While most families believe their children are eating a healthy meal at school, the debate continues whether school lunches are contributing to the obesity problem in the United States.
Nutritionally speaking, most of the menu options are high in fat, sugar, salt, and chemical additives, with the only natural and raw menu item being a piece of fruit.
The National Lunch Program was launched over fifty years ago, and during the Clinton Administration, steps were taken to reduce the fat content of school lunches.
More than 15 years later Americans are still dealing with ways to reduce the fat content of their children's school lunch.
Guidelines for School Lunches
The National Lunch Program (NLP) released nutritional guidelines for schools to follow as a tool in developing daily lunch menus:
- Meat option: 1-1/2 to 3 oz per day of lean meat, poultry, or fish.
- Alternate Meat Option: Peanut butter, eggs, yogurt, cheese, cooked dry beans or peas.
- Vegetable and fruit option: minimum of two servings per day.
- Enriched grain source: One serving per day.
- Milk option: 1/2 pint of milk per day.
How schools prepare and present the lunch is determined by the district. Many of these schools follow traditional institutional programs for purchasing, preparing, and serving meals.
This would include, using cost effective measures like purchasing bulk products, and other products that are easier to handle and store.
For example, bulk peanut butter does not need to be refrigerated like the natural version, which contains only peanuts and a little salt.
Another example includes bulk macaroni and cheese, which uses a processed powdered cheese mixture that can be stored on the shelf for months.
The fresh version, using cheese, milk, and butter is highly perishable and more expensive to serve.
In competitive areas of the nation, schools will use their lunch programs as a means of recruiting students.
Walking into the cafeteria of some of these schools is like walking into a food wonderland. Children can pick individual menu items that fancy their palates rather than their nutritional needs.
Preparation
How the school prepares the food is also an important factor in determining whether the lunch is truly a healthy choice.
For example, are the vegetable selections coming from a can? Canned foods are naturally higher in salt, a mineral that Americans are rarely deficient in.
Moreover, fresh fruit is more expensive than the large institutional canned varieties. The canned fruits are usually packed in high fructose corn syrup (sugar), making them a less suitable choice.
That is not to say schools do not offer a fresh alternative. Many schools will have fresh apples and bananas on their daily menus.
Unfortunately, apples are one of the fruits found high on the list of pesticide-exposed produce, hence, it should be offered sparingly.
Parents Involvement
Whole Foods Market began a campaign to encourage parental involvement in changing their school districts lunch program. The program consists of five steps:
- Perform a school district wellness check
- Get a taste of reality
- Build awareness
- Get the word out
- Pitch in
The process invokes parental awareness of the school's progress towards providing a healthier environment for the students.
Parents get to review and taste the school lunch menus, provide feedback to school officials and involve the community in a change program.
In conclusion, our nation's school lunch programs need help to establish healthier menu options that encourage children to pick foods high in nutritional value.
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