None of my kids eat lunch at school yet. Next year Erik will be in full day kindergarten so that will be our first exposure to daily lunches away from home. I've always planned to pack his lunch and still do but I am no longer convinced that a home packed lunch is the healthiest choice for most kids.
I've long been a skeptic of school lunch programs. It seems that they focus more on cost than nutrition. Recently, there have been new mandates placed forcing school lunches to be a little healthier. Surprisingly, some people are completely pissed by the very reasonable new calorie restrictions and healthy guidelines.
For more info on the new program you can go here....
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/01/25/10234671-students-to-see-healthier-school-lunches-under-new-usda-rules?lite
or here......
http://sabethaherald.com/2013/02/01/usda-backs-down-on-school-lunch-mandates/
The caloric guidelines for elementary school kids is 350-500 for breakfast and 550-650 calories for lunch. There seems to be a large portion of people who think kids eating 1000 calories between breakfast and lunch are going to starve. Really?! Cmon! This might be why 30% of kids are overweight or obese in America today.
http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/Overweight-in-Children_UCM_304054_Article.jsp
Anyway, I support the recent changes that have been made and hope they continue to make changes until healthy options are the only option.
Earlier this week I spent 2-3 hours with Erik at school. He had a longer day at school and did eat school at lunch that day. I had packed his lunch - popcorn, plain yogurt with blueberries and granola, cantaloupe, and brown rice and beans. (Water to drink.) He seemed happy with his choices.
I am happy to say that I was 50% pleased with the lunch the school offered that day.
Choice one: Grilled cheese on whole wheat bread, tomato soup, fresh fruit (raspberries), a salad or cherry tomatoes, (over)cooked broccoli.
50% of the kids picked this choice and I thought it was overall a pretty good lunch.
Choice two: Fried chicken bites (15-20 of them for 4-5 year old kids), whole wheat baquette, salad, tomatoes, fresh fruit, broccoli.
Very unimpressed with that choice. I personally don't think the school lunches should include any fried foods. Clearly fried foods are unhealthy so why offer them at school? Let the parents make that decision for their own kids. Heaven knows kids eat plenty of crap at home.
They also still offered chocolate milk (lots of sugar) which I think is a mistake. Erik's teacher very actively tries to get the kids to pick white milk but of course she can't actually require that.
More shocking than the school lunch were the lunches packed by the parents!!! Oh my word! I was kind of under the assumption that kids bringing a lunch from home would bring healthier food than the kids eating lunch provided by the school. I was SO wrong about that!!
Every other kid, aside from Erik, had cookies (5-6 in some of the lunches), brownies, cheetos, fruit snacks, fruit punch, oreos, etc. There was no fruit aside from 2 kids with fruit cups, and no one with vegetables. Many kids had white bread with deli meat, some kind of chips, cookies/brownie, and fruit punch for their meal.
I honestly was completely appalled. At the same time I felt bad for Erik. Here was eating plain yogurt with blueberries and everyone around him was chowing down on cheetos and brownies. My "poor" guy! He didn't complain about it but I am certain he must be a little envious.
So, my opinion of school lunch choices has been elevated a little bit but my opinion of what other parents pack for their kids has been greatly lowered. No wonder there was such an uproar when healthy mandates were enforced. Clearly, everyone must not have the goal of healthy eating for themselves or their kids.
What a big problem for our nation this is going to be if something doesn't change!
Do you pack your kids lunches? What do you pack? If they eat the school lunch are you happy with the choices they are given?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
2 comments:
Hi Ann, it sounds like your school district does a better job with the lunch menu than ours. Our school lunches seem to be a rotation of pizza, corn dogs or hot dogs or chicken nugget things (not likely to contain just chicken in the meat). We never purchase our school lunch for either child. Most of the kids throw away half of the food anyway- recently a note was sent home to all parents asking them to remind their kids to eat the food they purchase because they notice more than half of the food purchased is thrown away. I have always packed Ben and Abby's lunches and at first I was worried that one day Ben would really push for the school lunch but he really hasn't. The kids are not allowed to trade or share food (due to allergy concerns) and that is strictly enforced. He doesn't complain about his lunch and I know he eats it (he has a hearty appetite after all). He has made a couple comments in the past that his peers have said his food is wierd or "stinky" but he has found peers that he relates to that are kind about their peers food choices and/or that put quality food as a priority and it doesn't seem to be an issue. I have found, through starting the Wellness Committee at our school, several like-minded parents whose children have had similar comments/experiences and it has been helpful to connect with them. I usually pack a little meat, like sliced leftover chicken breast (sometimes as a kebob) or Applegate turkey or organic cooked sausage, or sliced hard boiled eggs plus a variety of sliced veggies (tomatoes, carrots, peppers, cucumber) and a little container of sliced fruit (strawberries/kiwi, blueberries/manadarins, etc.). Sometimes cheese and walnuts. Sometimes plain yogurt with thawed frozen fruit on it. Sometimes an apple or pear. Or ants on a log. Sometimes some dried fruit. I have expected that I would get more complaining or push back or whining about the lunch than I have. Maybe one day I will get it yet. But so far, so good. :o) Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences!
Glad to hear that Ben doesn't feel too bad about his healthy lunches. I like the kebob idea, he would like that. I'm not sure if the lunch choices at school are consistently okay this was just a one day experience. There is a lot of junk in the school. Erik's teachers sends all the kids home with a piece of candy or fruit snack every Friday. Annoying.
Post a Comment