Kids sure do eat a lot of sugar!

I went to Cinderella's Pre-K class for the morning. I was there to read a story (The Guest by George Marshall) and try not to cause too much trouble.

Now I'm a firm believer that life needs some sugar to counter all the bitterness in the world, but I have to say that the quantity of the sweet stuff being consumed by the future leaders of America was just a bit out of hand.

At breakfast (free for all), the choices include Frosted Flakes and French toast with corn syrup (would it be that hard to get real maple syrup here in New England?). Luckily, I send Cinderella off to pick out a book while I'm picking out her breakfast, but do we really need to be handing out Frosted Flakes? They also have stacks of chocolate milk that they hand out at lunchtime.

At snack time, all the kids eat something packed from home. Cinderella gets raisins, a whole wheat roll with butter or jam, a stick of string cheese, or some fresh fruit. I also pack her some milk to drink. One or two of the other kids had something along those lines. All the rest had fruit rollups, Rice Krispy Treats, cookies (!), and juice (otherwise known as liquid sugar).

I wasn't able to stick around for lunch or the afternoon snack, but I figure it was more along the same lines.

By my estimate, the little munchkins must have ingested about 2 cups of sugar and/or corn sweetener apiece.

And then we worry about why they're all bouncing off the walls?

Just saying...

Overeating Is Easy

According to the NYT, a recent study showed that when junk food makers put their products in smaller packages, we are just inclined to eat more of it.

In one experiment, students were primed to think about their body shape, then were given potato chips and left to watch television. They ate nearly twice as many chips when given nine small bags as when given two large ones. They also hesitated less before opening the small bags.

I guess you might as well just get the big bag.