School Cafeteria Lunches Serve Up A Big Bowl of Nonsense

by Hector Diaz, PhD
Food Science Researcher

Parents are scared. Kids are scared. Schools are nervous. What's happening in the cafeteria these days? It's the great food shakeup, if you want to call what school cafeterias serve "food."

They are serving smaller sports drinks, baked "fries" and whatnot. But, according to nutritionists who aren't in cahoots with the major food corporations (namely registered dietitians; read the ADA, eatright.org, website to see who their sponsors are, because it will surprise you, in a bad way. The list includes Pepsico, drug companies, Kellogg's, General Mills, Mars candy, and others of that ilk.), the food shakeup is way off target. It protects corporations such as sugar growers, Coca Cola, Sara Lee, et. al., while it abuses our children. That's right, abuses. What else can you call it when profit comes first and the health of children comes second? Until we face this corporate-dietitian-school triad, then we're just the effect of lip service.

The biggest problem with children's health these days is obesity, diabetes, tooth decay and attention deficit. What is the food connection with these diseases?

Author of Evil Genius in the Garden of Eden, and Man Cannot Live on Vitamins Alone (amazon.com), Dr. Vic Shayne, nutritionresearchcenter.org, says, "Clearly, health professionals and food science researchers whose work and statements are not tainted by corporate influence and paybacks understand that sugars are at the bottom of the major childhood health problems. Sugars. Carbohydrate foods (carbs are sugars) are to blame. So instead of going after the sugars, which are the backbone of the food giants, educators and dietitians are going after fats and quantities. This is all wrong and hardly solves anything. If they really had children's health in mind, they would get rid of the sugars and the artificial ingredients. Cookies, cakes, candy, sodas, flavored drinks, cup cakes, birthday cakes, ice cream, chocolate bars, Jell-O and the like are at the bottom of it all. Reducing the sizes of slices and portions doesn't get rid of the sugar or the cravings, but switching from pudding to sliced almonds does.

"These people are EDUCATORS, for heaven's sake," says Dr. Shayne, "of all people they should understand that we need to revamp the system and educate people. Let them understand the connection between sugars and disease."

Read the following excerpt from a recent article on the subject (The School Cafeteria, on a Diet, New York Times, Andrew Martin):

As students return to school this week, some are finding unusual entries on the list of class rules: fewer fried foods, smaller servings and no cupcakes.

School districts across the country have been taking steps to make food in schools healthier because of new federal guidelines and awareness that a growing number of children are overweight.

In California, deep fryers have been banned, so chicken nuggets and fries are now baked. Sweet tea is off the menu in one Alabama school. In New Jersey, 20-ounce sports drinks have been cut back to 12 ounces.

Food and beverage companies have scrambled to offer healthier alternatives in school cafeterias and vending machines, and some of the changes have been met with a shrug by students. The whole-wheat chocolate-chip cookies? “Surprisingly, the kids have kind of embraced them,” said Laura Jacobo, director of food services at Woodlake Union schools in California.

But some parents say that by cracking down on cupcakes in the classroom to celebrate birthdays and Halloween, school officials have crossed a line.

On top of the practical question of how PTAs and drill teams can raise the money that will no longer be earned with bake sales, there is a matter closer to the heart, where the cupcake holds strong as a symbol of childhood innocence and parental love.

What's wrong with this picture?
Dr. Shayne says,

Any biochemist worth his salt will tell you that sugars, when not metabolized in the human body, will eventually be stored as fat. Also, sugars lead to pancreatic problems, attention deficiency and mineral deficiencies, among other things. People eat sugars and they get fat. Whole wheat pizza is still a carbohydrate food. If you don't want to be fat, then don't eat carbohydrate foods. Instead, eat lots of green vegetables, organically grown foods, lean meats, nuts and seeds. The educators aren't educating. People are more concerned that they will be sacrificing their 'fun' instead of being allowed to understand that today's fun equals tomorrow's heart attack or diabetes.

Surely, no sensible parent wants this for their child. There's no fun in diabetes, diabetic blindness, or the inability to think clearly. In the not too distant past, corporate America resisted getting rid of lead in paint and succeeded in defaming the doctor who fought for our children. Now we are seeing the same type of nonsense that's making cafeterias switch to smaller portions instead of getting rid of the real problem — carbohydrates.