A Canadian school sent this note home to the mom who had packed her children’s lunch with roast beef, potatoes, carrots, oranges and milk. Because she had neglected to include the government-mandated GRAIN, the school gave the kid some Ritz crackers and fined the mom $10.
Why grains? Mostly because they keep. Their nutritious value does not compare with the whole, FRESH foods this mom packed for her child.
Research shows that people whose diets are high in WHOLE grains have lower rates of heart disease, diabetes, and tend to be leaner and healthier than people whose diets are high in REFINED grains.
These studies do not compare the health of people who eat WHOLE grains with the health of people who have LITTLE or NO grain in their diets.
But the grains vs. no grains dispute has no real bearing here, since Ritz Crackers are made with REFINED grains anyway. And they’re loaded with saturated fat and sodium, so basically, this Real Foods mom was fined for NOT including CRAP in her kids’ lunches.
To drive home the absurdity of the Nanny State’s Food Police Policy, this mom who is now $10 poorer reports she could have packed Kraft mac & cheese, a hot dog, a package of fruit twists, a Cheestring, and a juice box and it would have been met with approval by the Big Government Knows Best Nutrition Fascists.
Don’t get my point? Check out how “nutritious” (not) FIVE Ritz Crackers are compared with the CARROTS the mom had packed.
If the benefit to eating grains is to encourage heart health and discourage pudginess and diabetes, then I’m thinking RITZ crackers stuffed with white flour, saturated fat and salt pretty much totally defeats the point of eating grains at all.
But never mind all that. Nanny State says, “You must eat crackers.” So cough up that $10, you Bad Mother Feeder, you!
Source: