Just emptied a Schoolbag
And I found the school lunch menu.
The healthy, nutritionally balanced, wholesome food our children are being fed every day.
One thing jumped off the page.
Yup ^^^ that old chestnut from the 80s.
And read about what Jamie Oliver is doing…again, bless his heart.
So in case you missed it…here is a blog from last year
Our thoughts on the matter…
I promise this is my LAST rant of the year…
I want to put this gently
But I imagine I won’t manage.
I have observed something this week,
and I wondered what you think about it.
I was in WHSmith the other day looking for a book.
And I saw the parenting section.
It was HUGE.
Which is good right?
New mums and dads wanting to educate themselves
so they could do the most important job
in the World, as well as they can.
I know our Nans didn’t have parenting books and
they seemed to manage OK.
(having said that, as a baby, my Nan once dangled my foot in a boiling cup of tea, and put deep heat on my va-jay-jay instead of nappy cream…)
But apart from that….
We’re still here?
But then there are loads of things that science and psychology has discovered since – so we evolve and move forwards.
With new, better, tested information.
So we get these little bundles
and make sure they have allergen-free bedding
and sleep on their backs
and super fancy car seats.
Everything smells nice!
And breast is best
we sterilise EVERYTHING
(until we first catch them licking the toilet seat
or getting their toys out of the bin
and realise maybe we had been a little bit anal)
But anyway – we are so careful.
And then there’s food.
There were SO many books on baby and toddler food
and weaning
baby-led weaning
no nuts, no dairy, nothing that will produce an
intolerance later on.
We puree butternut squash and asparagus
make sure there’s no salt
natural, organic, everything.
SO teeny little humans are getting 1st-class
nutrition to make them grow and sleep and feel happy.
Building tiny bones and teeth and muscles.
And then??
Project that forward a couple of years…
I wondered where potato waffles could possibly
fit into all this.
- sausages
- ice cream
- chips
- processed meat
- Pizza
- White Pasta
- Pasties
- Pudding everyday
- Angel Delight???
In our schools.
I am not surprised that Jamie Oliver was so frustrated.
Everything he tried to do has just slipped back.
Don’t get me wrong – it’s not terrible.
Some of what’s offered is absolutely fine.
And what those lunch staff do with the constraints they have is nothing short of miraculous.
But why shouldn’t it be SPECTACULAR?
A lunch assistant yesterday told me that she spends
the morning cooking a nutritious option
and most of it ended up in the bin
as Pizza was the other option….
Also – she said she can’t ‘make them eat up’.
I knew what she meant.
Mums would say – finish your carrots and cauliflower and you can go out to play.
Lunch assistants can’t.
Different story entirely..
I questioned this week on my local Mums FB group whether potato waffles really had a place on our school lunch menu.
I mean they are not terrible.
But they’re not that great.
Potato,
Rapeseed Oil,
Potato Granules,
Potato Starch,
Salt,
Stabiliser (E464)#,
White Pepper
Nothing dreadful.
Nothing nutritious…
But what’s wrong with a potato?
Or better yet a sweet potato?
Or a lovely hearty homemade soup?
Given that we have the majority of trainee humans in one place for upwards of 6 hours a day – wouldn’t it be best that school lunch were compulsory?
Unless they go to prison this is the only time in their lives that we have so many people compulsorily in the same place at once!
With economies of scale, wouldn’t that mean that schools
could buy well-sourced food at better prices, and if the only choice were healthy –
REALLY HEALTHY meals.
Couldn’t we make massive inroads into our country’s health?
Children could learn through growing the food cooking the food weighing, measuring and understanding the scientific processes involved in cooking.
Then eating it.
I know that happens a bit – but I mean RADICAL.
Massive emphasis on food and physical education.
Mindfulness so they can understand their emotions
and patterns.
Naturally and happily live the healthiest life they can
An hour of exercise a day before they start learning.
Science has known that would be the most effective way for a child to take in succeed.
Infants schools are providing free school meals to everyone.
YAYYYYY
But if everyone HAD to eat it – and it was REALLY healthy.. and we taught children how to cook and choose and eat.
and they we so well exercised, they were RAVENOUS for it.
(we have an army of amazing fitness instructors in the UK who simply aren’t teaching classes during the school day – they’d be happy to come in and do it!)
and we incentivised children to eat new things just as nutritionists do..
Repeatedly offering a tiny amount of a new food…
making it a game
or a challenge
award certificates, and stickers!!!
In the classroom, not just the dinner hall.
combine that with Mindfulness techniques to help children be wise and mentally robust enough to make good choices..
We could stop the obesity epidemic in its tracks.
(you watch anti social behaviour statistics too)
And save our country billions.
In the future.
Here are some comments made to me
from the mums on FB…
“she just won’t eat healthy stuff –
I’d rather she was eating something”
“a little of what you fancy does you good”
“what’s wrong with pizza?
Its just bread tomato and cheese”
“it’s nice to have a little treat like ice cream”
Again – I know what they’re saying.
But look at the ‘Kids’ menu’ when you go out for food.
- Fish Fingers,
- Nuggets,
- Sausages,
- Fried Fish
- Pizza,
- Chips,
- Beans or Peas.
Because they know that’s what they’ll sell.
If we exposed children – straight out of their butternut squash and asparagus puree phase,
To more flavours and textures and colours.
Excited them about good fresh food, so it was normal.
We’d have a whole generation who weren’t on a diet who understood how to choose and cook delicious healthy meals.
And wouldn’t think Muller Light Yoghurts were a healthy option.
I just wanted to understand how such a massive
sudden change happens
from well nourished 2 year olds to MacDonalds eating, sweet chewing, pudding expecting, fussy, limited eaters.
And how we can’t as a nation see that this obesity epidemic isn’t by chance?
The seventeen stone, diabetic lady who argued rather angrily that I was judging her parenting by suggesting that her 3 year old guzzling from a coke bottle…while he was eating chips out of a newspaper..
WASN’T a good thing –
was damn right.
I judge it to be very short of the mark.
But we need to help her.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
I initially wanted to try to do something about this issue.
But chillingly, what made me realise – that there is absolutely no point at all..
..is that I wouldn’t currently have the support of a the middle-class suburban mother either.
One told me that it was her right to put a Kit-Kat in the school lunch box.
She did it every day – and what’s wrong with Kit-Kats?
This problem is too huge.
Noone is going to volunteer.
No political party will actually have the nuts to properly take it on.
It would be unpopular and they would be out of office before the fruits of it (and savings) were seen.
So they tinker, and have little initiatives.
Which look like something is being done.
Lip Service
People. Don’t. Like. Change.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Why can’t we treat our children’s food with the care we gave it when they were babies.
Just because they can now TELL you they want a McFlurry – doesn’t mean you stop being in charge of their nutrition and health.
So it’s not education that is the problem
It’s the “a little of what you fancy won’t kill you”
attitude.
This is true.
*”Neither will a teaspoon of ant powder –
but I am sure you wouldn’t
send that in a lunch box.”
* © Claire Wakeford 2014
^^^^^^^^^^^^
So here it is…
Government have it within their power to BAN junk food advertising completely.
The way we ban rude mags and cigarettes being advertised/
We could tax their manufacturers to encourage them to produce healthier food.
I mean tax the heck out of them.
That way we could support parents while their children are transitioned through this stage…
We could offer cooking lessons to families with the money we would save from all treating some of the problems this would fix really quickly.
Or we could make it mandatory for those parents whose children are already showing signs of health problems connected with their weight.
We could educate this first wave of healthy children.
Help their parents get on board.
Nourish them and get them healthy.
And then by the time they have children many of these cycles would be broken.
The cycles, which statistics show us, mean the seventeen stone diabetic lady’s
five year old daughter
will be suffering the same weight and health issues in twenty years time
And so will her daughter.
No, potato waffles and Angel Delight are not the worst thing in the world
They are just an example of how we have set the bench mark for what should be
SO LOW
that it is basically a free-for-all.
Anything goes.
I want our children to have the best of everything.
Not the most expensive.
Just the best.
Health and happiness.
We could shuffle the school day and fit it in as they would be learning so much more efficiently.
Possibly lose RE? That’s just me. I feel that is a matter for parents.
Cut down on basket weaving?
There has to be some time savings somewhere.
If you want something enough – you can make it work.
We would have to WANT this.
We are at a tipping point.
The National Obesity Forum published their study.
More than 50% of adults will be OBESE by 2050.
That’s not just curvy, or overweight.
OBESE is a medical term
This is where we are heading.
Can you imagine how expensive that is going to be.
Just keeping people alive.
Who is going to do the work to pay for it?
Obesity brings with it some of the most
expensive illnesses to treat.
It impacts on everything from joint replacements,
heart disease, depression, reproductive health.
So which way do we go?
Up or down?
Forward or not?
Clean slate – start with our children and get it right for our grandchildren?
Or stay as we are and have them live in a World where every other person is obese.
This wouldn’t cost money.
It will save it.
BILLIONS OF IT.
We are interested in your thoughts.
Very interested.
Tanya & Claire
x