Is chocolate unfairly demonised as unhealthy?

[JambonetFromage]

DC are supposed to take a "healthy snack" into school for break.

What I send varies depending on what's in the house - sometimes it's something like a babybel, ricecakes, fruit etc. Often things which are questionable like hobnobs, banana bread, malt loaf, flapjack. But it's all been fine.

This week I sent them with homemade chocolate cornflake cakes - these were just cornflakes mixed with some melted chocolate. DC came back with a letter from school saying these were unsuitable snacks.

Now I'm not trying to claim that chocolate cornflake cakes are "healthy" but I don't think they're nutritionally any better/worse than a flapjack or a slice of maltloaf which I've sent the DC with on many an occasion. I think the problem is one contains chocolate and the others don't.

AIBU to say that chocolate isn't evil and something containing chocolate doesn't necessarily make it less healthy?

Think you may be incorrect, there are many brands of unadulterated, plain, sugar free cornflakes… try a quick search?

Melty, messy, sticky is why schools hate chocolate

Well I guess cause then they'll be like 'well helpel's kids have chocolate in their boxes' and then you're into a whole debate about what's too much, what's OK and it would be a constant battle. Easier to have a blanket rule (OPs school), or no rule at all (my kids school)

Our school is real fruit and veg only. Much simpler. Choc cornflake cake is not healthy.

I never get the healthy snack rule because if you have school dinners you will get pudding & custard.

Love a cornflake cake... It's not a healthy snack - no - but homemade not healthy is often better than shop bought "healthy".
Like shop bought flapjacks are often packed with sugar and ufp fats.

A cornflake cake is not making anyone obese

I love pudding and custard. Those were the days, when you were given it every day at school!

Our school dinners were pretty healthy though I think. In terms of no additives, all cooked from scratch anyway, probably high fat (meat pie with gravy and mash was glorious) We didn't have snacks at all. Yet my age group ( 50's ) seems to suffer more from obesity. So maybe old style school dinners set us up to crave sugar and fat.

Popcorn does not count as one of your 5 a day

At our school it is fruit or veg only. I thought this was standard. Cheese is very calorific, there's a reason so many kids are fat.

Cheese is very calorific, there's a reason so many kids are fat.

Its not because of a portion of cheese in their lunch box…

@Bulbsbulbsbulbs my dc get offered that everyday.

The real issue is the amount of junk that is sold in secondary schools pizza, sausage rolls, nuggets, doughnuts, muffins & it’s generally low quality.

Tesco cornflakes = are just corn, salt, sugar, malt extract and vitamins. Pretty heavily processed yes but it seem fairly benign, in the grand scheme of things.

One of my DC hardly eats anything that isn't beige so I can't get that angsty about UPFs and the like otherwise I'd despair! Like someone said earlier you have to drop the bar with kids like him, I'm just happy when he eats something.

The other is the polar opposite, eats a really varied and healthy diet

So for either of them I'm not losing sleep over a cornflake cake. For one - well at least it's food. For the other - it's a small % of a good diet.

Always despised all this petty snooping into young children's lunchboxes. I imagine there must be a lot of lunchtime supervisors that turn a blind eye to stuff like that if they can, and if they know that generally that particular child is provided with a healthy packed lunch. Well, I hope so, anyway!

I don't claim to know the answer but I do also know that school dinners aren't healthy, either!

I guess schools are damned if they do and damned if they don't. Because if they don't then they will get complaints from one child's parents saying 'well, my daughter tells me that her friend Susan had a chocolate cereal bar last week...'

Two small bars of chocolate in one day does not constitute a massive unhealthy problem. That’s just as disordered as thinking a can of coke and a bag of haribo constitutes a decent breakfast. We’ve lost sight of food both for nutrition and pleasure - both are valid approaches to take and need to be balanced but it takes much more than two freddo bars to condemn a child to a life of poor health.

I've seen some brownies made of avocado and cocoa power, no sugar

I'd say that was healthier than a flapjack or something then for sure. But I can also see why schools find it easier to just have a nice chocolate rule as probably most of the chocolate kids will bring in will be high sugar.

Sorry, I meant those were the days for me. I'd love that every day! Chocolate sponge and custard.

Am I the only one who would write back and tell the school that it's perfectly suitable and if they want to provide an alternative they are welcome to do so, but until then I'll be sending them with what I decide?

My school used to give us biscuits like pink wafers and custard creams in the 90s...!

It's good for schools to encourage healthy eating. But if they want to control what the children eat during the school day then in my book they have to provide the food.

@Bulbsbulbsbulbs got you, I really don’t like custard because of those days! And I really dislike flapjacks because we used to sometimes get this brick like stodgy one. I know they don’t taste like that & some are lovely but I would never chose one as an adult.

School staff do not have the skills and knowledge in nutrition nor the ability to discern what is in the food that they have been told to police.

Many parents would not care if their child ate unhealthily every day.

Therefore the school should provide adequate information from parents, including numerous examples of what is acceptable and what is not.

The School Food Standards from government state for break time snack:

“No cakes biscuits pastries or desserts (except yoghurt or fruit-based desserts
containing at least 50% fruit).“

and

”No savoury crackers and breadsticks”

For lunch it states:

“No confectionery, chocolate or chocolate-coated products*

“Desserts, cakes and biscuits are allowed at lunchtirne. They must not contain any confectionery“

It also states:

“No snacks, except nuts, seeds, vegetables and fruit with no added salt, sugar or fat (applies across the whole school day)”

The government disagrees.

It’s not healthy. But then again neither are flapjacks, malt loaf, banana bread, or hob nobs. They’re treats. I agree they seem to be applying their policies inconsistently.

Most chocolate is mainly sugar and there's very little nutrition in cornflakes so I'd agree it's an 'unhealthy' snack. However. I don't think malt loaf or flapjack is much better, although there is some fibre in the oats and perhaps some fruit in the malt loaf.