Meeting with the Assistant Superintendent

This week, I finally had the opportunity to have a meeting with my son's school district assistant superintendent. I was so upset when I missed the first Wellness Council meeting, but the the assistant sup. was kind enough to email me an update on what was discussed and the major points that were made. Since I had about a million questions on that information, I set up a meeting instead of responding by email.

The meeting was about an hour long and I left it feeling positive... but impatient. I'm the kind of person who wants everything done rightnowimmediatly. What I learned over the course of the meeting is that I'm going to need to learn patience. It's not my strongest asset.

The good news is that things are moving along: 

• The district now has a Wellness website that includes information on the Wellness Policy and the Wellness Council. The lunch and breakfast menus are found there. There are also links to various websites, including the Alliance for a Healthier Generation.

• At the next School Board Meeting, the Board will receive the Wellness Council's recommendations. The recommendations are fairly neutral and mostly reinforce the Policy. I'm really happy about one recommendation in particular about the use of non-nutritious food rewards. I can share more about those recommendations with you once the Board has received and commented on them.

• The assistant superintendent will try to acquire the actual ingredient list for the school breakfast and lunch menus. I talked about the trans fats and loads of sugars that hide in the frozen veggie and fruit cups. 

• I was able to talk about the pop tarts, Frito boats and other decidedly unhealthy foods that are served as a "snack" during after school day care. Notes were taken and there will be follow up on this.

• The after school day care will be proactive about playing inside during what our neck of the woods refers to as "bad air days". (Yet another obstacle this valley faces that effects resident's ability to be active outside.)

These are all really good things! I am truly excited and happy about the progress we are making!  I'm trying to figure out my next steps. Should I get a group of like-minded parents together? Should I focus more on E's school and talk more with the principal? Maybe there are other local groups that I need to look at to see if there are other ways to volunteer my time?

I don't want to over-extend, but I can't sit on my hands either!  Do I have any readers that could tell me about what you've done or other ideas to make an impact on the community? For now, I'm going to go do more research!

USDA Permanently Changes School Lunch Rules to Allow More Sugar

My title isn't the headline I've been seeing on the news and it isn't what's been played up in press releases.

Thursday, the USDA permanently changed the meal requirements for the school lunch program. The USDA's news release states that they have, worked closely with schools and parents during the transition to healthier breakfasts, lunches and snacks. Based on public feedback, USDA has made a number of updates to school meal standards, including additional flexibility in meeting the daily and weekly ranges for grain and meat/meat alternates, which has been available to schools on a temporary basis since 2012.

The School Nutrition Associations (SNA) also posted a press release on their webpage which includes: School Nutrition Association (SNA) members applaud the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) new rule to permanently eliminate overly restrictive weekly limits on the grains and proteins served with school meals. Securing this reprieve became a primary focus of SNA’s 2013 advocacy efforts following negative impacts of weekly limits on meal planning and student participation.

     Updated nutrition standards for school meals, implemented in July 2012, included weekly grain and protein maximums, which inadvertently took a variety of healthy foods off the menu in school cafeterias.

     Many schools could not offer daily sandwich choices because serving two slices of whole-grain bread each day exceeded weekly grain limits, and salads topped with grilled chicken and low fat cheese surpassed weekly protein limits.

Does this sound good to you? Something seemed a little off to me... so I read the much longer, Final Rule on the Federal Register website.

I'll be honest, I should've paid more attention in those AP History and Government classes in high school, not too mention the gen ed classes I was unsuccessful at avoiding in college. Here is a snippet (SFA, by the way, is short for school food authority):

     When conducting administrative reviews, State agencies should consider any SFA compliant with the weekly ranges for grains and meats if the weekly minimums are met. SFAs continue to be required to meet the weekly minimum and maximum range requirements for calories and the other dietary specifications.

So, you can go ahead and give kids more of these kinds of foods (grains, protein), but you still can't go over the maximum calorie range and and you can't go below the minimum requirements for fruits and vegetables. Interesting.

But something else is listed here, too. This is another something that was made flexible and is now permanent. This section discusses the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) requirement that if frozen fruit is served, it contains no added sugar. Wonder why nobody is discussing this aspect?

     Since 2009, USDA has reduced the amount of added sugars in frozen fruits offered to States; however most frozen strawberries, peaches and apricots offered by USDA currently contain added sugar. USDA has reached out to industry concerning reformulating these frozen fruits products to eliminate sugar completely, and industry has been working on this issue since publication of the meal pattern rule. Reformulating some products has been challenging because sugar acts as an important ingredient in maintaining fruit flavor, appearance, texture and storability of certain frozen fruits. In addition, research on substitute sweeteners has not been successful in maintaining the color, flavor or texture of the fruit being tested.

     In response to these concerns, FNS issued SP 20-2012 on February 24, 2012 and a revised version on September 11, 2012 (http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/governance/Policy-Memos/2012/SP20-2012osr.pdf), providing SFAs the flexibility to continue to use frozen fruit products containing added sugar through SY 2013-14. This was later expanded in SP 49-2013 issued on June 25, 2013, to include both lunch and breakfast through SY 2014-15 (http://www.fns.usda.gov/sites/default/files/SP49-2013os.pdf). In an effort to ease burden on program operators, this flexibility was applicable to all frozen fruit products.

     Feedback on the memoranda has been positive with numerous requests to extend the flexibility for frozen fruit with added sugar. Thus far, research performed by several different processors for development of an acceptable no-sugar frozen fruit has resulted in an unacceptable product. Processors do not believe a short term solution is feasible as their research requires long term studies because many of the problems with frozen fruit do not develop until the products have been in storage for a reasonable time.

     In addition to the challenges associated with processing frozen fruit without sugar, allowing SFAs to use frozen fruit with added sugar will make it less complicated for SFAs to meet meal pattern requirements, and also expand the types of frozen fruit allowable in school meals. It is also consistent with canned fruits since some added sugar is allowed in canned products. Additionally, the calorie limits for meals help preserve the integrity of the updated nutrition standards, as schools have to plan menus and select products carefully, including frozen fruit with added sugar, in order to be in compliance with the standards.

     For those reasons, FNS is making this flexibility permanent by including it in this final rule at 7 CFR 210.7(d)(1)(iii)(B). Because ongoing compliance with the meal patterns is assessed during administrative reviews, FNS is further extending this flexibility by including it in the final rule at 7 CFR 210.18(g)(2)(vi). When conducting administrative reviews, State agencies should consider any SFA compliant with the meal pattern requirements even if the SFA serves frozen fruit containing added sugar. This flexibility is also applicable to fruit offered in the School Breakfast Program.

I've heard this argument before when it comes to chocolate milk. Adding sugar makes it more appealing and therefore more kids will drink their milk. But is the trade off worth it? Using sugar to make something that was once fairly healthy into an appealing, not-so-healthy thing is the slippery slope that leads to bad health and obesity.

All of this has given me a headache. To start, my guess is that kids may not like the new healthier food (and therefore not eat it and call it too little food) because it is new to them and there is little nutrition education to support and encourage dietary changes in schools. No, not all kids require the same amount of calories – active kids need more, more sedentary children need less, but I don't think that this is the problem. 

And let's go back to the part where no one is reporting on the added sugar business. Could it be that those parents that are concerned about their kids getting enough food at lunch wouldn't sing praises for more sugar? Yes. Who would be happy about that? The above referenced food processors.

There are two senators patting themselves on the back over this. Senator Mark Pryor (D) of Arkansas and Senator John Hoeven (R) of North Dakota. These two gentleman worked on the Sensible School Lunch Act, a bipartisan bill that provides school districts with greater flexibility in implementing rules for the NSLP and School Breakfast Program.

North Dakota? Arkansas? Call me a pessimist if you must. North Dakota's biggest industry is agriculture, followed closely by food processing. They are the second largest producer of sugar beets and the state produces much of the country's grains along with corn and beans. Arkansas has agriculture as a leading industry as well. They are the largest producer of turkeys, chicken broilers and rice in the United States.

Everyone has something to gain. Maybe they tell themselves its a win/win? The states can make money selling their agriculture commodities as well as processing the food and making sure sugar remains an ever-present ingredient. Oh, and they can also make sure the kiddos are getting enough “healthy food” to eat and aren't going hungry? I'm left feeling like its a step backwards in encouraging kids to eat more fruits and vegetables.

We can do better than this!

The First Day of 2014

New Year's Resolutions?

When it comes to this blog and my Facebook page, my desire is to inform and also change how we think about our food choices. I also want you to consider the choices that are made for others, mainly children, but also the unemployed and under employed, the disabled, and the elderly. In fact, in the coming year, you will find that my advocacy focus will be children. This doesn't mean that you can't apply the information to your adult self. We should all do that, too.

I hope to find a way to better communicate my thoughts.  I have all of these facts and opinions and ideas swirling around in my head, but I haven't quite mastered how to refine that information and put it on the page.

One Mom's 2014 goals:

• Write more and better. I want this to interest you. I want you to see what I see and decide to take action in your own home, neighborhood, school district, work place, etc.
• Convince you that it is very wise to be informed and knowledgeable about what you eat and drink. You can't really making a choice if you don't have all the information.
• Fight childhood obesity.
• Continue to work with E's school district to create a healthier environment at school as well as before and after school.
• Support other programs that are working to help kids stay healthy.
• Fight childhood hunger.
• Touch base with the local food policy council and see how I can continue to contribute.
• Volunteer my time with local charities.
• Feed my family good food and get more exercise.
• Grow food on my patio.
• Play outside with the kids.
• Make connections with other people that are fighting the food fight. One Mom can get awfully lonely sometimes.

Beyond that I want to: take more pictures, read more books, become a better cook, take a trip to the beach with my family, be sweeter to my friends, take up yoga, take up running, be okay with imperfection, be more patient, buy a bicycle, sing more, dance more, love, love, and love.

I hope this year brings us all good health and happiness.  Let's see what happens next!

-Morgan

Sugar Beets and My Grandmothers

Remember the beets I failed to make tasty in that vibrant pink dip? I should probably try to mend my relationship with the root, as it is probably the reason I exist.

A series of events got me thinking about the place where my parents histories converged. One was a comment on my Facebook page. A friend, Sandy, noted that beets are the number one crop in her part if Colorado. Then a few nights ago, my second cousin posted a beautiful and stark article about Nebraska that was published in the New York Times. This led me to think about my grandmothers. These two women, Betty and Margaret, have had a profound impact on who I am today.

Besides my obsession with food, I am a genealogy buff. Betty was, too. It was her initial research that gave me a head start and ignited my desire to know more about my people. Who were they? Where did they come from? What did they face? 

On Betty's side, I learned about the Volga Germans.  To sum it up, these folks were ethnic Germans living along the Volga River in Russia.  In the 1760's, Catherine the Great actively recruited immigrants and promised them land. Her manifesto promised the immigrants that they could maintain their culture and traditions. Betty's ancestors, the Kleins and Ellenbergers lived in this area and maintained their language, food and religion. For many generations, these families lived and farmed the land. In the late 19th century, the Russian army needed more participants and the Volga German's right of exemption from military practice was revoked. This and other events led the Volga Germans to pick up and move again. They were agriculturally focused and many moved to the Dakotas, Colorado and Nebraska. The Ellenbergers and Kleins settled in Nebraska and farmed.

The crop that Nebraska was boasting to entice folks to move there? Sugar beets.

Earlier this year, when the 1940s census was released, I was so excited to see where my grandparents were living. I found Margaret, living with her parents and three sisters, on the outskirts of a small town in Nebraska. The Gallegos family lived in the camps set up on the edges of sugar beet crops. Margaret's parents, both Mexican immigrants, worked in these fields. Life was ridiculously difficult and the family lived in poverty.

It is in that small town that my parents met. Their families, made of immigrants from different parts of the world, were drawn to Nebraska and the work that sugar beets promised. My mother's grandmother lived a few steps away from my father's parents. There, in Nebraska, many generations of my family were born - including my sister and I.

I think about my grandmothers when I try to figure out what it is that makes me such a fighter. Why can't I just mind my own business instead of fighting against the issues that I find so unjust? The Volga Germans and the Mexicans, that's why. The Volga Germans had to have had a sense of adventure, right? They picked up and made new homes in new lands more than once. They were willing to strike out for a better opportunity for their families. My family still makes the food of these ancestors (cabbage burgers, anyone?). Betty was always ready to learn something new and to seek out new experiences. I could never win a debate with her because she was so well read and so thoughtful. She taught me the value of knowledge, of learning. She taught me to question instead of accept. Betty and Margaret both lived through hardships and came out stronger because of them. Margaret and her Mexican family faced racism and from what I hear in hushed voices, they were looked down upon. Again, my Mexican ancestors struck out for a better life in America. Margaret taught me to do what I thought was right, despite what other people may think. Her experiences showed me that I should judge people less and be compassionate more. She taught me the value of empathy and reminded me to put myself in other's shoes. She taught me the value of never giving up. We still cook her food, too. Nobody I know makes enchiladas the way my family does.

It is only upon recent reflection (this happens as you get older doesn't it?), that I realize that their lessons were with me all along. Taking a stand and fighting the good fight are in the genes. Facing down those that think you won't make it and using your own wits and intellect to prove them wrong? It's written in the stars.

So, yeah. I may have to give beets another chance.

Life Doesn't Always Go As Planned

This morning, while trying to balance too many things, I dropped a small container of salsa. It spilled on the ground. I stared at the spilled salsa for a few too many seconds. I told myself that this wasn't a sign. Just because I dropped the salsa, it didn't mean that today was going to go poorly. I told myself this. I tried really hard to believe it.

The District Health Council was to meet at 3:15 today.

At 2:58, I received a call that E was laying on the couch at day care, complaining of a stomach ache. I had to pick him up. My husband was at work. I called and left a message with the assistant superintendent to let everyone know that I would be late.

But E was feeling pretty warm and he had a rash on his stomach. That with stomach pains? He needed to see a doctor. My husband could leave early to take him, but how long would waiting at urgent care take? If it took too long, who would pick Baby O up from day care? How long would my meeting last? Surely not longer than 5pm?

I tried to make decisions quickly, but it just wasn't going to happen.  I called the district again at 3:45 - I wasn't going to make it to the meeting.

My son, by the way, is OK. His fever spiked in the waiting room. 103 degrees. The doctor called it a virus. Medicine for fever, medicine for rash. He came home hungry, which I took as a good sign. Right now he is content in the living room, watching a favorite television show. He tells me his stomach doesn't hurt anymore. I am so relieved that he will be OK and that the rash didn't turn out to be anything serious.  It makes me sad when my kids are sick and feel miserable. I always wish I could fix them up with a magic wand.

But...

I didn't make it to the meeting. I wasn't there.

What did they talk about? Are they convinced that this is necessary? Are they excited about The Alliance program? Did they take an honest look at the environment of their schools? Are we meeting again soon? Is there an action plan?

I wasn't there. I couldn't talk about food rewards, no recess punishments, pop tarts at daycare, school gardens, nutrition education, ice cream socials, or trans fats in frozen school lunches from Chicago. What did they talk about??? Did they touch on any of that? Did I lose my one opportunity?

I am disappointed. I need to go hug my son and remind myself that taking care of my kids is priority one and that it is alright to miss one thing to take care of something more immediate.  Tomorrow is another day, right?