fraiserougeThis week, California passed legislation banning ultra-processed foods
FenderStratocasterNo more Poptarts and Sunny D. Hell yeah
California is the definition of a broken clock.
LucidlethargyYeah, how dare we feed our school kids for free, and ensure those tax dollars are going towards healthy food?!
I have mixed feelings on this. Multiple family members worked in public schools, and a lot of kids want garbage processed foods. They know and like fruit loops and gold fish. They also like tomatoes and fresh fruit sometimes, but sometimes they just want comfort foods. I fully support healthy options and funding school lunches to the point they are delicious and nutritious, but you gotta meet some of these kids where they are, not where you want them to be.
Another point to add is that the definition of upf is extremely broad and vague. And there isn’t much evidence that this whole category is harmful because of how broad it is. But hey, maybe it will still result in healthier meals overall nevertheless.
People say this, but after learning what ultra processed foods are, even with broad definition, I understand what they are. It’s when food science meets the industial line basically.
“Oh we found this one chemical compound in mangos that has some benefit to a food manufacturer, so we’re going to extract this specific compound from all the mangos and process it into powder additive”
There’s many food additives that are by products of the petroleum industry, which is, delightful
sgai get your line of thought, but i think schools and public infra in general should promote public well being over potentially making them slightly happier. As i see, it is similar to schools having mandatory sports for all, which promotes health. many students want to be lazy, but it does not harm them in general to do exercise
I can’t say you’re wrong, I just think theres a line between can and can’t removes discretion. Given the budget and produce to make nice healthy meals, the school hopefully try to get kids healthy food. But sometimes a sad kid needs an oreo, or a kid needs shelf stable food to eat over the weekend, let the locals do it and not ban all garbage food.
I get what you mean. you essentially are talking about a cheat meal right? somewhat of reward, or dose of happiness in sorrow. Problem is that oreo (for example) are what i would like to call bandaid on a gun wound in this situation. it is not really going to help, them, and all they get is a sugar high. Instead, if they are given a apple, with similar or higher sugar content, it still gives sugar, but has fiber and some vitamins.
Your pointt on food not spoiling is very valid, and they would have to decide what is the optimal food which is reasonably shelf stable.
you gotta meet some of these kids where they are, not where you want them to be.
The government uses its funding to buy these meals. So, I do not think that the government should be adding revenue to some of the worst players in the food industry.
If the kids want to go get junk food using their parents’ money and bring it into school, they can do that.
I don’t think you’re coming from a bad place, I just feel like there are competing interests between whats good for kids physically and economicaly (long term) vs short term (mentally). We want schools to do both, and ideally with healthy great food. but I’m sure you have needs for terrible food sometimes, judgement free, and denying that comfort and calories because you think they should like better food, doesn’t feel great. ideally, healthy whole local food…but also some baby steps into it maybe?
I don’t actually have a need for terrible food sometimes. I reach for it at times because it’s the only thing that isn’t spoiled, or it’s the thing that takes the least amount of time to prepare, both of which aren’t problems when someone else should be making sure that the food isn’t spoiled and preparing it for the kids.
The government should not be paying Lay’s (for example). Again, the food is free…so if they want some specific type of cheesy poof trash they can get their parents to cough up the $5 for the bag.
So instead of Lays they’ll start serving the kids fresh cut fries, double fried and generously salted.
Why are those the only two choices?
Also, even stuff that is processed a bit unhealthily as it’s being cooked is better than bullshit that’s stuffed full of preservatives so it can be consumed non-refrigerated a decade after the apocalypse.
They’re not. I was just trying to give an example of something you could swap out the Lays for that would not be “ultra processed food” but still be just as unhealthy.
I think you’re establishing a burden of proof there you’re not actually prepared to meet, so you can just go ahead and stop replying.
You ever sweeten a bit of iced tea you brewed yourself? I can nearly guarantee you didn’t stuff it full of the type of shit you find regularly in, for instance, a canned lipton tea.
Every time I’ve brewed iced tea it always tastes super weak sauce. Canned/packaged iced teas taste wayyyyyy too sweet to me. I just want ice cold flavourful tea with a tiny bit of sweetness. How do you do that?
I’m sure Lipton iced tea is full of artificial colours and emulsifiers and possibly even fats for some reason, in addition to excessive amounts of sugar. I’m not going to defend that crap. No one should drink that stuff.
There are other teas than Lipton premades, come on, are your seriously asking > How do you do that?
Yes I’m serious. I think my issue is that I use hot water to brew the tea and then ice to cool it down which makes it too watery!
You need more tea bags is likely the thing.
So here is what I do. I’m sorry, I’m about to be wordy.
I take my stock pot and fill it with water.
One tea bag, is for one cup of tea, yes? So how many cups of tea water are in your pot?
My stock pot uses around a gallon of water, I am completely guessing but it’s somewhere not much more than a gallon. I use 6 to 7 tea bags for this.
You boil the water, turn it off once it’s bubbling and make your tea, as normal with many tea bags.
Once the tea bags have done their job (for me 3-4 minutes) you’ll discard the tea bags and add your sweetener while it’s still hot. I usually use sugar and/or honey. You’ll have to measure this to your own taste. For sugar, personally I put about a half cup, maybe a bit less. Honey I measure more prudently because the local stuff is expensive. Anyhow. Do this while the its still hot and stir. At this point I like to add fresh lemon juice if I have it and stir that in too.
Here’s the part you’re not going to like. You have now just prepped the tea. Set it off to the side for an hour at least. Just, let it cool to room temperature. Once it’s, at minimum, lukewarm, you can then transfer it to a container for the refrigerator, and pour yourself a glass over ice.
Iced tea requires forethought.
Or like the other person said, use more tea bags to make it stronger so that when the ice melts it’s not garbage water. Though I find this method wasteful because you need double the tea bags, and you just end up with lukewarm tea anyway because the ice melts so fast
Just make a big pot, and wait. It’s like proofing bread. No, you dont have an active role in the step, but it is vital for good bread. Have patience and you’ll get good iced tea for at least a few days.
I have a pitcher at home just for this, and basically do the same for iced coffee (though I leave coffee black). I brew a pot in standard home fashion and set it off to cool, then refrigerate it.
Wow thank you for the very detailed reply! I’m saving this!
Swedneckjust do what a school here in sweden did, serve spaghetti and bolognese as an extra option every day.
Banning is all swell and dandy but a big issue most schools have is making lunch for so many kids with so little money.
And on top of that there's the outrageous charges they place on families and the draconian debt collection measures they sometimes rely on.
Banning is easy, solving is not. Sorry.
CatoblepasAnd on top of that there's the outrageous charges they place on families and the draconian debt collection measures they sometimes rely on.
California schools are mandated to offer breakfast and lunch to every child for free, so not a concern on that front.
I think Connecticut does this too. Maybe it’s because my kid goes to a title one school, but I haven’t had to pay for lunch/breakfast since the pandemic.
Your concerns are not valid for my state of Califirnia. School lunches are provided through state and federal funding to all kids.
California might as well be another country at this point. I mean, we do have the fourth largest economy in the world.
Meanwhile: newrepublic.com/…/republicans-declare-banning-uni…
More:
yahoo.com/…/republican-calls-kids-freeloaders-wan…
nbcnews.com/…/republican-congressman-suggests-chi…
apnews.com/…/states-rejecting-federal-funds-summe…
…house.gov/…/up-to-183-million-children-could-los…
politico.com/…/gop-senator-considering-blocking-s…
These people are fucking evil.
Edit: Just keep finding more:
But pink slime has been a part of millions of people’s diet for almost a century. Remove it and those people might just outlive the administration.
Pink slime is just meat. That’s not the processed food we need to be worried about.
Yet. Processed lunch meats are often made of the stuff
The problem with those is all the additives, such as nitrates. You can also get nitrates from eating bacon which is not nearly as processed.
Yeah, nitrates are way worse than most of the stuff they’re worrying about.
They are at least trying though, unlike all the other ‘for the children’ movements
Bacon is processed and isn’t super healthy for you.
But that’s the case even for home made bacon (or any home made smoked / cured food for that matter).
Yes, bacon is generally unhealthy and shouldnt be regularly consumed.
Blackmist“Pink slime” at my school was the custard they put on the cake.