Hello, I'm Monica Reinagel, and you're listening to the nutrition divas quick and dirty tips for eating well and feeling fabulous.

Today's show is about kids, classrooms, and cupcakes.

Alice writes, I have two young children and I'm trying to raise them to be healthy eaters.

I work hard to limit their intake of sugary snacks and drinks,

but about once a week they have cupcakes at school to celebrate someone's birthday.

It's not that I don't ever allow them to have treats, but this is really

more than I'm comfortable with. But how can I fight it? I've heard similar concerns from other

parents. One wrote about constant bake sales at the school where the kids are encouraged to buy

cookies and brownies to support their drama programmer to raise money for a class trip.

And another complained about fundraisers where kids compete to see who can sell the most candy bars and

the prize for the winner and ice cream Sunday party.

I think these parents have a very legitimate point.

There's an awful lot of hand-wringing these days over childhood obesity

rates and the amount of sugar our kids are consuming. So why are sugar-laden foods and drinks

still the focus of every social and recreational activity at their

schools. Why are we encouraging our kids to sell foods that we tell them aren't good

for them? After all, who do you think they're selling them too.

How surprise can we really be that our kids are getting 18% of their daily calories from sugar.

Now I'm aware that candy fundraisers and bake sales are popular because they're effective.

Kids like candy.

And given half a chance, kids will spend their pocket money, not to mention their lunch

money, on sweets. Most will be happy to consume as much as

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