Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Healthy Choices



The school lunch menu approved by our School District and The Child Nutrition Department is lacking to say the least.  Where are the healthy choices?

I let my kids buy lunch for one week .  This was against my better judgement, but I wanted to see what they ate if the school was in charge of their nutrition.  Their lunch diet consisted of corn dogs, pizza bread, chili-cheese fries, chicken nuggets, mozzarella sticks, and grilled cheese with seasoned fries.  All foods that I deem part of the fast food group. 

Still schools take the nanny position and practice "do as I say, not as I do" with our children.  They ban food item fund raisers, they prohibit cupcakes for birthdays, and they eliminate P.E.  All while telling parents that the above lunch menu is healthy and approved.  Who are they kidding?


10 comments:

  1. Parents have the same issue with our school district. I'm with you, it's all junk food. It's better to send them with a lunch.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I agree totally! This was / is an ongoing debate in the schools and we teachers were continually baffled by the contradiction of what was offered and the message of eating healthy. Even the kids knew it was a sad joke. The public would be shocked to see what goes on in school lunchrooms, especially the volume of food that is just thrown away. It's staggering the number of times I have seen a student pick up their lunch and then walk directly to the trash can and throw it away. Students who receive "free" (That would actually be Tax Payer Purchased) lunches are particularly prone to discard what they receive.

    Jerry

    ReplyDelete
  3. My daughter's school is the same way. And all of their class parties are FULL of sugar!

    ReplyDelete
  4. You try eating the stuff at schools !! I believe its healthy .

    ReplyDelete
  5. I want to know if the School District are going to have to follow the "new guidelines" that restaurants have to, and post the calorie counts next to everything they serve.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Courtni never bought lunch at school. Haley did, but most of the time she picked only one thing and didn't always eat it. The school lunches they have today don't compare to what I had as a child.

    ReplyDelete
  7. We have the "Lunch Lady" at my daughters school, but I refuse to pay the prices that they are charging. Plus, she's had it a couple of times, and she didn't like it. My daughter isn't a picky eater, but when she doesn't like it, you know it can't be that good. So, I make her lunch. Once a week she gets pizza and a chocolate milk...far cheaper than on the 'lunch lady' menu.

    ReplyDelete
  8. In Toronto the elementary schools don't have a lunch program, kids bring lunches from home. However, some nutritional programs are beind set up. The school my kids go to, have an incredible program called Healthy Bites. Into it's second year, it provides incredibly healthy meals three days a week (as much as possible the food is organic and locally grown). We are lucky because the school was once a high school as so it has a full cafeteria kitchen which makes the program possible. It is also an incredible deal ($30 a month). There is hope. Change is possible.

    ReplyDelete
  9. School lunches make me CRAZY, as does the USDA. The USDA recently released new Dietary Guidelines for Americans that support so much that is known about proper nutrition, yet it continues to rampantly subsidize the horrific offerings that end up in front of the nation's children every day. Ridiculous!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh, that's annoying. So hypocritical! I would happily pay more for schools if the kids ate healthier (but I fear they'd use that money improperly). I, too, shunned the school lunches when I was a kid. Sad to hear not much has improved.

    ReplyDelete