Tired of junk food in schools rant

amother

OP ↓

Fri, Jun 07 2024, 4:05 am

I am SO tired of the mainstream frum schools giving our little children junk food and candy at every opportunity . I am a health conscious mom and it's painful and extremely infuriating.
Shabbos party, abc party, this siyum and that siyum, this yom tov and that one. At one point I sent a healthier nosh bag to school for the teacher to give my daughter that wasn't as bad as their junk but of course there is only so much I can do. It's frustrating because my daughter wants to be like everyone else but their standards are not acceptable and then they wonder why all the children are adhd and have trouble focusing and need Ritalin! For this alone I would love to pull my daughter out and work on a homeschool coop with like minded parents. But that is something I would need a community for and I don't think there is one in the chassidish world...

kneidelmeidel ↓

Fri, Jun 07 2024, 4:31 am

AGREE!!!! I’m all for moderation, not cutting it out, but educating my kids on sugar (candy sugar tastes yummy but doesn’t help our body/ we need some sugar, but there are sources of sugar which benefit our body eg fruit, let’s listen to our body, if after four bites of cake, that feels like enough sugar in our tummy, let’s put the rest in the bin) but pumping their poor little bodies full of it is such a disservice- cue all the women on here struggling with sugar addiction- let’s do better for the next generation. And yes, I know I sound preachy, but I actually do care about you and your kids, let’s stop making mini sugar addicts!

amother

Tanzanite ↓

Fri, Jun 07 2024, 6:43 am

I've started multiple threads like this in the past. Not so much support on imamother unfortunately.
It's so sad. Ds came home with a huge cup of BRIGHT red slush yesterday. Red dye is a known neurotoxin and endocrine disruptor. It should be illegal for educators to feed that to children. But it's not. Never mind that the amount of sugar in just that serving probably exceeds the FDA recommended amount of added sugar per day for children, which should really be zero if anyone truly cared about long term health.
And my children are past the age where I can tell them anything.

amother

Maple

Fri, Jun 07 2024, 10:48 am

Yes to all of the above, though OP goes a drop overboard blaming attention disorders on the schools' distribution of junk. Children of sugar-free vegans also experience such problems.

The sad truth is that junk food is cheap, convenient, readily available, and for the most part nonperishable. The good stuff is often none of the above, which makes it difficult to handle in a school setting.

amother

↑ Tanzanite ↓

Fri, Jun 07 2024, 11:02 am

amother Maple wrote:

She's not going overboard. There are many factors that contribute to adhd so It's possible that children who never eat refined sugar also get adhd for other reasons, but it's undeniable that sugar, food dyes and ultra processed foods have been linked in the literature to neurodevelopmental and neuroendocrine disorders.

As an aside, veganism is not a diet that't especially beneficial for brain health. If your point was, kids on very clean diets also get adhd, I don't doubt it happens but I'd love to see data comparing the rates. And of course we'd have to define what constitutes a clean diet, and consider other confounding factors, which are endless of course. Diet and gut health are huge factors.

In general, developing chronic conditions is like a bucket. The more toxins in the bucket, the more likely for it to tip over into a fully blown disorder. So processed foods are a major bucket filler these days, and obviously it's the kids who already have genetic vulnerabilities in their bucket who will suffer most. Kids who have mostly empty buckets might not even feel the effects.

I also don't think it's about being readily available and shelf stable. Cheap, yes. But also addictive, and what will keep kids hooked like nothing else will.

amother

Holly

Fri, Jun 07 2024, 11:47 am

Sounds like the kids have many end of year parties and siyums now.
But they don’t get red slush in school every day.

I think it’s healthier to let them have a junky treat in school every once in a while.

I do have a hard time with the candy. I tell my kids to bring them home and I give them another healthy treat instead.

sara1232 ↓

Fri, Jun 07 2024, 11:57 am

amother OP wrote:

Sending your child with a healthier nosh bag and making her feel different will damage her a lot more than the candy will. Leave it alone.

amother

↑ OP ↓

Fri, Jun 07 2024, 11:59 am

amother Holly wrote:

I like the idea of trading their treats in

↑ sara1232 ↓

Fri, Jun 07 2024, 11:59 am

kneidelmeidel wrote:

People who grow up deprived are probably more likely to develop sugar addictions later on.

amother

↑ OP ↓

Fri, Jun 07 2024, 12:00 pm

sara1232 wrote:

Sending your child with a healthier nosh bag and making her feel different will damage her a lot more than the candy will. Leave it alone.

So maybe the schools can stop? My kid gets sick immediately with stomach aches and headaches and anxiety from food coloring

amother

↑ OP ↓

Fri, Jun 07 2024, 12:05 pm

amother Maple wrote:

Not sure where vegans come into the picture when we are discussing day after day of junking out on msg laden food dye junk? Children that have that stuff do way better once they cut that out it's clear as day. The excuse of convenience is just not ok. Our kids deserve better!

↑ sara1232 ↓

Fri, Jun 07 2024, 12:05 pm

amother OP wrote:

So maybe the schools can stop? My kid gets sick immediately with stomach aches and headaches and anxiety from food coloring

I don't disagree with you. I think the amount of junk kids eat is insane. However practically speaking the schools won't change anytime soon, so the question is how we deal with it as it is.
Isolating your kids and making them the weird healthy kids (and yes that's what their classmates will view them as) is not going to help them at all.

↑ sara1232

Fri, Jun 07 2024, 12:06 pm

daughterofgod wrote:

Imamother is the wrong platform for this.

Plus nothing will change because most people dont care and most people are too overwhelmed with their lives to think and care.

Most people do care. Most people also realize that some candy isn't the end of the world.

amother

Dill

Fri, Jun 07 2024, 12:17 pm

amother Poinsettia wrote:

You all sound so extreme. Let a kid enjoy their slush.

I have no problem with a slush, I am not at all what you would call a health conscious mother and I have candy and slush trips with my kids. What I have a problem with is the gallon size ziplock bag my kid comes home with every 2 months because every single kid needs to bring in a nosh for every single siyum. My kids are just as happy when they have a Rebbi that had half or a third of the kids bring in for a siyum and alternated groups so a different group brought in each time. Still plenty of nosh but a little more reasonable.