Starving our Children

I love that the newspaper publishes what our kids are eating for lunch. Have a look.

TODAY

Chicken tenders w/roll or sloppy joe

SIDE DISH: Green beans; creamed potatoes; peaches

Chicken tenders or sloppy joe. It was the chicken tenders that got Jamie Oliver involved in Britain, and resulted in better meals for the kids throughout the country. The peaches are probably canned in corn syrup, so they might as well be a Snickers bar for the high sugar content and lack of nutritional value. Same with the creamed potatoes, which probably have a thumb-sized dollop of fat in each serving.

TUESDAY

Chicken sandwich or corn dog

SIDE DISH: Steamed broccoli; corn; applesauce

Steamed broccoli and corn are good. Applesauce is okay, unless it has sugar added, then it's a desert. Chicken sandwich is probably breaded and full of fat; and, corn dog...seriously, you're giving them corn dogs???

WEDNESDAY

Pizza or quesadillas

SIDE DISH: Spanish rice; fresh carrots & cucumbers; oranges

The side dishes are not bad except that a serving of rice has about 40 grams of carbs and no fiber, so it is basically like eating a Snicker's bar. The pizza is probably nutritionally deficient, but tons of simple carbs in the crust, fatty cheese and oils. Quesadillas could be a great meal, but I doubt these are packed full of peppers, onions, eggplant, and the like.

THURSDAY

Taco salad or turkey hoagie

SIDE DISH: Shredded lettuce/diced tomatoes; pintos; pineapple

Nothing really redeeming here, again.

FRIDAY

Hot dog w/trimmings or fish sandwich

SIDE DISH: Baked beans; coleslaw; apple

Again with the hot dogs? Fish sandwich is probably deep fried, but at least has some nutritional value, if it isn't a garbage fish that they are buying on the cheap. Baked beans have lots of protein, but these probably have high carbs because of the sauce. Same with coleslaw, probably lots of mayo with bad fat content.

I want you to ask yourself if this is good enough for our kids? Is it? Because I don't think it is. I think it sucks. To prove my point, I was going to show the prison menus for this week because everyone knows that prisoners eat better than students. But, lo and behold, I couldn't find the prison menus anywhere online.

Do you wonder why the majority of Americans are fat? You've just stared it in the face. We feed our kids fat, we cut down on their exercise, we put TVs in their rooms, video games in their rooms, and drive them a block to see a movie. Our kids are fat because of us. The least we could do is give them a shot at good health by teaching them good eating standards, but no, we've got them eating crud from start to finish. Way to go us!