What is healthy?

Recently, a friend of mine sent a lunch to school with her kiddo.  The food 'police' at the school ended up taking away a fruit and nut scone.  This frustrated me a lot because I thought, "Who are they to tell me what is healthy for my child."  Then this morning, another friend of mine posted this link to an article about something similar.  A mom sent to school with her child:  a turkey and cheese sandwich *on white/wheat bread*, a banana, a bag of chips, and some apple juice.  They told the child that the lunch wasn't okay and gave her a school lunch consisting of chicken nuggets.  The only thing she ate...the chicken nuggets.  If she'd been left alone, she would have eaten all of the lunch that her mother had sent with her.

Where am I going with this?  Why am I posting about this on my weight loss blog?  I feel as though after the many times of going through this weight loss journey, that I know what I should and shouldn't feed my child for lunch...not the state.

Hubby and I talked about this as I drove him out to work this morning.  Last school year when we were having a lot of problems with our then 3 year old, we ended up turning to look at the food she was eating.  It was suggested that we eliminate HFCS *High Fructose Corn Syrup*.  When I started looking at the foods that she was eating, you'd be amazed at how many foods this particular ingredient is in.  I talked a little bit about how crazy off the wall my kid acts when she ingests HFCS in this particular post.  I remember after removing it from her 'diet' here at home, but the school hadn't done it yet, that she came home and was literally bouncing off the walls.  When I looked at the menu for lunch, she'd had tomato soup.  When I looked at a can that I had on hand...the 2nd ingredient was...you guessed it, HFCS!!!

Thankfully, the school allows for an ICP *Individualized Care Plan* which at the point of the soup incident, had not been put into place.  Even prior to the ICP, I had complained about the so called meals the kids were having.  The one morning I ended up running to the store to buy a large jar of peanut butter for the kids because they were having:  wheat bread *not toast* plain, fruit, and milk.  That was IT!  When I asked the director about it, she told me that this was based on the nutritional guide for these kids.  Also, the serving sizes are not based on my children, because they can EAT!

When I dropped kiddo off at school this morning *after discussion with hubby in the car*, what are they serving for breakfast at school?  Large soft pretzels.  Seriously?  Made me thankful that my pathetically skinny kid had eaten eggs and toast before she left our house.

When my kids have lunch next year, it will be packed.  I can send a much healthier lunch than what they can *normally* get at the school.  If anyone dares to tell me that what my girls bring for lunch isn't healthy, I'd like them to show me the nutritional information of the food garbage they are trying to have my kids eat and compare it to the nutritional info of what I've sent.