Chicago school bans some lunches brought from home

[webcrafters]

Principal Elsa Carmona said her intention is to protect students from their own unhealthful food choices.

"Nutrition wise, it is better for the children to eat at the school," Carmona said. "It's about the nutrition and the excellent quality food that they are able to serve (in the lunchroom). It's milk versus a Coke. But with allergies and any medical issue, of course, we would make an exception."

Carmona said she created the policy six years ago after watching students bring "bottles of soda and flaming hot chips" on field trips for their lunch. Although she would not name any other schools that employ such practices, she said it was fairly common.

A Chicago Public Schools spokeswoman said she could not say how many schools prohibit packed lunches and that decision is left to the judgment of the principals.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/e...,4567867.story

[Dreamrage]

I don't really understand that system though. The schools around here in SA don't have cafeterias unless you're in college, so its hard for me to fathom why anyone would stop a child from bringing their own lunch to school, within reason. Unfortunately these schools to have shops (Tuck Shops) where they can buy snacks, healthy snacks...

I think it has many different facets though. My girls go to a semi private school in the area, and parents get notices in the beginning of the year to kindly remind them not to pack sweets into their kids' lunch boxes. Which I can understand because of two reasons,

A) I'ts a bad nutrition choice, and
B) Many kids cannot tolerate too much sugar or MSG etc. and it gives the teachers problems when trying to teach them.

I have had a look at the tuck shop at the school and can honestly say they do try uphold good nutrition rules and only have cake sales on Fridays, because school comes out early.

if you think about it, trying to curb on things like tartrazine, Monosodium glutamate (MSG) and many sugars and starches help the kids to concentrate better and help teachers remain sane at the same time.

[webcrafters]

Sugar alone is not to blame for obesity. Eating more calories than you burn up adds pounds to the body - and for most people the lion's share of excess calories comes from eating too much fat, not sugar. In fact, some studies have found, that lean people tend to eat more sugar (and less fat) than obese people. People often blame sugary foods for weight gain, forgetting that cakes ice cream, chocolate, and cookies derive most of their calories from fat, not sugar, and that fat has more than twice the calories of sugar.

http://www.new-fitness.com/Diabetes/sugar.html

[webcrafters]

Does sugar make you hyper if you eat a lot of it? Ask your own question!

The answer is no, despite the fact that so many people believe this to be true. Many carefully controlled studies have been conducted to test this idea and failed to find any effect of sugar consumption on children's behavior. Why, then do so many people believe that sugar causes hyperactivity in children? One possibility is that parent's beliefs affect what they see. In one recent study, a group of children thought to be "behaviorally sensitive" to sugar were studied. The children were divided into two groups. The mothers of one group were told that their children were given a drink with a lot of sugar. The mothers of the other group were told that their children had been given a drink that did not contain sugar. All children had actually been given a drink sweetened with Nutrasweet. The mothers who thought that their children had had sugar rated them as more hyperactive than the other mothers. These results suggest that parents' and teachers' beliefs about sugar affect their perceptions of children's behavior. Another possibility is that parents who believe that sugar makes their children hyperactive only allow them to have sugar for special occasions, such as birthday parties or family gatherings. These are occasions where children tend to be somewhat excited and active anyway. Then when the parents see their children being very active and excited, they think that it is due to the sugar. But regardless of the reason for people's erroneous beliefs about this, it is quite clear that sugar does not produce hyperactivity, even when researchers have specifically focused on children with a presumed "sugar sensitivity".

http://www.ccmr.cornell.edu/educatio....html?quid=241

[Dreamrage]

That's led me to have a long hard look at my daughter's diets. See, both of them become overly hyperactive. Literally bounce off the walls on a good day. I don't mind it though, I used to and in some cases still am the same way.

I was always advised by other mothers and even doctors to a point to watch out for certain "trigger foods". ( the shortlist mentioned in my previous post.) Especially because tartrazine is used here as a preservative in most mix on cooldrinks.

It still makes the post seem even more strange though. Even though I know a lot of kids have unhealthy lunches packed, I still don't think denying them is the right way. Couldn't they join with parents and help teach the kids the value of healthy eating instead of doing something that seems so drastic?

I mean, yes, my girls do occasionally go to school with the traditional PBnJ, but they also have cheese. salad sandwiches, and sometimes I would even cook extra the night before so that they could take some to school.