More About Clean Plates

A comment:

I think it is fantastic that David has grown in to an eater. David is so precious and reminds me of a little girl that was so shy when she started at GS and has blossomed into a beautiful little girl. I think by the time David is six he will be just as outspoken as the little girl is now. I do have to admit that I can certainly understand the blog comment about the clean plate club. If in fact it is being used to get the children to try things that is one thing. If it is to teach the children to clean the plate that is another. I will be the first to admit that I think you do a wonderful job at feeding the children and teaching them to branch out. I know that a lot of times the last thing some of the children have to eat that day will be what you feed them so kudos to you. If you have never had an overeating disorder you can't really relate. The last thing a child should be taught is to clean a plate...and rewarding them with candy is insanity!! I know the reward has to be enticing but maybe it just isn't a good idea! The parfaits were a great idea last week. Maybe that could be the reward. It is just a suggestion. You have a fantastic program and I wish I were little again so I could go there each day. I believe the initial comment about the clean plate club was just a genuine concern.

Response:

Most Americans over eat. But what I am finding out is that it's not about how much we eat, it's about the choices on the plate. Cleaning a plate filled with fruit, vegetables, and healthy portions of whole grain foods and a proper amount of meat and cheese is different than forcing someone to eat an over filled plate of processed carbs, a lot of greasy poorly cooked meat, gravy, white bread and fake butter filled with trans fats. Telling a child to finish his milk is probably a good idea; telling him to finish his soda is quite another story.

Many of us grew up eating over cooked, poorly arranged, variety-less sameness night after night. And those of us who were told to clean the muck off our plates grew up, and the choice to clean a plate or not became a new choice, as there was a new choice of what to put on the plate! The question remains - clean what?

According to a new article about fruits and vegetables, we are supposed to eat 4.5 cups of them a day. I've tried, and I just don't eat that much food, and most people know I'm no light weight!

The whole idea at the GS is to learn to eat different foods so that we can make those wonderful choices that enhance our lives and lead the next generation of children to very long, very healthy lives free of illness and physical trials, but that won't happen if we cater to a narrow spectrum of food choices and experiences.

As for candy, adults have to look at candy as a legitimate food with a time and place. Interestingly enough I brought some ginger candy to school. It is potent enough to take nail polish off, and the kids loved it. Did they love it because they crave sugar calories or because it was different and had an interesting taste? It's hard to know. Ginger brings down cholesterol; it warms people plagued with chill; it soothes stomach problems and much much more. Ginger has been used as a medicine for years. Where else but cookies and candy will a child get to eat ginger?

In the same mode, dark chocolate is also good for you. It is an antioxidant. Mix dark chocolate with cranberries and peanuts and you have the same components as the wine from Sardinia that is said to actually fortify the arterial system. Did you know it is fundamentally better for you to eat a snickers bar than six saltine crackers?

The idea that chocolate would be served after meals is not a bad idea. But without preparation, without structure, half the kids would be eating just to get the chocolate and half would be leaving other things on their plates to make room for the chocolate.

So when you consider all these variables and eating choices, it all comes back to the plate. What are we cleaning? What are we eating? What are the meal choices we make to both eat and to serve, and how can we continue to make all our choices better?