Healthy Habits on the RISE In Schools
In the past few years schools have started cracking down on the amount of junk food in their schools. About a third of children are overweight in the U.S. With 17% being obese. Those numbers keep rising. Jan Harp, president of the national PTA said “We are growing a whole generation of couch potatoes.” Meaning that if we don't start making healthy choices now for our bodies then there's no hope left for the soon to come 'next generation' because they will be even lazier. My school has a wellness policy; this year they added to that policy that you can't get extra french fries. About 19% of schools serve fries which as went down from 40% of schools six years ago. School isn't going to make that big of a difference in a child's weight. It has to happen at home as well.
“Yahoo News”
Friday, October 19, 2007
topic: economy, public opinion
I'm not a big fan of schools cracking down on nutritional values but I do think they have to be enforced somewhere. It just sucks for the rest of us who don't have weight problems. I'm not going to lie, I was pissed when they replaced all of our coke [& other snack] products with "diet," "sugar-free," "caffeine free" blah blah stuff - I loved my mid-day sugar boost. I see their reasons though ... it’s not like parents today are going to take charge of their children's nutrition & health.
Diet soda drinks are worse for you than the regular soda. Because it contains aspartame, a sugar substitute that is said to be 180 times sweeter than sugar & can change levels of chemicals in the brain that affect behavior.
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<3 Bridget <3
"Love is like a war. It's easy to start, hard to stop, and impossible to forget."
Aspartame is two amino acids with a methyl group at the end. Tell me, how does it affect levels of chemicals in the brain when you get much less of it, grams wise, in a can of diet soda than you do sugar in regular soda? Especially considering the brain is very very picky about what it takes out of the blood?
I'd appreciate some studies showing what you claim. :-)
~C
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For that I found it when defining 'aspartame' on google.
Aspartame has been the subject of controversy regarding its safety and the circumstances of its approval by the American FDA and European FSA. Some studies have also recommended further investigation into possible connections between aspartame and negative effects such as headaches, brain tumors, brain lesions, and lymphoma. These findings, combined with possible conflicts of interest involving CEO Donald Rumsfeld in the approval process, have engendered vocal activism regarding the possible risks of aspartame.
...and...
"The PBOI concluded that aspartame does not cause brain damage, but it recommended against approving aspartame at that time, citing unanswered questions about cancer in laboratory rats. At that point in time, there was no requirement in place in FDA regulations to include brain research in the approval process, only cancer research."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspartame
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<3 Bridget <3
"Love is like a war. It's easy to start, hard to stop, and impossible to forget."
A basic PubMed search provided me with this:
Controversies with Aspartame
Aspartame: review of safety
Both of which are reviews of many studies done on aspartame, and from my look at the second, demonstrates that aspartame is not as toxic as some non-scientific sites will make it out to be.
~C
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Honeslty it doesn't matter what site you get info from; they'll all say something different. Because people are human and can't agree on everything...which is a good thing. Because otherwise life as we know it would be VERY boring.
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[ BRIDGET ]
Be open minded...
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/b-nel
The difference between a credible source and a non-credible source is HUGE.
I'd agree with someone using a scientific journal over someone citing wikipedia.
Yes, all humans err. Just as not all humans understand the difference between credible and non-credible.
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this is war. every line is about who i don't wanna write about anymore. [Brand New]
http://progressiveu.org/143541-how-to-survive-the-2008-elections
What's not good about using Wikipedia? A lot of people use it. (Serious question, I'm asking because I don't know).
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[ BRIDGET ]
Be open minded...
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/b-nel
Anyone can edit it, which means the information on it can be incredibly inaccurate (and has been proven to be before). Most universities won't allow you to use wikipedia as a source.
~C
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Oh, ok, didn't know anyone could edit it. Thanks for sharing.
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[ BRIDGET ]
Be open minded...
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/b-nel
In my school district, elementary school students aren't allowed to bring in cupcakes on their birthdays anymore; only carrot sticks and such. When I was a kid, that was the primary judge of your social status: how good your mom's cupcakes were. I feel sorry for all the kids who'll never get to experience it.
CEM
Definately! I was the cool kid for months after I brought my strawberry cheesecake cupcakes ... those were the days! I wish parents would take responsibility for their childs weight/health problems - it's not the school's job to watch every childs weight.
I find it amusing that in an attempt to make kids "healthier" schools offer the diet versions of regular soda brands. Guess what the artificial sugar that makes it "diet" is? Aspartame! Guess what else aspartame is used for? Rat poison!
Exactly. How dumb can the school systems get?
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<3 Bridget <3
"Love is like a war. It's easy to start, hard to stop, and impossible to forget."
Source please.
~C
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What are you "sourcing" now?
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[ BRIDGET ]
Be open minded...
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/b-nel
She wanted to know where the user got their facts about aspartame being in rat poison.
It's obviously not common knowledge, so it needs to be cited.
Or else no one is going to believe them.
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this is war. every line is about who i don't wanna write about anymore. [Brand New]
http://progressiveu.org/143541-how-to-survive-the-2008-elections
I think it is common knowledge.
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[ BRIDGET ]
Be open minded...
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/b-nel
If it's common knowledge, why couldn't I find any information on it with a simple google search? If it's word of mouth, then they're probably wrong. If they actually read it somewhere, they need to cite it.
~C
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Really? Everyone knows rat poison has aspartame?
Agreed with Mvenus... if they heard it somewhere, it's probably just a rumor.
Especially since no one can seem to find it anywhere with out digging deep.
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this is war. every line is about who i don't wanna write about anymore. [Brand New]
http://progressiveu.org/143541-how-to-survive-the-2008-elections