What do you think of 'healthy eating?'

[Paul]

I cried when they banned turkey twizzlers here. :'(

As for a 'healthy eating' policy in the workplace, I work in food retail, so I eat what I sell, and while it is promoted as 'healthy', just about everything contains mayonnaise, so it isn't really.

[Kitten Medli]

I'd be bloody happy, honestly.

Cept I don't go to public skewl. OOPZ.

[Helena]

I cried when they banned turkey twizzlers here. :'(

I hated those things. So much.

Well, as long as they do it properly, not like "Kay here's some random veg crap and we don't know what it is so we can't tell you" like it was in my primary school. But now it's better; they do chips once a week, and some other things, but not often.

[Mongrel]

Depending on the severity of the allergy, that might not be as much of an overreaction as you'd think. Ever hear of Nita Sekhri? She was at a friend's house, in the kitchen, and inhaled the mist from some garbanzo beans that were cooking on the other end of the room. She was allergic to garbanzo beans, and just the vapor from them killed her.

I have peanut allergy and smelling vapours don't kill me. I just puke when I eat peanuts and peanuts smell horrible to me. I saw in the news once that a girl in Canada who had peanut allergy died because her boyfriend ate a peanut butter sandwich before they kissed.

Hence the "depending on the severity of the allergy" part

[KMB1933]

I now think the healthy eating policy is going too far. Today, I bought 2 "crispy chicken nuggets" for $10 HKD and when I ate them, I found that the chicken nuggets were coated with cornflakes instead of breadcrumbs.

Ewwww. What are the cornflakes doing on the chicken? This is weird!

[Alex]

It's actually a method quite a few chefs use. I know that I've used it at school before. It's typically a combination of egg, flour, breadcrumbs, and crushed up cornflakes. Personally I wouldn't call that "healthy eating", I'd call that the chefs trying to do something different for a change. Done correctly, it's actually quite good.

Medli, I was at a private school and they were attempting to bring healthier options in there too, so it's not just public schools. The only difference is it's not regulated and the onus is on the schools themselves to provide healthier options rather than having their choices dictated.

[Combusken BG]

It all fine trying to inforce healthy eating in schools but it would have very little effect if the children are being given junk food at home by their parents. Also you would have to fid a way to stop the 16+ year old teenagers from sneaking off out of school during lunch break and popping into a Mickey D's or waiting until the school has finished and head into a fast food resturant for their junk food. Or alternative the 16+'s could feed themselves junk food at home before their parents get home.

[Xerophyte]

I think I couldn't do it, that's what I think about healthy eating.

There's just too much goodness out there.
Of course, not all healthy food tastes bad, but I find that the overwhelming majority of it tends to.

+ I don't actually eat at school, so it wouldn't change a thing for me.

[theonlysaneone]

What would I do if my school stopped selling soft drinks?

Somehow, TOSO, I doubt that your school would ever stop selling soft drinks. If I remember correctly (it's been a while), there were several vending machines, not to mention a ton of options for sodas and candy and chips and other junk food available. I think there was even a separate "short-line" cafeteria for people who just wanted cheese fries and the like. I don't recall them having too many healthy options when I was there, but yeah, I really doubt they'd remove it all. And the rolls *always* tasted funny...

Yeah, you're right. They have cut back on them a lot, though. Texas passed a law recently that doesn't allow soft drinks over 12 oz (~300 ml) to be sold in schools, and they turn the vending machines off during lunch. Additionally, they don't allow people to leave campus for lunch anymore unless you're very creative with your class scheduling.

Zorg is allergic to Cashews and some other nuts, and last year at college he had an allergic reaction to pasta and sauce. The only way this could have happened is that if the plates/cutlery weren't cleaned properly (highly likely) and he got a trace of it with his meal. It caused him to go into anaphalactic shock and have to be taken to hospital.

The college kitchen is now completely nut free. Not an over-reaction i dont think!

I still think it's a little bit of an over-reaction. It's a huge imposition on a lot of people to ban an entire class of foods from a college cafeteria, and I think people affected by this type of thing need to meet them halfway. Perhaps certain kitchens could be allergen-free while others offer more choices?

Also, I might be wrong, but shouldn't an epinephrine pen stop or stall even the worst allergic reactions? That's not a justification for allowing peanuts, but it's a good defense against honest mistakes.

[Mongrel]

I still think it's a little bit of an over-reaction. It's a huge imposition on a lot of people to ban an entire class of foods from a college cafeteria, and I think people affected by this type of thing need to meet them halfway. Perhaps certain kitchens could be allergen-free while others offer more choices?

I don't know how your school's kitchens are set up, but we had exactly one gigantic kitchen in our school.

[Bangel]

Zorg is allergic to Cashews and some other nuts, and last year at college he had an allergic reaction to pasta and sauce. The only way this could have happened is that if the plates/cutlery weren't cleaned properly (highly likely) and he got a trace of it with his meal. It caused him to go into anaphalactic shock and have to be taken to hospital.

The college kitchen is now completely nut free. Not an over-reaction i dont think!

I still think it's a little bit of an over-reaction. It's a huge imposition on a lot of people to ban an entire class of foods from a college cafeteria, and I think people affected by this type of thing need to meet them halfway. Perhaps certain kitchens could be allergen-free while others offer more choices?

Well, I don't know about you, but personally I think the safety and wellbeing of a person is more important to consider than the appetites of college students.

[Asthaloth]

Zorg is allergic to Cashews and some other nuts, and last year at college he had an allergic reaction to pasta and sauce. The only way this could have happened is that if the plates/cutlery weren't cleaned properly (highly likely) and he got a trace of it with his meal. It caused him to go into anaphalactic shock and have to be taken to hospital.

The college kitchen is now completely nut free. Not an over-reaction i dont think!

I still think it's a little bit of an over-reaction. It's a huge imposition on a lot of people to ban an entire class of foods from a college cafeteria, and I think people affected by this type of thing need to meet them halfway. Perhaps certain kitchens could be allergen-free while others offer more choices?

Well, I don't know about you, but personally I think the safety and wellbeing of a person is more important to consider than the appetites of college students.

Pbbbt, they are only students.

(This people, is a joke. Just so we are sure.)

But as part of my usual Devils advocate stylings, what if we get people allergic to dairy Products (My mother, for example) we remove those entirely too?
coco?
Red meat?

Where does it end, exactly?

[theonlysaneone]

I still think it's a little bit of an over-reaction. It's a huge imposition on a lot of people to ban an entire class of foods from a college cafeteria, and I think people affected by this type of thing need to meet them halfway. Perhaps certain kitchens could be allergen-free while others offer more choices?

Well, I don't know about you, but personally I think the safety and wellbeing of a person is more important to consider than the appetites of college students.

Pbbbt, they are only students.

(This people, is a joke. Just so we are sure.)

But as part of my usual Devils advocate stylings, what if we get people allergic to dairy Products (My mother, for example) we remove those entirely too?
coco?
Red meat?

Where does it end, exactly?

That's pretty much what I'm saying. To what lengths do you go to accommodate the needs of one person? Should schools ban unhealthy foods because some people at the school can't make good choices?

The answer to the first question is, you accommodate people until the accommodation becomes an undue burden on others. If the college has only one kitchen, and one person in the college is allergic to nuts, then it's fairly reasonable to ban nuts from the kitchen. But what happens if someone is unaware of the regulation and brings a nut product into the cafeteria? If there's more than one kitchen at the college, it's entirely reasonable in my opinion to make one the "hypoallergenic" kitchen so that other students can have as much freedom of choice as possible.

It's also worth pointing out that nuts are normally very healthy foods. They're one of few sources of protein outside of meats, and they provide a lot of nutrients. To deny students nuts is to deny them a food that could be an important part of their diet.

As for the second question, they shouldn't be banned. It's one thing to be allergic; you can't control that. You can control the choices you make, so it makes no sense to infringe on others' freedom to continue to accommodate the bad habits of others. I'm also opposed to "closed campus" policies that don't allow older students to leave campus and eat at nearby restaurants. If you don't like the choices offered by your school cafeteria, you should be able to seek better options elsewhere.

[Kiyone]

I used to scarf down so many junk and processed food while growing up. I decided I needed a change, and gradually started giving up soda, microwavable food, etc. Initially I thought it'd be impossible, but eventually I got used to it and started feeling better both mentally and physically. I'm not a vegetarian, but I make sure to consume an ample amount of vegetables and fruits on a daily basis. I don't eat out too often because I like knowing what's going in/on my food.

[hpfanfiction]

I embrace it I'm a vegetarian anyway- so it does tend to cut down my fast food choices! (ie no Maccas, KFC, or Hungry Jacks- just Subway Veggie Delites and occasionally veggie pizzas). I love salads/fruit, but though I'm not a huge fan of lollies or fried foods, I do have a weakness for chocolate ! I never really developed a taste for soft drinks- as my parents refused to have it at home, so at parties etc I tend to have juice instead.