Feds Consider Limiting Potatoes Offered to Kids

Jack, don't feel bad, if Mark would bother to open the dictionary, he would find that potatoe is also spelled with an e. Dan Quayle is obviously smarter then Mark, and besides, he was reading off of a flash card. It was the liberal left press that made the stink.

Jim, your response to Jack shows that you seem to be the one who should open a dictionary; I just looked it up and the 'e' is added only when you make potato the plural--potatoes. I can see why you're a fan of Dan Quayle who, it seems, shares that half brain he has with his son.

They want to ban a potato- Doesn't suprise me when they have ketchup as a vegetable in the schools systems. When they have corn dogs and other things that don't have that great of a nutrition value whats one more thing to add to the list.

Maybe if the government feels it has to be involved and stick its nose where it doesn't belong, and butt in, then it should be about FRIED potatoes that should be limited, not the actual potatoes... French Fries are bad for kids, but not potatoes as a vegetable... As with all foods, it's all about the preparation, not the food itself..

I found myself needing WIC when I was pregnant with my youngest son. I was 38, married, living in the suburbs, white...all the things you probably don't think a WIC recipient is! We were having a temporary employment problem, and WIC helped with nutrition I might not otherwise have gotten. When the baby was born, it provided formula for him. Once my husband's job situtation straightened out we were off. You or yours may someday need these aid programs. Don't say you never will, you never know...as my late mother always said, "Never say never."

I also had to use WIC for two years while and after being pregnant when my husband had an unexpected job change. It's unfortunate that WIC is tied to welfare in most people's minds. It's actually very different. WIC is for the WORKING poor, it's not the same as welfare. You are restricted to only certain foods, and they unfortunately still have a ridiculous check system which leads people to stare and judge in the grocery line. Those on welfare get debit style cards and no one knows the difference (except for the obviously poor food choices in their carts). Anyway, please think before you judge. WIC recipients are typically proud working families who are enduring a temporary struggle and need to provide nutrition to pregnant women or children under the age of five.

John, would you keep pregnant women from having enough food, so her baby would be born malnourished? Would you starve her while she is a nursing mother? Would you let her pre-schooler go hungry? People have lost their jobs. Many women lose their jobs when they get pregnant, or have to switch to a lower paying job. Many employers tell women the job no longer exists, when they try to come back after the baby is born, to avoid putting the baby on their insurance. Making sure babies are born healthy and stay healthy is a primary objective of any society.

Juvenile diabetes comes from the body's inability to produce insulin, requiring shots; it is not diet related.

Failurefries, more and more children are developing type 2 diabetes from poor diets and lack of exercise, this type is normally considered adult onset, but it is happening with child in grade school.

Type 2 diabetes is diet related, Type 1 requires insulin shots.

I'm totally agreed with Nona. If the Fed is trying to ban or to limit the use of some foods on school nutrition, the first one should be the white bread. Concerning the potato, it's about the way you serve it. The worst one is " the fries " .

Nona, the word vegetable is a generic term which applies to all foods derived from plant sources, though not including most fruits and nuts. Potatoes and grains are therefore vegetables.

since when is wheat and oats a vegetable?

Agreed. The issue with potatoes is not the food itself, but how they prepare it. Entire societies have lived off the potato as a sole source of nutrition because It does provide many vitamins and minerals, it is filling and it bolsters your energy resources. If potatoes in school were served baked, boiled or roasted, instead of fried, they'd be a perfectly healthy option for children. Better than some other things they hand out.