Obama school lunch debacle (Page 5)

Right, so that's why parents pack a lunch then.

Oh, are we back to the "I pay taxes, I don't like what we're using them for, the choices are bad (in your opinion)."?

Then get into politics and make things happen.   Otherwise, you can move to a country with no public infrastructure.  It will suck, but at least it's all on you.

I tend toward pollyannism, but I like to think the people who were hired to make these choices were experienced and educated dieticians with the public interest at heart.  Obviously some of the parents commenting here are above the baseline (active kids, with money, etc).  I am very happy for the kids who cannot afford to eat if not for the school food programs and they now have access to food with more nutritional value. 

So basically what I'm hearing is that because I don't agree with your opinion I should pack my kids lunch or move out of the country?  interesting

Oh for pete's sake.  What I am saying is:

If you don't agree with the decisions about the federal school lunch programs, the viable options I see are:

1. Send your kid with food
2. Get involved with changing the policy
3. Move

MY opinion is that complaining is silly.  You can disagree with that all you want.

I'm not trying to be argumentative here, just actually curious.

You want to choose what's best for your children, I get that, my wife won't let our 1 year old eat non-organic meat. But then you advocate having the government sell the crappiest food that can still be considered food, to undermine your choices. Why?

You've come to the wrong place sister.

True.  I think this a lot in COJ, actually, but I usually resist. I am feeling sassy today.

I have to draw the line with you bringing Pete into this argument.  Pete didn't do anything.  

Oh, and I'm doing #2

Your school lunches must have been very bad.  lol  I have nothing but fond memories of my school lunches.  They were awesome in fact.

back on topic, my kids as well as all the other kids had choices, both healthy and some that weren't so healthy.  Just like we all have choices every day as to what we put in our mouths.  The Federal government dictated a new policy without public demand or buy in to limit the quantity and choices kids have.  My argument is the old system wasn't broke and didn't need fixing.  It's really that simple.

The obesity epidemic is most certainly not caused by school lunches and won't be fixed by school lunches.

I think on a Tri specific forum like this people tend to be more health conscious as a whole so I totally understand the number of people supporting the changes.  However, I think as a nation I bet the percentage of people supporting this would be a small minority.

Even though some of us are child-free by choice or child-less by act of god/reproduction issues, we still pay into the local school systems.  Thus we are part of the public school system and are entitled to have an opinion.  Or else I want 70% of my property taxes back!  I could use a chunk of change for a new bike!

My school lunches WERE awful. Google school cafeteria food and that's about what my lunches looked like. It tasted okay, but there is no doubt in my mind that the food itself was 1 step above Purina.

Ours weren't too bad but I remember when parents and everyone else were all up in arms about the schools feeding us burgers that were soy burgers or had soy in them.  Then again that was around the same time we were all being warned about the new ice age that was imminent.

The longer I live the more I am reminded of the one Woody Allen movie I have seen, Sleeper.

For some reason I've been captivated by this entire thread.  I work at a location that is literally 20 miles from the nearest restaurant, grocery store, gas station, 7-11, taco cart, or any other place that might have food for me to purchase.  Basically, if I don't bring food, I don't eat... it's as simple as that.

I feel like a prisoner now. 

Home schooling

This thread has gone beyond silly.

I found this helpful in understanding what's going on with school lunches:  http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/Governance/policy.htm

Imay be blond and not too smart but here is what I'm seeing:

By Oct. 1st in order for school's to receive an additional 0.06 per every lunch they serve, schools had to meet several conditions.  Schools also had to submit a menu plan in order to get the credit.  This has been going on since 2010, so if all of a sudden your school is serving only healthy food- oops, someone in your school district dropped the ball.  The menu plan is pretty neat- all drop down on a spread sheet (or your school can buy software).

Here are some highlights: http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/Governance/Policy-Memos/2012/SP10-2012o... are the new meal patterns and dietary specifications different from current requirements?

The key changes to the meals for children in grades K and above are:
NSLP
? A daily serving of fruits
? A daily serving of vegetables plus a weekly requirement for dark green, red/orange,
beans/pea (legumes), starchy, and “other” vegetables Increased quantity of combined
fruits and vegetables
? Weekly meat/meat alternate ranges plus a daily requirement
? In the first year of implementation, at least half of the grains offered during the school
week must be whole grain-rich
SBP
? Meat/meat alternate may be offered after minimum grains requirement is met
? In the second year of rule implementation, at least half of the grains offered during the
school week must be whole grain-rich
? In the third year of implementation, fruit quantity increase at breakfast
? Breakfast is included in administrative reviews
NSLP and SBP
? One food-based menu planning approach and same age/grade groups
? Fruits and vegetables are two separate food components
? Daily fruits requirement
? Under Offer versus Serve, student must select at least ½ cup of the fruits or the
vegetables component as part of the reimbursable meal
? Weekly grains ranges plus daily minimum requirement
? On the third year of rule implementation, all grains offered during the school week must
be whole grain-rich
? Fat-free (unflavored or flavored) and unflavored low-fat milk only
? Calorie minimum and maximum levels
? Intermediate (Target 1 and Target 2) and final sodium reductions
? Trans fat limit
? Limit on saturated fat only (not on total fat)

Is anything on this list bad?  Like really bad?  Oh noes- whole grains!  Gasp!  What I like is the option of the school to create their own menus with guidance from state agencies.  Mrs. Obama is not saying WE MUST HAVE HUMMUS at lunch!  She is saying "Hey, um you should serve your students healthy stuff- whatever you want- and if you do we will give you an extra 0.06 for the cost of healthier food".  So if your kids starve- either pack your lunch, get involved in the menu planning in your school or teach your kids how to make healthy choices.

Just my 0.06 cents.

While posting? Dude - there's a time and a place for everything. Leave the posting outside the bathroom!

Great post.  What's the big deal?  There are plenty of healthy, filling options kids are willing to eat...your school for some reason has chosen not to choose those foods.

btw, I was a 3-sport athlete in high school, I have very fond memories of school lunches.  I always bought an extra lunch and/or hot sandwich (burger/double-burger/chicken patty/fish sandwich/etc.)  The only thing I couldn't bring myself to eat was their pizza...it was bread with sauce and cheese, yuck.

I wanted to also add to this thread, of course improving health is the result of increasing exercise and eating better foods...but to argue we shouldn't feed our nations' kids healthy foods isn't wise in my opinion.  I remember reading recently that in the last decade, the nations' kids (while still overweight) had significant improvements in cholesterol readings.  One of the thoughts was the improved labeling and awareness of trans fat consumption.  Just some "food for thought."

My son is in first grade, he loves school lunch and has not complained or seemed to notice a difference.

But, my husband works in the school and has already had parents call complaining that their children were not getting enough ranch dressing for their PIZZA! Yikes, I thought he was going to tell me salad but nope. This was the actual complaint to the school.

It has been my experience that "dumbing down" the top in the hopes of raising the bottom never works.

I hear what you are saying, I just haven't seen it work in any government "program".

Kids learn by example.  There is merit in cultivating and encouraging leadership by example, not mandates.  We need more leaders, not more programs, and the only way to get there, in my mind, is to stop "dumbing down" the top.

Given that we are talking about a government program either way when we are talking about school lunches, it is pretty silly to say that we should not change the menus to reflect healthy eating.

Look, kids learn their tastes at early ages. Some kids may never have eaten a piece of fruit or a whole grain bread, because their families don't buy that stuff. So, either the kid eats the school lunch, learns that those things taste OK, and hopefully learns to eat better when they make their own choices as an adult. OR, the kid dislikes the school lunches, takes food from home, and decides that relying on the government to meet his/her needs is a fools errand, and becomes more independent in meeting their own needs. Sounds like win/win to me, no matter which side of the spectrum you live on. Unless you are so far to the right that ANY school lunch is anathema, or so far to the left that you believe kids should get free food and free choice ("I had the lobster yesterday, I think today I will have the steak")

I just read through this entire thread and it is a bit of a doozy with several lines of reasoning going on that I can see.

what it comes down to though seems pretty clear:

1. Parents and students are complaining that the new school lunches are bad/terrible/not filling.
         - this could be due to kids not eating all that is provided because they are not used to eating healthy food so just toss that apple/banana/whole grain hamburger bun.
         - this could be due to the students being so active that the newer healthier lunches do not provide enough calories - assuming that these kids are eating the entire meal as provided.

2. Parents/students in the first group are complaining about the changes and wanting to go back to the food they were used to because they will actually eat it. Parents/Students in the second group want to go back to the old way so they get enough calories, whether or not those calories are substantive or not.

3. Parents/students who do not like the new lunches feel they also do not have time to pack a lunch the morning or or nite before to avoid the either of the above mentioned problems.

4. Since Everyone presumably pays into the school programs and subsidizes some of the school lunches, everyone should have a say in what is served at schools. many people feel that healthier options will be better.

5. (most recent) We are hearing complaints and issues right now but if we maintain these healthy style lunches for the next 10 years, all the kids who are in grade school now and get used to eating this way, will be fine with what is offered and what they eat when in high school, so should we shut the program down now because of a small perceived negative impact on current students that would diminish the healther school lunches for all the kids in the future?

Personally I think healthier options are better. I was an athlete in high school and even with our large, questionably healthy lunches at the time, I would still pack my own additional food and snacks to supplement that and give me enough energy. Back then I took healthy snacks to supplement the bad food, maybe now I would take unhealthy snacks to supplement the healthy food, either way it was my choice. I just know that the food my kids (when I have them) eat in schools and the food my nieces and nephews eat right now, should be healthier than what I was offered and I am all for supporting that change.

School lunches will not teach children to eat better.  And for obese, sedentary, children it will not help them with their weight problem.  Face it, kids are fatter now because they are less active.  Eating a handful of carrots instead of a handful of fries isn't going to change that.  The best part of programs like this are the scaled down lunches but 4 soda machines in the hallway.  These programs are about money for the schools.....not nutrition.