This is prompted by emails flowing with my girlfriends. The hot topic being what to pack in the kids lunch boxes. It surprised me (albeit pleasantly) to hear that schools in India also are insisting on healthy snacks and lunch boxes. Same solutions across the globe for a problem that is global and growing!
No more chips or cupcakes allowed. I thought it was only in the US that parents had to bring healthy snacks to games etc. Here there is a concept where it is the turn of one set of parents every week to bring snacks to the field at the end of the game their kid is participating in. And nowadays schools are particular that the snacks be low in sugar, high in fibre, low in sodium, high in protein etc. Besides which there are other restrictions like one cannot take anything with nuts in them since some kids are allergic to nuts. If there are kids allergic to gluten or dairy that is ruled out as well. Makes me think that we are going back to basics in more ways than one. Without the introduction of processed foods there would be no need for these regulations. Don't get me wrong. I think processed foods that make life easy are great. I use them myself. But all this concern about kids becoming obese and growing up with bad food habits comes because we have moved away from some basic practices. That of cooking fresh food!
Here are a couple of ways we at home are going back to basics -
1. Taking reusable bags to buy and bag our groceries. That way we avoid collecting plastic bags. (At least till I run out of them and considering the amount of diapers I am buying that seems like a possibility!)
2. Composting kitchen waste in our backyard. Manure - cheap and free!
(Again I am waiting to see if this will work in winter as well!)
No more chips or cupcakes allowed. I thought it was only in the US that parents had to bring healthy snacks to games etc. Here there is a concept where it is the turn of one set of parents every week to bring snacks to the field at the end of the game their kid is participating in. And nowadays schools are particular that the snacks be low in sugar, high in fibre, low in sodium, high in protein etc. Besides which there are other restrictions like one cannot take anything with nuts in them since some kids are allergic to nuts. If there are kids allergic to gluten or dairy that is ruled out as well. Makes me think that we are going back to basics in more ways than one. Without the introduction of processed foods there would be no need for these regulations. Don't get me wrong. I think processed foods that make life easy are great. I use them myself. But all this concern about kids becoming obese and growing up with bad food habits comes because we have moved away from some basic practices. That of cooking fresh food!
Here are a couple of ways we at home are going back to basics -
1. Taking reusable bags to buy and bag our groceries. That way we avoid collecting plastic bags. (At least till I run out of them and considering the amount of diapers I am buying that seems like a possibility!)
2. Composting kitchen waste in our backyard. Manure - cheap and free!
(Again I am waiting to see if this will work in winter as well!)
No comments:
Post a Comment