Dear Readers,
Since one of us grew up there, we feel we have the right to say that California is a strange place. It’s on the cutting edge when it comes to environmental and energy issues, and is the hotbed of the so-called liberal elite. But it is also the state that elected both Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger, and just passed a ballot proposition reversing the legality of same-sex marriage. The latest salvo in the food and nutrition wars also comes from the kooky left-coast state, in the form of the outlawing of the school bake sale.
In the recent New York Times article, Bake Sales Fall Victim to Push for Healthier Foods, Patricia Leigh Brown reports that the school bake sale is “fast becoming obsolete” as a result of strict nutrition standards governing public schools that restrict the percentages of sugar, fat and saturated fat in foods sold on campus during the school day. California may have started this trend by passing this strict nutrition law in 2005 and putting it into effect in July 2007, but nationwide, more and more school districts are adopting similar nutrition standards, some even tougher than California’s.
The movement, of course, is fueled by concern over obesity rates in America. As we have noted in our post, Should College Dining Halls Post Calorie Counts?, the goals of well-intentioned anti-obesity crusaders can sometimes conflict with those of people suffering from eating disorders. This is especially clear in the Times’s account of an Oakland, CA elementary school teacher who taught her students about “good foods” versus “bad foods,” and offered them healthy snacks.
We’re all for healthy snacks, but telling kids that they shouldn’t eat certain foods makes these foods more enticing to some and makes others kids feel guilty for enjoying these foods. A very good predictor of risk for developing an eating disorder, in fact, is when one begins to categorize foods as “good” and “bad.” We need to teach kids to enjoy balanced meals including dessert and moderately sized snacks. It’s consuming too many calories that causes obesity, not eating so-called “bad” foods.
Demonizing and banning certain foods, we fear, will lead to an increase in both eating disorders and obesity.
Labeling foods as "good" or "healthy," may seem pretty benign, but it can be as harmful as demonizing foods containing high percentages of sugar or saturated fat. We have seen kids who feel that as long as a food is good for them they can eat unlimited quantities, a practice that can result in a variety of physiological problems, including bulimia, binge eating disorder and obesity.
The bottom line: these schools are making a big mistake by banning bake sales and preaching the gospel of good versus bad foods. Several recent studies even suggest that schools may not play as big of a role in the way kids eat as most people believe. Check out this recent New York Times story, Are Schools Really to Blame for Poor Eating? to read more about these studies, which seem to indicate that no matter what the school’s nutrition policies, the biggest unwanted weight gain among students occurs during the summer, when school is not in session. Hear that, parents?
Take care,
Marcia and Nancy
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