School Lunches

Today I pose this question: Is it healthier for our children to eat a brown bag lunch or to eat the hot lunches schools are serving?

I was reading an article over the weekend about such a topic. What I discovered was shocking!

When I think back to school lunches I remember sloopy joes, hamburger surprise, mixed fruit, milk and cookies. Today children are seeing pizza, soda, and ice cream as lunch choices. Children are being given very little choices to eat healthy. And if given the chance are our children going to choose a salad over a piece of pizza?

So why do our schools continue to serve foods with which they know have no nutritional value? The U.S. Department of Agriculture continues to push more meat and cheese into lunch programs to keep the agribusiness lobbyists happy! As a nation we are jepordizing our children's health to keep lobbysist happy?!?! In the article I read they said that the Secretary of Agriculture just announced that the USDA is purchasing 75 million pounds of cheese, on top of the already purchased tons of cheese, butterfat and other dairy products purchased for school lunch purposes! ( to check out the related article visit: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/sfl-kscol-schools-m0823sbaug23,0,6280221.story )

This is a disgusting amount of carbs, fats and calories our children do not need. What they need is fruits, vegetables, and water! So, what is our Government going to do?

Obama has a legislation up for reauthorization called the Children Nutrition Act. This bill is to regulate and determine what our schools are serving for lunch. If this Act is updated and put to the test our children should have more healthier choices instead of so many un-healthy things to choose from. They should have more fruit, more vegetables, less fatty and fried foods and the chance to make only healthy decisions for lunch.

But who knows how long this will take to put into effect. So in answer to my own question: Children are better off eating a brown bagged lunch that parents can regulate themselves. As parents we can not depend on our governement to make sure our children eat healthy! I propose that as parents we learn how to prepare healthy lunches ourselves!


Below are 3 great resources on Children's Health and Nutrition and great ideas for healthy lunch habbits!


Lunch Box Menus For You by Janice A. Johnston


Lunch Lessons: Changing the Way We Feed Our Children by Ann Cooper and Lisa Holmes


The Top 100 Recipes for a Healthy Lunchbox: Easy and Exciting Ideas for Your Child's Lunches ~ Nicola Graimes