WHAT ARE WE FEEDING OUR KIDS?

I asked my girls what they were having for breakfast this morning and they looked at each other with a smile...they knew i was expecting them to say "Cheerios" so i asked again and they said, "turnovers, but mom, they are sooo good! We have to have one! They're filled with strawberries or apples!" "That is not fruit when it's in that form and you have a junk food lunch for your field trip" I said...We all know what they will be having for breakfast anyway! Turnovers for school breakfast???? ug.

That's it people, I am going to figure something out here and start advocating for our kids! It's been on my mind ever since Jamie Oliver came out with the Food Revolution show, and it's really nagging me!

I rely on school lunch! It helps so much with our budget because our kids get free breakfast and lunch. There are choices that are good...but temptations I cant really expect my kids to say no to! I think they do for the most part, but really, i couldnt have when i was a kid, especially if my mom didnt give me junk very often. Which she really didn't, so I am sure i chugged down all the chocolate milk i could and ate everything on the menu that wasn't good for me! and look at me now!

If we dont try, change wont happen! I am going to do something, even if they don't make the changes, at least they know there's someone who sees and cares! Maybe it'll plant a seed, I don't know, but I do know that Child obesity is on the rise! I know that I raised an obese child! And I know I need to stand up for change! Maybe this will help me in my own journey with getting healthy.

I will say that there is a healthy choice on the menu every day. The can have a sub sandwich with lettuce or whatever else is on the salad bar. If they take off the nasty processed cheese and dont put the mayo on it, and fill it with veggies...it's a great lunch. I think they use whole wheat bread too...but expecting my kids to eat that every day is unrealistic! I know they wont...I would have to go to the school and make sure....and that is unrealistic too...and the chocolate milk, oh my gosh! Chocolate milk has more sugar that pop! At least with pop, there's no fat! I dont let my kids drink pop...maybe once in a while, but not often...but they were drinking chocolate milk every day until last year. I let them have it on Fridays and I hope they are being honest about it! But who knows!

from US New:

Schools, for example, play a paramount role in teaching kids lifestyle choices. Yet more than 70 percent allow kids to buy high-fat, salty, and sugared foods during lunch, and some 20 percent offer brand-name fast food as part of the USDA-supported school lunch or sell it a la carte. Hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza, and french fries are standard school fare. Few schools provide salad bars, in part because USDA reimbursement covers only one vegetable per meal. And 50 percent of middle schools and 70 percent of high schools have contracts with soft-drink companies to market sodas on campus. By age 14, 32 percent of girls and 52 percent of boys drink three or more 8-ounce soft-drink servings daily. Few kids meet guidelines for fruits and vegetables, yet they are eating more calories than their parents did as kids--243 more for boys and 123 more for girls. They're also moving less: Only 8 percent of elementary schools, 6.4 percent of junior highs, and 5.8 percent of high schools offer daily physical education.

Schools wonder why kids are so hyper and unruly....they are allowing the crap food in school but aren't eliminating one of the biggest causes. There have been kids put on medications for their behavior only to find it was diet....and they are off and doing perfectly great! What are we doing to our kids!!!???

Food dyes are chemicals & are the cause of a lot of behavioral problems too. We need to READ LABELS!

All of my 4 kids are reactive to food dyes and I bet yours are too! Meth is a chemical drug that we are all familiar with....food dyes are like giving our kids meth in small doses...and our kids are addicted to it!

I am guilty of feeding my kids mac-n-cheese form the box, but i always read the label! COSTCO has mac-n-cheese Kirkland brand, that is made form whole wheat pasta, and has no artificial coloring that looks and tastes just like any other box mac-n-cheese! Or Jar spaghetti sauce, buy Ragu...all ingredients are natural or naturally derived! You dont have to make homemade everything to eliminate these food dyes.

Lets talk about margarine...one molecule away from plastic!!! What are we doing to ourselves! But more importantly, our children!!!!

The following statements are form the FD&C:

The food dye that's generated the most controversy is Yellow Dye #5, Tatrazine. Yellow 5 has been demonstrated to provoke an allergic reaction in some people and there are FDA regulations that require all prescription medications to post a notice if they are formulated with Yellow 5.

The proper chemical name for Red40 is:
6-hydroxy-5-[(2-methoxy-5-methyl-4-sulfophenyl)azo]-2-naphthalenesulfonic acid
which is a terribly long word for a very tiny molecule. The chemical is often referred to as an "azo" dye.

and Red2 is a cancer causing agent...lab rats came down with cancer! arent we lucky the government has decided to ban it and companies are in the process of eliminating it?

Google food dyes and you will be blown away with what you learn!!!!

What do strawberry Jello, orange Koolaid, raspberry soda, grape popsicles, much candy and baked goods, most brands of ice cream, maraschino cherries, many snack foods, and most pet food have in common? They are laced with millions of pounds of artificial coal-tar based dyes with names such as Red 3, Blue 1, Blue 2, Green 3, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, and Red 40. Each year, Americans eat (as food dyes), swallow (as pill coatings or medicinal syrups) or rub on themselves (as cosmetics) 6.4 million pounds of these 7 dyes, mostly in food. Four of these food dyes (Red 3, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, and Blue 2) which make up over half of the food dyes used each year have been shown to cause cancer as have other dyes which are not used in food but are used in drugs or cosmetics.

Public Citizen Health Research Group,