That’s because the school administration wouldn’t let them sell baked goods on school grounds. (So the water polo team had to hold their bake sale across the street.)

This “trend piece” article pointed out, however, that the old-fashioned bake sale was fast becoming obsolete in California, a victim of new state nutrition standards that regulate the types of food that can be sold to students. The guidelines state that bake sale treats and any other snacks must contain no more than 35 percent sugar by weight and derive no more than 35 percent of their calories from fat and no more than 10 percent of their calories from saturated fat.

I think the steps that California schools are taking are certainly a step in the right direction, but focusing on quality, not quantity, of fats and carbs is more important. That said, is what they’re doing at Piedmont High a harbinger of the future? Will bake sales and candy drives become extinct?

As much as I appreciate what high school sports teams, French Clubs and band members have do to raise money these days, selling cupcakes, caramel apples, and lemon bars—like the Piedmont High water polo team did—isn’t the best way to go about it. Junk food is still junk food, no matter how noble the purpose and how great the need to raise much-needed funds.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t do bake sales. We have recipes for the healthiest and most delicious banana bread and blueberry muffins that would fetch a pretty penny at any bake sale! Just go to www.biblicalhealthinstitute.com and click on “Jordan Rubin’s Recipes” on the left hand side.

My son, Joshua, will be entering kindergarten next fall, and Nicki and I have raised him to know that cupcakes are not healthy to eat. That’s why we support efforts to “encourage” schools and parents not to have birthday celebrations at school where moms bring in a tray of chocolate-covered cupcakes. That puts my son in a tough spot—he could be the only kid saying no to the sugary treat—and impacts the health of his classmates.

The NY Times story mentioned that classroom birthday celebrations, which almost always involve homemade cupcakes, are on the wane these days. At an elementary school in Guilford, Connecticut, school kid birthdays are celebrated without chocolate icing smearing faces and fingers. The children get an extra 15 minutes of recess, special pencils, or a teacher reading a special book to them.

The story also quoted Marlene B. Schwartz, the deputy director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University. She said that “People really do eat what’s in front of them,” which is something I’ve been saying all along. Nicki and I have gone the extra mile to place only foods made from the purest, most organic sources in front of our three children. Joshua has been eating salmon and avocados and guava and blueberries and salads and all sorts of healthy foods since he was in a high chair. He loves those meals because we’ve been setting those delicious foods in front of him to eat.

I really do believe that if you train up a child in the way he should go, he will not depart from that way when he goes off to school—and is asked if he wants to eat a birthday cupcake.