I didn't make it to school in time for lunch yesterday. So, to make up for it I ate lunch AND dinner with my kiddies today.
Lunch was a little overwhelming. Even though I know the lunch ladies quite well, communication was lacking and I never really understood what my options were.
Here's what the website listed for today's fare:
Tamales
Cheese Sandwich
Pinto Beans
Steamed Spinach
Tossed Salad
Cinnamon Apples
Fresh Fruit Variety
Crackers
Milk, Chocolate Skim
Milk, 1%
Milk, Skim
Ranch Dressing
What were my options in the cafeteria?
Well, there were definitely tamales, so I chose those (my very first tamale experience). Next I chose mashed potatoes (with gravy) instead of white rice. The sign on the lunch counter directed me to chose one meat, one bread and two vegetables, but I was offered a second bread - corn bread - and gladly accepted. Next, there were a few small styrofoam bowls of plasticky looking salad, covered in plastic wrap, but I couldn't bring myself to opt for the salad since I knew I had a refrigerator drawer full of farmers market veggies waiting for me at home. Instead I took a banana - the other fruit choices were green and red apples in plastic containers - and a carton of mixed berry juice that only contained 10 percent vitamin C. Luckily it was 100 percent juice and no high fructose corn syrup. The milks were covered up when I passed by, but I can only assume that that was because I had arrived a little early for the 8th grade lunch. I was charged an even $3 and given a spork and napkin in a little plastic package with which to enjoy my lunch.
And the result? The tamales were mushy and much too salty. I only ate half of one. The mashed potatoes were your standard instant mash: rather bland with a synthetically smooth texture. I'm pretty sure that the gravy was vegetable-based, and it tasted just like the gravy that you buy in a packet at the supermarket. The banana, was, well, a banana. And the juice was unremarkable. Who knew you could even buy juice these days that is not fortified with 100 percent DV of vitamin C?
I never saw steamed spinach or pinto beans, as advertised on the website, but I did notice a rack full of Doritos at the cash register. It was unclear if they cost extra, or if they were included in the meal. Hopefully tomorrow I will be a little bolder and ask what my healthier options are. I felt confused and too embarrassed to ask for clarification about my choices, so it's easy to see what some of the obstacles are to making healthy choices for students who are surrounded by critical peers and in a rush to get back to their tables and socialize.
For dinner, we served hot dogs with green beans, fruit cocktail and white hot dog buns. For the first time, the meal was accompanied by condiments - two large boxes of ketchup and mustard packets. As previously mentioned, the middle-schoolers must take all or nothing, so each of their plates contained a serving of each food. I am not subject to this rule, however, so when I cut into line to grab myself a hot dog, I declined the almost brown, overcooked and over-salted canned green beans and the incredibly sweet fruit cocktail. I used two packets of ketchup to enhance the taste of my rubbery dog and stale bun.
I certainly felt tired today, and lunch and dinner didn't help. After arriving home this evening, I promptly stir-fried a large wok full of fresh vegetables - summer squash, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, spinach, red peppers - and felt a little lighter afterward.
Tomorrow I can look forward to a chicken burger and oven roasted french fries for my noontime meal. Oh boy!
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Broccoli and hot dogs and fruit cocktail, oh my!
Okay, I know that I've posted twice this week already, but I just had an enlightening conversation with the Food Service Manager - I'll call her Barbara - and I wanted to share it before the day takes over and all of this fascinating information slips away into oblivion.
Barbara - who stays for an extra half hour everyday after school, to serve snacks to our middle schoolers - came to my office in between the sixth and seventh grade lunches this afternoon. We needed the standard I9 and W4 forms from her so that we can pay her for time, and as she dropped off her paperwork, we struck up a friendly conversation. She told me how she is putting her daughter through medical school in Houston, and her son through business school here in Austin. It is hard to steer a proud mother away from talking about her highly successful children, but I managed to sneak in a few questions about school lunch.
According to Barbara, who would know better than anyone else, 3 percent of the students at our school pay full price for lunch, which is set at a reasonable $2.25. 12 percent receive lunch at a reduced price (it was unclear what this price was), and a whopping 85 percent benefit from free lunches, five days a week.
I told Barbara that I was interested in coming to the cafeteria one day to experience school lunch for myself. She became very excited and, noticing the half-eaten pita sandwich on my desk and a tupperware overflowing with baby carrots, she assured me that I could find healthy options on any given day of the week. Sometimes I feel like I walk around with an "I'm a health freak" sign on my forehead. At least she didn't say, "you look like a vegetarian," which I've heard several times from students and co-workers since I arrived in Texas. And you know what? I'm not a vegetarian! (anymore).
"Lunch is $3 for teachers, and there are chicken salads and sandwich wraps and fruits and vegetables every day," she informed me. "The lunch menu is posted on the website for two weeks so you always know what you can get." As soon as she left I checked out the website, which sure enough provided menus two weeks in advance and there were myriad fruits and vegetables listed for each day of the week, from garden salads, steamed broccoli and carrot and celery sticks, to pears, apples and fruit cocktail.
Students must chose between three and five items for their trays, two of which must be fruits and/or vegetables.
The menu for today is listed as follows:
Chicken Enchilada
Soft Beef Taco
Crispy Tacos
Turkey Hot Dog
Turkey Hot Dog w/ chili
Beef Taco Salad
Turkey Wrap
Tortilla Soup
Pinto Beans
Steamed Spinach
Garden Salad
Taco Fixings
Carrots; Celery Sticks
Broccoli and Carrots
Fresh Fruit Variety
Fruit Cocktail
Fruited Gelatin
Cornbread
Milk, 1%
Milk, Chocolate Skim
Milk, Strawberry 1%
Milk, Skim
Mayo
Mustard
Ranch Dressing
Hot Sauce
When I visited the cafeteria earlier in the week, I only noticed three milk choices, but four are listed on the website. I instantly began to wonder if their are other disparities between what the district lists online and what is actually offered at lunch time.
The lunch menu website also states that "different menus [are developed] for each school level. Lunch menus are designed to meet one-third of the Recommended Dietary Allowances for calories, protein, iron, calcium, Vitamin A and Vitamin C. Additionally the menus are analyzed to assure that the week does not exceed 30 percent of calories from fat or 10 percent of calories from saturated fat. Sodium, cholesterol and fiber are monitored as well. With our new feature you may view the nutrients for each food item on the menu.
Lunch consists of an entrée, two selections of fruit, vegetables or salad, bread which may be part of the entrée or separate and a choice of milk."
And as promised, below each of the daily menus is a link to a chart that lists each of the food items served that day, and the number of calories, the amount of protein, carbohydrates and fats (in g) and vitamin A and D contained in each food serving. Unfortunately there is no Percent Daily Value listed, as on nutrition labels, so without some extra time and a calculator, it's not immediately clear how much of their RDA the students are consuming at lunch time.
So, yes, for the most part, a well-balanced (although not so fresh) meal is provided to students. Barbara made a point of telling me that the students are unaware of how healthy some of the foods are. For instance, the meat that was served with the tacos today looked like ground beef, but in fact it was ground turkey. And hot dogs are made of turkey too. "The cafeteria never serves red meat," Barbara explained with pride. In my book, hot dogs - whatever they are made from - are not healthy. But they do taste good once in a while.
The real issue, Barbara lamented, is that while teachers can always find a well-balanced lunch in the cafeteria, students do not make choices that are as nutritionally wise. Barbara told me that she encourages the children, particularly the girls, to take milk as one of their five food items. She tells the girls how she wishes that she drank more milk as a teenager in order to avoid painful and costly health problems as an adult. Many of the girls do take the milk, but once they are past the cash register, they dramatically throw the milk into the trash can, for Barbara to see. Barbara seems quite distraught by this public and targeted display of rebellion, and was frustrated by her inability to get students to make healthy choices that will benefit them now and in the future.
I have to say that I was mildly impressed with the menu - pinto beans and steamed spinach! - given Barbara's limitations as far as sourcing locally and actually cooking foods from scratch. For some great insight into the challenges that nutritionally-minded Food Service Manager's face, check out this article that appeared in the New York Times last week, School's Toughest Test: Cooking.
I won't draw any grand conclusions here, but my conversation with Barbara and a little bit of detective work have left me with a whole styrofoam tray full of food for thought, and some great questions to pursue. I have decided that in order to truly understand what is offered in the cafeteria each day and the choices that students must make, I need to stand in line and make those choices myself.
A challenge to myself: next week I will purchase school lunch each day and experience the chicken tenders, strawberry milk and fruit cocktails alongside my students (and then I'll write about it).
Before she left, Barbara told me that she eats breakfast and lunch at the school everyday. And that by the time she gets home for dinner, she knows that she has consumed all of the fruits and vegetables and calcium that she needs, and therefore she can eat whatever she likes for dinner. Somehow, I don't think that's the reaction that I am going to have. I fear that I will need to stock up on extra fresh fruits and veggies so that when I get home from work I can eat a healthier dinner than usual, to compensate for the chicken tenders and hot dogs that I will inevitably sample at lunch time.
Stay tuned ...
Barbara - who stays for an extra half hour everyday after school, to serve snacks to our middle schoolers - came to my office in between the sixth and seventh grade lunches this afternoon. We needed the standard I9 and W4 forms from her so that we can pay her for time, and as she dropped off her paperwork, we struck up a friendly conversation. She told me how she is putting her daughter through medical school in Houston, and her son through business school here in Austin. It is hard to steer a proud mother away from talking about her highly successful children, but I managed to sneak in a few questions about school lunch.
According to Barbara, who would know better than anyone else, 3 percent of the students at our school pay full price for lunch, which is set at a reasonable $2.25. 12 percent receive lunch at a reduced price (it was unclear what this price was), and a whopping 85 percent benefit from free lunches, five days a week.
I told Barbara that I was interested in coming to the cafeteria one day to experience school lunch for myself. She became very excited and, noticing the half-eaten pita sandwich on my desk and a tupperware overflowing with baby carrots, she assured me that I could find healthy options on any given day of the week. Sometimes I feel like I walk around with an "I'm a health freak" sign on my forehead. At least she didn't say, "you look like a vegetarian," which I've heard several times from students and co-workers since I arrived in Texas. And you know what? I'm not a vegetarian! (anymore).
"Lunch is $3 for teachers, and there are chicken salads and sandwich wraps and fruits and vegetables every day," she informed me. "The lunch menu is posted on the website for two weeks so you always know what you can get." As soon as she left I checked out the website, which sure enough provided menus two weeks in advance and there were myriad fruits and vegetables listed for each day of the week, from garden salads, steamed broccoli and carrot and celery sticks, to pears, apples and fruit cocktail.
Students must chose between three and five items for their trays, two of which must be fruits and/or vegetables.
The menu for today is listed as follows:
Chicken Enchilada
Soft Beef Taco
Crispy Tacos
Turkey Hot Dog
Turkey Hot Dog w/ chili
Beef Taco Salad
Turkey Wrap
Tortilla Soup
Pinto Beans
Steamed Spinach
Garden Salad
Taco Fixings
Carrots; Celery Sticks
Broccoli and Carrots
Fresh Fruit Variety
Fruit Cocktail
Fruited Gelatin
Cornbread
Milk, 1%
Milk, Chocolate Skim
Milk, Strawberry 1%
Milk, Skim
Mayo
Mustard
Ranch Dressing
Hot Sauce
When I visited the cafeteria earlier in the week, I only noticed three milk choices, but four are listed on the website. I instantly began to wonder if their are other disparities between what the district lists online and what is actually offered at lunch time.
The lunch menu website also states that "different menus [are developed] for each school level. Lunch menus are designed to meet one-third of the Recommended Dietary Allowances for calories, protein, iron, calcium, Vitamin A and Vitamin C. Additionally the menus are analyzed to assure that the week does not exceed 30 percent of calories from fat or 10 percent of calories from saturated fat. Sodium, cholesterol and fiber are monitored as well. With our new feature you may view the nutrients for each food item on the menu.
Lunch consists of an entrée, two selections of fruit, vegetables or salad, bread which may be part of the entrée or separate and a choice of milk."
And as promised, below each of the daily menus is a link to a chart that lists each of the food items served that day, and the number of calories, the amount of protein, carbohydrates and fats (in g) and vitamin A and D contained in each food serving. Unfortunately there is no Percent Daily Value listed, as on nutrition labels, so without some extra time and a calculator, it's not immediately clear how much of their RDA the students are consuming at lunch time.
So, yes, for the most part, a well-balanced (although not so fresh) meal is provided to students. Barbara made a point of telling me that the students are unaware of how healthy some of the foods are. For instance, the meat that was served with the tacos today looked like ground beef, but in fact it was ground turkey. And hot dogs are made of turkey too. "The cafeteria never serves red meat," Barbara explained with pride. In my book, hot dogs - whatever they are made from - are not healthy. But they do taste good once in a while.
The real issue, Barbara lamented, is that while teachers can always find a well-balanced lunch in the cafeteria, students do not make choices that are as nutritionally wise. Barbara told me that she encourages the children, particularly the girls, to take milk as one of their five food items. She tells the girls how she wishes that she drank more milk as a teenager in order to avoid painful and costly health problems as an adult. Many of the girls do take the milk, but once they are past the cash register, they dramatically throw the milk into the trash can, for Barbara to see. Barbara seems quite distraught by this public and targeted display of rebellion, and was frustrated by her inability to get students to make healthy choices that will benefit them now and in the future.
I have to say that I was mildly impressed with the menu - pinto beans and steamed spinach! - given Barbara's limitations as far as sourcing locally and actually cooking foods from scratch. For some great insight into the challenges that nutritionally-minded Food Service Manager's face, check out this article that appeared in the New York Times last week, School's Toughest Test: Cooking.
I won't draw any grand conclusions here, but my conversation with Barbara and a little bit of detective work have left me with a whole styrofoam tray full of food for thought, and some great questions to pursue. I have decided that in order to truly understand what is offered in the cafeteria each day and the choices that students must make, I need to stand in line and make those choices myself.
A challenge to myself: next week I will purchase school lunch each day and experience the chicken tenders, strawberry milk and fruit cocktails alongside my students (and then I'll write about it).
Before she left, Barbara told me that she eats breakfast and lunch at the school everyday. And that by the time she gets home for dinner, she knows that she has consumed all of the fruits and vegetables and calcium that she needs, and therefore she can eat whatever she likes for dinner. Somehow, I don't think that's the reaction that I am going to have. I fear that I will need to stock up on extra fresh fruits and veggies so that when I get home from work I can eat a healthier dinner than usual, to compensate for the chicken tenders and hot dogs that I will inevitably sample at lunch time.
Stay tuned ...
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Not that there's anything wrong with that
I did it! I finally found the time to wait in the lunch line and buy myself 65 cents worth of chocolate milk. I'm not a fan of chocolate milk to begin with, nor am I a skim milk drinker, but the half pint carton wasn't too bad.
Let's start with the good news: the milk sold at my middle school, and presumably throughout the school district, is local! ish. Oak Farms is based in Dallas, with plants in Houston, San Antonio and Waco. As far as I can tell, all of the milk that is distributed by Oak Farms comes from cows that reside on farms somewhere in the state of Texas, and usually from within the region - in our case, central Texas - where the milk is actually being consumed.
I am already well acquainted with Oak Farms. When we run out of the organic milk that we usually keep stocked in our fridge, I often pop down to the local convenience store to buy a small bottle to tide us over to the next grocery run. Our corner store carries Oak Farm bottles with "Our Farmers' Pledge", stating that the milk comes from cows who are not treated with rbST. Since the store owner refuses to carry organic milk (even though I've asked several times), I choose the Oak Farms brand and even feel good about drinking it. But don't forget, *there is no significant difference between milk from cows treated with artificial growth hormones. Every time I read that disclaimer on dairy products I feel like I'm in a Seinfeld episode: no rBST, not that there's anything wrong with that. (in the Seinfeld episode, Jerry uses this line to deny that he is gay, but at the same time prove that he is not anti-gay).
A few notes of rbST. It stands for Recombinant Bovine Somatotropin, also known as Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone. As Professor Merrigan - now Deputy Secretary Merrigan - taught us last year, if you are on the side of "Big Ag" then you call it rbST. If you are on the sustainable food team, you say "growth hormones" or rBGH. So, if you are trying to sound scientifically informed in front of a group of policy makers or Big Ag lobbyists, then go with rbST.
Bovine somatotropin is the naturally occurring protein hormone produced in the pituitary glands of all cattle. RbST refers to the artificial reproduction of these protein hormones in labs using recombinant DNA technologies. After years of research and increasing opposition to its use, RbST was approved for commercial use by the FDA in 1993. Since then, it is estimated that about one-third of American dairy farmers use it on some portion (on average 45 percent) of their herd in order to increase milk production.
Although there is little scientific evidence to support the widespread belief that rbST has adverse health effects on humans, there are many reasons to seek out rbST-free milk. The first is that use of rbST frequently causes mastitis - a painful infection of the cow's udder that causes inflammation and the production of abnormal milk - leading to an increased need for antibiotic use and more frequent contamination of milk with pus . Yum. In addition, widespread use of rbST amongst factory farms further threatens the viability of small dairy farms who cannot compete with rbST-induced levels of milk production. Lastly, rbST milk contains startlingly high levels of a natural growth factor, IGF-1, which is readily absorbed by human stomachs and has been linked to breast, colon and prostate cancers. Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and the European Union have all banned the use of rbST in commercial milk production. If you're interested in rbST, more detailed information can found at rbST Facts and the Organic Consumers Association.
So, the good news is that the milk served at my middle school does not come from Wisconsin or Vermont or Mexico. The bad news? Well, for starters, the Oak Farms milk that I buy for myself does not contain artificial growth hormones (everybody with me now, "not that there's anything wrong with that"); yet the half pint cartons provided to students contain no such guarantee. Because, you know, it's not like children are more sensitive than adults to chemical additives in their foods, or anything.
The ingredients of the chocolate milk are as follows: skim milk, high fructose corn syrup, cocoa (processed with alkali), salt, cornstarch, carrageenan, vitamin A palmate, vitamin D3. Good news? I know what most of those ingredients are. According to wikipedia, carrageenans are "a family of linear sulphated polysaccharides extracted from red seaweeds" that are used as thickening or stablising agents. Bad news? High fructose corn syrup.
Good news: the chocolate milk contains no trans fats or saturated fats, 8 grams of protein, 10 percent of the daily value (DV) of vitamin A, 4 percent DV of vitamin C, 30 percent DV of Calcium, 2 percent DV of Iron, and 25 percent DV of vitamin D . Bad news: the sodium content of the milk makes up 9 percent of our DV for sodium, and there are 29 grams of carbohydrates in a half pint of chocolate milk, 28 grams of which is high fructose corn syrup.
Up for grabs is the question of fat content. The chocolate milk that I had the pleasure of sampling happens to be fat-free. I personally prefer one or two percent milk, mostly because it tastes better, but also because a little bit of fat, especially the good kind, can go a long way in facilitating the absorption of essential nutrients. Fats help the body to more efficiently use carotenoids, like lycopene and beta-carotene, which are found in those veggies that the students are consuming alongside their milk. A girl can wish, right? Fat is also important for maximizing the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins, like the A and D vitamins that are present in our carton of chocolate milk. (Please please correct me if I'm wrong on all this, my nutrition science is a bit rusty.)
When I was purchasing my little carton of milk, I noticed that while the sugary chocolate and strawberry milks contained no fat, the "plain" milk was labeled as low-fat or "1 percent". It seems obvious to me that if we are going to promote milk consumption in our schools, as a necessary source of protein and calcium, then we should not compromise its nutritional value by including high fructose corn syrup and removing all fats. Wouldn't it be better to simply offer "plain", low-fat milk? I can already anticipate the opposition to this kind of policy, which certainly requires some attention: will students drink unflavored milk? Or will the absence of chocolate and strawberry flavors reduce student consumption of this dairy product that has become such a symbol of nutrition in American culture?
Based on my experience with the after-school snack program and Kids Cafe - where students must take "all or nothing", and usually end up eating what's on their plate - I would strongly advocate for the removal of fat-free, flavored milks from school lunches. I predict that without the option of strawberry and chocolate milk, students will chose the put the "plain" milk on their trays, and once it's there, more often than not, they will drink it.
There is no doubt in my mind that we should provide students with rbST-free milk. Just like with genetically modified foods (GMOs), the impact of rbST on humans, animals and our natural environment remains unknown; therefore, we must not gamble with our children's health and future.
What do we want for our children? Low-fat, "plain" milk from cows not treated with rbST (not that there's anything wrong with that).
When do we want it? Now.
Let's start with the good news: the milk sold at my middle school, and presumably throughout the school district, is local! ish. Oak Farms is based in Dallas, with plants in Houston, San Antonio and Waco. As far as I can tell, all of the milk that is distributed by Oak Farms comes from cows that reside on farms somewhere in the state of Texas, and usually from within the region - in our case, central Texas - where the milk is actually being consumed.
I am already well acquainted with Oak Farms. When we run out of the organic milk that we usually keep stocked in our fridge, I often pop down to the local convenience store to buy a small bottle to tide us over to the next grocery run. Our corner store carries Oak Farm bottles with "Our Farmers' Pledge", stating that the milk comes from cows who are not treated with rbST. Since the store owner refuses to carry organic milk (even though I've asked several times), I choose the Oak Farms brand and even feel good about drinking it. But don't forget, *there is no significant difference between milk from cows treated with artificial growth hormones. Every time I read that disclaimer on dairy products I feel like I'm in a Seinfeld episode: no rBST, not that there's anything wrong with that. (in the Seinfeld episode, Jerry uses this line to deny that he is gay, but at the same time prove that he is not anti-gay).
A few notes of rbST. It stands for Recombinant Bovine Somatotropin, also known as Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone. As Professor Merrigan - now Deputy Secretary Merrigan - taught us last year, if you are on the side of "Big Ag" then you call it rbST. If you are on the sustainable food team, you say "growth hormones" or rBGH. So, if you are trying to sound scientifically informed in front of a group of policy makers or Big Ag lobbyists, then go with rbST.
Bovine somatotropin is the naturally occurring protein hormone produced in the pituitary glands of all cattle. RbST refers to the artificial reproduction of these protein hormones in labs using recombinant DNA technologies. After years of research and increasing opposition to its use, RbST was approved for commercial use by the FDA in 1993. Since then, it is estimated that about one-third of American dairy farmers use it on some portion (on average 45 percent) of their herd in order to increase milk production.
Although there is little scientific evidence to support the widespread belief that rbST has adverse health effects on humans, there are many reasons to seek out rbST-free milk. The first is that use of rbST frequently causes mastitis - a painful infection of the cow's udder that causes inflammation and the production of abnormal milk - leading to an increased need for antibiotic use and more frequent contamination of milk with pus . Yum. In addition, widespread use of rbST amongst factory farms further threatens the viability of small dairy farms who cannot compete with rbST-induced levels of milk production. Lastly, rbST milk contains startlingly high levels of a natural growth factor, IGF-1, which is readily absorbed by human stomachs and has been linked to breast, colon and prostate cancers. Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and the European Union have all banned the use of rbST in commercial milk production. If you're interested in rbST, more detailed information can found at rbST Facts and the Organic Consumers Association.
So, the good news is that the milk served at my middle school does not come from Wisconsin or Vermont or Mexico. The bad news? Well, for starters, the Oak Farms milk that I buy for myself does not contain artificial growth hormones (everybody with me now, "not that there's anything wrong with that"); yet the half pint cartons provided to students contain no such guarantee. Because, you know, it's not like children are more sensitive than adults to chemical additives in their foods, or anything.
The ingredients of the chocolate milk are as follows: skim milk, high fructose corn syrup, cocoa (processed with alkali), salt, cornstarch, carrageenan, vitamin A palmate, vitamin D3. Good news? I know what most of those ingredients are. According to wikipedia, carrageenans are "a family of linear sulphated polysaccharides extracted from red seaweeds" that are used as thickening or stablising agents. Bad news? High fructose corn syrup.
Good news: the chocolate milk contains no trans fats or saturated fats, 8 grams of protein, 10 percent of the daily value (DV) of vitamin A, 4 percent DV of vitamin C, 30 percent DV of Calcium, 2 percent DV of Iron, and 25 percent DV of vitamin D . Bad news: the sodium content of the milk makes up 9 percent of our DV for sodium, and there are 29 grams of carbohydrates in a half pint of chocolate milk, 28 grams of which is high fructose corn syrup.
Up for grabs is the question of fat content. The chocolate milk that I had the pleasure of sampling happens to be fat-free. I personally prefer one or two percent milk, mostly because it tastes better, but also because a little bit of fat, especially the good kind, can go a long way in facilitating the absorption of essential nutrients. Fats help the body to more efficiently use carotenoids, like lycopene and beta-carotene, which are found in those veggies that the students are consuming alongside their milk. A girl can wish, right? Fat is also important for maximizing the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins, like the A and D vitamins that are present in our carton of chocolate milk. (Please please correct me if I'm wrong on all this, my nutrition science is a bit rusty.)
When I was purchasing my little carton of milk, I noticed that while the sugary chocolate and strawberry milks contained no fat, the "plain" milk was labeled as low-fat or "1 percent". It seems obvious to me that if we are going to promote milk consumption in our schools, as a necessary source of protein and calcium, then we should not compromise its nutritional value by including high fructose corn syrup and removing all fats. Wouldn't it be better to simply offer "plain", low-fat milk? I can already anticipate the opposition to this kind of policy, which certainly requires some attention: will students drink unflavored milk? Or will the absence of chocolate and strawberry flavors reduce student consumption of this dairy product that has become such a symbol of nutrition in American culture?
Based on my experience with the after-school snack program and Kids Cafe - where students must take "all or nothing", and usually end up eating what's on their plate - I would strongly advocate for the removal of fat-free, flavored milks from school lunches. I predict that without the option of strawberry and chocolate milk, students will chose the put the "plain" milk on their trays, and once it's there, more often than not, they will drink it.
There is no doubt in my mind that we should provide students with rbST-free milk. Just like with genetically modified foods (GMOs), the impact of rbST on humans, animals and our natural environment remains unknown; therefore, we must not gamble with our children's health and future.
What do we want for our children? Low-fat, "plain" milk from cows not treated with rbST (not that there's anything wrong with that).
When do we want it? Now.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Tidbits
This was one of those weeks when you are forced to eat your lunch while walking to another meeting and when you spend most of the day having to go to the bathroom, but can never quite find the time for relief. On Tuesday I had a few extra minutes during the seventh grade lunch to steal down to the cafeteria and buy myself some milk. I'd been wanting to do this for a few weeks, just to get the experience of waiting in line, to see what kids chose for lunch, and to develop a fresh opinion of the milk that appears on millions of styrofoam trays around the country each day.
I grabbed two quarters from my wallet, remembering that milk cost 35 cents when I was in school and assuming that 50 cents would cover the cost of inflation. I've never been a fan of chocolate milk, but once I reached the counter, I chose chocolate over the plain and strawberry milks because I thought I could tolerate drinking it, and wanted to know what the ingredients were. High fructose corn syrup?
"65 cents please m'am," Maria the cafeteria worker told me. My face burned with embarrassment as I put the milk back and mumbled something about being right back. By the time I got back to the cafeteria, an extra quarter in hand, the black gates were already pulled across the lunch line entrance and the kids were no where in sight. A few lunch ladies sat off to the side eating their own lunches, but I didn't want to bother them, so I trudged back to my office to eat the cheese and tomato pita sandwich and nectarine that I had brought with me for lunch that day.
I did not find another opportunity to buy milk this week, and obviously I did not find the time to research milk. So y'all will have to stay tuned on the milk issue. Again.
In other news this week ...
We had a district-wide training on community building for all after-school staff. For the closing activity, we were asked to read quotations placed around the room and chose the one that we identified with the most. The one that instantly jumped out at me was about integrity, using a tree as a metaphor. Something about standing strong like a tree trunk, even when your leaves are rustled ... Obviously, I liked the reference to trees and nature, and after having struggled with so much opposition to one of my own core beliefs about healthy eating, the quote rang true. What the facilitator didn't tell us is that we would then have to go around the room and share with dozens of participants- mostly strangers - why we chose the quote.
Staff members began sharing very touching stories about their roles as community leaders and role models for under-served youth, referencing their own personal struggles and some even teared up. All I could think about was my conflict with Joe the previous week and I was wholly unable to think of something meaningful that did not relate to food. My heart beat faster and faster and I know that my cheeks were glowing pink when all of a sudden it was my turn. Having formed nothing else to say, I blurted out something about needing to stay true to my convictions about healthy eating even when no one agreed with me, and not giving the kids Hot Cheetos even though it's the easiest choice. I really doubted that anyone understood what I was talking about.
When I got back to the office after the training, there was an email waiting for me. It had been sent by the director of after school programming for the entire district, to all after school staff. The email contained the district's public school policy concerning food - which was actually quite good, basically no candy or junk food can be given to students during the school day, and the number of permitted pizza parties was restricted - with a direction to adhere to this policy as closely as possible after school. Could this have been a coincidence? I like to think that my anxiety and blubbering at the training was not in vain ... But in any case, I now have the administration behind me! I did not hesitate to write back and thank the director, and offer my services in conducting a training for staff on this topic.
Other events of the week were not quite so momentous, but probably more rewarding. As part of the Sustainable Food Center class "Farm to Fork" - the sister class to Food Food Food! - we planted our school garden with the help of three very eager middle schoolers. Onions, strawberries, oregano, turnips. The kids were grinning the whole time and since most of what we put in the ground were transplants, the garden is already green and thriving!
Yesterday I took five of my Food Food Food! students to the downtown farmers market. Three of them were so excited that they arrived an hour before we were supposed to leave. I thought I would get to school early so I could drink my coffee and collect all the materials, without having to worry about the kids. Alas, they were already there when I pulled up in the twelve-seater van, grinning, jumping up and down and shouting "Miss Abby, is that your car?"
Two of the girls brought money with them, unbeknownst to me, and once at the farmers market they quickly located all of the locally-produced sweets they could find. Each time I bumped into them they were stuffing their pretty little faces with brownies and cookies and lemonade. I was exasperated at first. But once they completed the scavenger hunt I had given them, and they had spoken with several farmers and identified vegetables they had never seen before, I felt a bit better. One of my students worked very diligently on his scavenger hunt and wrote several answers for each question.
Find a farmer who sells meat and ask him or her what animal the meat comes from, and which body parts s/he is selling. Cow! he wrote, and then proceeded to list all of the cow's body parts, including stomich. Find a vegetable that you have never seen before and ask the farmer what it is. Egg plant. Turnup greens. Green tumates.
I told the children that they had $20 to buy lunch for the whole group, and after they figured out that that was $4 each, I suggested that they pool the money together to buy food for a picnic. Bread, cheese, tomatoes. Unfortunately one student spotted a pizza stand, where a local pizza restaurant was selling fresh slices for $3.75 a pop. Three students elected to buy pizza and I had to stick to my word that they could decide on their own how to spend the money. The other two students were enamored with the idea of a picnic - "sandwiches like my grandmother makes!" one exclaimed - and so I helped them bargain with a few vendors to get all of the goods they needed for a wholesome picnic for under $8: smoked mozzarella cheese, whole wheat baguettes and heirloom tomatoes. Everyone was pleased with their lunch, and the makeshift picnic made up for my dissatisfaction over the brownies and cookies. Next week I will definitely include a lesson on portions and sugar in our Food Food Food! class.
And that's my week in a locally grown, organic Texan nutshell.
I grabbed two quarters from my wallet, remembering that milk cost 35 cents when I was in school and assuming that 50 cents would cover the cost of inflation. I've never been a fan of chocolate milk, but once I reached the counter, I chose chocolate over the plain and strawberry milks because I thought I could tolerate drinking it, and wanted to know what the ingredients were. High fructose corn syrup?
"65 cents please m'am," Maria the cafeteria worker told me. My face burned with embarrassment as I put the milk back and mumbled something about being right back. By the time I got back to the cafeteria, an extra quarter in hand, the black gates were already pulled across the lunch line entrance and the kids were no where in sight. A few lunch ladies sat off to the side eating their own lunches, but I didn't want to bother them, so I trudged back to my office to eat the cheese and tomato pita sandwich and nectarine that I had brought with me for lunch that day.
I did not find another opportunity to buy milk this week, and obviously I did not find the time to research milk. So y'all will have to stay tuned on the milk issue. Again.
In other news this week ...
Staff members began sharing very touching stories about their roles as community leaders and role models for under-served youth, referencing their own personal struggles and some even teared up. All I could think about was my conflict with Joe the previous week and I was wholly unable to think of something meaningful that did not relate to food. My heart beat faster and faster and I know that my cheeks were glowing pink when all of a sudden it was my turn. Having formed nothing else to say, I blurted out something about needing to stay true to my convictions about healthy eating even when no one agreed with me, and not giving the kids Hot Cheetos even though it's the easiest choice. I really doubted that anyone understood what I was talking about.
When I got back to the office after the training, there was an email waiting for me. It had been sent by the director of after school programming for the entire district, to all after school staff. The email contained the district's public school policy concerning food - which was actually quite good, basically no candy or junk food can be given to students during the school day, and the number of permitted pizza parties was restricted - with a direction to adhere to this policy as closely as possible after school. Could this have been a coincidence? I like to think that my anxiety and blubbering at the training was not in vain ... But in any case, I now have the administration behind me! I did not hesitate to write back and thank the director, and offer my services in conducting a training for staff on this topic.
Two of the girls brought money with them, unbeknownst to me, and once at the farmers market they quickly located all of the locally-produced sweets they could find. Each time I bumped into them they were stuffing their pretty little faces with brownies and cookies and lemonade. I was exasperated at first. But once they completed the scavenger hunt I had given them, and they had spoken with several farmers and identified vegetables they had never seen before, I felt a bit better. One of my students worked very diligently on his scavenger hunt and wrote several answers for each question.
Find a farmer who sells meat and ask him or her what animal the meat comes from, and which body parts s/he is selling. Cow! he wrote, and then proceeded to list all of the cow's body parts, including stomich. Find a vegetable that you have never seen before and ask the farmer what it is. Egg plant. Turnup greens. Green tumates.
I told the children that they had $20 to buy lunch for the whole group, and after they figured out that that was $4 each, I suggested that they pool the money together to buy food for a picnic. Bread, cheese, tomatoes. Unfortunately one student spotted a pizza stand, where a local pizza restaurant was selling fresh slices for $3.75 a pop. Three students elected to buy pizza and I had to stick to my word that they could decide on their own how to spend the money. The other two students were enamored with the idea of a picnic - "sandwiches like my grandmother makes!" one exclaimed - and so I helped them bargain with a few vendors to get all of the goods they needed for a wholesome picnic for under $8: smoked mozzarella cheese, whole wheat baguettes and heirloom tomatoes. Everyone was pleased with their lunch, and the makeshift picnic made up for my dissatisfaction over the brownies and cookies. Next week I will definitely include a lesson on portions and sugar in our Food Food Food! class.
And that's my week in a locally grown, organic Texan nutshell.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Be careful what you wish for
For the last two weeks, I've had in the back of my mind that I would blog about milk. Chocolate, strawberry, skim, whole. You name it, I'm pretty sure that I have something to say about it. More importantly, I want an excuse to do a little personal research about milk choices and consumption in school lunch and snack programs.
Alas, the Hot Cheetos saga continues and how can I not write about it? Personal conflict and Hot Cheetos are so much juicier than milk.
Besides one little quip from Joe on Friday, the food issue had been dormant since I last blogged. And it was a minor quip. I caught Joe giving Hot Cheetos to some of the girls in his community service club, so he put up his hands in mock apology, "we ran out of bean sprouts!"
Hrumph. I managed a laugh and did not think about it again for the whole weekend. On Monday I arrived at work ready to tackle the homework component of our after school program that I had been assigned to head up. Goal: to get students to stay at school longer than they have to, to do homework in a classroom that they probably already sat in for an hour that day. And with tutors who may or may not know how to productively help them with their homework. Despite this daunting task, I quickly connected with teachers, parents and students alike and rounded up a motley crew to attend our Homework Hour this afternoon. Joe was assigned to monitor the class, and since I had noticed him giving Hot Cheetos to student who asked for homework help last week, I decided to be proactive.
I approached Joe when we were alone in the office, and casually mentioned that although he gives Hot Cheetos and Snickers to his students in his community service club, would he mind if we refrained from using junk food as a reward for showing up to Homework Hour. Joe was instantly defensive and began attacking my nose ring (yes, my nose ring), insisting that I am not a good role model because I have a piercing in my face and so how can I pretend to want to model healthy eating? The conversation - well, argument at this point - increasingly revolved around the irrelevant nose ring and I was not able to steer it back to the topic at hand: food.
I was uncharacteristically angered by our conversation, partly because Joe made it personal and refused to actually discuss whether or not we should use junk food as a homework incentive. Mostly I was angry because I had assumed that my suggestion about a junk-food-free Homework Hour would be welcomed and not given a second thought. Instead, I was reminded about the deep and persistent nature of American junk food culture.
I am tempted to outline my argument against Joe, so that you can all pat me on the back and tell me how well I handled the situation and how right I am. But I think I would rather reflect (as I love to do). After he let me vent this evening over dinner, Kris wisely asked "so what lessons can be learned from this?" Oh boy, let the lessons roll.
Lesson 1: Healthy conflict is a necessary part of progress.
After I cooled down and spoke with my supervisor about my argument with Joe, the three of us sat down to smooth things over. My boss and Joe acted as though I had suggested something incredibly radical, and the focus of the conversation was that we should reach a compromise between my extreme, veggie-loving stance, and Joe's desire for conformity and consistency with past practices. This was even more infuriating. Radical? I'll show them radical. You want to serve them a moderately healthy snack at 3:30, followed by Hot Cheetos and Snickers at 4:30, and an occasionally well-balanced dinner at 5:30? Without any physical activity in the middle? (The kids who play in our soccer club are never offered junk food as an incentive to get them onto the field).
My radical response would have gone something like this: tomato juice in biodegradable cups, with carrot sticks - fresh from the farmers market - and hummus made with organic garbanzo beans in our cooking class. Dinner - comprised of no less than 3 servings of fresh fruits and vegetables; whole grains and organic meat - to be served at 6, after students participate in some sort of physical activity (preferably yoga). No snacks should be given during classes because the student JUST ATE.
Instead, a meager "how about we don't give the kids junk food during Homework Hour?" was treated as if I'd just suggested banning High Fructose Corn Syrup from the state of Texas. Radical? Hrumph. After some rather awkward and frustrating discussion, my supervisor and Joe announced that they both fully supported creating an after school policy to encourage healthy snacks and ban junk food. "Let's make a list of foods you want us to pick up, and we can serve smoothies and apples and carrots," they suggested, nodding enthusiastically. I couldn't help but feel that I was being patronized, but they were completely serious.
This was not what I had in mind. I simply didn't want to live with Hot Cheetos on my conscience. But revamping an entire food system? I'm still trying to get comfortable in my new job and build relationships and adjust to a new city and ... and ... and ... It's just so much more comfortable to think and write about these things, but to actually take action with a comprehensive strategy and the support of your co-workers ...
Lesson 2: Be careful what you wish for.
Lesson 3: In order to effect change, all stakeholders must feel like they have ownership of the change.
It didn't take long to realize that Joe wasn't opposed to banning junk food at all. After things were resolved, he commented to me, "I wasn't going to give them Hot Cheetos today anyway." Joe's defensive attitude was obviously far more about not wanting some overachieving 26 year old from Boston to come along and demand change, than it was about junk food, or nose piercings for that matter. By accepting my suggestion, Joe would have been admitting that the system he has been working in for dozens of years is broken, and that he is partly responsible. By proposing a far larger change to the after school food culture than I had even implied, Joe was taking charge and owning that change. He clearly wants to be part of the solution, not the problem.
This is a fantastic lesson that I have learned before, but need to be reminded of from time to time. Change cannot involve pride, arrogance or a desire for control. It must be wholly inclusive, humble and adaptable. One's role as an organizer and vector for change is to be an invisible hand that inspires and helps others to form their own ideas and put them into action. I will remember this as I approach other co-workers, food service workers and school administrators. Allow the idea to be theirs, and assist them in its implementation.
Lesson (well, reminder) 4: I moved to Austin for a reason. The same reason that I spent last summer in Arkansas. To learn how to effect change in climates that are uncomfortable and unfamiliar (and I'm not just talking about the weather). By gaining a greater understanding of political, educational and nutritional perspectives in a state that is more diverse and arguably less progressive than Massachusetts, I am playing a role in the expansion and improvement of a movement that I care deeply about. Now obviously Austin is a liberal bubble unto itself, but it's still no Cambridge, or Boston for that matter. I am accustomed to having friends and co-workers who raise chickens in their backyard, compost in their sleep, and who wax lyrical about kale. And although hippies and farmers markets abound in Austin, the institutions and communities here are, more often than not, heavily influenced by conservative Texas laws and traditions. My experience with Joe reminds me that I purposefully moved out of my element, and out of my element I have arrived.
Highlight of the day: I taught a Food Miles lesson during my Food Food Food class, and watched students fight over fake produce from fake farmers market, and cry out in horror when they had to place apples from Chile in to their fake shopping baskets because that's all that was left.
Highlight of the week: a willingness to tackle a worthwhile conflict head-on spurred what may prove to be the very comprehensive change that I've been wishing for. Stay tuned ...
Alas, the Hot Cheetos saga continues and how can I not write about it? Personal conflict and Hot Cheetos are so much juicier than milk.
Besides one little quip from Joe on Friday, the food issue had been dormant since I last blogged. And it was a minor quip. I caught Joe giving Hot Cheetos to some of the girls in his community service club, so he put up his hands in mock apology, "we ran out of bean sprouts!"
Hrumph. I managed a laugh and did not think about it again for the whole weekend. On Monday I arrived at work ready to tackle the homework component of our after school program that I had been assigned to head up. Goal: to get students to stay at school longer than they have to, to do homework in a classroom that they probably already sat in for an hour that day. And with tutors who may or may not know how to productively help them with their homework. Despite this daunting task, I quickly connected with teachers, parents and students alike and rounded up a motley crew to attend our Homework Hour this afternoon. Joe was assigned to monitor the class, and since I had noticed him giving Hot Cheetos to student who asked for homework help last week, I decided to be proactive.
I approached Joe when we were alone in the office, and casually mentioned that although he gives Hot Cheetos and Snickers to his students in his community service club, would he mind if we refrained from using junk food as a reward for showing up to Homework Hour. Joe was instantly defensive and began attacking my nose ring (yes, my nose ring), insisting that I am not a good role model because I have a piercing in my face and so how can I pretend to want to model healthy eating? The conversation - well, argument at this point - increasingly revolved around the irrelevant nose ring and I was not able to steer it back to the topic at hand: food.
I was uncharacteristically angered by our conversation, partly because Joe made it personal and refused to actually discuss whether or not we should use junk food as a homework incentive. Mostly I was angry because I had assumed that my suggestion about a junk-food-free Homework Hour would be welcomed and not given a second thought. Instead, I was reminded about the deep and persistent nature of American junk food culture.
I am tempted to outline my argument against Joe, so that you can all pat me on the back and tell me how well I handled the situation and how right I am. But I think I would rather reflect (as I love to do). After he let me vent this evening over dinner, Kris wisely asked "so what lessons can be learned from this?" Oh boy, let the lessons roll.
Lesson 1: Healthy conflict is a necessary part of progress.
After I cooled down and spoke with my supervisor about my argument with Joe, the three of us sat down to smooth things over. My boss and Joe acted as though I had suggested something incredibly radical, and the focus of the conversation was that we should reach a compromise between my extreme, veggie-loving stance, and Joe's desire for conformity and consistency with past practices. This was even more infuriating. Radical? I'll show them radical. You want to serve them a moderately healthy snack at 3:30, followed by Hot Cheetos and Snickers at 4:30, and an occasionally well-balanced dinner at 5:30? Without any physical activity in the middle? (The kids who play in our soccer club are never offered junk food as an incentive to get them onto the field).
My radical response would have gone something like this: tomato juice in biodegradable cups, with carrot sticks - fresh from the farmers market - and hummus made with organic garbanzo beans in our cooking class. Dinner - comprised of no less than 3 servings of fresh fruits and vegetables; whole grains and organic meat - to be served at 6, after students participate in some sort of physical activity (preferably yoga). No snacks should be given during classes because the student JUST ATE.
Instead, a meager "how about we don't give the kids junk food during Homework Hour?" was treated as if I'd just suggested banning High Fructose Corn Syrup from the state of Texas. Radical? Hrumph. After some rather awkward and frustrating discussion, my supervisor and Joe announced that they both fully supported creating an after school policy to encourage healthy snacks and ban junk food. "Let's make a list of foods you want us to pick up, and we can serve smoothies and apples and carrots," they suggested, nodding enthusiastically. I couldn't help but feel that I was being patronized, but they were completely serious.
This was not what I had in mind. I simply didn't want to live with Hot Cheetos on my conscience. But revamping an entire food system? I'm still trying to get comfortable in my new job and build relationships and adjust to a new city and ... and ... and ... It's just so much more comfortable to think and write about these things, but to actually take action with a comprehensive strategy and the support of your co-workers ...
Lesson 2: Be careful what you wish for.
Lesson 3: In order to effect change, all stakeholders must feel like they have ownership of the change.
It didn't take long to realize that Joe wasn't opposed to banning junk food at all. After things were resolved, he commented to me, "I wasn't going to give them Hot Cheetos today anyway." Joe's defensive attitude was obviously far more about not wanting some overachieving 26 year old from Boston to come along and demand change, than it was about junk food, or nose piercings for that matter. By accepting my suggestion, Joe would have been admitting that the system he has been working in for dozens of years is broken, and that he is partly responsible. By proposing a far larger change to the after school food culture than I had even implied, Joe was taking charge and owning that change. He clearly wants to be part of the solution, not the problem.
This is a fantastic lesson that I have learned before, but need to be reminded of from time to time. Change cannot involve pride, arrogance or a desire for control. It must be wholly inclusive, humble and adaptable. One's role as an organizer and vector for change is to be an invisible hand that inspires and helps others to form their own ideas and put them into action. I will remember this as I approach other co-workers, food service workers and school administrators. Allow the idea to be theirs, and assist them in its implementation.
Lesson (well, reminder) 4: I moved to Austin for a reason. The same reason that I spent last summer in Arkansas. To learn how to effect change in climates that are uncomfortable and unfamiliar (and I'm not just talking about the weather). By gaining a greater understanding of political, educational and nutritional perspectives in a state that is more diverse and arguably less progressive than Massachusetts, I am playing a role in the expansion and improvement of a movement that I care deeply about. Now obviously Austin is a liberal bubble unto itself, but it's still no Cambridge, or Boston for that matter. I am accustomed to having friends and co-workers who raise chickens in their backyard, compost in their sleep, and who wax lyrical about kale. And although hippies and farmers markets abound in Austin, the institutions and communities here are, more often than not, heavily influenced by conservative Texas laws and traditions. My experience with Joe reminds me that I purposefully moved out of my element, and out of my element I have arrived.
Highlight of the day: I taught a Food Miles lesson during my Food Food Food class, and watched students fight over fake produce from fake farmers market, and cry out in horror when they had to place apples from Chile in to their fake shopping baskets because that's all that was left.
Highlight of the week: a willingness to tackle a worthwhile conflict head-on spurred what may prove to be the very comprehensive change that I've been wishing for. Stay tuned ...
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
What would you do for a Snickers Bar?
When is it okay to use food as an incentive?
I worked for a year and a half at a residential program for teenage girls in Arlington, Massachusetts, where the rule was simply: you cannot use food as an incentive. The program was heavily structured around incentives for positive behaviors, so this was no easy task. You had to get creative, each staff was allotted a meager $5 to do something fun with each teen who accomplished set goals over a given period of time. Now let's be real, the easiest thing to do with $5, especially when you are overworked and underpaid, is to drive to McDonalds or walk down the street to Brighams and get a Sundae. Sigh. The food rule was not strictly upheld, but edible incentives were certainly discouraged and many staff thought up wonderful ideas, including walks around the neighborhood, movie rentals, trips to the beach, the latest issue of a popular magazine, or sharing the cost of a manicure or a book, to reward good behavior.
The justification for this rule went something like this: if you use food as a reward or bribe, then children learn to associate food as a treat or something to work for, rather than something that we consume to sustain our bodies and minds. Food should be given to children in the form of healthy, well-balanced meals and snacks that are based on nothing else but the fact that we are hungry. If children are taught to associate sugary, fatty foods like ice cream and french fries with that warm fuzzy feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment, then they will seek out those foods to conjure up that same feeling, with or without any accomplishments to accompany the treat.
I have tried diligently - both in my work with residential kids and now with public school children - not to take the easy way out by incentivising food. I have tried to be creative and use praise and quality time with yours truly as a reward for good behavior. I have even tried to remove food as an incentive in my own life, by not taking myself out for an ice cream after finishing a paper or ordering a pizza at the end of a particularly grueling day at work. But it's hard! Really really hard. Even those of us who have mostly healthy eating habits and who had positive role models as children and attentive parents who employed creative ways to reward good behavior, even we have a relationship with food that goes beyond basic sustenance. For most Americans, food equals pleasure, even if the feeling is fleeting.
I've given this topic a lot of thought this week, and it's become a source of contention with some of my co-workers. Yesterday I made a creamy pesto dip with my Food Food Food! class, using basil plants that I picked from my garden that morning (notice the pesto theme). Every adult that I informed of my lesson plan earlier in the day was certain that the kids wouldn't take to this sophisticated food. But lo and behold, come class time, my students were wholly engaged in every step of the dip preparation, and all but one finished their plate. A few had seconds. I mean, come on, even 12 year olds appreciate a little garlic and salt, even when it doesn't come in a package that goes pop when you open it.
The fact that our class makes snacks or meals and then eats them is an incentive in and of itself. The kids show up in large numbers to my classes, because they know they will get to eat. Only a few are truly interested in the cooking process and ask to bring a copy of the recipe home with them, or ask me questions about cooking after class. Am I using food to inflate my class numbers? Is it wrong to create incentives with all food, or just junk food? My initial reaction is NO. My class is fun and educational and if it opens even just a few middle schoolers' minds to new cuisines, that are certainly not junk, then it must be a positive part of their development.
The little person sitting on my other shoulder quickly shouts, no wait! You're wrong. It's the same as using junk food as a reward. An image floods into my head: my extremely obese seventh grader, stuffing his face with as many chips and pesto dip as I would permit (18 chips, or 2 servings in this case, since we also used the class to learn about serving sizes). And then after class, this same student, helping to serve dinner so that he could sneak food, and then volunteering to clean up so that he could dig into the leftovers when staff turned their backs. Not all of the staff are as vigilant as I am, and most of them allow him to eat as much as he wants, as long as everyone else has had their fill.
What kind of influence does my class have on this student's ability to make good choices about food? Should I allow him to participate in my class, or to help with dinner? How do I reach a child who so obviously relies on food as a coping mechanism to conjure up those warm fuzzy feelings? What form do meals take in this child's home, and are his parents obese as well? I think my head might explode.
Despite my unwavering ability to play devil's advocate, I know that my Food Food Food! class is a great addition to the after-school program. I just can't help but wonder where to draw the line with food, and what adverse impacts my class might be having, despite my good intentions.
One of my co-workers - I'll call him Joe - waltzed into the office this morning with two large plastic Walmart bags filled with Hot Cheetos. I immediately gave him a hard time about using junk food to attract kids to his community service class, half in jest, but also hoping to begin a dialogue about what kinds of messages we are sending our students about food. Note: this man has only known me for a month, has no idea about my nutrition background or passion for all things food related, except that I bring a well-balanced lunch to work with me each day and that I teach a cooking and gardening class.
Joe responded as if he had never considered the possibility that junk food might be bad for you. After staring blankly at me for a few seconds he returned to his work with a half-hearted laugh, assuming - I think - that I was joking.
"No really," I said, "can't we find something besides junk food to encourage involvement in community service projects?"
"You've never eaten junk food?" Joe sneered. This was especially disconcerting since Joe is a very kind, older man, who is the epitome of a Southern Gentleman. He brings me oranges and baby carrots sometimes, because he noticed that I like to eat fruits and vegetables. I didn't think that he even knew how to sneer.
All of a sudden I realized that I wasn't in Cambridge anymore. And when I tried to broach the subject with a different co-worker, he was equally as surprised and unwilling to acknowledge any responsibility on our part to provide healthy foods to our students. I didn't dare mention my thoughts on using food as a reward. The after-school program that I work for provides an entire pizza to each student who consistently volunteers to serve dinner and clean up afterward. That's one large pizza per child for every 10 days that they help out, for a total of 15 minutes each day.
After testing the waters and realizing what I was up against - even within my own little office of do-gooders who genuinely want to be positive role models for these children - I decided to retreat and re-strategize. I would come up with some sort of plan to gradually change the food culture within our after-school program. As shocked as I was by the reactions of my co-workers and their complete ignorance concerning the promotion of healthy foods to students, I felt slightly relieved. I now have a tangible challenge involving just a few people, who I conveniently see everyday. I can work to change the food culture within our after-school program, before even considering how one might begin to tackle the snack and lunch policies of this massive urban school district, which are inextricably linked to national food and farm legislation.
At the end of programming today, I was standing with a few lingering students while they passed my cell phone around to call home and ask for a ride. One of the eighth graders, of whom I am particularly fond, pulled out a very large Snickers Bar from his pocket. "Look what Joe gave me today," he boasted. I instantly thought to myself, "well what's the difference between Hot Cheetos and a Snickers Bar. Oh well." This same eighth grader put his hand back into his pocket and pulled out an empty packet of Hot Cheetos, still grinning and, I suddenly noticed, bearing some very dirty, orange fingers. I could hardly believe it. It was almost as if Joe had put him up to it. I was speechless, and stormed over to Joe, "Snickers AND Hot Cheetos!" I exclaimed. He looked at my with that same blank expression, shrugged and walked away.
We didn't speak for the rest of the evening.
-----
I would really like to hear anyone and everyone's thoughts on this topic. I know that most garden-based education programs include healthy snacks - particularly ones that incorporate veggies that the children grow themselves - as a regular part of their curricula. I left work today feeling that maybe I am the only person who struggles with the idea of food as an incentive. And I am having a hard time deciding how and where to draw the line.
Is it okay to give pretzels to students, to entice them to participate in an activity, or reward them for a project well done? What about apples? Canned pineapples? Orange Juice? Chocolate covered peanuts? Sugar cookies? Doritos? Diet Coke? Regular Coke? Pizza?
I am going to finish my glass of wine (as a reward for a tiring day and a long post?) and wait for your wise responses.
I worked for a year and a half at a residential program for teenage girls in Arlington, Massachusetts, where the rule was simply: you cannot use food as an incentive. The program was heavily structured around incentives for positive behaviors, so this was no easy task. You had to get creative, each staff was allotted a meager $5 to do something fun with each teen who accomplished set goals over a given period of time. Now let's be real, the easiest thing to do with $5, especially when you are overworked and underpaid, is to drive to McDonalds or walk down the street to Brighams and get a Sundae. Sigh. The food rule was not strictly upheld, but edible incentives were certainly discouraged and many staff thought up wonderful ideas, including walks around the neighborhood, movie rentals, trips to the beach, the latest issue of a popular magazine, or sharing the cost of a manicure or a book, to reward good behavior.
The justification for this rule went something like this: if you use food as a reward or bribe, then children learn to associate food as a treat or something to work for, rather than something that we consume to sustain our bodies and minds. Food should be given to children in the form of healthy, well-balanced meals and snacks that are based on nothing else but the fact that we are hungry. If children are taught to associate sugary, fatty foods like ice cream and french fries with that warm fuzzy feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment, then they will seek out those foods to conjure up that same feeling, with or without any accomplishments to accompany the treat.
I have tried diligently - both in my work with residential kids and now with public school children - not to take the easy way out by incentivising food. I have tried to be creative and use praise and quality time with yours truly as a reward for good behavior. I have even tried to remove food as an incentive in my own life, by not taking myself out for an ice cream after finishing a paper or ordering a pizza at the end of a particularly grueling day at work. But it's hard! Really really hard. Even those of us who have mostly healthy eating habits and who had positive role models as children and attentive parents who employed creative ways to reward good behavior, even we have a relationship with food that goes beyond basic sustenance. For most Americans, food equals pleasure, even if the feeling is fleeting.
I've given this topic a lot of thought this week, and it's become a source of contention with some of my co-workers. Yesterday I made a creamy pesto dip with my Food Food Food! class, using basil plants that I picked from my garden that morning (notice the pesto theme). Every adult that I informed of my lesson plan earlier in the day was certain that the kids wouldn't take to this sophisticated food. But lo and behold, come class time, my students were wholly engaged in every step of the dip preparation, and all but one finished their plate. A few had seconds. I mean, come on, even 12 year olds appreciate a little garlic and salt, even when it doesn't come in a package that goes pop when you open it.
The fact that our class makes snacks or meals and then eats them is an incentive in and of itself. The kids show up in large numbers to my classes, because they know they will get to eat. Only a few are truly interested in the cooking process and ask to bring a copy of the recipe home with them, or ask me questions about cooking after class. Am I using food to inflate my class numbers? Is it wrong to create incentives with all food, or just junk food? My initial reaction is NO. My class is fun and educational and if it opens even just a few middle schoolers' minds to new cuisines, that are certainly not junk, then it must be a positive part of their development.
The little person sitting on my other shoulder quickly shouts, no wait! You're wrong. It's the same as using junk food as a reward. An image floods into my head: my extremely obese seventh grader, stuffing his face with as many chips and pesto dip as I would permit (18 chips, or 2 servings in this case, since we also used the class to learn about serving sizes). And then after class, this same student, helping to serve dinner so that he could sneak food, and then volunteering to clean up so that he could dig into the leftovers when staff turned their backs. Not all of the staff are as vigilant as I am, and most of them allow him to eat as much as he wants, as long as everyone else has had their fill.
What kind of influence does my class have on this student's ability to make good choices about food? Should I allow him to participate in my class, or to help with dinner? How do I reach a child who so obviously relies on food as a coping mechanism to conjure up those warm fuzzy feelings? What form do meals take in this child's home, and are his parents obese as well? I think my head might explode.
Despite my unwavering ability to play devil's advocate, I know that my Food Food Food! class is a great addition to the after-school program. I just can't help but wonder where to draw the line with food, and what adverse impacts my class might be having, despite my good intentions.
One of my co-workers - I'll call him Joe - waltzed into the office this morning with two large plastic Walmart bags filled with Hot Cheetos. I immediately gave him a hard time about using junk food to attract kids to his community service class, half in jest, but also hoping to begin a dialogue about what kinds of messages we are sending our students about food. Note: this man has only known me for a month, has no idea about my nutrition background or passion for all things food related, except that I bring a well-balanced lunch to work with me each day and that I teach a cooking and gardening class.
Joe responded as if he had never considered the possibility that junk food might be bad for you. After staring blankly at me for a few seconds he returned to his work with a half-hearted laugh, assuming - I think - that I was joking.
"No really," I said, "can't we find something besides junk food to encourage involvement in community service projects?"
"You've never eaten junk food?" Joe sneered. This was especially disconcerting since Joe is a very kind, older man, who is the epitome of a Southern Gentleman. He brings me oranges and baby carrots sometimes, because he noticed that I like to eat fruits and vegetables. I didn't think that he even knew how to sneer.
All of a sudden I realized that I wasn't in Cambridge anymore. And when I tried to broach the subject with a different co-worker, he was equally as surprised and unwilling to acknowledge any responsibility on our part to provide healthy foods to our students. I didn't dare mention my thoughts on using food as a reward. The after-school program that I work for provides an entire pizza to each student who consistently volunteers to serve dinner and clean up afterward. That's one large pizza per child for every 10 days that they help out, for a total of 15 minutes each day.
After testing the waters and realizing what I was up against - even within my own little office of do-gooders who genuinely want to be positive role models for these children - I decided to retreat and re-strategize. I would come up with some sort of plan to gradually change the food culture within our after-school program. As shocked as I was by the reactions of my co-workers and their complete ignorance concerning the promotion of healthy foods to students, I felt slightly relieved. I now have a tangible challenge involving just a few people, who I conveniently see everyday. I can work to change the food culture within our after-school program, before even considering how one might begin to tackle the snack and lunch policies of this massive urban school district, which are inextricably linked to national food and farm legislation.
At the end of programming today, I was standing with a few lingering students while they passed my cell phone around to call home and ask for a ride. One of the eighth graders, of whom I am particularly fond, pulled out a very large Snickers Bar from his pocket. "Look what Joe gave me today," he boasted. I instantly thought to myself, "well what's the difference between Hot Cheetos and a Snickers Bar. Oh well." This same eighth grader put his hand back into his pocket and pulled out an empty packet of Hot Cheetos, still grinning and, I suddenly noticed, bearing some very dirty, orange fingers. I could hardly believe it. It was almost as if Joe had put him up to it. I was speechless, and stormed over to Joe, "Snickers AND Hot Cheetos!" I exclaimed. He looked at my with that same blank expression, shrugged and walked away.
We didn't speak for the rest of the evening.
-----
I would really like to hear anyone and everyone's thoughts on this topic. I know that most garden-based education programs include healthy snacks - particularly ones that incorporate veggies that the children grow themselves - as a regular part of their curricula. I left work today feeling that maybe I am the only person who struggles with the idea of food as an incentive. And I am having a hard time deciding how and where to draw the line.
Is it okay to give pretzels to students, to entice them to participate in an activity, or reward them for a project well done? What about apples? Canned pineapples? Orange Juice? Chocolate covered peanuts? Sugar cookies? Doritos? Diet Coke? Regular Coke? Pizza?
I am going to finish my glass of wine (as a reward for a tiring day and a long post?) and wait for your wise responses.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Apple Seeds
Regrettably, I didn't get to attend a Slow Food USA Eat-In on Labor Day, since I was too busy sunning myself on the Gulf Coast. I did, however, sign their online petition, stating that "I believe that change can’t wait: It's time to provide America's children with REAL FOOD at school." This petition is Slow Food USA's kick-off to a lobbying initiative to include provisions for healthier, locally sourced school lunches in the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act this fall.
Despite my absence at the Austin Eat-In at Rain Lily Farm - or perhaps this was in spite of absence, intended to inspire guilt - I received an email on Tuesday telling me about all the delicious foods that were consumed at Eat-Ins across the country: carmelized-onion and goat cheese quiche, lemon and herb-crusted chicken with verjuice, lavender-poached fruit, foie gras and fig compote, and BLTs with pesto mayonnaise and thickly-sliced, locally raised bacon.
At our own little beach Eat-In, we chowed down on organic sausages and fresh corn, hot off the grill (with a fine layer of local sand for some extra crunch). Whole wheat buns, ketchup and mustard, red and yellow peppers, and Spanish rice also made an appearance.
I have no idea what my students ate that day, but I can tell you that it wasn't foie gras or BLTs with pesto mayonnaise, or even organic sausage. If I had to guess, I'd say that the only foods (if you can call them foods) that our diets had in common were ketchup and mustard. As for Tuesday, I KNOW that the students' diet consisted mainly of fried foods, packaged foods and white foods. Anything with color was overcooked and came from a can. After-school snack that day was the cheese sticks and crackers combo, with a couple of 6 oz cartons of juice to wash it down (the cartons contain 100 percent juice - "mixed juice" - but only 13 percent Vitamin C) .
Dinner left much to be desired (for me, anyway) and instead of the fresh looking spaghetti that arrived last week, the middle schoolers were delighted by prepackaged hot-pocket pizzas. These were accompanied by canned pineapples that received a mixed review, and very soggy looking green beans, most of which ended up in the big black trash bags. Who can blame the kids for not eating their greens, when they more closely resemble browns? I was thoroughly disappointed that the main course came in a package. As a good friend of mine tells her elementary school students in Somerville, MA, "if it exhales when you open it, it's probably not that good for you."
While I have little immediate control over what is served to my students on a daily basis - unless I win the lottery and stop by a farm stand each day on my way to work to pick up fresh snacks for 200 - I understand that I am well poised to influence the way that they think about food, to sow the seed for more healthy food choices in the future.
In my Food Food Food! class on Tuesday I used apples as a medium for discussing the distribution of natural resources and the relative scarcity of arable farmland around the world (apple activity courtesy of the National Science Teacher's Association). After dissecting the apple into as many halves and quarters and eighths as possible (and trying to teach fractions along the way) there were apple seeds scattered everywhere, and I used this teachable moment to discuss plant parts and the life cycle of plants. My students were full of questions about where different foods come from and we had a lively discussion about what vegetables look like before they are harvested. Everyone happily munched on the extra apples that I brought with me to the class, and the kids were extremely excited when I took them out to the three raised beds behind our school and we made a list of vegetables and herbs to be planted this fall.
I know that despite their enthusiasm for apples and our future garden, the students in my Food Food Food class ate hot-pockets for dinner without a second thought, and they probably went home afterwards and munched on a bag of Doritos. But I didn't go home swamped in despair. During class, one of my sixth graders asked if we could plant the apple seeds in our garden. I explained that apple trees take many years to grow and mature enough to produce fruit, and that even if we planted our apple seeds that day, the plants would not bear apples until my middle schoolers had gone away to college. Talking to children about food and farming is like planting that apple seed. It's not like growing tomatoes where you get results within a few months. You have to nurture the apple tree. And if you are patient and diligent you can be certain that years later your hard work will bear fruit.
I don't expect my students to go home and demand carmelized-onion and goat cheese quiche from their parents, or even to start bringing wholesome brown bag lunches from home. I will be patient and relish in the knowledge that my passion for growing food and eating well-balanced meals - and taking the time to talk to students about it - serves as a model for children who may not have been exposed to this kind of enthusiasm for healthy, locally-produced food before. I strongly believe that change is the result of a two-pronged approach: national and global policy changes - like the ones proposed by Slow Food USA - that alter the way we grow food and what we serve to our children during the school day, and the grass-roots approach, where education leads to healthy choices made by individuals, families and communities.
Despite my absence at the Austin Eat-In at Rain Lily Farm - or perhaps this was in spite of absence, intended to inspire guilt - I received an email on Tuesday telling me about all the delicious foods that were consumed at Eat-Ins across the country: carmelized-onion and goat cheese quiche, lemon and herb-crusted chicken with verjuice, lavender-poached fruit, foie gras and fig compote, and BLTs with pesto mayonnaise and thickly-sliced, locally raised bacon.
At our own little beach Eat-In, we chowed down on organic sausages and fresh corn, hot off the grill (with a fine layer of local sand for some extra crunch). Whole wheat buns, ketchup and mustard, red and yellow peppers, and Spanish rice also made an appearance.
I have no idea what my students ate that day, but I can tell you that it wasn't foie gras or BLTs with pesto mayonnaise, or even organic sausage. If I had to guess, I'd say that the only foods (if you can call them foods) that our diets had in common were ketchup and mustard. As for Tuesday, I KNOW that the students' diet consisted mainly of fried foods, packaged foods and white foods. Anything with color was overcooked and came from a can. After-school snack that day was the cheese sticks and crackers combo, with a couple of 6 oz cartons of juice to wash it down (the cartons contain 100 percent juice - "mixed juice" - but only 13 percent Vitamin C) .
Dinner left much to be desired (for me, anyway) and instead of the fresh looking spaghetti that arrived last week, the middle schoolers were delighted by prepackaged hot-pocket pizzas. These were accompanied by canned pineapples that received a mixed review, and very soggy looking green beans, most of which ended up in the big black trash bags. Who can blame the kids for not eating their greens, when they more closely resemble browns? I was thoroughly disappointed that the main course came in a package. As a good friend of mine tells her elementary school students in Somerville, MA, "if it exhales when you open it, it's probably not that good for you."
While I have little immediate control over what is served to my students on a daily basis - unless I win the lottery and stop by a farm stand each day on my way to work to pick up fresh snacks for 200 - I understand that I am well poised to influence the way that they think about food, to sow the seed for more healthy food choices in the future.
In my Food Food Food! class on Tuesday I used apples as a medium for discussing the distribution of natural resources and the relative scarcity of arable farmland around the world (apple activity courtesy of the National Science Teacher's Association). After dissecting the apple into as many halves and quarters and eighths as possible (and trying to teach fractions along the way) there were apple seeds scattered everywhere, and I used this teachable moment to discuss plant parts and the life cycle of plants. My students were full of questions about where different foods come from and we had a lively discussion about what vegetables look like before they are harvested. Everyone happily munched on the extra apples that I brought with me to the class, and the kids were extremely excited when I took them out to the three raised beds behind our school and we made a list of vegetables and herbs to be planted this fall.
I know that despite their enthusiasm for apples and our future garden, the students in my Food Food Food class ate hot-pockets for dinner without a second thought, and they probably went home afterwards and munched on a bag of Doritos. But I didn't go home swamped in despair. During class, one of my sixth graders asked if we could plant the apple seeds in our garden. I explained that apple trees take many years to grow and mature enough to produce fruit, and that even if we planted our apple seeds that day, the plants would not bear apples until my middle schoolers had gone away to college. Talking to children about food and farming is like planting that apple seed. It's not like growing tomatoes where you get results within a few months. You have to nurture the apple tree. And if you are patient and diligent you can be certain that years later your hard work will bear fruit.
I don't expect my students to go home and demand carmelized-onion and goat cheese quiche from their parents, or even to start bringing wholesome brown bag lunches from home. I will be patient and relish in the knowledge that my passion for growing food and eating well-balanced meals - and taking the time to talk to students about it - serves as a model for children who may not have been exposed to this kind of enthusiasm for healthy, locally-produced food before. I strongly believe that change is the result of a two-pronged approach: national and global policy changes - like the ones proposed by Slow Food USA - that alter the way we grow food and what we serve to our children during the school day, and the grass-roots approach, where education leads to healthy choices made by individuals, families and communities.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
