I mentioned in a prior blog how I dreaded trips to the snack stand during baseball season.  When I volunteered to work the snack stand, I was amazed by the level of sugar that was served and the volume at which it was consumed.

I get the fact that baseball snack stands are supposed to serve crap. I'm not expecting to find packets of organic freeze-dried green beans and peas amongst Starburst and Skittles. However, can't we at least serve crap that is slightly less crappy?

Deeply inspired by Jamie Oliver and all that he accomplished with school districts in America with his Food Revolution (love that show), I'm trying to make a small change in my community baseball organization. My focus is on slushies because Charlie loves slushies and it's almost always off limits. Why couldn't we get something similar to the Crystal Light Slurpees found at 7-11? I began doing some homework, searching for low-sugar and low-carb syrups.

I sent this email to powers that be:

Good afternoon. My name is Carey Potash and my son, Charlie has played baseball in your organization for the last three years and has loved every minute of it. As a type 1 diabetic, controlling Charlie's blood sugar during baseball games is always a challenge. Another daunting challenge and one that is often agonizing as a parent, is finding something for Charlie to enjoy at the snack stand that won't skyrocket his blood sugars to dangerous levels. As it is now, there are very few options for us. Charlie just wants to be like the other kids and enjoy a well-earned snack after giving it his all on the baseball diamond. I wanted to run something by you to get your thoughts.

I was hoping to focus on slushies, it being something Charlie always wants but I always say no because of the high sugar/carbohydrate content.

If you might be open to the idea of finding alternate low-sugar syrups for slushies - which I've researched and I know exist - I think it might benefit not just those with diabetes, but all the kids and adults that visit the snack stand. With the hundreds of families that participate in your baseball and softball programs, I am sure we are not the only family looking for a low-sugar option.

I regret that I didn't take note of the nutritional information of the current syrups when I recently worked my shift in the snack stand. Is it possible to find out the current syrups being used as a way to compare a healthier option? It's very possible that delicious syrups are out there that contain a fraction of the sugar we are currently serving our kids. One thing I did learn when working the snack stand was that the slushies are extremely popular. Our children are consuming lots and lots of sugar. I think it's possible that we can make real big difference by taking this step.

Thanks so much for hearing me out. I look forward to discussing this further with you.

The response:

Carey,
 

Thank you for your email. The slushie machine base product is the part that is sweetened.  The syrups are very sour actually.  The base is what is inside the whole machine and unfortunately that is extremely sweet.  I wish there was a way for us to offer a low calorie slushie, but the machine we rent only allows us to mix the one base product in there. 
If there are any other ideas you may have that you think we could offer at the stand, please let me know your thoughts!
I hope Charlie had a great season this year, and we are already planning for next year!

I have mixed feelings about the response. So there's a thick whitish goop (the base product) that is added to the machine and then three or four squirts of syrup that gets added for flavor. Despite the thought that something sour doesn't equate to sugar, it's my thinking that both the whitish goop and the syrup both contain large amounts of sugar.

Now what? When I pressed further, the response was pretty much that it would be impossible to add a different goop to the current machine and that they've been using that machine for years.

Anyone an expert in slushie goop? I'm not completely buying it. That said, I do appreciate the willingness to consider other ideas for the snack stand. If I take Operacion Slushie off the table, what else can we propose? Some local fruit maybe? Nuts?  It's not exactly what Charlie is looking for when he's got that shiny dollar in his hand and he's licking his chops and salivating over French fries bathing in bubbling oil. But it's something. Any other ideas?