No matter where your child
goes to public school these days, there are all kinds of restrictions about
what they can eat during the day.
Typically, students can not
bring their own canned or bottled beverages.
But, they can bring their own sandwiches or packed lunches. They can not
buy bottled water in the lunch room. If they are thirsty, they must sip from
the school fountain before they sit down with their peers.
Classic lunch favorites,
such as green beans dripping in bacon fat, or nachos with generous helpings of
cheese and sour cream disappeared from school lunches years ago. Tacos and burgers are now made according to
strict dietary guidelines - both are dry and crumbly as if our school children
were already diagnosed as cardiac patients.
Last time I taught in New
Orleans, fresh vegetables were not served to students. One advantage of teaching in rural schools is
that we usually have real vegetables on our menu every day. But, according to
new guidelines, fresh salads will typically consist of a few lettuce leaves and
a slice of tomato. A fruit serving
typically consists of a condiment cup filled with a few slices of orange or apple.
I haven't seen bacon bits in
my school lunch vegetables in a decade.
Last year, sugar content in flavored milk and juice was reduced so much,
I wondered if I should bring my own sweetner to the table.
Since the new school fitness
craze took effect, homemade cinnamon rolls have been reduced to two-bite
portions. Federal USDA lunch guidelines
suggest lunch chicken, beef, pork,and shrimp portions be reduced to one ounce
servings - another two or three bite portion.
Pasta and bread portions
were reduced so much that adults and kids alike question whether they are
getting a healthy lunch or a quick snack in the cafeteria, because they are
still hungry after eating their stinty Weight Watchers portions.
Last but not least, school
lunch desserts have become a thing of the past. Once in a while graham crackers
or a ginger snap cookie will appear at the end of the food line, right before
we charge our bird food lunches to our school lunch accounts. But, for the most part, fruit doubles as a
dessert.
It is quite an
understatement to say that school lunches have changed drastically these past
few years. Across these United States
you can read many reports about disatisfaction with school lunches, because
they are so utterly lacking in serious
calorie content -- however more nutritious they might be.
At afternoon recess,
students stand in long lines to buy candy, sugar sodas, and other junk food,
because they are still feeling the pangs of hunger.
Most public schools benefit
from this irony, because recess junk food sales produce huge profits for
cash-strapped school budgets. But obviously, the amount of candy and soda
cosumed through school fundraising canteens essentailly cancels out any health
benefit sought by mandating strict caloric intake in the school cafeteria.
If America is real in its
quest to reduce medical costs by reducing childhood obesity, I don't think it
will ever be enough to impose starvation diets in the lunch room.
A better option would be to
provide enough protein, compex starch, and vegetables in our school lunches to
fill our kids' tummies. At the same time, we would need to provide our schools
with enough funding to cover the cost of building maintenance, sports programs,
enrichment activities, etc.Policies to promote healthy eating habits in our
children deserve praise, no question.
Children shouldn't have to
buy cokes and sugary snacks in order to fix wiring or repair buildings. Because
they will eventually pay a huge personal price when their diets result in
diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure. Of course, We will pay that
price, too, in skyrocketing medical and disability costs.
We may need to look beyond
the lunch room to the recess sugar fix in order to cure what ails many of our
kids: their access to junk food that calms their food cravings but does nothing
to build healthy bodies or strong minds.
How does that saying go,
"An ounce of prevention is worth of pound of cure?" When it comes to childhood obesity, we may
need to look beyond the lunch room to the recess candy stand to get to the
heart of prevention.
Copyrighted August 20, 2014
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