School's 'Wicked Witch' sweeps out the 'no' foods

No packaged crackers? No processed lunch meat? No Oreos? No white bread? Without those things, what does a child's lunch consist of? I know for me growing up that items such as these made up my lunchbox. This is not the case for the students at Children's Success Academy, a 10-year-old charter school on Tucson's south side for children in kindergarten through the fifth grade. The school seems unusual for its food rules - it forbids refined sugar, white flour, and anything it defines as processed food. For example, second grade teacher Leticia Moreno had to take up two of her student's lunches because they brought in a burrito and a quesadilla made with white flour tortillas. When the 'no' foods have to be confiscated, teachers replace them with peanut butter and honey on wheat bread. Funds for the replacement foods are provided through donations and fundraisers. The school has no cafeteria, so it is mandatory for the parents and students to follow these strict food rules.

Although I support the large majority of the reasoning for having these food rules, I do believe some parts of it are still a little bizarre. For example, I see nothing wrong with foods made with white flour. I understand that food made with wheat is healthier, I just never realized how much of a factor that white flour foods made in childhood obesity.

Childhood obesity is a large part of what the school is trying to prevent,but behavioral problems is another factor in hopes of reducing. Although studies don't confirm that additives or preservatives would cause behavioral problems in children, there is some relating evidence. Rather than eating a candy bar that contains substantial amounts of sugar and getting a quick rush followed by a fast crash; the school encourages student's to eat foods such as apples instead. Although an apple will not give student's an instant rush, it still provides energy, just over an extended period of time.

Some examples of the 'no' foods include: American cheese, white bread, flavored yogurt, canned fruit, peanut butter made with sugar, processed meats, and virtually all packaged crackers.



Nanci Aiken, the school director and founder of Children's Success Academy says that preventing childhood obesity and lowering behavior problems is only a part of her reasoning, the overall health of her students is her biggest focus.

Some examples of the foods that students bring to eat include: scrambled eggs wrapped in a whole-wheat tortilla, tomato juice, plain unflavored Fritos corn chips, which are a "yes" food because it's a whole-grain food, sliced peaches, and whole wheat noodles.

To read the full article, go to http://azstarnet.com/news/local/article_d26e56b7-b1d5-52d8-bdef-9717ce18a61b.html.

"School's 'Wicked Witch' sweeps out the 'no' foods ." Welcome to StarNet - Tucson, Arizona. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2010. .