Harvard decided to get rid of brand-name cereals from its dining halls this year. It's not a good idea to take food away from a peaceful child: he or she always cries in the end.
Apparently, there are some things that even college students can't give up. Who would have thought it would be Frosted Flakes and Lucky Charms? The older you get, the harder it is to break away from old habits.
Too bad their administration didn't figure this out before the gory cereal demonstrations, a.k.a. cereal scattered along the floor of a dining hall. What did they expect? They messed with Harvard students' Fruit Loops. Now they are paying for it.
Or not. One of the reasons Harvard tossed the brand names to begin with was the rising costs of major cereal companies' products. Besides being more economical, the administration's claim was also that non-brand names were healthier. But not when "Tootie Fruities" and "Colossal Crunch" ("wannabe" Fruit Loops and Cap'n Crunch) were their answer. These breakfast cereals still aren't as nutritious as those high in fiber and low in sugar.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a number of claims relating fiber intake to a lowered risk of heart disease and cancer. That's enough reason to toss away Fruit Loops, "Tootie Fruities," or any other cereal whose contents look as though they've been colored in with crayons.
The real question amid this Harvard cereal scandal (aside from why the administration would possibly cut the cereal budget, of all things) is whether or not students should have to adjust their eating habits.
According to a Harvard senior, "They replaced all of the familiar cereals with ones that have weird names and don't taste good." Something tells me Grape-Nuts and All-Bran weren't the "familiar cereals" this student meant.
Well, what a shame it is that Harvard kids can't enjoy our Kellogg's Cracklin' Oat Bran and General Mills' Cheerios, both excellent sources of fiber (although sorry to burst your bubble, the Cracklin' Oat Bran is high in calories with 17 grams of sugar).
But as we Tufts students know, our breakfast options are not limited to cereal. We have eggs, cottage cheese, sliced grapefruit, assorted fruits like strawberries, kiwis, grapes and cantaloupe - even the waffles and pancakes here are probably better for you than "Tootie Fruities."
Unfortunately for Harvard kids, lunch and dinners are now screwed up, too. One Harvard student admitted to eating Lucky Charms for all three of her meals - not unlike many college students in any institution. But now with the new changes, she has had to stop eating cereal. What a travesty. The problem isn't the Lucky Charms embargo. It's the lack of good, wholesome food in college students' diets.
But that wasn't the case when I visited another school. I had the opportunity to talk about the importance of fitness and nutrition to fourth-grade kids at the Brooks School in Medford last week. It was hard to believe how much these 10-year-olds knew about nutrition.
We went around in a circle and told each other our breakfasts that morning. First off - everyone had eaten breakfast. These kids already had the right idea. The American Dietetic Association (ADA) asserts that breakfast improves concentration, memory, mood and healthy eating habits throughout the day.
Secondly, all of the kids had at least one piece of fruit, a glass of milk, and some type of whole grain - which protects against cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity because it's high in fiber and antioxidants.
"I ate oatmeal; I had cheerios and a banana; I ate rye bread with organic peanut butter," the kids sounded off. And I'm not lying about that organic peanut butter part. Fourth grade food IQ was tremendous. Harvard students might wish to get some ideas from the kids at the Brooks School.
Whole grains. There's a start. The Brooks kids like the taste of it. And if a kid thinks it's good - then it's good! I didn't even know there was a food guide pyramid at that age, much less what whole grains were. I probably thought Entenmann's was its own food group, along with Yodels, Dunkaroos, and all of the other foods with their innocuous names.
FUN fruits, fruit snacks, fruit roll-ups, and Nerds- you remember these, just as much as you remember Cookie Monster pre-health freak. Bubble Tape, ring pops, pop tarts - what nostalgia we still own for our favorite old school snacks, much like Harvard's precious Cocoa Puffs.
I understand that it is difficult to switch our mindsets and our taste buds at this age, just as it is difficult now to pick up a second or third language. But that's not to say it's impossible. Crazier things than not being able to eat Fruit Loops every morning have happened.
One day you'll wake up to an ecstatic Oscar the Grouch and Cookie-turned-Carrot Monster. Then it'll all be over.
Senior Marissa Beck, an English and art history major, works with the Strong Women program as an assistant manager and personal trainer for the Tufts Personalized Performance Program. She can be reached at Marissa.Beck@tufts.edu. This column is written in conjunction with Emily Bergeron, R.D., the editor of the Daily's Balance section.
