The time has come to address this issue on a wider scale. I've put it off because it can be so controversial, but my daughter's Girl Scout cookie permission form is due today.
I must word my opinion very carefully because I have dear friends who are very involved with the Girl Scouts. The goal of this post is to isolate only the activities surrounding Cookie Time. I am not bashing Girl Scouts of America in general, anyone who was or is a Girl Scout or the positive attributes of Girl Power.
But the cookies are crap and GS Corporate policies surrounding the sale of those crappy cookies are crap.
First, every single cookie offered by the Girl Scouts contains one or more toxic ingredients: partially hydrogenated oil, artificial sweetener or added refined sugars and sugar alcohols. Girl Scouts of America is helping to perpetuate the FDA "no trans fats per serving" scam. It is well known by now that all trans fats (partially hydrogenated oil) should be avoided even in small amounts which add up to a larger amount as you eat more than one serving per sitting or over the course of days. Really, who eats two cookies and disposes of the rest?
Dextrose, invert sugar, corn syrup, sorbitol, maltitol, lactitol, polydextrose, maltodextrin, and sucralose are all used in the creation of Girl Scout cookies, except for the Trefoils which includes just refined white sugar. Not familiar with the disasterous effects of these sugars? Read up on the Food Additive Safety Chart. The Samoas cookies list sugar as the first ingredient...even before flour, and the Sugar Free Chocolate Chip cookies contain a cocktail of diarrheal agents: maltitol, lactitol, polydextrose, sorbitol, maltodextrin AND sucralose! No wonder there is a warning not to eat too many!!
Secondly, there are a couple of marketing phrases on the cookie order form with which I take issue. Aren't we trying to help educate young girls so that they may grow up to be healthy, savvy adults?
• "Cookies can be part of a balanced, healthy lifestyle." - True. But not these cookies. Trust me, the Goldens like cookies. But we don't eat garbage in the shape of a cookie.
• "Food is fuel for your body." - True. But these cookies do not fall into the definition of food. They fall into the category of Empty Calories. Yes, eating GS cookies may be better than starving to death, but they are not whole foods designed to promote optimal - or even adequate - health.
• "Samoas have real coconut." - Gee, I feel so much better now! Especially considering that sugar is first on the ingredient list and coconut is thirteenth.
• "Mint is good for your breath." - True. Fresh mint is a delight. But when your guts are rotting out because of the crap fed to the body, no food grade "oil of peppermint" in a Thin Mint is going to help.
• "Milk and cookies strengthen your bones." - I don't even know where to begin. Homemade cookies from scratch ingredients alongside a fresh glass of raw milk can nourish your bones, yes. Girl Scout cookies and pasteurized milk have nothing to do with this picture.
Thirdly, for each box of $3.50 cookies, the troop keeps 55 cents (prices can vary with location/troop). The rest of the revenue goes to pay the baker (Little Brownie Bakers is owned by the Kellogg Corporation) and the remainder stays in the troop's district council....including what is kept by the troop. So if the troop is getting 55 cents, then the council is getting $1.90 and the baker is getting $1.05 per box.
And then there are the Cookie Sale Incentives. For selling 600-799 boxes of cookies, your darling Scout can get a "free" jumbo plastic calculator! Woo Hoo! So for raising $1,518.10 for the troop's council, your daughter gets a plastic calculator. Of course, there are other selling levels with corresponding prizes, but it's just more of the same ol' glittery junk that hooks little girls like cocaine.
Girl Scouts of America claims that selling cookies helps girls to learn life skills. I do not want my daughter learning that it is ok to volunteer hours of her time (and inevitably mine too) to peddle junk food for a plastic calculator so that her troop can get $439.45, her council $1,518.10 and Kellogg's $838.95.
If you want to support your local Girl Scout troop, consider making a tax-deductible donation. As long as you receive no cookies in exchange, you can claim a charitable contribution. For a $20 free and clear donation you would have to buy 36 boxes of cookies to benefit your troop equally. Spare your health and give the donation.
It's amazing to me that a huge corporation like Kellogg can't develop one healthy, organic cookie option in their line-up. Sell it for $6. All those healthy GS supporters like me would buy enough of this one option to rival the sales of all the traditional cookies.
Here's what Dr. Mercola has to say:
Politics, religion, Girl Scout cookies....very volatile subjects. I encourage your comments in the section below, but please keep them respectful and on the topic of cookies. I hope I haven't offended anyone or gotten my daughter evicted from her troop, but rather brought legitimate issues to the surface. Girls Scouts of America in collaboration with Kellogg's can make healthy cookies if they want to. But so far, it's been much more profitable and easy to inject the mindless feeding frenzy with crap.
Let's do something good for the growing bodies and minds of Girl Scouts. Boycott the crappy cookies!
Live Light, xo-C.
