Senate Saves the Potato on School Lunch Menus (against Obama admin position)

[alp227]

Source: NY Times

The Senate stood up Tuesday for the humble white potato and rebuffed an effort by President Obama to limit its consumption by millions of schoolchildren around the country.

The administration has proposed limiting the amount of potatoes and other starchy vegetables that can be served in school lunches to one cup per student per week, and banning them from school breakfasts.

The Senate on Tuesday moved to block the proposal by adopting an amendment to the 2012 spending bill for the Agriculture Department. The amendment, approved by unanimous consent, prohibits the department from setting “any maximum limits on the serving of vegetables in school meal programs.”

Senators Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, and Mark Udall, Democrat of Colorado, set aside partisan differences and defended the potato, which is grown in great quantities in their states. They said the proposal had no basis in nutrition science.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/19/us/politics/potatoes-get-senate-protection-on-school-lunch-menus.html

---

Oh, lemme bring up the . And .

Also, "the Senate voted 99 to 0 on Tuesday to prevent the Justice Department from conducting gun-smuggling investigations using techniques like those in Operation Fast and Furious."

[kestrel91316]

1. Potatoes are a great source of potassium. They also have a lot of fiber,

and vitamin C IIRC. They are an integral part of my rather awesomely healthy diet (we won't mention the Cheeto fixation, ok?).

[dennis4868]

2. and a hell of alot of starch...

[kestrel91316]

12. Better potatoes than highly refined white flour.

[Fruittree]

22. Unless they're served as tator tots..

[CreekDog]

25. did you read the article? of course not

or else you wouldn't be posting as if potatoes were about to be banned from the school lunch.

thank you. :eyes:

[lbrtbell]

65. Yes, I read it

It's still stupid. Instead of trying to limit what kids can eat at school, how about fighting to help families afford to feed their kids at home?

This anti-obesity program is as pointless as Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No"--both are distractions from the real issues affecting America.

[yellowcanine]

54. Yes but have you seen how school cafeterias serve potatoes?

Either as french fries or "tater tots" both of which bear little resemblance to an actual potato in looks and probably in nutrition also.

That said, a better approach might be to say that only baked or boiled potatoes can be served in school lunch programs. That should satisfy the potato heads also.

[bluestateguy]

3. Idaho is of no concern to me at all

They can do without the socialist big government contracts.

They vote the wrong way so screw them.

[Freddie Stubbs]

34. Idaho only produces about 28% of the potatoes grown in the US:

http://www.fas.usda.gov/htp/Hort_Circular/2005/Charts%20Circluar/2005%20Potatoes.ppt

Lots of blue states like Washington, Wisconsin, and Oregon produce potatoes.

[jmowreader]

92. ESPECIALLY the part where the potatoes are grown!

Potatoes are flood-irrigated in Idaho, and the only place that's flat enough to do it that way is South Idaho.

As for our politics in Idaho, let's put it this way: For most of this state's history, the part where they grow the potatoes has been North Utah. It's got 75 percent of the population, 25 percent of the wealth (the silver and lead we dig up in the North are a hell of a lot more valuable than the potatoes, onions and sugar beets they dig up down there) and 95 percent of the religious zealots.

[Demeter]

4. One cup a week?

For growing kids?

Limiting french fries to once a week, fine.

As a Pollack who ate potatoes every day of the week, in every possible form, and only occasionally varied with noodles or rice, I had enough energy to think in school. Brains need glycogen to work properly.

Course, if you want passive, shut-down kids, you can put them on starvation diets all their lives. Africa can provide a samples of that.

This culture is so crazed about eating and food.

I have a friend and neighbor who is seeking to live forever by "eating right". She goes to all kinds of quack nutritionists, seeking to cure her symptoms of physical or mental origin by eating less and less of readily available foods, chasing after "organic" this, and "gluten free" that, and then there's the nightshade family, meats--cured or not, dairy, fats, carbs, proteins...

It's really beginning to look like anorexia.

And she's not the only one.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

20. The ceramic bits get stuck between my teeth. 1 cup a week is too much,

unless you grind it down super fine.

[harmonicon]

28. You're supposed to use a paper cup, silly.

At first, it will seem hard to eat, but if you use that same paper cup all week for your coffee, by day 4 it will be noticeably less firm. By day 6, it may be downright soggy.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

45. silly mois. Thanks.

[LuvNewcastle]

5. Potatoes are good for you,

it just depends on how you prepare them and what you're serving in addition to them. For example, don't serve the kids fried chicken, french fries, and macaroni and cheese. Meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, and green beans are a better choice. It's not that hard to do.

[yellowcanine]

89. Ugh. I still have nightmares about the meat loaf I was served in elementary school.

It certainly didn't resemble meat as I knew it. It was about this time that I learned to slather food in as much ketchup as I could get my hands on. At least then I was getting my daily allotment of vegetables. And don't even talk to me about the "buttered corn".

[izquierdista]

6. I'll agree with the "too much regulation" crowd on this one

We had good dietitians planning the meals when I went to school, and I would trust that school cafeterias can make up healthy menus without limits from the USDA. What's more of a worry is corporations seeking to sell junk food at schools.

[jkappy]

64. Me Too! Limiting potato consumption is truly absurb! N/T

[madrchsod]

7. oh gee .....is that really stupid....

[DallasNE]

8. The Problem With The Potato

Is what they do with it, like french fries, loaded baked potato and the like. Often around half the calories comes from what is added to the poor potato.

[BeatleBoot]

9. White potatos are not good for diabetics

Maybe this was their rationale? Juvenile diabetes?

:shrug:

[Nihil]

27. Don't say that ...

> White potatos are not good for diabetics

... or the next suggestion will be to add food colouring to make them healthier!

:hide:


> Juvenile diabetes?

If that was their concern, it would have made more sense to focus
on the list of other shit that they feed the kids rather than just
picking up on the one item that would not only get an immediate
"common-sense response" but which would also not make much of an
impact when taken in isolation.

Hmmm ... that might even suggest that it was a merely a token initiative ...?

:think:

[wickerwoman]

91. Neither are bananas

but what's the point of limiting them for everyone?

It's not the potato that's the problem. It's the fact that its deep fried and not combined with high quality protein and fiber.

[Marie Marie]

10. I rarely eat white potatoes or corn since I was reminded that

both are used to fatten cattle. It is the starch. Sweet Potatoes or yams are much better for you. Not telling anyone here not to enjoy them if they like, I'm just sayin'...

[uppityperson]

13. Made austrian fingerlings for dinner tonight. Boiled, yummy.

We grow several kinds and end up with around 100# this yr.

[DCKit]

21. I disagree Marie.

If you spend some time checking them out, you'll find that potatoes are very nearly the perfect food. Boiled is better than baked (less starch broken down or converted to sugar) and without a ton of butter, sour cream or bacon bits.

[msongs]

11. not the potatos, its all the scummy things they do to them before serving lol nt

[UnrepentantLiberal]

14. So they voted 99 to 0 to save the potato

while the rest of the country is Damn near in flames. It reads like the first act of a play.

[TygrBright]

15. Thank G** the Senate is protecting our kids' right to barbeque chips in school lunch! n/t

[DesertFlower]

16. i love potatoes -- not french fried, but baked or

boiled with the skin on. instead of butter chopped broccoli or spinach can be added. the skin contains vitamins and fiber.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

17. A baked potato without butter, sour cream and chives is sacrilidge!

That's all I have to say about that.

[Cobalt-60]

18. Now we see the truth

It isn't the Billionaires or the Oil Men or even War Profiteers giving orders in the Congress - It's the Spud Farmers!
We're being dominated by Potato People!

[Rhiannon12866]

19. Like this one?

:rofl:

[Cobalt-60]

63. That's him!

What sinister plans could these tubers have in mind for humanity?

[Rhiannon12866]

75. A lot less scary plans than the current Republican lineup!

:scared: :rofl:

[Dutchmaster]

23. Potatoes are a superfood. They are great for you.

Except when they are all processed to shit and then fried. White potatoes though, that's body builder food right there.

[Honeycombe8]

84. They're not a superfood, altho not inherently bad in small amounts and WITH

other foods, to slow down the glycemic action.

Superfoods are super-healthy for you and contain lots of vitamins and anti-oxidants. Canteloupe and broccoli are two examples.

Any food that is WHITE is high glycemic, and if eaten in large amounts over a period of time, will contribute to the risk of diabetes. (white bread, white potatoes, white rice)

But if you eat a potato with protein, it slows down the glycemic action. If you don't put margarine on it, it can be pretty healthy, since it has a few vitamins/minerals (not much), plus a fair amount of fiber (if eaten WITH the skin).

I see nothing wrong with a kid eating a baked potatoe, without margarine, once a month or something like that.

[CreekDog]

24. What the hell is the matter with the NY Times?

The Senate didn't "save" the potato on school lunch menus.

The Senate said the Department of Agriculture couldn't set limits on how *much* potatoes can be served.

The Senate made it so that the Department of Agriculture can't even say, "eating 100 pounds of potatoes per day is too much".

That's not even "standing up" for potatoes. There was no threat to potatoes. Jeez, what's next, sugar?

Sheesh. :banghead:

(Robert Pear of NY Times, you have a good job, how about not being cute or simple with the news you're reporting and report what actually was decided and what actually was the scope of the change proposed?)

[David Sky]

30. I hope you send that note along to Mr. Pear at the NY Times!

He DOES have a very good job, but he is doing a very lousy job of reporting !

I wonder if we can joke about a pear and a potato.

[totodeinhere]

32. The article in the Times specifically said that the Senate overturned the

"one cup per student per week" limit. And that's exactly what happened. So I don't see a problem. As far as using the term "saving the potato" goes, that's relative. You might argue that only allowing one cup of potatoes per week would indeed be the death of the potato as we know it. Gosh, one measly cup of potatoes per week? I usually eat more than that in one day. Potatoes have been my staple food ever since I was a youngster in the same way that rice is a staple for most people living in Asia and Africa. I love potatoes and it hasn't hurt me. I am in good health and not overweight.

[handmade34]

26. I agree with the Administration on this one...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uLUVI3Y0q0

“USDA’s proposal was about helping kids to eat a very wide variety of vegetables and I think that point has been lost in all this,” said Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy at the advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest, which pushed for the standards. “Other vegetables have a hard time competing with potatoes.”


http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/congress/senate-votes-to-block-obama-proposal-that-would-limit-potatoes-french-fries-in-schools/2011/10/18/gIQAbV3IvL_story.html

[Odin2005]

29. Fuckers are more concerned about protecting agribiz profits than kids' health.

Potatoes are hard on people's blood sugar levels.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

31. The food industry has always been one of their big time cash cows.

Most people know that teaching kids that milk and cheese is a major food group is the work of the dairy lobby. (The reason cigarette smoking took this country by storm in the 20s is because the tobacco lobby lobbied to have cigarettes shipped off with American soldiers in WWI.)

[totodeinhere]

33. I have been eating potatoes all my life and my blood sugar level is just fine.

I just recently had a physical exam and my serum glucose level was normal. I know this is anecdotal, but at least in my life eating potatoes regularly has not harmed me. And I would hate it if suddenly someone told me I could only eat one cup of potatoes per week.

[CreekDog]

39. I'm sorry, where is the science in "I eat them and I'm fine"?

lobbyists say these kinds of things when they can't back up their positions with science.

[totodeinhere]

46. I said that my serum glucose level is normal. Isn't that a scientific finding? n/t

[Codeine]

36. My blood sugar is fine, and I eat shedloads of tatoes.

Baked, roasted, mashed, fried, and even the occasional tater tot. On the list of dangerous-ass foods on the school menu I'd put potatoes quite far down from the top.

[CreekDog]

38. so you are everybody

if you smoke and are otherwise healthy, does that mean smoking is fine too?

just saying that the whole, "i do it and i'm okay" is not real convincing and it's completely anti-science.

[Codeine]

40. The statement to which I responded was sweeping.

Clearly potatoes aren't bad across the board and do not have universal effects on blood sugar levels.

[Odin2005]

44. Diabetes runs in my family so I try to not eat a lot of high glycemic index foods like potatoes.

[0rganism]

35. limit the amount of salt and grease used on potatoes...

...and the problem would take care of itself. Let's be real here: kids eat potatoes because they're served deep fried with a truckload of salt. As an experiment, back in junior high school, I greased the surface of an entire cafeteria table (one of the big folding ones) by rubbing a single fry back and forth upon it. Then I gave the rest of the fries away to someone who still wanted them, and got fries again myself the next week.

Regulate the outright unhealthy stuff that encourages excessive intake, not a fairly harmless vegetable.

[totodeinhere]

37. Right. It is how potatoes are frequently prepared and served that makes them unhealthy.

A potato by itself if you don't add fats and sodium to it is just fine. There are plenty of ways to cook potatoes so that they are healthy.
Myself, I like them baked with the skins on and seasoned with a sodium free condiment such as Mrs. Dash. Then I serve them garnished with fresh lemon juice. Delicious.

[OrwellwasRight]

43. Even a baked or boiled potato with no butter

five times a week is not as healthy as a potato one day, peas the next, corn the next, and beets the next. Every food has different vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants, levels of fiber, etc.

Why should a child eat the same vegetable every single day, even if prepared to your exacting health standards? The point of the regulation was not that potatoes are bad, but that variety in vegetables is good.

[totodeinhere]

47. Being restricted to one cup of potatoes per week is a far cry from eating

potatoes every day. Yes of course we should have a varied and healthy diet. When I have potatoes I usually also have a green or yellow vegetable at the same time, as well as a variety of other foods. For most people a healthy diet can contain more than one cup of potatoes per week.

[OrwellwasRight]

49. The proposal was not one cup "per week" for "most people."

It was one cup per five school lunches for a child. That means probably two half-cup servings of potato and three servings of another vegetable on the other days. That also means this same child CAN eat additional potatoes during his or her five school week lunches, his or her five school week dinners, and his or her six weekend meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner for Saturday and again on Sunday).

Do not read into a regulation on school lunches restrictions that are not there. No one was proposing to restrict total potato consumption.

And certainly, for children, potatoes twice a week for lunch, and other vegetables on the other three days for lunch, is fine. YOU may also eat additional vegetables at the same time in the same meal. YOU are an adult who can cook for yourself and make choices for yourself. CHILDREN eating lunches prepared by the school DO NOT have the same choices. They may only eat ONE vegetable with lunch, and if that vegetable, every day, is a potato, they are not getting the best nutrition possible.

The point is that without any restrictions at all, many children ARE eating potatoes every single day for school lunch. The idea of limiting the number of times per week that potatoes can be served was to force schools to change up the lunchtime vegetables.

Do not read your choices of cooking at home as an adult into the strict requirements of USDA subsidized lunches at public schools.

[totodeinhere]

50. Your point that we're talking about five lunches per week at school as opposed to all of the

child's meals is well taken. And I also read a comment on another forum that makes sense. If you are poor and have a limited food budget, or perhaps you try to survive on food stamps, then you will probably eat a lot of potatoes. I big bag of potatoes goes a long way and on a per pound basis potatoes are one of the cheapest foods you can buy. So in the case of poor people they might eat too many potatoes at home at the expense of a more varied diet. In that case it might make sense to limit potatoes at school lunches since they might be already eating a lot of potatoes anyway.

[0rganism]

66. serve a potato as a potato (not as french fries or tater tots)...

...and the problem goes away on its own, because then kids will want that baked or boiled potato about as much as they want peas, corn and beets.

The issue is really how the food is prepared and served. If french fried peas and beeter tots were popular foods, the gains we'd get by presenting that varied diet would be offset by the amount of unhealthy crap that gets put in with it. Right now potatoes are the veg of choice solely because of how they can be disguised, not because humans like potatoes in their natural state orders of magnitude more than peas, corn, and beets.

[OrwellwasRight]

67. Have you ever eaten a school meal?

It is not a restaurant. The kids generally get ONE vegetable a day. Maybe two, if they're lucky. There are no "choices" except when the school prepares a different meal on different days. If schools are serving potatoes as the vegetables EVERY day, then the only way to stop them is to tell them they can't.

The issue is NOT "really how the food is prepared." The issue really is: don't serve the same vegetable every single day. I ever said "humans like potatoes in their natural state orders of magnitude more than peas, corn, and beets." I said that I agree with the regulation, which basically says that school can't serve potatoes every day.

And if you think a regulation on HOW to cook potatoes will be any better received than the direction not to serve potatoes as a vegetable every day, you're dreaming.

[0rganism]

69. many times, french fries and tater tots are IT for the potatoes

Fortunately for potato farmers, the amount of salt and grease provided makes potatoes orders of magnitude more appealing than the peas or the beets, so much so that it's not even worth having those things on the menu most of the time. Why bother prepping something no one wants to eat? The potatoes themselves are not unhealthy, just on the deep fry processing that makes them uber-popular compared to other veggies.

I'm not suggesting regulation on how TO cook potatoes, just something on how NOT to cook potatoes. Although you do still have a good point about how well it will go over...

The upshot is, it's not potatoes that are overwhelmingly demanded. It's the deep-fried processed potato products.

[OrwellwasRight]

70. You clearly don't want to see the point.

Kids are not given the choice of fries or beets. The vegetable is put on their plate, and that is the only vegetable they get. The same vegetable every day is not healthy. No matter what vegetable, no matter how it is cooked, kids need a variety of foods to get a variety of nutrients. If your argument is that children should be served a potato every single day and get no other option on any day, so long as that potato isn't fried, that's a weak argument. Kids who are hungry will eat. Some kids actually like corn, or carrots, or beets. They should be served them on some days. The government has a perfect right to tell schools to spend government money on more than a mono-vegetable menu.

[0rganism]

72. perhaps i overgeneralize from days of my youth

Our school lunches gave us a choice of vegetables. That being, potatoes and everything else. And by potatoes I mean fries or tater tots. And by everything else, I mean nothing at all. Why should they, if they're already offering fries and tots? Everyone I knew would have ditched a side of non-deep-fried veggies real quick.

So now it's not even a choice, eh? "Here's yer lunch, oh look a vegetable." That's different.

Do you really think, given a side of peas or beets, kids would even eat it? Well, I'll grant you this much: in the absence of potatoes it's a lot more likely. But I posit that in the absence of deep fryers, it's equally likely. My argument isn't pro-monovegetable lunch; it's anti-salt-and-grease.

[Doctor_J]

41. The right wingers will contest Obama on EVERYTHING

cancer stage of democracy

[totodeinhere]

48. Does that mean that those of us who are not right wingers should not be allowed to disagree with the

president? Yes of course the right wing is out get President Obama. So what else is new? But the tactics of the right wing should not be allowed to stop Democrats from having a healthy debate on the issues. I see nothing wrong with a debate about school lunch policy. And if I disagree with the mandate that schools only be allowed to serve one cup of potatoes per week that doesn't necessarily make me a right winger.

[OrwellwasRight]

42. The point is not that potatoes are bad for you or unhealthy. The point is

that potatoes count as a "vegetable" when schools put together a lunch that meets USDA requirements. This means that french fries, loaded baked potatoes, butter-filled mashed potatoes, and yes boiled Australian fingerling potatoes all count as vegetables, so that when those are served, kids will not necessarily also get green beans, or a scoop of peas, or a dollop of green salad or ++NAME YOUR FAVORITE VEGETABLE HERE++.

The point is, as much as we, thoughtful adults, have a right to eat potatoes morning, noon, and night if we want, and to espouse the belief that the potato is a health food if we want, we should ensure that kids eating school lunches (remember a majority of these kids are poor, on free and reduced lunches, because better-off kids can choose to bring their lunches) can eat other vegetables in addition to the potato. Limiting per-week consumption of potatoes requires the schools to branch out into other vegetables.

The point is not to ban, kill, or harm the potato. Nor is it to be the food police. Grown persons can eat what they want. Kids, who probably eat a lot of MickeyD's fries to begin with, should eat other vegetables too. That is all.

What I really wanted to say before I read all these "anti-regulation" posts (which is kind of silly because the federal government subsidizes school lunches and ought to be able to say what goes in them), is that this article represents everything that is wrong with our government: voting based on parochial interests ("my potato farmers") instead of national interests (the health of children across the country) and the influence of lobbyists (e.g., the potato council) over the interests of the unrepresented people (children, poor families).

We need lobbyist-free proportional representation. And a variety of vegetables to boot.

[Honeycombe8]

85. I think that's the point. The W.H. should've been more specific. nt

[Evasporque]

51. The Vicar will be happy...his curtains need changing again soon...

"Oops...fell on a potato..."

[Mosby]

52. the sweet potato is Natures Perfect Food

Don't believe me, google it.

Its even the perfect food (base)for our furry friends.

[Mosby]

53. the sweet potato is also an "anti-diabetic" food

Don't believe me, google it.

[yellowcanine]

55. They could just mandate ketchup as a dressing on the fries. Then it would meet the "vegetable"

requirement. :evilgrin:

[Arugula Latte]

56. They should try to ban some of that processed poison, not potatoes. nt

[plumbob]

57. Yeah, schools should be able to dole out all the cheap potatoes they want.

Lunch at our school this week so far:
Monday: Sloppy joes and baked french fries
Tuesday: Cheese enchiladas and mashed potatoes with gravy
Today: Ham and cheese sandwich with baked potato quarters.
Tomorrow: "Wrangler" burger and baked french fries
Friday: Pizza and mashed potatoes -dry, no gravy


Kids on free lunch can't afford anything else, so it must be good for them.



Right?

[OrwellwasRight]

68. THANK YOU.

You just made my point. People seem to think that school lunches are like restaurants where kids order from an extensive menu and somehow the big, evil government is limiting the choices children can pick from.

When the reality is:

1) The govt subsidizes school lunches (even full price lunches) and therefore totally has the right to say what can be in them.
2) Kids eat what is "on the menu," they don't have 15 veggies to pick from. They get the veggie of the day and that is it.
3) The veggie of the day is more often than not a potato.
4) Poor kids rely on these meals for nutrition--they do not have the option to "bring lunch" to school. We should be sure we are giving them a variety of nutrients by ensuring schools give them a variety of veggies.

Thank you!

[plumbob]

74. You're welcome. I've taught here for 3 decades, and I eat in the cafeteria

every day. Keeps me a bit more grounded to the reality of the 80% of our students who qualify for free or reduced lunches.

I was raised by 8th grade dropouts, and I fully know how lucky I am to be in a professional occupation. Trying to pass along a bit of that.

[mainer]

76. Is salad or a green never on the menu?

That sucks.

[plumbob]

77. Not in the last 4 years when the district cut the budget. nt

[slackmaster]

58. You must admit, they have appeal

:hide:

[Scurrilous]

73. *rimshot*

:P

[Vinca]

59. I do not believe United States Senators are talking about school menus.

The country is going to hell in a handbasket and they're stewing about a cup of potatoes????? What's up for debate tomorrow? Mystery meat?

[TK421]

60. I have to agree..this is fucking idiotic n/t

[Laelth]

62. What people eat is really important.

There are other issues that the Senate could debate, sure, but they are gridlocked on most of the really pressing issues of the day. Why not talk about our children's nutrition under such circumstances?

:shrug:

-Laelth

[Bill McBlueState]

79. We pay for the school lunches;

I think our representatives should exercise some control over what goes in them.

[yellowcanine]

88. Oh bs. The representatives in this case are representing the potato industry, not us.

I would just as soon have people trained in nutrition deciding what goes into school lunches, not politicians.

[yellowcanine]

90. It's a jobs program, dontcha know? For potato farmers.

[Laelth]

61. The French have very strictly-regulated school lunches.

And they're very healthy. I agree with the administration on this one. Our children consume too many carbohydrates, and potato is probably the second-worst and second most-consumed carbohydrate that our children eat. Super-sugary cereal is the worst.

-Laelth

[Harmony Blue]

80. Carbohydrates are not bad

for children who expand a lot of energy at school.

What this thread shows is a lot of people don't understand how the human body breaks down proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. Here is a hint, they all end up in Glycolysis, or Citric Acid Cycle.

The human body NEEDS carbs, fats, and proteins. Anyone that says you can do without one of these three things needs to study how the living creatures undergo cellular respiration.

[Laelth]

82. I don't think any person is claiming that children need zero carbs.

But our children are consuming too much carbohydrate (as opposed to fat and protein, which are expensive) already, as is clearly shown by the obesity epidemic that is afflicting this country.

Big agricultural and food interests (Aramark, etc.) are trying to maximize profits by feeding our children more carbs (as opposed to fat and protein, which are expensive), and they don't care whether what they serve is healthy for our children. The Administration tried to take a stand against the fattening of our young, and the Senate protected the big agricultural and food service interests instead.

As I said, on this issue, I stand with the Administration.

-Laelth

[Harmony Blue]

83. Children are very active at school

so carbs are perfectly fine being part of their diet. When they go home and they are not so active, and they receive a lot of carb intake, then it becomes a problem.

I stand against the administration for fighting a battle that is non existent.

Common sense dictates that a balanced diet is what children need. Furthermore, reducing children's carb intake is bad for their growth. An adult on a low carb diet is not the same as a child!

[yellowcanine]

87. "Children are very active at school." Maybe when you (and I) went to school.

Not so much now. Particularly in middle school and high school. Even when I went to school we only had about a total of 1 hr a day of recess in elementary school - 15 minutes in the morning, 15 minutes in the afternoon, and 30 minutes after lunch. In middle school and high school there was no recess but we had 2 hours a week of phys ed. The noon recess is gone from most elementary schools now.

Besides all that - if children are so deficient in carbs etc. why are we in the middle of an child obesity epidemic?

Furthermore, in this particular case it was not even about reducing carb intake per se. It was about promoting a more balanced intake of other vegetables and potatoes.

[yellowcanine]

86. Eh. The problem isn' t that the human body doesn't need them.

It is a question of weight ratios. Lovely plumage!

[mainer]

93. The French practice portion control. Not banning foods.

The French don't say "you can't eat that." They say "You can't eat that much of that."

[OrwellwasRight]

94. did you even read the regulation?

it didn't BAN potatoes. It said no more than one cup a week to make room for other vegetables on the menu. That IS portion control.

[Ignis]

71. Ye can have me 'taters when ye pry 'em from me dead hands!

[Harmony Blue]

81. Haha

I was wondering when the Irish would show up.

In all seriousness, my mother grew up poor, and the potatoe was the wonder vegetable for a variety of reasons for her.

[Jennicut]

78. I am a type 1 diabetic and can eat white potatoes (as long as I take short term

insulin first). You need to take the insulin first to cover the rise in blood sugar when you eat anything if you have diabetes like I do. I won't eat them everyday but I do eat them occasionally.

However, the real issue here is giving kids white potatoes as french fries for school lunches and calling it their serving of veggies every day. Using potatoes as the veggie and just offering it up in different (and fried) ways. Its a crappy way to give kids "veggies" and its manipulative. It really needs to be limited so kids get a VARIETY of veggies. My 7 year old daughter likes peas and will eat them if they give them to her. She likes green beans too. Is even trying salad because they offer it at the school she goes to.