from: http://www.janetpoppendieck.com/free_for_all.html
from: http://beinglatino.wordpress.com/2011/03/25/the-salad-bar-cheerleader/Based on my investigation I will answer my initial questions in my first post about school lunch reform. Here is what I have discovered based on my research.
How can we change school lunch programs?
We can start by converting school lunches to healthier menus, using locally grown and/or organic ingredients free of pesticides, antibiotics, and genetically modified food. We can teach kids about healthy food choices through cooking classes, curriculum, and garden projects. Healthy eating in childhood promotes optimal growth, intellectual development and helps promote healthy lifelong behaviors.
Why are school lunches so difficult to change?
Changing school food is a daunting task that requires interacting with the government, USDA, and the food industry. Government policies make it difficult to change school lunches because they are often supplied by large businesses. It is difficult to change these large cooperation’s products and contracts to support healthier food choices. It is also a challenge to change peoples’ attitudes and perceptions about food. Many schools do not have proper kitchens for cooking and these schools rely on bulk food that can easily be re-heated. Finally, good food costs more money.
How can parents, students, teachers, schools and the community get involved to make healthy changes to school lunches?
· Look for small menu changes with a big health impact such as salad bars. Stock the salad bar with green lettuces, veggies, legumes, and fruit.
· Serve fresh fruit instead of canned fruit.
· Offer greens, such as broccoli, kale, and salad greens on the menu every day.
· Remove deep-fried or highly processed food items such as pizza and chicken nuggets.
· Eliminate vending machines or at least make sure they contain healthy foods.
· Get involved with a farm to school program that can introduce fresh foods to your school. Farm to school programs help support farmers, serve healthy meals, and help educate children on health and nutrition.
· Integrate recycling and composting programs. Many schools are unaware of the real costs of waste disposal. Getting rid of food scraps and packaging costs money, and lots of it! You can reduce your school lunch waste through various practices such as recycling and composting. Not only will this reduce your school waste, but students will understand the need to conserve natural resources.
· Provide hands on learning opportunities for students to deepen their knowledge and attitudes about food, culture, cooking, and health.
· Celebrate each successful change, and look ahead to the next.
Dear Present and Future Teachers,
I am writing this letter to help educate you about the dire state of our national school lunch program. Childhood obesity statistics are on the rise and have caught the attention of the American public. Since the 1980’s obesity among children and adolescence has nearly tripled. There are many factors that contribute to childhood obesity such as: schools serving sugary drinks and highly processed foods, lack of physical activity, increased portion size, and children spending more time in front of televisions and computers. Improving school lunches and breakfasts is one way we can help fight obesity.
Schools often serve highly processed foods that are filled with additives, high fructose corn syrup and artificial ingredients. Together we need to start a food revolution. We owe it to our children to be serving them fresh, local, and organic food. Everyone needs to be engaged in this issue because we all have a responsibility to educate students on healthy eating choices. Whether you are a student, teacher, parent, nurse, food service director, principal or school administrator, our communities need your help. Collectively we can make a difference by helping to replace junk food with salad bars, fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole grain breads.
The Obama administration has launched several initiatives to improve school meals and help educate kids, teachers, and nutrition professionals about food and nutrition. We must educate and reconnect children to gardening, lunch prep, and cooking. This includes teaching children where food comes from, so that they can make informed choices for their lifetime. It is our duty to put an end to alarming statistics of childhood and adolescent obesity. I hope you will do your part to help support school lunch reform.The school food situation is complex, but changes can be made one step at a time. As Jamie Oliver said, “it is our responsibility to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook, and to empower people everywhere to fight obesity.”
Kind regards,
Annie Fulmer
from: http://www.drsoram.com/2010/06/solving-the-problem-of-childhood-obesity-within-a-generation/
References:
School Lunch. (n.d.). The FOOD Museum : What's New. Retrieved June 6, 2011,
from http://www.foodmuseum.com/exhbitschoollunch.html
| Years | Boys | Girls |
|---|---|---|
| 1966-1970 | 4.5 | 4.7 |
| 1971-1974 | 6.1 | 6.2 |
| 1976-1980 | 4.8 | 5.3 |
| 1988-1994 | 11.3 | 9.7 |
| 1999-2000 | 14 | 13.8 |
| 2001-2002 | 16.4 | 14.4 |
| 2003-2004 | 18.2 | 16 |
Childhood obesity is a very complex issue. The rate of childhood obesity continues to rise along with children who have autism, ADHD, allergies, and asthma. I have often wondered if the American diet is to blame for the increasing rates of these ailments? Much of the debate surrounding childhood obesity is who is at fault. There are many different answers, however, the one that is most blamed are the lunches provided at schools. There is also evidence to suggest that schools shouldn’t be blamed for the increasing rates of childhood obesity. The debate goes back and forth between parents, school boards, the government and food service teams.
School districts struggle to provide healthy lunches because the lunch programs lose money. Eating more nutritious food costs more money. Just recently President Barack Obama signed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. This act will help set standards for food sold at school and will help reimburse the school for meals.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/12/13/child.nutrition/index.html?hpt=T2
(CNN) -- After a year of eating school lunches, Mrs. Q survived to blog about it.
She works at an urban school in the Midwest, where she ate bagel dogs (yes, that's an entree), yellowish meatloaf and chicken tenders, which she likened to "squirts of chicken foam."
With spork in hand, her mission was to chronicle the $3 school lunches on her blog, Fed Up With Lunch. Every afternoon, Mrs. Q -- who asked to remain anonymous out of concern for her job -- photographed the lumps on her orange school lunch tray, and shared her observations about the food and how it affected students.
The blog gained a substantial following and stirred conversations about what should be on kids' trays. Mrs. Q announced on her blog late Thursday that she will reveal her identity later this year when she publishes a book about the project.
"I just wanted to make a public record of what my students ate," Mrs. Q said during an interview. "It's not to target anybody. The lunchroom manager, the ladies and men who are in the cafeteria, they care about the students and what's the best for them in their lives. They don't have power of controlling their menus. They're just doing their jobs."
Mrs. Q said her blog represents what school children who rely on reduced-price or free meals are fed every day.
But the School Nutrition Association disputes that notion.
"I really think what Mrs. Q showed was in a great, great, great minority," said Helen Phillips, president-elect of the association. "The media picks up on those stories because it plays into a stereotype of school meals."
Not all inner-city school districts serve poor quality meals, she said.
Phillips oversees the Norfolk Public Schools' nutrition department in Virginia, which has about 63% free and reduced price lunches. Her school district serves fresh produce such as zucchini sticks, kiwis, plums, pears, pineapples and grapes.
"It's not the reality of school meals. Long before laws tell us we have to, school nutrition directors are working to improve school meals," Phillips said. "We love feeding kids and want to see them eat the best they can."
This month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released new proposals to improve school breakfast and lunch nutrition standards as part of an attempt to reduce childhood obesity. It proposed cutting down on school lunch staples often spotted on Mrs. Q's blog, such as pizza and French fries.
The USDA proposes increasing fruits, vegetables, whole grains and low-fat milk while cutting the amount of sodium and saturated fat and limiting the number of calories.
"I really do believe we need to upgrade school lunch food," Mrs. Q said. "I think it affects performance in a big way."
In January 2010, when she kicked off the blog, she was upbeat and ready to chow down. Outside the cafeteria, Mrs. Q maintains a diet low in dairy and gluten.
She found the school food revolting, but her students hardly complained about the meals.
For many of them, it's their favorite meal of the day -- especially hot dogs, chicken nuggets and pizza. Ninety five percent of the kids at her school receive free or reduced-price meals, Mrs. Q estimated.
Critics have argued her blog reads like a Whole Foods shopper judging the convenience foods purchased by people with less money. Mrs. Q has been accused of being a "snobby suburban mom" and bringing a socio-economic bias to the blog.
"It may come off as classist to say this food sucks," Mrs. Q said. "What I'm trying to say is that all people deserve good food. It's actually not classist. I believe in the potential of my students. I believe just because they come from families that don't have money, it doesn't mean they shouldn't have access to good food, too."
She added: "To call someone who works in public education as classist or a snobby suburban mom, that's funny. If I was a real snob, why would I be doing this with my life?"
Mrs. Q noticed that kids only had 20 minutes to eat their lunches, so they'd automatically eat the sweet snacks first. They pounced on red-colored flavored ice, which Mrs. Q believed affected their behaviors in class.
"They would space out afterwards," Mrs. Q said. "I knew kids who had the ice, and they had the red all over their food and mouth."
Some school districts struggle to provide healthy and appealing meals because the programs lose money.
The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, which gave the government more authority to set standards for food sold at school, could help by increasing the reimbursement for school meals.
The federal reimbursement rate is about $2.72 per meal. Usually, when the cost of food and labor are added, the meals cost about $3 each, leading to financial shortfalls.
Schools struggle to feed kids healthy food
"Certainly, there are budget constraints across the country," Phillips said.
After a year of eating cafeteria lunches, Mrs. Q's health hasn't changed substantially, a fact she attributes to her healthy diet outside of school. Her blood tests showed lower cholesterol and higher blood sugar, all within the normal range. She didn't gain any weight but recalled discomfort and stomach aches from several meals.
But the momentum to improve school lunches is growing, even in Mrs. Q's school. Fresh salads with iceberg lettuce and dark greens showed up on her plate.
"They started to do changes in the fall," said Mrs. Q, who continued her experiment during two school years. "Occasionally, when they serve fries, they were leaving the skin on, so there was less processing. They were doing some fresh veggies, so they were doing raw broccoli in a little bag.
"They started offering an apple, pear or orange -- not every day. They started adding grapes in a little bag, which was a step in the right direction. There were changes that I saw. People are starting to think about choices, and I'm encouraged."
But, French fries and pizzas are still on the menu.
In 2011, Mrs. Q has yet to touch a school lunch.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/01/21/nutrition.year.review/index.html
from: http://www.berkeleyside.com/2010/01/12/berkeleys-edible-schoolyard-under-attack/
from: http://healthfreedoms.org/2011/04/12/why-u-s-school-kids-are-flunking-lunch/Last spring I became interested in helping my school improve our school lunch program. All year long I had sat back and watched as the kids ate highly processed, prepacked lunches that were filled with corn syrup, trans fats, and a handful other ingredients I couldn't even pronounce. I came across Jamie Oliver's website and felt empowered after reading about his foundation and mission. Jamie Oliver's mission is to empower, educate and engage as many people as possible to love and enjoy good food. This means learning how to cook, understanding where food comes from, and recognizing the power it can have on our health, happiness, and even finances. Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution is a national movement to change the way Americans eat.
Check out his link to learn why we need a revolution.
http://www.jamieoliver.com/us/foundation/jamies-food-revolution/why
I wanted to change the food being served in our school because the food impacts students health and well being. Over the summer the principal and several parents created a menu that replaced the processed junk food with freshly cooked meals. We have made significant improvements to our lunch program, however, it is still a work in progress. Be an advocate at your school and act now to bring back plain milk!
http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=nu6u5xeab&v=001907B4yRClb-2_RihM7yPC0FqTKhN4BbgDNpyqP77tgbLK8dtzbCClLgzVq3K0-T5HbYobbxyPQ78ptLLI6waVhyU_EOfBvktG6rScxh4-0wNYbUqp3Yqi6rpt0GZmJst4b6dAPTcCBcSgXkGi0efIxBytyk09aWINFpLPg8hPMTHUi_OUn-fgLFsgl0UWVU7GU_w8E0NOaK8UK3aU--Ukuh7uNEI0UGfBxXNtA7PVtqm9YTZ_HTgYtdHuqALgIC-86-shOxbOYkxaaHgq2-_iQ%3D%3D
In my blog, I plan to address the issue of improving school lunches. School lunches are notorious for serving highly processed foods, low-grade meat, high fructose corn syrup, and other artificial sweeteners and dyes. Even the fruit cups served at schools often contain corn syrup. The topic is compelling because childhood obesity is on the rise. Our schools need to educate students about making healthy food choices. Not only do we need to change what is being served in the lunchroom, but we also need to put an equal emphasis on how children learn about food. Students need a hands on education in order to shape healthy eating habits. We can do better with our lunch program and our kids deserve better.
The controversy regarding school lunch comes down to how much time, effort, and money school districts and the government want to spend on revamping school lunch programs. According to an article in the New York Times, “most school lunches rely heavily on high-energy, low-nutrient-value food, because it’s cheaper. Junk food often provides calories cheaper than healthy food and schools are required to serve at least a minimum number of calories. Thus, choosing fried, fatty or sugary foods allows them to meet their calorie minimum for a lower price” (Rabin, 2011, p. 1). The government federally funds many schools lunch programs and unfortunately schools have little control of what is being served in the cafeteria. “The day-to-day decisions are in the hands of individual school districts and schools, but the parameters that govern the program and determine what can and can't be served are decided at a federal level. The USDA sets nutrition standards for school meals and even provides about one-fifth of the food served in school cafeterias. Congress determines the amount spent on each meal and oversees the USDA's administration of the program” (Richardson, 2011, p.2). Because congress decides how much money is to be spent on meals, schools don’t have much of a choice in terms of what food is being served.
Another factor in the school lunch debate is the fact that healthy foods often require more preparation, which means it requires more skilled labor and equipment. The Obama administration is currently working to address these issues. “Perhaps the most hopeful part of the Obama administration's stated goals is its push for increased farm-to-school programs, bringing more local, healthy food into our schools. Farm to School meals result in consumption of more fruits and vegetables with an average increase of one serving per day, including at home. And for every dollar spent on local foods in schools, one to three dollars circulate in the local economy” (Richardson, 2011, p.4).
This year my school revamped our lunch program. We have eliminated all prepackaged and frozen foods. The lunch lady makes homemade chicken drumsticks, mac n cheese with real cheese, grass fed beef hamburgers, and serves plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables with each meal. Students can choose water or white milk for their beverage.
In this blog you will find links and videos to help support your school’s food revolution. I plan to share stories from our school as well as research to show school lunches across the nation need an overhaul. It is my hope that you find this blog inspirational and that it empowers you to start making changes in your school and district.
Some of the questions I will address are:
How can we change school lunch programs? Why are school lunches so hard to change? How can parents, the community, and schools get involved to make healthy changes to school lunches?
References:
Rabin, R. (2011, February 4). Childhood: Obesity and School Lunches. New York Times, p. 1.
Richardson, J. (n.d.). Are School Lunches Setting Kids Up for Obesity and Poor Nutrition?. alternet.org.
Retrieved June 3, 2011, from www.alternet.org/food/145803/are_school_lunches_setting_kids
