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A local 8-year-old Miami girl is the poster child for a new ad campaign calling for healthier school lunches. Sounds good, right? The slogan on the ad, reads "President Obama's daughters get healthy school lunches. Why don't I?".
On that note, Sasha and Malia Obama attend an elite private school, which offers vegetarian alternatives, why don't we?
"The ads, which went up Aug. 3, will be posted throughout the Union Station Metro stop in Washington, D.C. They are sponsored by the nonprofit Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), which wants Congress to reform the Child Nutrition Act to help schools serve more fruits, vegetables, and low-fat vegetarian lunch options." healthyschoollunches.org
PCRM is the same group which recently targeted a new 4-pound burger loaded with toppings being offered by the West Michigan Whitecaps baseball team. Calling the new menu item further evidence of our "national fat fixation", PCRM director of nutrition education Susan Levin, M.S., R.D., asked the Whitecaps to "consider fans’ health and remove the burger from the stadium. Levin asked the team to at least label the burger a 'dietary disaster' that increases the risk of cancer, heart disease, and premature death."
You mean to tell us that 5 burger patties topped with cheese, chili, and sour cream are not healthy eating options? What if big fat burgers make big fat baseball fans? Introducing "obese people"-- the new government pariahs.
PCRM's Healthy School Lunches campaign postulates that
“At most schools, children have no alternative at all to the meaty, cheesy, high-calorie fare that contributes to childhood obesity and health problems,” says PCRM president Neal Barnard, M.D. “Congress needs to help all schools, no matter how disadvantaged, to provide vegetables, fruits, and healthy nondairy vegetarian choices, and should provide the funding to make that feasible.” (emphasis added)
Tax-payer funding to decrease the eating of meat and animal products?
Jasmine Messiah, a vegetarian herself, is the school lunch activist and daughter of Sarah Messiah, an epidemiologist at the University of Miami. The two had just recently attended a Washington briefing together where Sarah Messiah had shared her research on the health consequences of childhood obesity.
Don't misunderstand, little girls championing a cause to improve society are not the issue. It's the underlying tones of the message. For instance, in reference to Jasmine Messiah's own Miami-Dade school district lunch menu-- what is objectionable enough to petition Congress "to reform the Child Nutrition Act to help schools serve more fruits, vegetables, and low-fat vegetarian lunch options"? Here is a sample of last year's school lunch menu:
Miami-Dade (the fourth largest district in the United States, with a student enrollment of 379,155 )
MIAMI-DADE SCHOOL LUNCH MENU
WEDNESDAY AUGUST 20TH
Choose 1: Italian Style Spaghetti
Tuna Salad on a Whole Grain Bun
Choose 2: Assorted Fruit Juices
Steamed Mixed Vegetables
Garlic Bread
THURSDAY AUGUST 21ST
Choose 1: Oven Baked Chicken Patty
on a Whole Grain Bun
Assorted Premium Salads
Choose 2: Assorted Fresh Fruit
Beans & Rice
Fresh Baby Carrots w/Dressing
FRIDAY AUGUST 22ND
Choose 1: Individual Round Pizza
Deli Ham & Cheese Sandwich
on Whole Wheat Bread
Choose 2: Assorted Fruit Juices
Steamed Broccoli Florets
While we're at it... let's look at Broward county's menu too.
Broward (the sixth-largest public school district in the nation comprised of more than 255,000 students.)
BROWARD SCHOOL LUNCH MENU
WEDNESDAY AUGUST 20TH
Baked Macaroni n' Cheese
Turkey Sub
Assorted Entrée Salads*
Flaky Biscuit
Normandy Vegetables
100% Fruit Juice Blend
Fresh Fruit
1% Milk-White-Choc-Straw
THURSDAY AUGUST 21ST
Flame-Broiled Beef Burger/Wheat Bun Baked Fish Filet/Wheat Bun
Assorted Entrée Salads*
Sliced Lettuce/Tomato
Whole Kernel Corn
Fresh Fruit
1% Milk-White-Choc-Straw
FRIDAY AUGUST 22ND
Mexican Pizza
Sloppy Joe/Wheat Bun
Assorted Entrée Salads*
Chilled Peach Slices
Steamed Broccoli
Fresh Fruit
1% Milk-White-Choc-Straw
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Cafeteria Czar
Okay, so the schools do serve fruits and veggies. The bottom line is: where do school cafeteria vegetables actually end up? Back in my school days, vegetables-- and peas, especially-- were the perfect spork projectile for creating innumerable collections of permanent "wall art". Petrified peas as a decorative lunch room feature debunk the theory that 'if you serve it, they will eat'.
Do schools need more funding for better food or do children and parents need better dietary lessons?
Growing up, my working, albeit struggling single mother made our lunches everyday. Our brown paper bags were packed with nutritious alternatives to past, less health-conscious cafeteria meals. When we kids were old enough, we learned how to pack our own sandwiches and fruits. Why not teach parents and kids how to make and provide healthy lunches for themselves? It is true that many children qualify for free or reduced lunches, but if they find lunch is that nutritionally lacking, can we not suggest they pack an apple, banana, or raisins?
Voilà. Healthy school lunches for all.
Related article: Anti-obesity legislation-- Massachusetts' new law
Comments
This is a great article! Thanks for sharing! As a mom of 2 young children, their health and eating habits are of great concern to me. I am very excited about this ad campaign by the PCRM. What I say is it's about time.
Jamie Oliver, a London based chef, who has his own cookbooks and Food Network TV shows, was able to transform a large number of London schools from feeding unhealthy, processed foods to the students to serving healthy meals cooked from scratch! It wasn't easy. He had to convince the School Board that is was cost effective and would only cost a few cents more to serve "real" food versus the boxed and canned processed stuff. He literally had to start with a few of the cafeteria staff and put them in cooking bootcamp. They didn't know how to "cook" real food. They were used to just pulling out boxes of items "mystery meat" and french fries and defrosting them to serve to the kids.
These cafeteria workers didn't believe that the students would eat a healthy meal made with fresh meat, vegetables, starch, and fruit. It took time, but eventually the students were loving it! It can be done!
The school menu above looks like it is a high school menu. My experience with the elementary school lunches is completely different. The lunches are basically inedible. The food is mostly processed, frozen, canned food. The staff doesn't "cook" anything. They only heat things up. There are only a few exceptions that are edible. They do offer a salad option sometimes as well. When I am in the cafeteria, I see that more than half of the lunch trays end up in the garbage with very little of the food being consumed. I'm assuming it's because the kids don't like the food, and many kids are very picky.
The sad truth today is that many children only have a handful of food items that they will consume, and the main items are chicken nuggets and french fries.
Kids today aren't being taught how to eat healthy, or that fast food is unhealthy and should be exception. No wonder we have an epidemic of obesity and diabetes. I normally send my kids with brown bag for school lunch, so I ensure they are eating a healthy lunch every day. No wonder kids in school can't focus or sit still, and frequently act up. (Yes, I have witnessed this with my own eyes) They are jacked up on chemicals, dyes, and high fructose corn syrup! The teachers spend a lot of classroom time just disciplining.
I realize that the schools have a tight food budget, but the schools buy in large volume which could lower prices on healthier options. I know it's possible because there are public schools around the country that are managing to serve healthy school lunches.
Keep up the good work. Your articles and information keep us all informed. Thanks!
Looks like Obama will have a lot of sick kids to take care of in his Obama care program
Since our bodies are 87% Carbon and Oxygen, the elements that constitute CO2, every pound we gain helps fight global warming by removing greenhouse gas components from the atmosphere. Every lardbutt should receive carbon credits instead of being told to eat grass.
THE GOV BODY FAMILIES ARE ABOVE THE REST OF US ANTS
Hello! Good article, especially the part about parent's taking responsibility. I know I try!
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