The Wild Wild Wild West of School Lunches #6: Corn Dogs

Yesterday I thought I'd take a chance and eat school lunch. Most days at this particular school the offerings are actually somewhat healthy. But when I wandered into the kitchen I was greeted by the sight of an enormous pan of corn dogs.The idea seems fun, perhaps even sound. A hot dog dipped in corn batter seems innocuous. I love cornbread. I love healthy hot dogs.What harm could there be in that? It it was just cornflour and meat, it might be okay but like the rest of our industrial supply things are never quite that simple. I quickly changed my mind about partaking of the school lunch. On the way of the kitchen I spotted several boxes that the corn dogs had come in.

I became curious.

Making sure nobody was looking,and sneaking around like a thief, I secreted the contraband box up to my office and started reading.This is what I found. This is the complete ingredient list:

Enriched flour:( wheat, malted barley niacin iron, thiamine mononitrate) ,ribolflavin  folic acid sugar, yellow corn,Enriched degermed yellow corn meal:( yellow corn meal, niacin, iron, thiamine mononitrate), riboflavin,folic acid, Sodium acid pyrophosphate.Soybean oil,Salt,Egg yolk,Potato flour,Egg white,Dried honey,Artificial flavor,Fried in vegetable oil

Chicken

Mechanically separated chicken

2% or less corn syrup solids,

 potassium lactate: , sodium lactate, spices, sodium phosphate, sodium diacetate, flavorings ,sodium erythorbate, sodium nitrite: 

CONTAINS WHEAT SOY EGGS AND GLUTEN

Hmmm.

In addition to having an inherent mistrust of "brown" food I have come to wholeheartedly mistrust  the food substitute  known as "mechanically separated chicken." Years ago when I was evolving into an enlightened omnivore I ate chicken sausage because I thought it presented a healthy alternative to beef. Eventually, however, I started  wondering what "mechanically separated chicken" looked like. I envisioned an entire chicken going into the poultry industry equivalent of wood chipper beak first with feathers, beak and feet included.

I wasn't that far off.

Mechanically separated chicken is all that stuff left over after the chicken has been butchered. It's ground into a paste and various fillers and binding agents are added to make it appear to be meat. But by law it cannot be labeled as meat. Another mystery solved. If you've ever eaten a chicken leg, think about all the various parts that are meat like (gristle and small bones). That's the stuff that goes into your corn dog, Mcnuggets and almost all other industrial chicken products.

So that's the "meat" part of your school's corn dog.

With my personal guidelines on reading labels I quickly discarded the notion of enjoying a tasty dog: With a product like corn dogs, the first two ingredients should be something like meat and corn flour. For the intrepid epicurean, however, I took the time to research some of those strange sounding names in the ingredients list. I noticed that the manufacturer (eating note: when you refer to a food supplier as a manufacturer rather than a grower or farmer, take caution) took great pains to highlight Wheat, Soy, Eggs, Gluten which might actually be the healthiest part of that tasty treat. These products are highlighted to warn people with allergies and intolerances to those substances. Strangely the manufacturer felt no need to warn us all about five different types of salt in their product.

For the curious, here are some of the highlights of what I found:

sodium nitrite: "The jury is out on how harmful these substances are. Sodium nitrite reacts with stomach acid and other chemicals in the stomach to produce nitrosamines, which have been shown to cause cancer in animals when consumed in large quantities.

Sodium bicarbonate "contains a large amount of sodium. If you are on a sodium restricted diet or have high blood pressure talk to your health care professional before taking sodium bicarbonate."

Sodium acid pyrophosphate :
Ingestion:
Causes irritation to the gastrointestinal tract. Symptoms may include nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Phosphates are slowly and incompletely absorbed when ingested, and seldom result in systemic effects. Such effects, however, have occurred. Symptoms may include vomiting, lethargy, diarrhea, blood chemistry effects, heart disturbances and central nervous system effects. The toxicity of phosphates is because of their ability to sequester calcium.
Skin Contact:
Causes irritation to skin. Symptoms include redness, itching, and pain.
Eye Contact:
Causes irritation, redness, and pain.
Chronic Exposure:
Chronic ingestion or inhalation may induce systemic phosphorous poisoning. Liver damage, kidney damage, jaw/tooth abnormalities, blood disorders and cardiovascular effects can result.
Aggravation of Pre-existing Conditions:
Persons with pre-existing skin disorders or eye problems, jaw/tooth abnormalities, or impaired liver, kidney or respiratory function may be more susceptible to the effects of the substance. 


Yummy!


I don't wish to bore you with all the grim details of the rest of the ingredients but I encourage you to research one or two and see what it does to your body.Post your findings in the comments section. I tend to shy away from ingredients that include the word "pyro." Isn't that slang for someone who like to set fires? "Phosphate?" Isn't that the stuff in laundry detergent that causes all the problems in our water supply? Why is there so much salt? What does "degermed" mean? Enriched" means that they take all the good stuff out and put other stuff in.I don't know. Maybe I just have too many questions.

But let's end on a positive note. It is possible to enjoy a healthy corn dog.

Integrated School Health Tip #4: Chair Pose and Forward Bends

If you have followed these school health tips so far you can continue with using the time after the Pledge of Allegiance and during the bulletin to squeeze in a little yoga. If not refer to integrated school health tips 1 and 3 where I cover Mountain Pose and Volcano Breath.

From Mountain Pose we raise our arms high with our elbows by our ears and squat low so our bodies resemble chairs. We hold this pose which some also call Powerful Pose for three to five breaths and then fold forward into a forward bend. In forward bend we activate our leg muscles, tuck the belly button back toward the spine and reach our hands towards the ground.

Let's review our Pledge of Allegiance/Morning Bulletin Vinyasa

1. Mountain Pose
2. Volcano Breath
3. Chair Pose
4. Forward Bend

Repeat five times .

This seemingly simple sequence will invigorate both you and your students.Volcano Breath increases the level of oxygen available in the lungs which in turn stimulates brain activity.Chair Pose combined with a forward bend warms the leg muscles and counteracts the negative effects of long periods of sitting. Placing the head below the heart stimulates the brain as well. This creates a calming and invigorating flow of blood to the brain. Alertness is the end result. I timed this sequence.It takes five minutes or less!

Landing and Launching: 101 Checkins and Checkouts: Installment #7

previous 

11 COLORS

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Materials needed: 1”x1” construction paper (about 40 squares per color) with the colors black, white, red, brown, purple, yellow, blue, green, pink

Red represents anger.

Black represents all of the feelings combined.

Green represents envy

Brown represents the wild card (feelings beyond or not covered by these basics)

Blue represents peaceful.

Yellow represents newness or starting over.

Pink represents feeling mellow.

Purple represents courage and not being rattled by everyday events.

Procedure: Make loose piles of each color, Instruct students to pick 1-4 squares for whichever emotions they are feeling at that moment. The number of squares represents the intensity of the emotion. For example One red square means that student is a little bit angry; four squares means extremely angry.

Notes: You can do this activity without assigning meaning to each color or let students assign their own individual or collective associations. Cultural interpretations may vary. In western culture red  is often associated with anger. In another culture it represents the color of blood which people of all races share and therefore means unity. Purple has come to be associated with gay pride but it also connects to the the crown chakra, royalty and enlightenment. You can also use poker chips, tiddly winks or any tangible item which you have enough variety of colors.

12 STRESS STRINGS

Preparation time: Five- ten minutes

Materials: One 3 foot piece of ¼  inch rope or parachute cord person

Procedure:

(a)    Distribute one piece of rope per person

(b)   Explain to participants that the rope represents our bodies and minds

(c)    Ask participants to tie one knot for every stressful event that occurred so far that day.

(d)   One at a time, participants untie each knot and explain what that knot represents.

Alternatives:

Notes: Depending on time, I sometime front load this check in by explaining that our bodies interpret stress as an injury. When our defenses are on high alert, our muscles tense up, our breathing quickens and we walk around in a state or perpetual preparedness. This creates stress spots in our body and we need to work to constantly release them. The rope can provide  a visual example of stress. As an example tie one rope full of knots and show how difficult it is for the rope to move. Untie all the knots and show how easily the rope moves.

13 STUFFED ANIMALS

“The eagle never wasted so much time as when he stopped to learn from the crow.”

Gary Farmer, The movie “Dead Man”

Time needed: Five minutes

Materials: A variety of stuffed animals. Deer, turtle, fish, shark, bear, squirrel, skunk, porcupine, snake,  mole, eagle, raven, vulture, worm, ant, slug, frog, wolf, horse, mouse, elk, buffalo. Stuffed animals are ridiculously expensive, To start gathering them I would suggest thrift stores, garage sales and perhaps staff who are willing to part with clutter

SUGGESTED ANIMALS AND ASSOCIATIONS

Deer: Becomes invisible easily, even in a crowd, sees all

Turtle: Pulls into shell when threatened, lives in two worlds, water and land

Shark:  King/Queen of the ocean hunters, some now endangered because of shark fin soup

Bear: Stands tall when threatened, knows all the medicine roots, eats anything, a healer, father will kill the young, mother will die for the young

Squirrel: The early warning system of the forest, always busy, plans ahead, last animal to starve in hard times

Skunk: A survivor. Small but with big power

Porcupine: Slow moving, never in a hurry, the preferred adornment of many pow wow dancers but you can gather its quills without harming it, also small but powerful

Snake: Sleepy in the winter, sun lover, connected to the lightning, most people are afraid of it but few are harmful and more are helpful

Mole: Intimately connected with the earth, because it lives in the earth it knows more than most what is happening under the surface

Eagle: Sees all, knows all, flies closest to the sun and the creator, spiritual connection in many native cultures

Raven: Trickster in some cultures, sacred in others, bringer of the light in coastal PNW culture

Procedure:

Vulture: Cleans up everybody else's messes, World would be stinky and ugly without them

Worm: Makes soil which helps grow plants which in turn brings life to us all, like mole knows what's happening with the earth

Ant: Highly organized and efficient, everybody knows their job but cannot change their job, community/tribe more important than self

 Slug: Makes the rain forest function, like vulture and worm

 Frog: Amphibious, lives in two worlds, great singers, sings for love, joy and brings great pleasure to the spring and summer evening

 Wolf: Unnecessarily feared, protector of the herd because it removes the sick and diseased, all about family but has rigid social structure

 Horse: Recognizable symbol of freedom, one of few animals which always adopts, like wolf all about family

 Mouse: Sees the unseen night time world, gets into crack and crevices where few can go

 Elk: Lovers, love medicine

Buffalo: Because they provided, food, clothing and shelter to the people of the Plains of North America they are often seen as provider.

Alternatives: In some areas, groups of people may have their own animals and  associations. In those situations I would let them come up with their own meanings. For older audiences I would let them come up with their own animals. If you cannot gather enough stuffed animals you can also do this as a visual image activity or do it with no props at all

Notes: In indigenous cultures, animals are some of our first teachers. In many cases they are better teachers than humans. I learned early on I had more to learn from the deer and the crow than I would ever  learn in school. With younger, more concrete audiences it is best to provide a list with references at least as a starting point.

Guide To This Site

As my blog page gets increasing readership I thought I would write another quick guide to the site. I haven't yet figured out how to put the various blogs into folders so at the present time it's one long list of articles. The site focuses on schools, kids and health in its myriad aspects.Hopefully there's a little something for everybody.

• The Heretic's Guide to Working with Kids: a collection of stories, anecdotes, advice and wisdom gained from over 25 years of experience working with kids.Four installments so far
• Landing and Launching: 101 Checkins and Checkouts : oriented towards counselors and others doing group work. Check at least weekly for emotional intelligence activities.
• Integrated School Health Tips: At least weekly I will post a simple tip to help teachers and students become healthier.
• The Wild Wild Wild West of School Lunches: A chronicle of my efforts to change school lunches.
• Integrated Health Tips: These are just simple tips to help everybody come healthier and make wise food choices. Some of this will be reading the labels for you on items every buys such as chocolate
• Random Essays: These will be my adventures in health and will include everything from my adventures in the school and county bureaucracies and stuff I've learned and experienced over the years.

Enjoy!

Want Success? Just Ask Questions

"When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist." Archbishop  Dom Helder Camar

Whenever my  teachers and professors asked that rhetorical question: "Are there any more questions?" they looked nervously in my direction. I always have a lot of questions. Many times in the past the powers that be viewed my questions as a threat. I make them nervous. I am rarely content to accept injustice and inequality as just how things are.


Just yesterday, nobody felt threatened. They gave me more than I asked for. Maybe I'm asking better questions or becoming more tactful in middle age.


I have been driving through the spectacular Klickitat Canyon on the way to the town of Klickitat for over fifteen years. When I enter the small town of Klickitat I drive past a large vacant industrial lot. It has the look of abandonment. The lot contrasts to the relatively new and well kept school and the tidy lawns of the town proper. I always wondered what it was, who owned it and why it was so ugly. It seemed like a wonderful space for something positive: a skateboard park...a garden?


As I have done my whole life I just started asking questions. Who owns that piece of land? How many government entities have a say in it? Who do I talk to? What are the requirements to get permission to use it? How do I get access? Can we put a garden there?


The land abuts a trail that winds through the Klickitat Canyon called the Rails to Trails. The trail runs along what used to be railway that ran the length of the Klickitat Canyon. At one time the primary access to the town of Klickitat, other than horse, was the train. When the train run was abandoned it became part of the national Rails to Trails trail system.


Knowing some of this history I began talking to key players. The historical society wants to capture the nostalgia and magic of the train era history by bringing a caboose to the town.The Rails to Trails group wanted a trail head. The local community action committee wants an expanded community garden. The school needs expanded parking spaces. Two high school juniors who have already written grants for a school garden want to grow food for the school. I kept gathering information, talking to people and asking questions...a lot of questions. I started to see how perhaps all these groups could get their goals met and help the other groups meet their goals. Slowly I became a community organizer.


I see things other people don't always see. Where some see an abandoned lot I see a thriving community garden with a beautiful green caboose as its centerpiece. In the spring, community members gather to work on the garden, and then retreat to the comfort of the caboose with its wood stove to share a cup of coffee or tea and the rural hyperbole custom of  fishing and hunting lies.


With all this information swirling around my head I approached Jerry Lynch, the superintendent of Klickitat schools. Talking to Jerry brings reminds me of talking to a grandfather or an elder. He speaks with a voice of long experience. He tempers my youthful enthusiasm with wisdom and punctuates his advice with cautious tales born from long experience of working with schools and communities. He supports my ideas and passion from the stance of the seasoned battle veteran. I listen carefully and proceed with a combination of my passion and Jerry's wisdom.


As it turns out, the land belongs to Klickitat County. Many phone calls, emails and redirects later (No you need to talk to that department)  I ended up at the Klickitat County Public Works Department. I entered with my analytical inquisitive mind and a notepad. I had heard the county would want a plan. I envisioned landscapers, planners, sketches, blueprints and my biggest weakness: Details.


"We would prefer to just give that land to the school."


Wow. Amazing. Stupendous.


Could it really be that easy? The bare scarred lot I had driven past for so many years could now be just transferred to the school? Yes it's that easy. Now I get to meet with Jerry Lynch, and perhaps the school board to see if they can afford to accept the gift. I'm sure there will be a lot of questions. I have a few more too.