If you’re anything like me, you probably remember lining up in alphabetical order and heading to the cafeteria every day in elementary school.
The lunch ladies wore funny plastic hairnets, and the old
cheese and slimy ground beef on taco salad days always kept you wondering
whether a food poisoning outbreak was anywhere in the near future.
Do you remember mixing all of the condiments together and
then putting it on top of what kind of looked like green beans? The best part
of that process was daring the kids you really didn’t like to eat it!
Even so, that food was freaking nasty!! I was always jealous
of the kids whose moms packed them lunches everyday with a Capri Sun, apple
slices and a little note that said:
“I love you!
Xoxo
-Mom”
I mean, the note wasn’t that cool, but at least they had edible food!
“I love you!
Xoxo
-Mom”
I mean, the note wasn’t that cool, but at least they had edible food!
I haven’t eaten in an elementary school cafeteria for a long
time, but from what I remember, they were pretty gross. Think about it. How
often did you get fresh food, whole wheat bread, or something that wasn’t
frozen and reheated?
Do you really want room temperature chocolate milk, pizza
sticks and gummy bears fueling your body? Everyday, kids are learning to eat
crappy processed foods because schools care more about the quantity of the
foods rather than their quality.
It’s ironic. Schools teach kids about obesity, and then sell
them ice cream for lunch. They don’t often have healthy options to choose. from
In my church, we call that Satan’s plan.
On a more serious note though, this really is a problem.
With prodding from Michelle Obama’s “Get Fit” campaign, the USDA proposed a
budget for legislation effective in 2012 that would require schools to provide fruits and
vegetables at every meal in addition to adding whole grains and reducing the amount
of trans fat on school menus.
But will this help? According to this video, pizza still "counts" as a vegetable. Kids gorge themselves on nachos and French fries, and then
go home and want to eat the same things. Over time, they eat too many calories
and start packing on the pounds.
But what if school cafeterias served beans, sweet potatoes,
and strawberries instead? If kids were exposed to better foods at a younger
age, they would learn how to make better food choices for the rest of their
lives.
The School Nutrition Association spoke of schools in
Washington that implemented programs to bring fresh food from farms into their
schools. Students started eating more fruits and vegetables every day, and
learned better habits for the rest of their life.
Local businesses benefited too! It really was a win-win
situation.
If schools across the nation started to adopt programs like
this, public schools could create a healthier, happier America.
I really like this! And I definitely agree with this. I always thought that the school lunches didn't look appetizing, and I was glad that my mom or I packed my lunch.
ReplyDeleteHow do you plan on addressing the schools that aren't close to farms or orchards for fresh fruits and vegetables? Will they fly them out to their schools and serve them? What kinds of foods are these schools going to serve? Will they still serve pizza every once in a while, or will it be strictly healthy kinds of foods?
If schools star to change their menus, will they also take out the junk food in vending machines? What about drinks?
Thank you for bringing up great points! Obviously for schools that are in more urban areas, it would be difficult to set up programs with local farms. However, even in these instances, school districts could set up programs in which they receive weekly shipments of fresh fruits and vegetables. It isn't hard to ship in fatty, processed foods, so why would it be any different to do the same with healthier options? It wouldn't be a hard change.
DeleteThere isn't a problem with serving foods like pizza in schools. The problem comes because schools serve pizza that has been loaded with extra unnecessary fats, salts and preservatives. Schools have kitchens, yet so often they are only used for reheating food. If school cooks actually cooked more, and with more fresh ingredients, the quality of school lunches would greatly increase. For example, imagine "Taco Tuesday" on a school lunch menu. Many schools open plastic bags of soupy lunch meat and bagged lettuce. Because they're packaged for a long time, they have added ingredients to increase the shelf life. If school kitchens instead cooked their own ground beef and chopped fresh lettuce, the fat, sodium, and toxin content of the foods would be much lower. This would keep kids healthy and teach them that fresh food is what they should be eating.
Thank you for bringing up vending machines too! That really is a great question. I would agree that school vending machines should be revamped. As I'm sure you've seen around campus, it's just as easy to put apples, string cheese and trail mix into vending machines as it is Sour Patch Kids and M&Ms. If kids get hungry and want to go to the vending machine, they're going to get food regardless of what it is. If we offer them only healthy choices, they will eat healthier food.
As far as drinks go, soda should not be sold on school campuses. If the option isn't there, the option won't be used.
I have similar memories of waxy-cheese pizza that as a 3rd grader who loved any form of junk, even knew was disgusting. I think starting to make healthier changes in our school cafeterias is a great place to start. It is a place where we can directly influence what children intake for good. If we give them poor and unhealthy food, they subconsciously learn that is acceptable, and continue to eat the same on their own time. Providing more fruits, veggies, and whole grains will show kids what their normal eating habits should be like.
ReplyDeleteSome students ,however, even with these changes, will try to the unhealthier items. In addition to providing healthy foods, how do you plan to influence children's eating habits? Will you provide healthy advertisements around the cafeteria? Also, moderation is important, and students need to learn that as well. Will they be allowed to have a treat every now and then? What about the sugary drinks that fill cafeterias and vending machines?
I think this is a great idea, and I believe it would be very beneficial to our schools!
I love the idea of putting healthy advertisements around the cafeteria! Advertising really is a powerful tool and it definitely could be used to support healthy eating in public schools. Remember the "Got Milk" posters? Those were great! They made kids think it was cool to drink their milk! Schools could put posters like that up in their cafeterias, along with posters that gave fresh foods sensory appeal. Take the background of our blog for example, doesn't that just make you want to eat some beets? Okay, maybe not beets, those have never been one of my favorites, but the point remains the same. As humans, we are drawn to things that are visually appealing, so if we made healthy food choices look nice, kids would naturally be more drawn to them.
DeleteAs far as treats and moderation go, it might be nice to have a little treat served every friday, but I don't think it would be a good idea to let kids have access to fatty foods and sugary drinks in vending machines every day. As I mentioned in my earlier reply, vending machines should be stocked with more healthy choices like fruit, string cheese, trail mix, or even rice cakes and protein bars. If kids only have healthy options to choose from, they'll make healthy choices and develop the ability to incorporate those decisions into the rest of their lives.
I think this post was really well done. I didn't lose your train of thought at any point and it is a really good idea. I do have quite a few questions.
ReplyDeleteWhat farms will supply the food for the schools? Will it cost more and therefore take money away from the education system itself? Does this affect the lunch ladies and their jobs? Do the farms supply the workers as well as the food? Tell me all of the negative effects why they don't matter or why they don't hold as much weight as the benefits.
Once again I really like the idea and I agree with you. I would just like a little more.....persuasion.
Thank you for your questions! As I mentioned in an earlier reply, it would be hard for schools in more urban settings to set up programs with farms. However, schools get packaged, processed food shipped to them every couple of days, so it wouldn't be any harder to buy fresh foods in bulk. Grocery stores do it, why can't schools?
DeleteAs far as costs go, depending on the structure of each program, it is likely to initially be a little more expensive. Each district would have to decide what the best way to do this would be. They could reapportion their budget, maybe decide to wait a while longer to purchase new chairs for faculty or repaint the building. Another option would be to increase the price of school lunches by $0.05. This wouldn't be too much of a strain on individual children, but would result in sufficient revenue for schools districts to implement healthier food programs. If neither of these options would work for a school district, they could petition the government for a little extra cash. However, these changes would not need to be long lived. Fifteen years or so after these changes were implemented, the amount of money our government spends on healthcare would start to decrease. Because those who would be adults then would have learned how to make healthy food choices in schools, they would be likely to carry those behaviors into adulthood and have less health problems because of it. As our government allocated less money for healthcare, they could increase the the budget for education, and schools wouldn't have to choose between squishy chairs and spinach.
These changes would definitely affect lunch ladies. Instead of reheating food, they would cook it, but that's their job, right? Cafeteria workers would still be hired by the schools, not farms, and life would continue as normal for many of them.
These changes would be small, and many would need to happen on local levels. Although it may initially be a bit more expensive, these changes would create happier, healthier people, and ensure a healthy generation to run our country in the years to come.