Class was in session before school started this morning.
Knowing I was going to be bringing my nephew & niece to school today, I picked up fresh fruit, veggies and meat for their lunches. I sliced everything up and arranged it all neatly into containers making their food quick to eat. Kids eat with their eyes as most people do and so creating a lunch full of colour while still being nutritious is important to me. Quickly the dynamic changed. My niece was putting prepackaged snacks in her lunch and said “Auntie, it doesn’t all fit!” I told her that what she was adding was unnecessary. She didn’t understand why. I pointed out that those weren’t healthy choices and the sugar content in each package. I explained that these “snacks” are packaged the way they are with fun colours, dyes and designs to make things look attractive and is geared towards kids. I pointed out the sunglasses on the Goldfish package and told her there are 29 grams of carbs in the pouch. She said “but carbs are good for you.” I agreed but interjected that while carbs are good; those carbs shouldn’t come from prepackaged food and should instead be nutritious like berries.
What’s unfortunate is this is the norm. Kids are taught from a young age that if they’re hungry to go grab a snack which usually comes out of a box instead of a fridge or garden. They aren’t educated on how to fuel their bodies properly. They in turn become addicted to sugar. Soon these children become adults who are still addicted to sugar leading to all sorts of problems. Sugar is the root cause to so many diseases and ailments.
We need to stop the madness! A little food prep goes a long way. Then there’s the discussion to the cost of food. Sugar is dirt cheap and wreaks havoc. There are ways around paying a big dollar sign for nutritious food. There’s foraging, gardening, eating produce that’s in season, freeze drying, splitting the cost of a farm animal to be consumed, watching for deals and the list goes on.
These habits start young. The young are our future. We need to do better today so we can have a better tomorrow.
