Breakfast at school

My son's Elementary school is undergoing a test to see how much better kids do if they are given breakfast at school. I hope the test fails miserably.

Ethan wakes up every morning at a certain time and we give him a healthy breakfast before school. It is easy to get him out the door by 8:30 if he is awake by 7:30 without any problems. He doesn't complain about the fare, and we are really giving him some healthy stuff.

Now, here is what some of the breakfasts at school consist of:
doughnuts, bagels, muffins, and some things that are probably slightly better.

Those things aren't so bad if you have them once in a while, but to have something packed with high fructose corn syrup or hydrogenated soybean oil every day is definitely not what I think the nation's kids should be forced to have for breakfast.

In most people's mind, the two common ingredients I just mentioned (corn syrup, and something hydrogenated) don't mean a lot, and they even sound somewhat healthy, right? I mean, it is corn and soybeans! Those must be good for you, right? NOT!
Most people don't know that partially hydrogenated soybean oil is the source of Trans Fat in their food.

The next time you go to the grocery store, you can again pretend like you don't know better, but once you are home putting the food in the cupboards and fridge, take a look at the labels what you bought and see if you can find one without corn syrup or something hydrogenated. Then say to yourself: "I always thought that too much of anything is a bad thing?" Well, that is what you are getting, every day.

And that is what my son's school wants to feed our kids every day. Sure, what they get there at school are probably better than what many kids might want for breakfast. Pop-tarts, cardboard waffles, orange juice, etc. They all sound fine from the surface. Only when you realize that they are usually all the same processed sugar and fat do you start to think differently.

How about some real world proof to back up my ranting: my wife lost 60 pounds just by looking at labels and cutting the amount of high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated soybean oil. That was pretty much all she did. She changed her mind to eat more healthy, and suddenly the exercise she was already doing started to make a difference.

Don't believe me? That's fine, but try researching it a little yourself. Also, you may not want to immediately buy in to statements the corn growers associations might say regarding the healthfulness of corn syrup (especially not high-fructose corn syrup).