The full article is available on the Chicago Tribune Website.
So after posting about the Jamie Oliver speech at TED my friend Mellisa and I have been talking healthy meals and healthy snacks a lot lately. We both even attended the #GNO Twitter party last night talking about healthy snacks. I thought it was pretty cool to walk out and get my store circulars newspaper and see on the front page an article about Chicago schools trying to have healthy menu options!
“According to the district’s current food service operator, starting in June, nacho service will be reduced to once a week in high school and once a month in elementary school; sweet packaged desserts will also be reduced to weekly treats; and doughnuts and Pop-Tarts will be eliminated.”
“Improvements include serving a dark-green or orange vegetable three times a week, one whole-grain offering each day and fruit juice offered only twice a week as the fruit component of the meal.”
“The new guidelines say: “No items served may contain ‘desert (sic) or candy type’ ingredients or flavors such as chocolate etc.”
The guidelines list one exception to that rule, Chocolate Mini-Wheats. And all breakfast cereals must contain no more than 5 grams of sugar unless they provide 3 or more grams of fiber, such as Raisin Bran. Mini-Wheats also are high in fiber.”
The article also stated that this all started two years ago when they took all fryers out of the schools and offered fresh fruit daily. Way to go CPS! You’re really getting a good start!
Now, a check in with me. I have not been doing as well as I would have liked on the cooking from scratch lately. All of last week our lives were basically put on hold. We ate out A LOT. I did make the effort to make sure we all had packed lunches to eat in the car when we went out with the Realtor on Saturday. What a mess Charlie had to clean up on Sunday! I plan to do the same for today but something hopefully less messy! I can not wait until we buy a house, move and can finally settle in! I have not lived anywhere longer than 2 years since I left my childhood home in ’99.
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No chocolate? Bummer! (okay, so I’m not against the legislation… just an avid chocolate lover who will sneak a cookie into her kids’ lunches)
I’m not anti-chocolate. It’s about moderation and the schools aren’t teaching that (as far as I know…I don’t have a child in public schools yet)