Republicans want to classify pizza and french fries as vegetables

[pcgeek11]

do you see that they lobbied now?

Eat a dick.

Is it a vegetable dick or a meat dick?

 

[ViRGE]

I swear this is the dumbest group on the internet.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=142332405

From the link

"Nutritionists say the whole effort is reminiscent of the Reagan administration's much-ridiculed attempt 30 years ago to classify ketchup as a vegetable to cut costs. This time around, food companies that produce frozen pizzas for schools, the salt industry and potato growers requested the changes and lobbied Congress."

The impact of the lobbies is significantly overstated. The bigger factor is that any kind of real food standards are expensive - you aren't going to feed kids a healthy meal on $2. It's why they're being fed low quality, calorie dense foods in the first place, and is also why lower-income families eat so poorly.

School districts have said some of the USDA proposals go too far and cost too much when budgets are extremely tight. Schools have long taken broad instructions from the government on what they can serve in the federally subsidized meals that are given free or at reduced price to low-income children. But some schools have balked at government attempts to tell them exactly what foods they can't serve.

 

[zsdersw]

I'll assume you aren't aware of the implication of what really happens to a potato once fried..... Adding the oils and fats. Not to mention that potatoes aren't exactly the healthiest of vegetables to begin with.

Potatoes, on their own with the skin, are very healthy vegetables. Of course french fries are neither potatoes on their own nor with the skin, but that doesn't make potatoes a not-so-healthy vegetable.

 

[zsdersw]

The biggest gripe I have with what the government is mandating here (aside from my overall disgust with them making mandates on this in the first place) is that anything higher than 1% milk is not allowed. The fat in milk is not worse for you than all the added sugar (most of it refined) found elsewhere in the lunch program.

That fat-free chocolate milk that's so popular is worse for the kids than regular 2% or whole milk. Leave milk alone... try cutting some of the refined sugar instead.

Eating school lunch most every day as I do, though, I'm quite happy with the menu at the district I work for. For $3.25 (the non-subsidized cost that all staff pay) I get a better meal than I can get anywhere else in town in the half hour I have... and the fresh fruit they always serve is better than what I usually find in the supermarket. The rolls and bread are all made from scratch with whole grains, and when they do have "fries" they're baked. They actually make a lot of the entrees from scratch and the vegetables are, most of the time, frozen or fresh instead of canned.

There's also a salad bar option for all staff and students, at the same cost as the regular lunch, that serves a really good salad, usually with your choice of grilled chicken or ham and turkey and hard-boiled eggs and always served with fresh veggies, cottage cheese, pasta salad... basically everything you'd find at a good restaurant's salad bar.

There is a lot of variety in school lunch programs, though, as some districts I've worked for in the past were a lot worse.

 

[DirkGently1]

I'll assume you aren't aware of the implication of what really happens to a potato once fried..... Adding the oils and fats. Not to mention that potatoes aren't exactly the healthiest of vegetables to begin with.

It becomes a fried potato?? Commonly known as a french fry. Which is still potato. Which is a vegetable.

 

[Ninjahedge]

do you see that they lobbied now?

Eat a dick.

Is that a veggie?


BTW, if you want to get technical, wheat and rice are also "vegetables" in that they are PLANTS.

But, for some STRANGE reason, they just are not considered veggies... but GRAINS.

Why? Their nutritional content is bupkis. they give you carbs and (possibly) fiber, but they are fuel, not ones that provide the nutritional elements needed for a healthy metabolic state.

Now, what is this? The guys that provide the food, the ones that have contracts with the gubbermint and the schools, do not want their livelyhood threatened (fair enough). But instead of asking the people what they want for their kids (healthy food... that is WHY the bills were passed in the first place) they are RE-CLASSIFYING rather junky food as "healthy".

Semantics, not nutrition.

The issue here is simple. If you are PAYING TAX DOLLARS to feed these kids, why feed them crap that will have their fat asses going, via welfare and medicare, to the doctors?

I really do not care if they serve some of these things to kids. It is nice to have a treat with Lunch, but not if I am paying for it.....

 

[zsdersw]

Their nutritional content is bupkis.

100% false. Wheat and rice provide more than just carbs. Protein and vitamins/minerals are also included if the right parts of the grain are consumed.

 

[Londo_Jowo]

The issue here is simple. If you are PAYING TAX DOLLARS to feed these kids, why feed them crap that will have their fat asses going, via welfare and medicare, to the doctors?

I really do not care if they serve some of these things to kids. It is nice to have a treat with Lunch, but not if I am paying for it.....

Why should tax dollars be used to feed kids? Parents should be paying for their kids food and monitoring what they eat.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Why should tax dollars be used to feed kids? Parents should be paying for their kids food and monitoring what they eat.

Agreed. The unfortunately reality though, is that many children on the free and reduced lunch programs, would go hungry otherwise. Here, all children can have breakfast free before school in the morning too. Those 2 meals are probably the bulk of the caloric intake for the day, for some of those kids.

Of all the things I am taxed for, this is one of the things I am OK with. Certainly, I would love to see all parents be responsible, and make the best choices, and necessary sacrifices, to care properly for their children. But, there are crack heads, alcoholics, and all manner of losers that breed, and fail this basic task.

I guess I am enough of a "bleeding heart" to not want to punish the kids, for their parents failures.

And I know as with all subsidized programs, there are numerous issues. Big biz influence and profiteering, being just a small fraction of them.

 

[zsdersw]

Agreed. The unfortunately reality though, is that many children on the free and reduced lunch programs, would go hungry otherwise. Here, all children can have breakfast free before school in the morning too. Those 2 meals are probably the bulk of the caloric intake for the day, for some of those kids.

Exactly.. and also true for the district I work for as well.

 

[Ninjahedge]

100% false. Wheat and rice provide more than just carbs. Protein and vitamins/minerals are also included if the right parts of the grain are consumed.

And there is the catch.

90% of all consumed grains are refined. Bleached flour and white rice.

NOT whole grain/long grain or wild rice, not whole grain wheat.

Potatoes are NOT a good source of complete nutrition, and neither are MOST conventional, widely distributed and consumed, grains.

Splitting hairs there teach.

 

[Ninjahedge]

Why should tax dollars be used to feed kids? Parents should be paying for their kids food and monitoring what they eat.

Um, are you serious?

You know what happens when you start getting hordes of hungry uneducated people, right?

 

[Exterous]

There is a lot of variety in school lunch programs, though, as some districts I've worked for in the past were a lot worse.

Huge variety. Theres a school district around here that keeps making news with its horrid options - using every loophole in the requirements to serve grossly subpar food and cost cutting at every corner at the expense of health and safety. IIRC the most recent issue was they were taking purchased, unopened milk that had been sitting out for who knows how long and putting them back for re-sale

 

[cybrsage]

I swear this is the dumbest group on the internet.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=142332405

From the link

"Nutritionists say the whole effort is reminiscent of the Reagan administration's much-ridiculed attempt 30 years ago to classify ketchup as a vegetable to cut costs. This time around, food companies that produce frozen pizzas for schools, the salt industry and potato growers requested the changes and lobbied Congress."

Wait...the members of this forum are dumb because they want you to support your own statements? Wow, are you one of those OWS non-bathers who cry that the cops took your stuff after you refused to leave when they said leave or we will take your stuff?

But onto your link:

These "nutritionalists"...who are they? No mention of a single one talked to by the article writer. It appears made up. Might as well have used "they" instead, it is almost as specific.

There is also this:

Specifically, the bill would:
— Block the Agriculture Department from limiting starchy vegetables, including corn and peas, to two servings a week. The rule was intended to cut down on french fries, which many schools serve daily.
— Allow USDA to count two tablespoons of tomato paste as a vegetable, as it does now. The department had attempted to require that only a half-cup of tomato paste could be considered a vegetable. Federally subsidized lunches must have a certain number of vegetables to be served.
— Require further study on long-term sodium reduction requirements set forth by the USDA guidelines.
— Require USDA to define "whole grains" before they regulate them. The USDA rules require schools to use more whole grains.

Require more "whole grains", but not actually say what "whole grains" are. Smart....not.
Remove peas and corn. Smart...not.
Service size - This one has some merit. According to the nutrition data, a 1/2 cup of tomato paste with salt added has 21% dietary fiber, 40% Vitamin A, 48% Vitamin C, 22% Iron, and 43% Sodium. Trace of other things.
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2959/2

If we divide that by 4 (16 tablespoons to a cup, only 1/2 cup in proposed service size and 2 tablespoons for current serving size) you roughly get 5% dietary fiber, 10% Vitamin A, 12% Vitamin C, 5% Iron, and 11% Sodium.

While the sodium reduction is very welcome in the smaller size, not sure of the impact caused by the other reductions. The fiber is the biggest one, for the vitamins reduced are easily obtained from many different junk foods. Americans, as a rule, do not get enough fiber in their diet.

I was quite unaware that tomato paste has so much fiber!

 

[cybrsage]

Again I ask, are we all in agreement that frying a vegetable does not magically make it no longer a vegetable?

 

[cybrsage]

Um, are you serious?

You know what happens when you start getting hordes of hungry uneducated people, right?

The stop bathing and hang out in the park in some inner city, chanting slogans?

 

[cybrsage]

Agreed. The unfortunately reality though, is that many children on the free and reduced lunch programs, would go hungry otherwise. Here, all children can have breakfast free before school in the morning too. Those 2 meals are probably the bulk of the caloric intake for the day, for some of those kids.

Of all the things I am taxed for, this is one of the things I am OK with. Certainly, I would love to see all parents be responsible, and make the best choices, and necessary sacrifices, to care properly for their children. But, there are crack heads, alcoholics, and all manner of losers that breed, and fail this basic task.

I guess I am enough of a "bleeding heart" to not want to punish the kids, for their parents failures.

And I know as with all subsidized programs, there are numerous issues. Big biz influence and profiteering, being just a small fraction of them.

I agree. I wish we could legislate that people whose kids are on public assistance are not allowed to have cell phones...it would save those families a lot of money...but we need to feed the kids even when their parents will not.

 

[Londo_Jowo]

Um, are you serious?

Of course I'm serious, I've paid/am paying for my children school lunches. I also take the time to download the weekly menu to see what's being offered.

You know what happens when you start getting hordes of hungry uneducated people, right?

They protest on Wall Street?

 

[ericlp]

I french fry is made from a cut up potato that is then fried...its name comes from the original "potatos made the French way".

A potato is a vegetable. Therefor, I can unequivically say that french fries are vegetables.

And ketchup is made of tomato so... Double DIP!!! SCORE!!!

Even tho it's loaded with FAT and Salt! And there is ZERO nutritional value after coming out of the deep fat fryer killing anything that was good to begin with. And don't think they is any vitamins in ketchup. The only thing ketchup is high in is sodium. Another day closer to that triple bypass

 

[cybrsage]

Is it a vegetable dick or a meat dick?

It was a vegetable, until he fried it...at which point it magically turned into meat.

 

[cybrsage]

And ketchup is made of tomato so... Double DIP!!! SCORE!!!

Even tho it's loaded with FAT and Salt! And there is ZERO nutritional value after coming out of the deep fat fryer killing anything that was good to begin with. And don't think they is any vitamins in ketchup. The only thing ketchup is high in is sodium. Another day closer to that triple bypass

Tomato Paste has only 1% Saturated Fat in a 1/2 cup service size. If you reduce that by a factor of 4, it becomes 0% (due to the rounding rules).

I used the nutritional info placed on a can of tomato paste. I even provided a link to it. I used the one with salt added, since that is the most likely to be used and also the most popular type purchased.

However, going to your ketsup example, a service size is about 1 cup...not the 9 grams found in a katsup package.

If we use the amount in a ketsup package, we get this:

4% Sodium, 1 % Dietary Fiber, 2% Vitamin A, and everything else is 0%
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/foods-from-hardees/8715/2

But if we use the actual service size (who would, though) we get this:

1% Fat, 111% Sodium, 3% Dietary Fiber, 45% Vitamin A, 60% Vitamin C, 7% Iron
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/3005/2


As a comparison to both tomato paste and ketsup, a raw red tomato (medium sized, 2.5 inches in diameter) provides:

0% Fat, 0% Sodium, 6% Dietary Fiber, 20% Vitamin A, 26% Vitamin C, 2% Iron
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2682/2


Instead of being stupid on purpose, do just a little research. Tomato Paste is not that much different from a raw tomato, with the exception of the added salt.

 

[OutHouse]

Children today are little lardballs anyway. They play video games all day and even their Nerf guns are battery powered. If you want to raise a good one you won't depend on the government to feed them or make them exercise. The rest are a lost cause anyway, fuck 'em.

yea i guess that is why my 18 year old daughter can run a 6.8 min mile and lettered all 4 years in high-school track and cross country. and why my 13 year old son is working on his black-belt....

honestly i dont see overweight kids at their school, sure there maybe a few but not like you picture that all kids are little lardballs. maybe its because i am in Colorado and not a southern state.

 

[Ninjahedge]

The stop bathing and hang out in the park in some inner city, chanting slogans?

Nope.

You get riots where things get damaged, people hurt and a general "reduction in property value".

When people are irritated, they complain.

When people are suffering, they fight.

 

[zsdersw]

And there is the catch.

90% of all consumed grains are refined. Bleached flour and white rice.

NOT whole grain/long grain or wild rice, not whole grain wheat.

Potatoes are NOT a good source of complete nutrition, and neither are MOST conventional, widely distributed and consumed, grains.

Splitting hairs there teach.

It's not splitting hairs at all. You said they aren't nutritious. You didn't say initially that they aren't nutritious as typically consumed. It's the fundamental difference between making accurate and inaccurate statements.

And, by the way, I don't "teach".. I'm the director of technology.

The posts of yours that I've quoted are prime examples of how assumption is the root of all fvck-ups.

 

[Ninjahedge]

Of course I'm serious, I've paid/am paying for my children school lunches. I also take the time to download the weekly menu to see what's being offered.

Congrats, here's your prize.