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Pizza now a vegetable

Started by Zeitgeist, November 20, 2011, 10:04:11 AM

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Zeitgeist

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/16/us/politics/congress-blocks-new-rules-on-school-lunches.html?_r=1

Ridiculous of course.

How's this for a health care program: Overhaul and significantly improve each every school lunch program, and in some cases breakfast for low-income students. Make lunch time something of a nutrition class, a fun class, but a class all the same. From kindergarten to high school completely overhaul and feed these kids real and actual healthy foods. Form a committee of recent nutritionist graduates from around the country, along with economist graduates to manage the program.

No it's not a panacea, but you've got to tackle the problem on several levels, long term, mid term and short term. I bet you'd start seeing results in one or even half a generation.

If such a program were actualized, imagine, what would be the effects on health care costs over a relatively short period of time?

Vekseid

You need to kick the lobbyists out of the equation, first. Why should Pepsi and the corn lobby have a say in what kids eat?

That's the main thing blocking actual education regarding food.

Beguile's Mistress

Politics!

It's the lawmakers way of justifying taking money that should be spent on our children and using it for fun stuff instead.  When people stand up and say that healthy food and nutrition education are not important they are wrong.  Every government employee should be forced to endure a month of school lunches and be prohibited from bringing their lunch or sending out for anything.

Can they stomach some of the crap they are forcing down the throats of this country's young people?

RubySlippers

Of course it is its a perfect food has bread (crust), cheese (dairy), vegetables (sauce, maybe toppings) and meat (if meat is on it) in ONE delicious package - what is so bad about pizza? Kids will eat pizza what good is some casserole or some such they won't eat?

They serve sweets and other things that are far worse in many school lunch programs in my area over an innocent slice of or mini pizza.

Haloriel

Ugh.  When my son finally goes to school - I will make his lunches.  To think that I have a child that currently loves his fruit and veggies - and because of politics, that could be turned around and all he wants is fries?  This is just ridiculous!  Things like this really make me shake my head and wonder where we'll be in fifty years.

The fact that lobbyists/politicians care more about their money and corporations than children is a problem.  I personally don't find 20% DV of sodium, sugar, and fat innocent, but that's my personal preference - and many times its quite a bit higher.

Zeitgeist

Quote from: RubySlippers on November 20, 2011, 10:54:05 AM
Of course it is its a perfect food has bread (crust), cheese (dairy), vegetables (sauce, maybe toppings) and meat (if meat is on it) in ONE delicious package - what is so bad about pizza? Kids will eat pizza what good is some casserole or some such they won't eat?

They serve sweets and other things that are far worse in many school lunch programs in my area over an innocent slice of or mini pizza.

I think it's more of a cop out to avoid actually putting together a healthy meal by classifying pizza as a vegetable. Yes, there are worse things than pizza, but there is a whole plethora of other things that are much, much better.

Haloriel

Quote from: Zeitgeist on November 20, 2011, 10:58:57 AM
I think it's more of a cop out to avoid actually putting together a healthy meal by classifying pizza as a vegetable. Yes, there are worse things than pizza, but there is a whole plethora of other things that are much, much better.

This was precisely my thought.  It's sad when they can't be bothered to give the kids better.  It really is.  I mean sure, as a parent it can be argued that 'if you want your kid to have something, you buy it.'  But that's a mentality that is woefully incomplete and in my humble opinion, rather a weak argument in regards to the big picture. :D

RubySlippers

Will kids eat the other options if you have a portion of pizza, say a soup that is tasty, some fruit and milk its pretty healthy especially if the pizza uses wheat for the crust and low fat cheese. And kids will likely eat that. I remember in school when they tried funny foods that looked not tasty most of it went into the garbage and the kids ate from vending machines. Or they bought something on the way to school to eat or went hungry.

Its unlikely this would be served all the time if its once a week is it that big a deal. If parents don't like it fix up lunch at home.

Is it so stupid food stamps on EBT includes how much food that is just junk seems to me a school lunch subsidized or free would be better even with the meal I noted above.

Zeitgeist

Quote from: Haloriel on November 20, 2011, 11:04:22 AM
This was precisely my thought.  It's sad when they can't be bothered to give the kids better.  It really is.  I mean sure, as a parent it can be argued that 'if you want your kid to have something, you buy it.'  But that's a mentality that is woefully incomplete and in my humble opinion, rather a weak argument in regards to the big picture. :D

Well in my opinion the answer is to forego a large over arching federal government, and localize more of these decisions. We can much more readily hold local politicians responsible than we can those cloistered away in Washington.

Beguile's Mistress

Quote from: Zeitgeist on November 20, 2011, 11:09:14 AM
Well in my opinion the answer is to forego a large over arching federal government, and localize more of these decisions. We can much more readily hold local politicians responsible than we can those cloistered away in Washington.

Unfortunately, the money needed to fund school lunches comes partly from the federal government in the form of subsidies to food processors and manufactures (yes, they manufacture food) to provide cheep (inexpensive and low quality) food for schools and other programs the federal government supports.  I know a man who works for a jail and the food the inmates are serves is higher quality than what children get in our schools.

Zeitgeist

Quote from: RubySlippers on November 20, 2011, 11:08:24 AM
Will kids eat the other options if you have a portion of pizza, say a soup that is tasty, some fruit and milk its pretty healthy especially if the pizza uses wheat for the crust and low fat cheese. And kids will likely eat that. I remember in school when they tried funny foods that looked not tasty most of it went into the garbage and the kids ate from vending machines. Or they bought something on the way to school to eat or went hungry.

Its unlikely this would be served all the time if its once a week is it that big a deal. If parents don't like it fix up lunch at home.

Is it so stupid food stamps on EBT includes how much food that is just junk seems to me a school lunch subsidized or free would be better even with the meal I noted above.

This is why I suggest nutritionists, young recent college graduates be roped into the solution. Replacing the pizza with a helping of bland broccoli isn't going to do the trick, of course. I suggest use the money and resources we plan on using for Obamacare/Healthcare overhaul and make these meals both appetizing and nutritious. And do it for each every school across the US. Leave none out.

Zeitgeist

Quote from: Beguile's Mistress on November 20, 2011, 11:12:26 AM
Unfortunately, the money needed to fund school lunches comes partly from the federal government in the form of subsidies to food processors and manufactures (yes, they manufacture food) to provide cheep (inexpensive and low quality) food for schools and other programs the federal government supports.  I know a man who works for a jail and the food the inmates are serves is higher quality than what children get in our schools.

Indeed. I'm only saying that needs to change. I don't suggest however that would be an easy thing to do, or something not fraught with pitfalls and road blocks. But it does need to change.

Localization I think is one place those on the left and right can come together I think. At least its one I can say for myself.

Lilias

Anyone interested in the school food issue should watch Jamie's School Dinners, especially the bits about providing healthy alternative meals that wouldn't cost more than the junk already served.
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To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,
and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,
and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.
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Zeitgeist

Quote from: Lilias on November 20, 2011, 11:24:21 AM
Anyone interested in the school food issue should watch Jamie's School Dinners, especially the bits about providing healthy alternative meals that wouldn't cost more than the junk already served.

Yes! My teenage son actually told me about him.

Just imagine the cost savings on healthcare if his ideas were brought to bear across all schools? It may be naive to think it could happen, but I suggest its no less so than trying to provide universal coverage for everyone, and finding a way to pay for.

Lilias

Quote from: Zeitgeist on November 20, 2011, 11:34:18 AM
Yes! My teenage son actually told me about him.

Just imagine the cost savings on healthcare if his ideas were brought to bear across all schools? It may be naive to think it could happen, but I suggest its no less so than trying to provide universal coverage for everyone, and finding a way to pay for.

Well, he got a lot of flak, and some is actually recorded on the show. That's why I recommend watching to the end before thinking up ways to implement anything. Profit is profit everywhere, and people are creatures of habit.
To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.
To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,
and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,
and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.
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meikle

Quote from: RubySlippers on November 20, 2011, 11:08:24 AM
Will kids eat the other options if you have a portion of pizza, say a soup that is tasty, some fruit and milk its pretty healthy especially if the pizza uses wheat for the crust and low fat cheese. And kids will likely eat that. I remember in school when they tried funny foods that looked not tasty most of it went into the garbage and the kids ate from vending machines. Or they bought something on the way to school to eat or went hungry.

I'm having trouble thinking of anything that any of my schools ever served for lunch that was less appealing than their pizza.  It was like a piece of cardboard with a tiny bit of cheese and sauce drizzled on top.
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Beguile's Mistress

This just in:

Congress has passed a resolution that bibs be issued to all diners in the Congressional cafeteria on pizza day lest they drop too much sauce on themselves and be classified as vegetables.

;D

Quote from: Lilias on November 20, 2011, 11:24:21 AM
Anyone interested in the school food issue should watch Jamie's School Dinners, especially the bits about providing healthy alternative meals that wouldn't cost more than the junk already served.
One of the best programs on TV.

Haloriel

I wasn't going to say, but after chatting with the husband, it made me laugh. 

Tomato = fruit.  ~grins~

Zeitgeist

Quote from: Haloriel on November 20, 2011, 12:21:01 PM
I wasn't going to say, but after chatting with the husband, it made me laugh. 

Tomato = fruit.  ~grins~


Indeed so. From the mouths of those people we would entrust so much to.

Lilias

Quote from: Zeitgeist on November 20, 2011, 12:31:26 PM
Indeed so. From the mouths of those people we would entrust so much to.

We won't be seeing 'freshly squeezed - not from concentrate' on ketchup bottles any time soon. *snickers*
To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.
To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,
and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,
and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.
~Wendell Berry

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Oniya

Quote from: Lilias on November 20, 2011, 12:33:44 PM
We won't be seeing 'freshly squeezed - not from concentrate' on ketchup bottles any time soon. *snickers*

Of course not - you have to do more than squeeze the tomatoes to get ketchup, just like you need to do more than slice the eggplant to make moussaka.  For the record, I'd count a serving of moussaka as more of a vegetable than two spoonfuls of ketchup.  ;)

Oh - and Ruby?  A properly made slice of deep-dish Chicago-style supreme pizza would easily have a decent amount of vegetables to count as a 'serving', but school pizzas consist of a 5x7 inch slab of steam-rolled bread with the aforementioned two spoonfuls of thin ketchup, a layer of 'processed cheese food', and maybe a sprinkling of something that looks like ground meat or dried-out pepperoni.
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Haloriel

Quote from: Lilias on November 20, 2011, 12:33:44 PM
We won't be seeing 'freshly squeezed - not from concentrate' on ketchup bottles any time soon. *snickers*

~giggles~  No, we certainly won't.

Quote from: Oniya on November 20, 2011, 12:43:16 PM
Of course not - you have to do more than squeeze the tomatoes to get ketchup, just like you need to do more than slice the eggplant to make moussaka.  For the record, I'd count a serving of moussaka as more of a vegetable than two spoonfuls of ketchup.  ;)

Oh - and Ruby?  A properly made slice of deep-dish Chicago-style supreme pizza would easily have a decent amount of vegetables to count as a 'serving', but school pizzas consist of a 5x7 inch slab of steam-rolled bread with the aforementioned two spoonfuls of thin ketchup, a layer of 'processed cheese food', and maybe a sprinkling of something that looks like ground meat or dried-out pepperoni.

Precisely.  Public school lunches are a complete failure in regards to nutrition and general tastiness, in my opinion.  I feel especially bad for the schools that have less budget than others!  I wouldn't give some of that stuff to my cat.  I'll probably end up being that parent that takes all of my son's friends out for a REAL lunch once a week LOL - presuming their parents didn't mind.  O:) 

Iniquitous

Sorry, pizza is not a vegetable. And the pizza they serve in school certainly has no vegetables on it. I still vividly remember my high school lunches. Two entrée options, one of which was always cheese pizza. They didn’t even have pepperoni on it, and it tasted like greasy cardboard. And nearly every child chose the pizza as their entrée. The one concession to nutrition that my school made (and was successful with) was a salad bar.

As for potatoes/fries? Sorry, it might be a vegetable but it is not a ‘good’ vegetable. The carbohydrates in potatoes turns to sugar in the body roughly 2 hours after eating - thus not the best thing in the world for kids to eat a lot of. Add in that fries are fried with a lot of oil and it is even worse for the body.

But, this isn’t the first time Congress has declared something a vegetable that common sense says isn’t. Late 1981, Reagan administration, Congress declared ketchup a vegetable - hence the ‘tomato paste on pizza is a vegetable’ thing now.

It’s sad and one of the reasons that I made my kids’ lunches for as long as I could get them to agree to carrying their lunch in.




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Izzie Aditi

Wait...they serve(d)PIZZA at your schools?! They served brown bread with either cheese or some kind of meat at my primary school if you hadn't brought your own. *puzzled look* I'm not even that old, primary school was..ehh..16 years ago for me ??? ???

* Izzie Aditi looks around in confusion.

edit: I'm not American, but still. WHAT?!
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Lilias

In Greek schools there was no lunchtime. In my day, we had morning and afternoon shifts, so we were either out by 1.30 or went in at 2pm, so lunch was always at home. There was just a canteen with snacks (like crisps and doughnuts) for break time. Those have been upgraded since.

At my son's preschool, afternoon shifts are required to bring their own packed lunch (morning shifts are offered snacks and a drink), and we were warned at the beginning that sweets were not allowed and would be confiscated.
To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.
To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,
and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,
and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.
~Wendell Berry

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