Chard Sauteed with Garlic and Onions
Yosefa writes:
I’ve been reading your old posts under the “olim” (immigrants) section [in my new menu at the top of the page]. I was thinking about the ganenet (preschool teacher) saving NIS 800 a month. Maybe she should have used it to buy higher quality food. At both my kids’ schools, they get way too many treats. One night after the first week in school Adele threw up. She told me it was because she had too many treats in gan. When I stopped in on Mordechai’s first day, they said I could peek in and see how cute he was. He was eating a lollipop–his first ever hard candy. While I appreciated their concern for his happiness, I mentioned that I don’t like him to have sweets. The staff said they “didn’t have a choice” because he was crying.
I can’t say I’ve never used sweets in that way. I always bring treats on airplane rides, for example. But the idea that they HAD TO bothered me. Now they both get at least two servings a day of candy, chocolate, wafers, or cookies. I’m writing this after both my kids “snuck” into the fridge, chose an apple, washed it and are eating it. And my kids think Mishmish (apricots) is a treat. I don’t know how to balance wanting to be normal and making my kids feel left out with my disgust at the junk the kids bring home from gan, friends’ houses, talmud torah, and Shabbat Tehilim.
It seems with all the babies in daycare it should be easier to start health education and a “framework” of healthy eating from a young age. I want to keep my kids enjoying healthy food and not get used to all the junk but they both tell me, “I told my ganenet ‘lo toda‘ (no thank you) and she didn’t listen.” Yesterday I asked Adele if she thought we should get Pizza for my birthday and she said it’s too oily. Well, enough of my ranting. Maybe I sh
ould take a cue from the kids: Drop the leftover ice cream into the trash and eat an apple.
There’s another comment on How to Raise Kids Where Neglect is Normal where a parent says that you need to distinguish nutrition from safety and neglect. But it is only a distinction in our culture. It should be considered neglectful to give kids so many chemicals and fake junk passed off as “food.” Instead, its considered cruel to deprive kids of sweets. In France families are taught portion control from infancy and they don’t have all the “food issues” Americans think this would create, they’re just healthier, and this was a government program.
My point is that if any country can do it, Israel can because kids are in daycare so young and they are fed in school, not like America where the parents have to find shelf-stable food to send. it would be easy for the
government to implement a policy of fresh fruits and veggies and no candy during the week.
My comments: Government-run preschools are regularly inspected to make sure they are following nutritional guidelines. They are allowed to give a salty snack or a fruit for the 12:00 PM snack, but the 10:00 meal must include bread, protein and vegetables. Still, when my kids were in gan, it seemed like every other day there was another “excuse” for offering sweets. Kids are offered candy and salty snacks here at every occasion.
Yosefa’s children are in the independent school system and I believe the situation there is even worse.
One of my friends had a child in a gan where a pilot program on good nutrition. The children were interviewed about their eating habits before and after the program. They learned about good nutrition, and there were strict guidelines about what was allowed. My friend was pleased, but I don’t know if anything came of it.
In the US there is an ongoing public discourse about the quality of school lunches for kids. Here, it doesn’t seem to be an issue.
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Kinder eggs, made of good quality chocolate with a toy in the middle, used to be popular in Israel. This year the kids received a chocolate-flavored knock-off called “TOY” in their shul candy bags. Made in Turkey, it’s imported by a company in Bnei Brak.
The ingredients in English read: Sugar, hydrogenated vegetable oil, cocoa powder, emulsifier, nature identical flavor (vanilin). Curious as to where that last phrase came from, I checked the Hebrew. The item, delightfully, is called “chomer taam va-re’ach dimui tivi,” which means “imitation natural flavor and smell.” Yum.
The label does contain reassuring information, including certification from the Chatam Sofer and the notice “None products contains pig fat.” If it’s meant for Moslems, wouldn’t it have an Arabic label? I have never seen that before.
My post on Green Prophet yesterday turned out different than expected:
Why Baby’s First Gift Shouldn’t Be Formula from the Hospital
By Hannah Katsman
Soft drinks. Fast foods. Cigarettes.
Companies that market these products are well-known for targeting children and teens in order to develop “brand loyalty.”
But the campaign to capture the taste buds of future consumers begins even earlier–in the hospital nursery, where formula companies use aggressive methods to ensure that babies’ first taste of artificial milk comes early and bears the name of their company.
They know that parents are most likely to continue feeding the brand served to babies in the hospital.
What’s the problem with formula, and why is this a “green” issue?
Ironically, early introduction of formula and a diet of “junk” food are both implicated in increasing the incidence of diseases such as diabetes and obesity.
Formula companies insist that they do not want to undermine breastfeeding–they merely want to compete for their share of the formula market for women who cannot or choose not to breastfeed. Sound familiar?
Cigarette companies have long claimed that they do not encourage smoking and only want current smokers to switch brands. Most governments reject this claim and severely restrict the way tobacco companies market their products.
Breastfeeding is an easy target. It’s free, already under attack, earns little profit for anyone and therefore has virtually no corporate funds backing it. But just one bottle of formula compromises a baby’s immune system and increases the risk of illness in the short and long term.
A bottle of formula implies that formula is endorsed by the hospital, and worse, sends the not-so-subtle message that the mother’s own milk is not good or plentiful enough. And just like it only takes a few cigarettes to become addicted, early introduction of formula can lower milk supply and is associated with early weaning.
Israel and the WHO Code
The World Health Organization (WHO) recognized the deleterious effects of formula marketing on the health of babies and mothers and developed the WHO Code of Marketing Breastmilk Substitutes in 1974. The aim of the Code is to
. . . contribute to the provision of safe and adequate nutrition for infants, by the protection and promotion of breast-feeding, and by ensuring the proper use of breast-milk substitutes, when these are necessary, on the basis of adequate information and through appropriate marketing and distribution.
The Code prohibits companies from targeting pregnant women, parents and health-care workers with free samples and promotional and “educational” materials.
As a signatory, Israel is obligated to enforce these prohibitions. There has been some progress: Gift bags of formula samples are no longer given out to mothers as they leave the hospital, and formula advertising and samples have largely disappeared from Tipat Halav, the government-sponsored well-baby clinics. Yet serious infractions occur with the tacit approval of the health ministry.
Formula Companies Target Public Israeli Hospitals
In January 2008, Ynet investigated the relationship between Israeli maternity wards and the two large formula importers, Materna and Similac. (The third company, Remedia, withdrew from the market after a lack of vitamin B-1 in a batch of soy formula led to the deaths of three babies.)
Despite the fact that the hospitals are publicly owned, the hospitals and the health ministry refused to release data regarding their agreements.
Ynet reported that every three years hospitals submit a tender for their supply of infant formula. Usually, an institution tries to buy a product at the lowest possible price. But in the case of formula the companies actually pay hospitals for stocking their products exclusively. Reportedly these contracts earn hundreds of thousands of dollars of shekalim for the public hospitals, and at least one hospital received valuable state-of-the-art equipment.
Others received outings for its staff, linens, and funds to hire additional “lactation consultants,” creating a serious conflict of interest. In return companies earned the right to provide a constant supply of pre-mixed bottles of formula with the company’s name and logo in large letters.
Ninety percent want to nurse, only 70% do
According to health ministry statistics, 90% of pregnant women intend to nurse, but a full 70% of babies receive their first bottle in the hospital. It’s easy for a nurse to offer a bottle to a mother who has even a mild concern about her baby’s feeding patterns. Worse, babies often receive formula against parents’ wishes. Hospitals allow a situation where overworked staff suggest formula instead of ensuring that trained staff sit with the mother, answer her questions and help her breastfeed. But Israel’s health-care system may be acting against its own interests by accepting formula money–one study showed that the it costs huge sums to treat health problems of formula-fed babies in the first year alone.
Big business must be kept out of the public health system through legislation, and Israel should not permit infant-formula companies to influence health-care decisions relating to newborns. Parents deserve accurate, unbiased information about the risks of formula. The health ministry must ensure that all mothers have easy access to instruction, information, and their babies–without input from self-interested parties.
Often there are questions about whether a newborn is getting enough to eat. The appropriate medical response is to evaluate the situation, and, if necessary, encourage the mother to express colostrum–her own antibody-rich milk. Formula should be reserved for cases when it is truly needed. Stopping formula gifts to hospitals is a critical step in ensuring that our babies get the healthy start they deserve.
Reprinted with permission from Green Prophet.
Related:
Babies and Breastfeeding: What Did You Not Know but Wish You Had? Thanks to the readers who shared moving stories in the comments.
Breastfeeding and Judaism
Guest Post on Crunchy Domestic Goddess: Diane Wiessinger in Israel on Breastfeeding Language
People expect to pray peacefully on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. But the shul is overfull and there are distractions. Especially children.
The acceptable level of noise and activity varies according to the community and physical facilities. But one person’s kavanah (concentration during prayer) should not come at the expense of others’. Just because a mother can tune out her children during davening doesn’t mean everyone can.
On Yom Kippur, I mentioned to a friend that her two-year-old had pushed down a child in the aisle. The other child went to his mother to be picked up, without crying, so my friend hadn’t noticed. This happens. But if parents can’t keep an eye on children who wander, the children may be better off at home.
Reports from other communities:
And grant me a moment to kvetch about other annoying things that people do in shul:
My son noticed a family who gave the 5-year-old son snacks to keep him in shul for the davening. After finishing the snack, the child was allowed to go out to play. I don’t believe that kids should eat in shul, especially on Yom Kippur, but I’d be happy for that to be the worst thing to happen.
I don’t understand why a child who just finished seudah hamafseket (the final meal before the fast) needs a bag of Bamba the minute she gets to Kol Nidrei. In this case the child went outside to eat. Was junk food invented as a way to keep kids quiet? (Don’t answer that.)
And one last, cranky complaint: The shul was freezing, so people opened the windows. This wastes electricity and makes the shul even colder, because the air-conditioner must work harder to maintain the pre-set temperature of the thermostat.
So how were things in your shul this year?
New immigrant Rachel is undergoing culture shock on behalf of her children.
A friend once told me that I do my children a grave disservice by delaying their attendance in gan until they are 3, 4 or 5. She claimed that they need the gan experience in order to develop that tough exterior so useful in Israeli society. I don’t know if she’s right or not, but every action involves a tradeoff. If you only associate with American families, they will not learn Hebrew as quickly nor the ins and outs of Israeli society. And Israeli culture has positive values such as love of the land, close extended families, and less materialism. Even “protektzia” is positive when you are the beneficiary.
Rachel raises three specific issues.
Here are more tips on keeping kids close.
In response to my recent post about neglectful parents, Rachel writes:
I just moved to Israel and I’m shocked that what I consider neglect and benign abuse is considered normal. And not doing it puts you in the category of “freier” [sucker] (which I consider a compliment because it is the type of behavior I want). So my question is how to raise a family when all the values that you consider important go against the norm? I want my children to have better supervision. I want them to eat healthy and not eat Bisli all day long. I want them to have manners, respect people, not cut through lines, etc.
It is easy to say to simply do it at home and they will imitate you, but kids spend so many hours in school and with friends. The environment has a huge influence on kids and as much as you want them to have your values it seems that you are the minority in this country.
So, my question again, how do you raise kids to have your values and not society’s values?
Rachel, before I let my readers reply in the comments section, I suggest printing out your question and looking at it again in another ten years.
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