What We Eat

To the Editor:

Our children deserve better. This is such an insidious problem because Nabisco and General Foods and Kraft are practically considered all-American brands that many parents grew up with as children. They are promoted as wholesome, when in fact, they are not healthful. They are made from white flour, which has no nutritional value, sugar, hydrogenated oils, and other ingredients that are not worth eating. However, the kids are used to the name brands and the tastes and they think nothing of the harmful ingredients because they think they are safe. Most of their parents think they are “safe.” They are safe simply because they don’t make us immediately ill but they almost certainly contribute to the high cancer rate, especially colon cancer because they don’t have fiber and vitamins and nutritious ingredients.

I know how frustrating this campaign can be. I have written to Nabisco and Kraft and asked them how they can make these foods in good conscience? Their unbelievably reply was, “The Food and Drug Administration has OK’d these product ingredients.” Let’s get rid of the FDA then. They listen and bend to the lobbyists of the giant food companies that are very similar to the tobacco companies of the 80s. We all know they hid the harmful results of their research of the effects of tobacco on the human body. I am sure the food companies read the American medical journals and know the hydrogenated oils cause heart disease. The food companies cannot ignore the fact that hot dogs are the single most harmful food we feed our children. It is shocking to me that 1-year-olds are routinely given hot dogs in little chunks because it is an easy meal. Then the kids are fed McDonald’s and other junk food and their taste buds are ruined all through adulthood.

The schools and the lunch room food companies should be held accountable for their menus. It will be a battle to get the kids to eat healthy foods, no doubt about it. But shouldn’t we start somewhere –– and in the arena of an educational facility? Food and nutrition should be a major subject since it directly affects all these children in a very real manner. We are what we eat is a factual statement.

There is a store called Whole Foods that only sells foods and products that are wholesome. Why can’t all grocery stores do the same? I know I go to our local supermarkets in Newtown and am stymied when I try to buy healthy snacks. It is a sad commentary on what we all think is OK to eat.

JoAnne Barnhart

Brushy Hill Road, Newtown                                      August 31, 2003