DavidS
Anti-Tea Party Member
Your child.
Earlier this year in California, a law was made official that banned smoking with a minor in the car. If someone did it, they could get a fine of up to $100. Second hand smoke is shown that after an extended period of time of exposure to cause lung cancer and other respiratory problems in some individuals.
Not currently on the law books in any state, nor is it being proposed in any state, are laws forbidding parents to feed their children fast food.
Why is that?
Because fast food joints employ tens of thousands of people, donate millions of dollars to charity, and are multi-billion dollar corporations... meaning that they are one of the best customers to the federal government.
My friends, there is a conflict of interest going on.
The other day I had an opportunity to visit a school cafeteria. Do you know what kind of food was served in this cafeteria? Pizza. Chocolate milk. Cookies. Cakes. Mac & Cheese. There were no vegetables, the fruit couldn't have been less fresh... there were more brownish apples than reddish or greenish apples and they looked dull.
The number one problem in America today is obesity. I should know - I suffer from it myself. My parents are morbidly obese and I'm getting on my way up there. But the decisions in food choice that I make today were not just the result of living in a home with massive portions and no vegetables. When I was growing up in school, we had Pizza Hut cater to our school, which meant fresh pan pizza every day and not the junk that our school made. The school cafeteria carried soda, chocolate milk or whole milk, mac & cheese, sloppy joe, tacos, burgers, hot dogs... you name it. It all came from food corporations that had contracts with the school for the lowest possible budget because states slash budgets of schools all the time. The food was prepared in the plants by the manufacturer, then frozen and shipped to the schools to be served sometime that month. THAT MONTH! Our kids are eating months-old food that was frozen and then just randomly heated up!
Yes, our teachers can teach us all they want about health and nutrition and making the right choices as required by the federal government. But when a kid exits that class and heads over for lunch is presented with a chocolate milk and a slice of pizza for $2.50 -- what is the kid going to do????
It is my sincere hope that with the health reform, we eliminate, not reduce, ELIMINATE this kind of garbage in schools. It's the ultimate do as I say not as I do... a school teaches you about good health and nutrition, but then they can't afford to actually give it to you! Education is not learned by sitting in a 20 x 20 class room in a 2 foot desk with a book in hand. Education is learned by ACTION, by DOING. And if a child is presented with fresh, organic produce that's prepared for them in a tasty way, they'll choose that ONLY if they don't have to compete with pizza and burgers every lunch.
A child grows up with high fructose corn syrup, artificial flavoring and coloring in almost every breakfast cereal they eat. Frosted flakes? Cinnamon Toast Crunch? "Apple" Jacks? Then they go to a school and eat pizza and chocolate milk for lunch. Then they come home and are served with overwhelming portion sizes of foods prepared with butter and salt that have probably been deep fried or cooked in oil and we wonder why obesity is such a problem in this country!
We cannot rely on people who have been, in a way, brainwashed on what to serve their children for breakfast and dinner, because 2 out of 3 choices are completely unhealthy for a kid. The education and the ACTION must start at the school and our school budgets must be overhauled IMMEDIATELY so that they contract with corporations to serve lunch to our students that is actually HEALTHY!
Earlier this year in California, a law was made official that banned smoking with a minor in the car. If someone did it, they could get a fine of up to $100. Second hand smoke is shown that after an extended period of time of exposure to cause lung cancer and other respiratory problems in some individuals.
Not currently on the law books in any state, nor is it being proposed in any state, are laws forbidding parents to feed their children fast food.
Why is that?
Because fast food joints employ tens of thousands of people, donate millions of dollars to charity, and are multi-billion dollar corporations... meaning that they are one of the best customers to the federal government.
My friends, there is a conflict of interest going on.
The other day I had an opportunity to visit a school cafeteria. Do you know what kind of food was served in this cafeteria? Pizza. Chocolate milk. Cookies. Cakes. Mac & Cheese. There were no vegetables, the fruit couldn't have been less fresh... there were more brownish apples than reddish or greenish apples and they looked dull.
The number one problem in America today is obesity. I should know - I suffer from it myself. My parents are morbidly obese and I'm getting on my way up there. But the decisions in food choice that I make today were not just the result of living in a home with massive portions and no vegetables. When I was growing up in school, we had Pizza Hut cater to our school, which meant fresh pan pizza every day and not the junk that our school made. The school cafeteria carried soda, chocolate milk or whole milk, mac & cheese, sloppy joe, tacos, burgers, hot dogs... you name it. It all came from food corporations that had contracts with the school for the lowest possible budget because states slash budgets of schools all the time. The food was prepared in the plants by the manufacturer, then frozen and shipped to the schools to be served sometime that month. THAT MONTH! Our kids are eating months-old food that was frozen and then just randomly heated up!
Yes, our teachers can teach us all they want about health and nutrition and making the right choices as required by the federal government. But when a kid exits that class and heads over for lunch is presented with a chocolate milk and a slice of pizza for $2.50 -- what is the kid going to do????
It is my sincere hope that with the health reform, we eliminate, not reduce, ELIMINATE this kind of garbage in schools. It's the ultimate do as I say not as I do... a school teaches you about good health and nutrition, but then they can't afford to actually give it to you! Education is not learned by sitting in a 20 x 20 class room in a 2 foot desk with a book in hand. Education is learned by ACTION, by DOING. And if a child is presented with fresh, organic produce that's prepared for them in a tasty way, they'll choose that ONLY if they don't have to compete with pizza and burgers every lunch.
A child grows up with high fructose corn syrup, artificial flavoring and coloring in almost every breakfast cereal they eat. Frosted flakes? Cinnamon Toast Crunch? "Apple" Jacks? Then they go to a school and eat pizza and chocolate milk for lunch. Then they come home and are served with overwhelming portion sizes of foods prepared with butter and salt that have probably been deep fried or cooked in oil and we wonder why obesity is such a problem in this country!
We cannot rely on people who have been, in a way, brainwashed on what to serve their children for breakfast and dinner, because 2 out of 3 choices are completely unhealthy for a kid. The education and the ACTION must start at the school and our school budgets must be overhauled IMMEDIATELY so that they contract with corporations to serve lunch to our students that is actually HEALTHY!
