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I would have killed for healthier options at my school. All I remember is kids wanting to eat pizza all the time and I was weird if I wanted an actual meal or a salad.
So what these kids are saying is...we want more fats, sugars and carbs in our food. We don't want fruit and veggies.
No wonder there is an obesity problem with kids.
Not necessarily. A lot of the preparation of school lunches is poorly cooked. For example, in one school lunch program that I toured, the "cooks" boiled peas for TWO HOURS. In another, the fruit dish, produred through the STATE'S vendors contained fruit pits and stems. I would NOT eat the garbage.
Remember that most PUBLIC institutions, including schools. require that the food be procured through a bidding process where the food is purchased from the low cost supplier. It is based on price, not quality. I ran kitchens in several kitchens in a certain state and the garbage that we were expected to use was criminal.
It is nice that Jamie Oliver and other celebrity cooks can produce healthy menus with first rate food for school children. However, in most cases, that food is not available to the staff.
My kids used to be hungry when they got they got the school food. A lot of times there were things they couldn't eat, like green hot dogs or moldy bread. Some things just "tasted off" and other things, like egg or cheese, they were sure weren't made out of real egg or cheese. My youngest is a food snob...she can tell you if something was made with real butter and real vanilla and I've seen her throw out a store-bought cupcake because it tasted like chemicals. My older child is more worried about food safety. Either way, most days they couldn't eat the school food...and it wasn't a lack of fats, sugars or carbs.
My kids used to be hungry when they got they got the school food. A lot of times there were things they couldn't eat, like green hot dogs or moldy bread. Some things just "tasted off" and other things, like egg or cheese, they were sure weren't made out of real egg or cheese. My youngest is a food snob...she can tell you if something was made with real butter and real vanilla and I've seen her throw out a store-bought cupcake because it tasted like chemicals. My older child is more worried about food safety. Either way, most days they couldn't eat the school food...and it wasn't a lack of fats, sugars or carbs.
I remember the green hamburgers and the cardboard pizza. Our school didn't have enough room so there were 3, 30 minute lunch periods. Sometimes after waiting in line we only had 5 minutes to eat and get to class. I also had P.E. right after lunch and would get stomach cramps. I finally just started smoking during lunch break instead of eating. It was much easier.
I think there are more important issues with our school systems than monitoring the caloric intake of each child.
Bad habits die hard, especially when continued at home...
It will take a generation or two to change them and teach about healthy eating, reading labels, comparing products and say no to fast foods.
Schools should start to teach kids practical things, like basic cooking, nutrition, shopping for food, budgeting, fixing things. Most kids don't even know where their food comes from, or what ingredients were used to prepare it.
I think there are more important issues with our school systems than monitoring the caloric intake of each child.
I wonder if it would be easier and better to get independent contractors to run school cafeterias? They could focus on the recommendations and guidelines to prepare healthy, nutrition food, and leave schools do the teaching stuff.
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This kind of thinking about food is why so many children
can't read, write, or figure math.
Remember when it was the three R's
Now it's what are you eating ... which will not prepare them for a job.
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