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Doesn't work that way in inner city schools. I don't know about elementary level..I do work in the middle schools. Cafeteria food does not leave the cafeteria. Breakfast is cereal and a carton of milk for most or a breakfast taco . Budget constraints don't allow for what the more affluent schools pay for out of their own pockets.
I'm thinking that grants for very low income schools to expand a program like that into the classrooms might be a great "bang for the buck" project, and it wouldn't be very expensive. They could focus on the lower elementary grades to expose them to fruits and veggies (and help them learn to enjoy them) so by the time they're in upper elementary, they aren't pitching them at lunch. It makes sense to me, but I'm all about common sense. I've raised five kids--I just know that if something is presented as normal, if you make it fun, and if it tastes good, the kids will learn to accept and even like it.
I'm thinking that grants for very low income schools to expand a program like that into the classrooms might be a great "bang for the buck" project, and it wouldn't be very expensive. They could focus on the lower elementary grades to expose them to fruits and veggies (and help them learn to enjoy them) so by the time they're in upper elementary, they aren't pitching them at lunch. It makes sense to me, but I'm all about common sense. I've raised five kids--I just know that if something is presented as normal, and if it tastes good, the kids will learn to accept and even like it.
I have one of my own and he also attended public school. I volunteered there while he was in K-5 doing lunch duty (can never have enough volunteers at lunch for k-5 ).
About 2 years ago I started volunteering in the inner city schools (Austin) to help tutor Math and got to see a huge disconnect from how we think things operate to the reality of seeing it in action.
There are no grants for food. The lunch ladies are min wage workers who just put out the food and clean up. The cafeteria is patrolled to make sure no fights break out. In and out in 30 minutes. The kids are on their own to eat or not.
Raw broccoli can be harder to digest and can
cause severe painful constipation in some. I can see the "legal police now"...
We are veggie/yogurt dippers too
That, and Mediterranean style.
Tastes better than candy
They really should have a course in school on how to
cook and season vegetables. That's 99 percent the
battle. I personally can't fathom one "hating
vegetables", except maybe Lima beans
If anyone's got a "good" recipe for Lima Beans -
I'm "still" waiting
I've thrown lima beans in chili and bean soup, but outside of that I'm out of answers, lol. When my kids were little I also grated zucchini and carrots, etc. into everything I could to give a little extra boost when they weren't quite as adventurous eaters. They had no idea it was there. My kids love vegetables now. I think you're right about teaching people to cook veggies--I don't think the old "eat your vegetables" adage helped either--it made it more like a punishment. Mediterranean food is delicious.
I have one of my own and he also attended public school. I volunteered there while he was in K-5 doing lunch duty (can never have enough volunteers at lunch for k-5 ).
About 2 years ago I started volunteering in the inner city schools (Austin) to help tutor Math and got to see a huge disconnect from how we think things operate to the reality of seeing it in action.
There are no grants for food. The lunch ladies are min wage workers who just put out the food and clean up. The cafeteria is patrolled to make sure no fights break out. In and out in 30 minutes. The kids are on their own to eat or not.
It sounds like that (the grants issue) needs to change, but it also takes leadership from the schools. If their biggest concern is keeping kids from being attacked in the hallways, I can see why it's not a priority.
It's too bad...
I should add--I'm in the great plains--we haven't gutted our education budgets the way some states have, and we don't have as big of an issue with huge amounts of urban poor, although rural poverty is a reality. It's a different culture. Poor rural kids usually have gardens at home if their parents have any yard at all, so we have different issues. Protein is more of a problem, along with warm coats and shoes that don't leak. Lots of families hunt deer to survive.
"For many students, L.A. Unified's trailblazing introduction of healthful school lunches has been a flop. Earlier this year, the district got rid of chocolate and strawberry milk, chicken nuggets, corn dogs, nachos and other food high in fat, sugar and sodium. Instead, district chefs concocted such healthful alternatives as vegetarian curries and tamales, quinoa salads and pad Thai noodles. There's just one problem: Many of the meals are being rejected en masse. Participation in the school lunch program has dropped by thousands of students. Principals report massive waste, with unopened milk cartons and uneaten entrees being thrown away. At many campuses, an underground market for chips, candy, fast-food burgers and other taboo fare is thriving."
I once kiddingly predicted in these forums that the local drug dealer would drop the drugs and replace them with snack food, bottles of soda, salt and trans fats if the government and Mrs Obama, Mayor Bloomberg and the other Big Lib Nannys kept telling us what to eat. Looks like I might have been right
This kind of thing is highly predictable for the paltry and alarming figure of 22% (according to this poll) who choose to think (like you thankfully do)... since every single program that becomes dominated by Federal interference ultimately leads to a worsening of the problem such interference was supposed to address. And nothing could exemplify that better than the horrendous results of federal involvement in education, as we continue to fall behind the rest of the world. Same is true with health and that includes childhood obesity. So the answer is MORE federal involvement and control? Really? How smart the left is!!
Apparently, one only needs a memory that totally resets itself every 24 hours to be a liberal leftist statist who believes government is the answer and cure for all problems, when the reality is, they are the CAUSE!!
Now, we can argue whether this is even true, relegating any further discussion to an act of futility, or we can accept reality and look for answers. Are these obvious failures due to incompetence, or negligence, or other? Just look at the history, and use your head.
The USDA's behavior on many fronts belies their benevolent intentions as much as any other of the public health champions brought to you by Big Brother (who loves you), and it's high time for those that make up the 70% in this damned poll who believes government cares about them and their health to grow a couple of brain cells, and use their heads for something other than a place to put a ball cap on backwards.
What does the USDA do? They protect big agra by shutting down competition ... SWATT teaming co-ops and organic farmers, while allowing Monsanto's Frankenstein GMO creations to destroy the food chain which will ultimately lead to ZERO healthy food available. By all means let's let these criminal thugs control what kids eat ... we always have the FDA to ensure the safety of food, right? Yes, the wonderful FDA who protects big pharma monopoly on creating sickness, while striving to remove your access to vitamins and mineral supplements. Beautiful solution!
Who approved all of the crap that now make up the majority of food on the shelves at the grocery store? The chemicals, the artificial flavors, and sweeteners like aspartame .. high fructose corn syrup .. etc. ? Who is poisoning the water with fluoride? Who mandates the overuse of antibiotics in the animal food industry and allows the massive use of growth hormones in the animal products we consume, so that big agra can maximize their profits and our children can enter puberty at age 7? And what brain disease could cause anyone to believe that the combination of the FDA and USDA represents anything other than a federal tag team working AGAINST the public health? Can anyone READ anymore? Some can't seem to remember what they had for lunch yesterday as they champion government decree of what children will eat for lunch tomorrow. It's sickening.
Forget the brain dead stupidity in actually thinking that one meal a day at school can possibly address the issue of obesity that isn't born of school lunches to begin with ... just consider how much cognitive dissonance is required to think government loves you, with so many examples that prove they don't!
I swear ... I cannot conceive the twisted logic of the left wing mind ... it is literally undefinable.
Last edited by GuyNTexas; 01-27-2012 at 11:55 AM..
Who approved all of the crap that now make up the majority of food on the shelves at the grocery store? The chemicals, the artificial flavors, and sweeteners like aspartame .. high fructose corn syrup .. etc. ? Who is poisoning the water with fluoride? And what brain disease could cause anyone to believe that the combination of the FDA and USDA represents anything other than a tag team working AGAINST the public health? Can anyone READ anymore?
But these agencies tell us we'll die if they don't watch over us and regulate our food/drugs.
Any food grown outside of their governance is risking your life.
Any natural medication (herbs) taken not approved by them is risking your life.
They scare the crap out of you into compliance. Anything anyone wants to do outside of their realm will kill you so you better NOT do it.
Location: Just transplanted to FL from the N GA mountains
3,997 posts, read 4,149,199 times
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Does WIC say now that you can't buy whole milk too?
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). 
I can see the "legal police now"...
