School Lunches..You Must Care!!!

School lunches...you must care!!!
by Lisa Drew

If you are a parent, grandparent, aunt/uncle, Godparent, neighbor, citizen...you must care about our children's nutrition. There should be no discussion about that simple fact. Are you aware that there are many students who only eat one time a day in this country; that is their school lunch! This is sad yet very true! It cannot be ignored. Our children (all children) deserve nutritious and delicious meals.

What's the problem? If you look at school lunch menues, they are deplorable! Hot dogs on white buns, french fries, buttered up vegetable and canned fruit with choice of milk: plain, chocolate or vanilla. Water is extra charge. You have to be kidding me! First of all, milk should not be offered in flavors. The sugar content is out of this world. Plain low fat milk or water should be the only choices. Kids adapt! Now, fruits, veggies, and protein...schools listen up..if you live in a place where you have access to farms why aren't you utilizing them? Guess what, your costs will go down, you will be stimulating the economy by supporting your local farmers, and our children will be getting quality food!

The argument is the school districts have contracts with food companies. Well, even if you are working with a nutrition company creating the school menues and having frozen canned food delivered from these food companies, why aren't better choices being made? Canned green beans are filled with sodium and just because a roll is whole wheat, chances are it's enriched whole wheat...colored flour! Is the chicken really chicken? Is the fruit canned in heavy syrup? Probably. Better choices need to be made. The other argument is it will cost more money to teach the lunch personnel how to properly prepare fresh and nutritious food .. Um, no it doesn't!!! The lunch personnel aren't open to change..simple, either they get open to change or you find new lunch personnel to prepare the food.

In some cases, like in middle and/or high school, there are a la carte options. Most kids will go for a salad if the veggies look good. But, if they look brown and wilted, guess what, they go for the next best thing to the eye which could be greasy pizza, or a wrap loaded with not so good fillings, etc. This is unacceptable!

Parents and/or guardians need to be involved. Well, guess what, if parents/guardians are making poor food choices either because they don't want to change, don't have the knowledge, etc...then children aren't learning proper nutrition from them. Education is key! If you have health classes teaching proper nutrition yet the school lunch isn't living up to what's being taught, that's wrong...period!

Utilize local farms and farmers markets, create community gardens, demand healthier options from the food companies you pay. Think out of the box. Costs will go down! Children will be guaranteed at least one healthy meal in their day. Take field trips to local farms. Let the kids of all ages get their hands dirty. It becomes part of their education in science and math in particular. Not only that, it gives the kids a sense of purpose. Inner city schools, indoor gardens are a possiblity. I know teachers and parents have their hands tied. But we all have a voice and collectively they will be heard!

The rise of obesity in this country and all over the world is at staggering numbers! Pre-diabetes, Type 2 Diabetes, ADD/ADHD and other health issues are on the rise. We as a community need to get involved. It's not to be ignored anymore. You can't say, well, it's not my kid so why should I care? You should care because said child is a fellow human being and we should want the best for each other from youngest to oldest, poorest to richest, etc. You have the right as a citizen to demand a great education for our children along with providing them a nutritious lunch. Costs will be lowered in all areas! Wake up people! We are all in this together! It's not a Democratic/Republican issue, it's not a racial issue or a sexual issue...it's a human issue!