Okay. Obvi I am not the healthiest person on the planet. (Oh, how I wish!) But I do have certain standards for feeding my family that I make every attempt to follow. The biggest one is avoiding as much processed, yucky, chemical-y gunk as possible. To the point that even Jack will ask me, "Mommy? Does this applesauce have chemicals in it?" before he puts it in the cart. Yes, really. Because if I can, I'd rather we all eat less chemicals and more actual food. We are Americans, who like to eat, and can't always afford to buy organic, fresh stuff, so we do eat junk, as well. I'm definitely not going to lie and say we're perfect - just look at me. It's obvious that I don't eat purely healthy foods. LOL
But!! What got me going today is Jack's preschool. Now, when we signed him up, they gave us a sample menu, and told me that for his birthday, they don't allow cakes, cupcakes, cookies, etc. They have alternative healthful treats that I can bring in, if I want. The assistant director was eager to tell me how they serve healthy meals and snacks. Milk with every meal, no juice.
And today, as I'm leaving, I see them setting up the breakfast cart. With SunnyD. Ummm... Now, I've always thought the stuff was gross. A weird, syrupy texture along with a strange tart sweet flavor that doesn't really mimic good ol' OJ. But then I thought, "Well... if you're going to give my kid anything other than water or milk, shouldn't it be 100% juice?" I kept going, figuring maybe they'd changed the formula for SunnyD and I'd look it up when I got home. Which, I did. And... they didn't. It's got tons of Vitamin C, sure!! But it's made up of the following ingredients:
CONTAINS: WATER, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP AND 2% OR LESS OF EACH OF THE FOLLOWING: CONCENTRATED JUICES (ORANGE TANGERINE, APPLE, LIME, GRAPEFRUIT), CITRIC ACID, ASCORBIC ACID (VITAMIN C), THIAMIN HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B1), NATURAL FLAVORS, MODIFIED CORNSTARCH, CANOLA OIL, SODIUM CITRATE, CELLULOSE GUM, ACESULFAME POTASSIUM, NEOTAME, SODIUM HEXAMETPHATE, POTASSIUM SORBATE AND SODIUM BENZOATE TO PROTECT FLAVOR, YELLOW #5, YELLOW #6.
Now, there are so many things wrong with that. First of all, the first two ingredients are water and high fructose corn syrup. Not even sugar. A chemical sugar. Why? Why must everything be so overprocessed and science-y and chemical-y? Ugh!! And oil?! You need oil to make this beverage? My kid is drinking oil. Seriously. Ew. I just... I can't... Ugh!!! So freaking gross. What's wrong with just plain ol':
CONTAINS: JUICE FROM ORANGES
And here is where I start overthinking it. Is it reasonable for me to ask the school to refrain from serving this to my child? (Not to mention how it violates their advertisement of only serving healthy foods.) Or is it one of those things that isn't worth the fight? I mean, it's not as if the kid doesn't ever have processed food. Or high fructose corn syrup. More that I prefer him to have real, fresh options when available. Am I going to be able to stop him from ever having chocolate popsicles? No. But why give him SunnyD when he can have real orange juice? (BTW - while I'm sure they do make chocolate popsicles from fresh ingredients, it is extremely hard to find - I've looked.) It's one of those mom things that we struggle with: What is the best thing for my child? Am I being a good mom or an overprotective weirdo? So... I'll probably ask the teacher how often they have SunnyD or anything besides milk. If it's occasional, I'll let it go. What do y'all think?
What's up with their false statement of "milk with every meal". I would be more annoyed that they told me that then I witnessed with my own eyes something else being served. I think its more about that than anything else.. Right? Not so much that you are thinking your over protective, just annoyed they told you one thing then you saw something else?
ReplyDeleteIt's a bit of both, I think... I don't like to give him overprocessed crap but the biggest issue is definitely their false statements. And the arrogance which with those lies were told. As if I were plying my child with junk food at every turn and THEY were going to be the teachers of all things healthy. In reality, their menu isn't nearly as healthy as what I feed him.
ReplyDeleteNow I'm irritated all over again! LOL