But, encouraging them to pick up a bag of highly-processed potato chips is not the guidance they need. These foods are filled with artificial and genetically-modified ingredients. They may appear healthy in terms of fat and calories, but they are far from natural and good for your body. America's dependence on processed foods is what made America so fat! Now, they are incorrectly "fixing" the obesity problem by making it worse.
Contributor, Laura Shapiro was quoted as saying “we’re supposed to believe that a packaged chocolate-chip cookie is preferable to a homemade one, not on the basis of taste, texture or the quality of the ingredients, but because it came from a factory and has a nutrition label.”
These treats do not have to be bad for you. Instead of banning them, the school board should be encouraging parents to prepare healthier options. We should show kids how to make their own healthy snacks and treats. This is unfortunately not the angle that the school board has taken. They claim to not be enforcing "junk food," but that is indirectly exactly what they are doing.
The current forerunner as a new name for the "bake sales" are Pre-Packaged Corporate Junk Food Sales...very fitting.
Taking the Bake out of Bake Sale
By Sarah Kershaw
March 16, 2010
There was an interesting article in the NY Times today that exposed an issue affecting NYC schools and parents. School officials in NYC have banned the sale of baked goods except for once a month or weekly after 6pm. Otherwise, only fruits, vegetables and the 27 foods that meet the Health Department's standards can be sold on school premises. Unfortunately, Reduced Fat Cool Ranch Doritos and other highly processed foods are the stars of that list.
As both an avid home-cook and student at a health-supportive culinary school, I think this is an outrage. Yes, these tempting sweets are better in moderation, but they are still at least less processed than the Little Debbie cakes you purchase at the grocery store.
I am an advocate for teaching our children about healthy eating. They need to learn how to make the right choices when it comes to diet. But, encouraging them to pick up a bag of highly-processed potato chips is not the guidance they need. These foods are filled with artificial and genetically-modified ingredients. They may appear healthy in terms of fat and calories, but they are far from natural and good for your body. America's dependence on processed foods is what made America so fat! Now, they are incorrectly "fixing" the obesity problem by making it worse.
Contributor, Laura Shapiro was quoted as saying “we’re supposed to believe that a packaged chocolate-chip cookie is preferable to a homemade one, not on the basis of taste, texture or the quality of the ingredients, but because it came from a factory and has a nutrition label.”
These treats do not have to be bad for you. Instead of banning them, the school board should be encouraging parents to prepare healthier options. We should show kids how to make their own healthy snacks and treats. This is unfortunately not the angle that the school board has taken. They claim to not be enforcing "junk food," but that is indirectly exactly what they are doing.
The current forerunner as a new name for the "bake sales" are Pre-Packaged Corporate Junk Food Sales...very fitting.
Taking the Bake out of Bake Sale
By Sarah Kershaw
March 16, 2010
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