Jamie Oliver Good or Bad

Jodi - posted on 10/19/2010

"can't wait til hes a little bit older so i can get back into the grain stuff"

How old is he? My kids have been eating whole wheat grain bread since they were babies. There is honestly no harm in it :)

Candi - posted on 10/19/2010

We have tried rye bread. My kids are bread people--I am not so much. They will eat just about any kind of bread, but wheat is their favorite. the other day my husband baked 2 loaves of zuccini bread and they love that! Like I said though b/c of my son's palate expander, eating sandwiches is not pretty right now. He gets food stuck in it and bread is the worst! It will just ball up and stay in there! lol. He ended up getting a piece of pineapple stuck in it one day and had to pul it out strand my strand. My youngest will eat bread, but she doesn't like anything in it. She will eat a hot dog bun with no hot dog! She is definitely different! We buy our bread at the bread store (outlet) where it is a fraction of the cost and it allows us to buy bread we normally wouldn't buy. Honey wheat is a good one.

Chatty - posted on 10/19/2010

Do any of your kids like rye bread - great alternative to switch things up.

Candi - posted on 10/19/2010

we don't eat white bread either. We actually prefer the grain bread, but my kids like wheat. My two older kids used to take sandwiches to school, but when my son got his palate expander put in, for a few days he couldn't bite anything, so thats where the soup started. For a Kindergartener, soup is just too messy. My girls love their carrot sticks and oranges in the lunch box too. I have to use fruit cups for my son. Now I don't overload their lunch boxes with stuff. They only get 30 minutes for lunch, so they don't have enough time to eat a whole lot. I am fine with what I send to school for my kids. It is healthier than the alternative. And yes, I would rather my daughter eat chicken nuggets than nothing at all. All of my kids are healthy. My son is a Boy Scout, a swimmer, and plays sports at school, My oldest daughter is in 2 dance classes and is very active, and my youngest (the nugget eater) is a dancer and never stops moving. She is a few inches shy of 4 ft tall and weighs less than 40 pounds! So she is not overweight by any means. And like I stated before, they have a healthy breakfast and healthy dinners!

Sarah - posted on 10/19/2010

I actually hate white bread (I must of been the only kid in the world to flat refuse to eat white bread) and as a result my 11 month old son has known nothing but wholemeal bread :) can't wait til hes a little bit older so i can get back into the grain stuff

Louise - posted on 10/19/2010

My daughter has wholemeal seeded bread with roast chicken and cucumber in, strawberry yoghurt, apple slices and raisins. All washed down with sugar free orange squash. I think Jamie would approve ;--)

Jenn - posted on 10/19/2010

OK - here's what I sent in my son's lunch yesterday:

Apple Juice
Ham sandwich on whole wheat bread (I have NEVER bought white bread)
Apple
Raisins
Baby carrots
Trail mix granola bar
Unsweetened apple sauce with Maria biscuits to dip in it
Yogurt
Pudding

I wonder if Jamie would approve?

Candi - posted on 10/19/2010

Amy, my point is I know what I put in my kids' lunches and its a lot healthier(better) than greasy pizza or greasy nachos.The drink is a Caprison. They also take a bottle of water everyday to school. The crackers are Goldfish, Triscuits, or wheat thins. The cookies are the 100 calories packs. They get maybe 1 or 2 packs a week. The chips are the baked ones. True the chicken nuggets or corn dogs may not be the best, but I know she is eating something. I have tried different things with her andshe would spend her lunch time picking her food apart to eat only what she wanted and her teacher actually made this suggestion. She only gets 4 nuggets or 4 mini corn dogs. The only reason my son doesn't get the fruit or veggie sticks is b/c his orthodontist wouldn't be happy with me

Louise - posted on 10/19/2010

im British and Love what Jamie Oliver is trying to do! i wish we all had the same funds to go buy the organics and plush foods, decent cuts of meat, however it can still be achieved on a budget!!! My brother moved to the states and was gobsmacked a the amount of processed foods, he raised his children there in the good fresh fruit and veg way, not all americans are narrow minded!! well done Jamie though!!!

Louise - posted on 10/19/2010

The last episode aired last night and Jamie was tackling brown bag lunches. I was stunned by the amount of junk in the bags. One little girl aged about 7 had crisps crackers and candy and a blue drink of some kind and that was it! As Jamie walked around from table to table he was lost for words. He ended up doing a boot camp for the town to get the parents on side. As e was saying it must be more expensive to buy the junk food than a sandwich and fruit and I have to agree. For example 1 branded chocloate bar is 50p and four bananas are 48p. At the end of the day a parent is supposed to be in charge so they should not give in and pack a lunch that the child demands, but pack a lunch that a child needs. I am not saying a child can never have chocolate but it should be seen as a treat and not an every day occurence. It is programmes like this that really make you think what is added to your kids meals and what you are actually giving them. Good on ya Jamie and I look forward to you doing something in the UK again.

Marissa - posted on 10/18/2010

I am just sad that we need a television program to teach us what we should be feeding our kids. ;(

Iridescent - posted on 10/18/2010

Candi, honestly, the school lunches would likely be more nutritious or the same as what you say you are sending with your children. I have no idea how you can count chips, crackers, cookies, "drink" - unknown type, could be anything here, chicken nuggets and corn dogs as being healthy. They aren't.

Dara - posted on 10/18/2010

I'm Canadian, but I have seen the show in the States and in UK, and I love him. I think he has a great message and practical tools for people to learn how to cook healthy foods. I wish he would come to Canada too!

Shona - posted on 10/18/2010

I think this day in age i think its well respected that he is trying to do some good in the schools and hopefully that will continue into later in life

Candi - posted on 10/18/2010

I send lunch to school with my kids. That way I know what they are eating. Well, at least I know what they are not eating(school lunch). My two older ones get a thermos of soup, cookies, yogurt,and a drink. Sometimes instead of cookies, they get chips or crackers. My youngest one gets either chicken nuggets or corn dog, veggie sticks, banana or apple and crackers and juice. They always get a full breakfast and for dinner, my husband makes sure we have bread, meat, and at least one green veggie. Healthy eating starts at home

Iridescent - posted on 10/18/2010

That is exactly it. So many don't realize that if we work on taking care of our own weak, poor, ill, that the country's people as a whole will be better for it. Shoot, the national health care thing alone, so many were against and some states and military families in particular demanded to be exempt, so they were excluded. NOW, when it's starting, they're all mad because they aren't getting the benefits, when they didn't WANT them! The bulk of vocal people were against the health care plan, yet 4 of 10 think it didn't do enough fast enough, and only 2 of 10 are currently against it. It's pretty pathetic that nobody thinks about the bigger picture.

Jodi - posted on 10/18/2010

I think that is the problem with such a capitalist society. The concept of social welfare, from what I can conclude, is not openly embraced by all Americans, and therefore the social welfare system is severely lacking. In my mind, even these school lunches are an example of poorly managed social welfare (the nutritional content).

Iridescent - posted on 10/18/2010

You're right. The entire world assumes as much. So many think that if they're from the US, they can afford to be ripped off, they have health care, they have jobs, they have money and food, when so many have none of that. A specialist (doctor) I met at Mayo Clinic while my daughter was hospitalized was crying in the hall one day, because his family assumes all those things (in India) and he's sent all the money they can, he works all he can, he'd lost his home and all he had, and could no longer afford health care for himself, as a specialist! And his family was still hounding him for more, when he had nothing. I'm so glad that's not the majority of people struggling in that regard, but it IS what many deal with when their families send them to the US for an education and a better life - they intend to live off that person from that point on. It's messed up.

Jenn - posted on 10/18/2010

Hey - funny you mentioned that movie The Pursuit of Happiness - I just got it from the library! But that's awful that it's like that. :( For some reason I thought the USA would take better care of their citizens.

Iridescent - posted on 10/18/2010

Yes, Jenn. That's exactly what they do. A good movie to watch (true) showing exactly what people are going through is The Pursuit of Happyness, and another would be Homeless to Harvard. Those are the success stories. For those successes, there are thousands that don't make it.

Jenn - posted on 10/18/2010

I just couldn't imagine letting my pride get in the way of feeding my hungry kids. :( Welfare here doesn't have a cut off time really, but you have to continually qualify and be actively looking for work - they can even make you do job assignments or take classes or workshops. So, what does someone do there when they are in a financial pinch? Just live on the streets?!? That's so sad that it's like that.

Chatty - posted on 10/18/2010

I just read the thread but I don't have time to comment so I'll be back later.

Iridescent - posted on 10/18/2010

Jenn, there are Food Stamps, but so many don't know how or aren't willing to apply. Stupid pride. Others don't qualify as the income guidelines are so low. Some states have gotten smart in regards to welfare, and there is a set number of months you can be on it for your entire life. While that was a good change overall, some people were stupid and used it to avoid working years ago, and now they can't because of the economy and won't ever be able to receive assistance again. There aren't any of the child programs you talk about (at least in my state). When you have a baby, you have to take 4-12 weeks off work, usually unpaid, so you plan for it the best you can and save when you can to cover those weeks. If you don't go back to work, you don't get any income at all. The food bank can be used by a family once every 6 months. There are programs out there, but their funding is so limited! Some areas have free clinics, but there are none in our state at all, huge gaps in locations, and our clinics here require cash up front before treatment if you don't have insurance now. So people aren't getting basic medical care, either.

Sara - posted on 10/18/2010

I watched the show when it aired here and I think he's brilliant! There does need to be a food revolution in this country, and i hope he can inspire more people to change.

Jenn - posted on 10/18/2010

I would bet that the meusli bar was confiscated because it contained, or looked like it might contain, nuts. You mentioned that nuts are banned - just like here I cannot send peanut products with my son to school - in fact there is a child in his class who has severe peanut allergy.

It kills me to think that there are so many hungry children in the US. Are there not enough resources out there to help these families get by? What about food stamps? We don't have food stamps here, but there is Ontario Works (welfare), Canada Child Tax Benefit, as well as HST rebate cheques and I'm sure there are many many more programs out there to help people out. If you were out of work and had 2 kids, you could get at least $2100 a month to live on, plus you would qualify to go to the food bank to stock up on food and toiletries.

Louise - posted on 10/18/2010

I think we need to go back to basics here as we are all quick to judge the schools but I have to say having worked in primary schools the mums that do packed lunches are worse. We had a child start school that brought his own pack up and every day he would have the same a whole packet of Jaffa Cakes 12 in a packet and that is all! We also had an American lad and he would only eat a peanut butter toastie that his mum brought to the school every lunch time. Neither of these children had anything else. As you walked around the dining hall you would see crisp wrappers and chocolate wrappers and processed cheese wrappers but hardly any fruit or wholemeal bread or yoghurts.

The kids that were taking a school lunch were being funded by the government as most mums could not afford to pay for the school lunches regularly. The meals were very poor for there value and on the few occasions my boys did eat at school they would come home famished as there was never enough food served. I think my son was served one ice cream scoop of mash potato and one scoop of mixed veg and a chicken drumstick. This was supposed to fill up a 9 year old. My kids prefered to take a packed lunch and this suited me as I knew exactily what they had eatten throughout the day and made keeping them nutritionally balanced and healthy easier. Maybe more should be done to educate people in food and nutrition for children either during parentcraft classes or by the health visitor as a free course for when your child starts to eats solids.

Jodi - posted on 10/17/2010

Wow Renae!! A 2L bottle of coke and bag of potato chips....yeah, I can understand things like that getting confiscated. But not homemade muesli bars, that just crazy!



And with regard to lack of information in the medical field, since my husband has been diagnosed with diabetes, I have found this to be an issue. I was absolutely gobsmacked at how little medical practitioners are educated about it, especially given it is one of the largest epidemics facing this country. They are hopeless. I have said more than once that I am glad I did all my hours upon hours of research so that we could self-manage it, because they are clueless.



In fact, the clinic nurse called last week to have my husband come in to see his doctor because his latest HbA1c test came in at 6.2%. She was saying that the doctor was concerned because normal range is 4-6%. Ummmmm, not for a diabetic it isn't. For someone with diabetes, anything up to 7% is perfectly acceptable. And the doctor didn't know this. Idiot!

Renae - posted on 10/17/2010

To Jodi - thanks for clarifying that all schools are not as bad as the ones my nephews attend (which is where my muslei bars were confiscated!) hopefully that is an isolated incident then.

I do have a couple of friends who are teachers and they have talked about checking lunchboxes. Maybe its a WA thing? Or maybe its isolated to a few schools. We were discussing it just the other day and one of my teacher friends takes lunch to school for a child in grade one who is sent to school every day with a 2L bottle of coke and a big bag of potato chips!! Can you believe that! Surely the parents can be reported.

To Amy - Thank you for all of that information. These were all issues that I was unaware of and had not considered. And in response to your next post - Yes doctors and nurses (and probably nutritionists too) are fed whatever rubbish the health department happens to be promoting at the time. But this problem doesn't just stop at food and nutrition, a lot of areas in the medical fields are grossly lacking in education and current information - its really quite an outrage.

JuLeah - posted on 10/17/2010

I watch what most folks feed their kids and my stomach turns. I eat lunch with my daughter at school on Fridays. I see what the little ones put into their bodies. My kids brings her lunch from home.
Even if our country were sound, economically, health care costs would destroy us within the next few generations. More and more people are developing debilitating illnesses at earlier ages here. About 30%, docs say, are genetic. 70% are the result of life style, food choices, lack of exercise.
I have a friend who is a geriatric doctor. She tells me that most of her clinics would not need her services if they simply ate proper foods, got exercise, and enough sleep.
So, anyone making any effort to stop this madness is a hero in my opinion.

Iridescent - posted on 10/17/2010

Renae, excellent point! My daughter's nutrition requires us to count protein to the tenth of a gram in everything she eats, and be aware of fluid and caloric content. Every one of the hospital nutritionists could not help us, fought with me until I showed them proof of what nutrition information actually was to that degree, and needed me to teach them. Yet the chefs we have contacted were well aware of exactly what I was referring to! In addition, they have helped us develop some basic recipes and get foods we can use again for my daughter. A chef is an excellent source of nutritional information, and I trust them well over and above a nutritionist. A chef learns from all over the world, based on all cultures they are exposed to. A nutritionist learns from the country of their training, whatever garbage that country happens to be promoting at that time. Dairy is NOT good for you and is NOT supposed to be a main source of nutrition, for example. This has been proven over and over, across various countries, and the Dairy Council has been sued for slogans such as, "Everybody needs dairy" and LOST. Yet nutritionists still force dairy, and chefs do NOT. You must research if you want to be aware.

Jodi - posted on 10/17/2010

"I don't take nutritional advice from any chef. I listen to nutritionists and doctors."



Really Angie? I wouldn't listen to a doctor about nutrition over a chef......doctors don't receive any special training in nutrition unless they specialise in it.



My husband is diabetic and I have discovered how much knowledge doctors actually lack.

Jodi - posted on 10/17/2010

Wow, thanks for that information Amy. I have to agree with Renae, that in Australia, it is all quite astounding.

@ Renae, not all schools go through lunchboxes and confiscate, I think only a small minority do. I've certainly never known of it to happen where I live, and I have a number of friends with kids in different schools. It is only nuts that are banned in all the schools in our region, so anything homemade is ok, as long as it has no nuts.

Iridescent - posted on 10/17/2010

Many children in the US don't get enough to eat. School lunch is intended to offset the fact that kids are starving. A lot are receiving either free or reduced meals (30 cents for breakfast and 40 cents per lunch if reduced, at most) based on family income - http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/lunch/. For a lot of kids, it's their only meal(s) of the day, and this has been the case since the 1960s. Yet the US is all gung ho to send food overseas to starving third world countries where it sits and rots because those countries don't trust the US or want to accept their charity, either - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0308/S0... - and the economy has gotten much worse since 2003, when that article was written. It's actually as bad as in the Great Depression now by many estimates, where so many starved to death...and hope of economic recovery is distant at best. http://health.kaboose.com/nutrition/scho... - this shows what is required in a school lunch, and the problems with it. Our local school, like many others, receives shipments of food from the USDA. They can plan a basic menu, but when we sit down each month to go over the menu to determine what two of my kids can eat while there, they keep telling me "we can't get that" or "those we can get, but they are really damaged when they arrive." So where does that leave us? Those foods - are anything fresh. My daughter must eat fresh fruits and vegetables as the base of her diet, and it's very difficult. They are expensive to purchase at the local stores, certainly more than the 40 cents per day for her meal, but her life depends on it and the school is required to provide it since it's specifically ordered by the doctor. The same is true for any other food issues - Rice and Soy milk must be provided at the same cost as Cow's milk to a child, gluten free meals for children with gluten intolerances...by the time you consider the special needs some kids need to survive...it eats the extra portion of the budget for meals for the school quickly. I'm not saying our meals are acceptable! They are terrible! So what is the average family supposed to do, when now, the average family can't even afford to feed their child 1 meal per day, so must take advantage of meals at school?

Renae - posted on 10/17/2010

To Angie - just in case you were not aware. The tertiary studies done during a chef apprenticeship include A LOT of study on nutrition. Chefs have to be able to list the vitamins and nutrients contained in all vegetables, meats, etc. I was actually very surprised at the amount of nutritional study they have to do and the amount that they have to learn about how the body works and processes food etc. I'm not saying a chef knows as much as a nutritionist with a university degree, but their nutritional advice should not be discounted due to their qualifications, chefs are certainly qualified to give advice on nutrition.

Renae - posted on 10/17/2010

I watched the English and American shows he did on school lunches. I was shocked and horrified by what the governments in both countries feed children. I can only hope it was not a dipictment of the majority and that not all schools are like that. It was digusting. It is not difficult to provide healthy food. If they cant do it healthily and are so worried about budget, then why provide food at all?

The whole idea of school lunches is a foreign concept to us in Australia. Schools here do not provide breakfast and lunch. There is a canteen at all schools were children can buy lunch, but most children do not buy lunch every day, most are allowed to buy lunch one day per week as a treat. Buying lunch is expensive here, you could easily allow $10 or more if the child had to purchase all of their food and drink for the day from the school. It is no much cheaper than going to a lunch bar.

Most Aussies make their children's lunches at home and send it with them. There are also strict guidlines about what the school will allow them to bring to school and anything not allowed is confiscated. I personally think Australia has taken the guidlines too far. For example muesli bars are not allowed in many schools, even if they are home made!! I make a lot of treats at home so I can control the amount of sugar and fat and if I want to send them to school for a snack for my child I should be allowed to - the rules should make allowance for homemade food but they dont. I would never allow my child to eat the rubbish the schools on the TV were feeding the children.

Tracy - posted on 10/17/2010

I have my kids in the kitchen helping prepare dinner, and even picking what veggies. They LOVE veggies. I hear people complaining all the time that they "can't" get their kids to eat veggies, or anything except hamburgers and what not. Um, who's buying the food? My son was 4 when I was preg with my daughter. One day his father and I were discussing food (I was starving, as usual) and one of us mentioned Twinkies. My son had NO idea what a Twinkie was! I don't keep that level of junk in the house. His father of course ran out and got some, my son was NOT impressed. :) I think it's about time to show my son the effects of Coke. My battery cables are looking a bit corroded. He doesn't get Coke, but every now and again Sprite or root beer. I'd like him to see WHY we don't drink the other stuff. Anything that can clean my car battery doesn't have a place in my body.

Louise - posted on 10/16/2010

@ Kate wow I had not thought of that!
I saw the episode last week where he went into a primary school and took vegetables with him and none of the children could name them not even a potato or tomato. I was gob smacked. The teacher was that embarassed she made it into a topic for the class to study. What are mums feeding there kids if they do not recognise tomatoes at age 7.

Kate CP - posted on 10/15/2010

And people wonder why our kids are so damn fat in the US. The armed forces here are actually complaining about the school lunch programs because it's churning out tons of overweight kids who can't enlist because of their weight. :/

Jenn - posted on 10/15/2010

I'm not American, I'm Canadian, but I saw that show and was disgusted by some of the food the kids were eating! Luckily here we don't have food programs at school - I feed my son breakfast at home and send a lunch with him - so I can feed him the healthy foods his body needs. Anyway, I think what Jamie Oliver is doing is fantastic and he needs to keep up the good work!! It's almost embarrassing that some people are so clueless about fruits and vegetables and what constitutes a healthy balanced diet.

Angie - posted on 10/15/2010

I don't take nutritional advice from any chef. I listen to nutritionists and doctors.

Jodi - posted on 10/15/2010

That's what I mean Tracey, educating. I very rarely have soft drinks, and my kids rarely have them either. Occasional, I have no problem with. We need to teach them to keep their teeth clean, healthy eating choices and that moderation IS OK. Even on the food pyramid, a little bit of *junk* each day is acceptable. You start banning it altogether and your kids WILL rebel. Teenagers need to be able to start making their own choices. If you ban it, it makes it more enticing. If you educate them, and allow them to make choices, including a little junk, they are more likely to make good choices.

Iridescent - posted on 10/15/2010

Someone who is there to help. He makes some excellent points, and the American guidelines for meals SUCK! I have so many disagreements with it, and no wonder people in the US have, for the first time in hundreds of years, a shorter lifetime estimated for our children than for ourselves as a result, plus these huge obesity rates, and health problems...it's sickening and frustrating.

Tracey - posted on 10/15/2010

My teacher bought a tooth from a child when it fell out in class (after talking to parents and giving twice what the tooth fairy gave) then put the tooth in a glass of coke for 5 days so the kids could see what damage the coke did to a tooth, then asked the kids what they thought the coke was doing to their insides. All the kids were shocked, don't know if it changed their drinking habits but it changed mine - my kids have never been allowed coke or fizzy drinks.

Jodi - posted on 10/15/2010

"@Jodi it really depends if you rinse their mouth with water after drinking the juice or if it has no added sugar,mid you juice has a high acid content. personally my 11 month old doesn't like juice and i'm happy for him not to drink it"



But we aren't talking about babies. I never let my kids near juice or soft drink at that age either. Barely even as toddlers. We were talking about high school kids, and it is unrealistic to expect them ONLY to drink water. In that case, offering only diet drinks and low sugar alternatives is at least better than offering the full sugar soft drinks. At that age, education about healthy choices is the key, not banning everything that is bad for them. That education should begin from a young age and continue through to adulthood.

Katelyn - posted on 10/15/2010

Oh my gosh. I was taking a class over summer and my teacher pulled up the first episode on you tube and made us watch it. The class got so into it that we were mad when it was over and she wouldn't put the second episode on. I went home from class and watched the first episode again. Then when my fiance got home we watched it. I ended up getting my mom interested in it to. So every night the three of us were sitting in front of the computer watching another episode.
Obviously , it is a reality show so some of what they showed I thought was unrealistic. But a lot of what they showed was true.

I graduated from high school in 2007. For breakfast we had the option of cereal and fruit, but like a said it was an option. We also had the warm breakfast which was dough nut holes, breakfast pizza, mini funnel cakes...very few and far between was there anything healthy "prepared" for breakfast and if there was its still walking a fine line to call it healthy.

For lunch we had three lines:
the first was whatever was on the menu
the second was salads, wraps, veges, or nachos
the third was leftovers

The way my school used to do lunches was that you paid for your lunch in the morning and at lunch time they gave you a ticket that you gave to the lunch ladies when you got your meal. During my freshman year they changed it that you had your own account number. You gave the lunch ladies money to put in your account and when you got your lunch they would type in what you bought and u entered your account number. This allowed kids to buy as many lunches/snacks/deserts as they wanted because they didn't have anything to stop them as long as there was money in their accounts.

I think jamie Oliver is what is needed for the school systems. I think they should be more cooperative with his mission to revamp the school systems, but at the same time people don't like change.

I wish him the best and I hope his attempts/success creates a snowball effect!

Tracy - posted on 10/15/2010

I like Jamie's show, and the message he's trying to get out. It sickens me the way we eat here. Every night on my way home I see families crowding the fast food places. I'm lucky in that my son's school has reasonably healthy foods they can choose from on a daily basis. They don't offer sodas either. I don't allow a lot of sugar and junk food in my house. We always have fresh fruit, though. My ex at one point called me a bad mom for not allowing them candy and junk food. I nearly fell over laughing and told him he should call CPS on me. My kids are healthy, and rarely get more than a simple cold. My son has been known to choose an apple over a cookie, and the fruit cup over fries. They beg for broccoli and love salad. I work full time, as does my partner, but we make time to cook and have family meals together every night. So, yeah, I think Jamie is trying to a good thing. Unfortunately, there are too many lazy folks who would rather cram their gullets full of near meat and sorta food than take the time to cook with their family.

Sarah - posted on 10/15/2010

@Jodi it really depends if you rinse their mouth with water after drinking the juice or if it has no added sugar,mid you juice has a high acid content. personally my 11 month old doesn't like juice and i'm happy for him not to drink it

Jodi - posted on 10/15/2010

Sarah, the ONLY thing that WON'T rot your teeth if you don't clean them regularly is water......Diet coke and Coke Zero are a hell of a lot better than the sugary drinks if you want something other than water. Really, is it any worse than me allowing my children to have a glass of juice with lunch when they are at home? If anything, it is probably better for them.

Sarah - posted on 10/15/2010

@Jodi my youngest sister is still in highschool not much has changed...and diet coke and coke zero is full full of all sorts of acids that erode teeth and do god only knows what to your stomach lining. and they apparently sell vitamin water....that stuff is a scam its nothing but sugar and water

Jodi - posted on 10/15/2010

I agree with you to an extent. I am curious as to why you think diet coke and coke zero are not healthy? My husband is diabetic, and it is on the list he is permitted to have.



But anyway, that's an aside. There are some chips which are better than others, there are some pies which are low fat approved specifically for school canteens. Not all pies are unhealthy. Not all sausage rolls are unhealthy.



But, I have no idea what the guidelines are for high schools, only primary schools. My son is in a private high school, however, and they sell do the Red Rock chips, but all of the hot food they sell is approved by Canteens Australia or cooked from scratch and they only sell diet drinks.



Maybe if more parents complained, those schools would change? It really does all start at home.



Also, keep in mind, things may have changed a lot since 2005.....