After reading the comments in my guest post at Fed Up With School Lunch I feel I should explain myself a little better.
Many fruit cups are packed with syrup or "light syrup", even rinsed they still hold more sugar and preservatives than a piece of fresh fruit. However, there are fruit cups packed in natural juices which are a better alternative but still do not compare to fresh fruit or even frozen, dried or freeze dried fruit.
My main "beef" is that eating is a learning experience. If you saw the episode of Jamie Oliver Food Revolution where an entire classroom of kids could not correctly identify the most basic of fruits and vegetables, you know what I'm talking about. Food is so processed and prepackaged now that we are almost completely removed from it's original state. I don't want to be partially responsible for a generation of kids who could not survive without the convenience items the world of consumerism has forced on us.
My other issue is the waste factor. One preschool I worked in started saving the plastic fruit cup part to recycle and use as paint cups for kids, in a few weeks with only 20 kids we had half a shelf of stacked cups. Normally this plastic goes without being recycled or re-purposed, I may not be one of those people who is obsessed with "being green", but I am repulsed by the amount of trash a daycare can generate. Many parts of a typical kids lunch end up in the trash, the juice box, the plastic baggies, the fruit and pudding cups and go-gurt tubes...but cutting back on one thing like substituting a fresh fruit for the cup can make an impact.
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I just discovered your blog from Fed Up. I wish you has been my daughter's caretaker. When I sent in tofu, avocado, broccoli, etc, I was told she wanted "real food" such as chicken nuggets, hot dogs, etc. I hit the roof!
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately the field of child care is also a dumping ground for uneducated people who can't get other jobs. But thankfully that is beginning to change.
ReplyDeleteI found you from there as well (former teacher, now mom to my 7 & 4 year olds).
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, but too many people hide behind the "they are picky" reason to just be lazy. Real food takes longer and involves a little more thought process than dumping a lunchable, a pudding cup & canned fruit in a bag, but the *vast* majority of typical children are not going to starve themselves. We have exactly two choices at our house, we always have--take it or leave it. But leave it means come see me at the next regularly scheduled mealtime, not before.
Besides all that, let's say we're talking daycare. That's 5 lunches that are less than optimal. Now, any average family probably eats out once or twice a week, and a lot of breakfasts aren't perfectly balanced either (I'm guilty here, my kids like carb-based breakfasts). So how many meals are really not all that great? I try to make sure lunches are, so that when we do have a less than optimal dinner, I know that it's not the second lousy meal they've had that day.
I can't believe the response you're getting over the fruit cup thing on Fed Up. Do parents really think that a sugary cup of heat-processed unidentifiable chunks is equivalent to fresh fruit (or even frozen or dried or freeze-dried fruit)? Ridiculous. And that some parents couch it in the argument that "you don't know because you don't have kids" is even more ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteAnd besides that: As the aunt of a woman who transitioned her child from formula onto the Looney Tunes-themed frozen dinners for toddlers, I'd like to kill the executives from the big corporations that advertise this junk (and the junk like "go-gurt" and fruit cups and "juice" boxes that are 3% juice) to ignorant parents. Grrrr.
all I can say is I appreciate parents like you! :) Thanks
ReplyDeleteMy child has sensory issues that make textures and flavors *really* difficult, feeding her is VERY challenging, she's the ultimate picky eater (we have a lot of issues to deal with re: sensory processing). If I were one of those "eat what I give you or nothing" parents, every single meal would be a battle, it just wouldn't work. That said, I agree with your opinion about fruit cups! My daughter loves those things and every once in a while I will buy her a pack, as a treat. For her, it's like I bought her some ice cream or something. Normally, I just buy oranges or apples, or whatever, cut them up, stick them in a container and that's it. It takes me about one minute more to do that than take a fruit cup out of the cupboard, it's cheaper and less wasteful. We joined a CSA recently and the fruit we get is AMAZING, not like any fruit we've ever bought at the grocery store. Not even close. It's a little expensive, but not as expensive as fruit cups!
ReplyDeleteI'm "anti-fruit cup" too. Don't worry if people get up in arms about small things. I think it was a very interesting discussion!
ReplyDeleteOh I'm not worried lol. I am entitled to my opinion and if they want to get defensive that's their problem not mine.
ReplyDeleteDried fruit is not necessarily healthier than canned fruit for young children. In addition to being a choking hazard for toddlers, it sticks to their teeth and promotes decay in much the same way caramels or other sticky candy does. Dried fruit has a very high sugar content because the natural sugars are concentrated after the water has been removed by drying. A small box of raisins has 25g of sugar while one peach half in juice has 10g (and that's assuming you drink the juice too).
ReplyDeleteThere is a continuum here. Yes, fresh and frozen are usually better than canned, but not always. Fruit canned immediately after picking can be "fresher" than fruit trucked in from another country to be sold or frozen days or weeks after picking. Canned fruit can have no preservatives while dried and fresh fruits can be treated with chemicals to prevent molding. Fresh fruit can be contaminated with bacteria while canned fruit is heated to a temperature which kills bacteria and fungi. The point being, canning is not inherently evil or even unhealthy.
I completely agree with you about the mess and waste of individual plastic fruit cups, although honestly after working in preschools I think far too many teachers focus on how messy and inconvenient the children can be (not letting them touch a glue bottle or hovering over them every second they are painting or complaining in front of the kids how horrible their parents are for sending a messt go-gurt)
However, I think if you had presented your opinions about canned fruit in a more balanced way, it wouldn't have set off so much criticism. It's a cup of peaches or mandarin oranges, not fruit by the foot for goodness sakes! Picking on a decent-if-not-perfect healthy food simply distracted too many people from your larger message, which was an important one.
A lot of what MJS is true, however there are pros and cons to almost everything. Many people are unaware that dried fruits specifically are an amazing source of iron, which is important because a typical child is usually not thrilled with green leafy vegetables or lean red meat. Canning fruit also decreases the amount of vitamins, minerals and fiber. I am not dismissing fruit in cans, I think it can be a reasonable substitute in the off seasons, its plastic fruit cups that I dislike. A can can be recycled.
ReplyDeleteI'm waiting for someone, anyone to complain about the fruit gummy snacks. I hate gummy treats. Love dried fruit.
ReplyDeleteI teach 3 year olds. I with hold sweets until after they eat a significant portion of the "growing food" their parents pack. I eat with the kids. We talk about what I've brought, what is growing food, who has carrots?, who else is drinking water? Every moment is a learning moment.
I'm glad gummy snacks are something I haven't seen much of, except for one unfortunate incident where a mother packed gummies for her 19 month old...me and the other teacher looked at each other and gave him one to eat while we stood there and watched. He choked on it.
ReplyDeleteAt least fruit cups are better than Cheetos!
ReplyDeleteMy family owns a local liquor store in a pretty rundown area; I attended school in that area and I've helped out in the store... All students (preschoolers, kindergarteners, middleschoolers, highschoolers, etc) come in and buy candy bars, Hot Cheetos, mini frosted cakesters, icecream sandwiches, etc! Life in the "ghetto" is way different than life in a middle-class area. Kids here are in gangs, do drugs, get pregnant at 15, etc. I think the schools around here have a lot more to worry about (BUDGET CUTS, hello?!!!) than petty school fruit cups!!! *shakes head*
I completely agree with Anonymous (^right above^)!
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