To think cheese is a healthy snack?

[insuranceidiot]

Maybe I am. I gave my LB cheese chunks in a little pot and a small bottle of water for his Break today on his first day in Primary school. He loves this and has it at home. He came home with a note saying in future to send a healthy nutritious snack in future.

Can I ask what u would send as a Healthy snack to school please?

Send them in with a cheese board selection!

When they are paying for it, they can decide. Some chunks of cheese and grapes or sultanas are fab, we all need the calcium and fat that is in cheese.

I sent in Cheese and grapes today. And when I dropped him in this am I asked for a
List of acceptable snacks. She said she didn't have one. So I suggested she draft one as I felt cheese was acceptable as part of his balanced diet. I fear I may have been labelled "that parent" already. Lol.

Send a sugar cube and point out that it's fat free (or a block of lard and point out that it's sugar free...)

M&S did used to sell pure maple syrup with the green "healthy choice" triangle on it, on the grounds it was 100% fat free. I was so tickled I took a picture of it.

little we need photographic evidence, surely they didn't really?

I could understand it if you sent chocolate or sweets but cheese?? Was the note just for you or do you think every parent received one? Schools do this sometimes so nobody is singled out. For example, when they spot head lice in a child's hair they tell every parent that there's is a case in that class

Nowt wrong with cheese.
As many posters have pointed out, children need fat to grow - all cells in the body are made up from fatty acids (from fats) in the cell membrane, and nerves are surrounded by a fatty sheath. Brains are made up of nerves, so lots of fat needed there! Cholesterol - also part of the cell membranes, AND is the building block for all steroid hormones.

For most normal, healthy children, fats in the diet are essential (there will always be conditions that make the exception) and should not be restricted while they are still growing.

I would maybe ask the teacher what she/he feels is so wrong with cheese - and if they mention "high fat" then you have the information to explain why that is a fallacy for children.

This really makes me cross. But not a school battle I think worth having.

Send the cheese wrapped in the note, perhaps add a drawing of a hand sticking two fingers up at the bottom?

I don't know Oblomov - I think it should be, in some ways, because there are a lot of people who buy into this "low fat at any price to prevent the obesity epidemic" paradigm, and I think it's positively harmful to small children, so needs to be stopped. But it's not the OP's responsibility to stop it entirely - just maybe to take one small step. :)

You would be amazed at the enormous amount of fruit and veg I have to empty out of the playground bins. And the thousands of crisp and sweetie papers every week.

A348skl

Good point. It is better if parents can check that their children have actually eaten the vegetables and fruit.

But obesity is a lot to do with amounts, not so much the "quality" of the food involved. Apart from sugar, which can make us hungrier after a while than most other nutrients.

What I would like to clarify about this debate is, are we talking about packed lunches or mid-morning snack? Surely a filling snack would spoil their appetite for lunch. How about a light healthy snack and a regular healthy lunch. I think it's maybe fair that the school is showing due diligence.

Cheese is fine but low fat cheese is not healthy for anyone as it's processed crap with added crap. Why take a healthy product and adulterate it in this way?

Just eat a wide variety of non-processed foods and don't worry about what exactly it is!

Overweight people need to reduce carbs not fat anyway. (No-one should eat processed fat though - only naturally occurring ones in meat, dairy products, nuts etc). And avoid sugary foods unless naturally occurring such as fruits

Surely a filling snack would spoil their appetite for lunch

Only if it was less than 30 min before or the child never burnt those calories.

A348skl Fri 02-Sep-16 12:19:16

"What I would like to clarify about this debate is, are we talking about packed lunches or mid-morning snack? Surely a filling snack would spoil their appetite for lunch."

If a small snack of cheese mid-morning spoils a child's appetite for lunch then I would be seriously concerned that their needs of being kept physically active are not being met. They should be burning those calories between the school start and lunchtime. Growing children should have a daily routine which does not require the diet of a sedentary 60-year-old.

I don't necessarily have an issue with cheese. I say light healthy snack in direct proportion to the size of their decent potion of lunch. And I ain't a sedentary sixty year old. I have two excellent and healthy children.

Edam if you do and edam if you don't.

Seriously? Cheese is really nutritioius. Yoi could argue that is contains more nutrtion than a carrot. Young children need fat in their diets and quite a lot of calories. Ask them to provide a list of approved snacks.

Most primaries have guidelines. Just ask.

Most are sensible.

Ours is : fruit, veggies, cheese, crackers, breadsticks add for snack. Pretty much anything except sweets, chocolate, crisps. In KS1 the snack is given out and is always a fruit or veggie selection, sometimes cheese too, a small matchbox sized portion.

Lunch guidelines are basically anything but nuts.

If a child in my class repeatedly brings in two bags of crisps a day for lunch and snack, I will ring home and ask that the snack be healthy.

But to be honest, this is not a big issue. Far more worrying to me is the amount of kids that turn up to school hungry, with no snack, or inadequate lunch. Our school shared leftover ks1 snacks with ks2 children who are hungry, and we've started a discretionary school meal for kids whose lunchboxes are inadequate. Free school meals don't reach the low paid.

That's a real crime, not the worry about a bit of cheese nutrition. Kids in need have rocketed over this last year in my area.

You are his mother - it's up to you what he eats - not the school! Agree this would really annoy me!

P.S. I think it's healthy anyway but that's irrelevant...

Everything in moderation and a small amount of fat is necessary in daily diet. The protein and calcium found in cheese is beneficial and a far lot better than a bag of crisps!!

Personally I find the school food police way OTT. We were sent home a leaflet advising us to switch to low fat yoghurt, skimmed milk, Margerine and diet fizzy drinks. low fat yoghurt is full of sugar, skimmed milk is low in calcium, Margerine is basically plastic and E numbers and don't even get me started on the Diet Coke debate!! Absolute rubbish...

interestingly on the link given with sample menus cheese was very rarely mentioned on any of the menus, one the first one it was listed once on the whole week and that was mozarra balls.

really shocked as cheese is so good for you.

x

OK, you've done it, you've got me off on my pet subject!! "fruit snack" Your children WILL EAT A SNACK AND IT WILL BE FRUIT. Even if it's a totally INSANE idea and really tough on their blood sugar levels to eat fruit on an empty stomach. I sent in cheese with the fruit a few times, tried to sneak it by them, nope, not allowed. Who the hell do teachers think they are? Or rather, the schools, because the teachers are just their minions, to tell parents what their kids can and can't eat? I had this same conversation with my nutritionist/acupuncturist, he had the same problem with his kids' moronic school. He marched it there and told them that he was a trained professional and that they knew NOTHING about nutrition and his kids would be allowed to eat exactly what he gave them. It worked. My response was different, I pulled him out and he's been homeschooled from that day to this with FAR better results and higher quality of life than that that offered by the so-called educational institutions. Rant over. OF COURSE cheese is healthy. They're morons.