The National School Lunch Policy

[The Mad Monk]

Sucks.

[The Mad Monk]

Wasted Food, Hungry Kids: Michelle Obama’s Bill in Action
Reports of predictable nanny state chaos. by
Patrick Richardson

Bio
September 24, 2012 - 3:27 pm In 2010, Michelle Obama went to a lame-duck session of Congress with a request: pass a nutrition bill giving the United States Department of Agriculture broad new powers to regulate school lunches. That bill was passed in late December of that year, and the new regulations have started to go into effect, with the predictable results of wasted food and angry, hungry children.

The cinnamon rolls and chili everyone loved from their childhood are now gone. Bands and other school groups can no longer sell candy bars as a fundraiser. The government is mandating everything from portion size to how many tomatoes have to be on a salad.

P.J. Moran, a food service director for a small district in rural Kansas, said wastage has gone up “at least 20 percent” over last year, as students, particularly at the grade school level, cannot refuse anything on their trays — but, of course, cannot be forced to eat it.

At the high school and junior high levels, things are more flexible, but not much. Moran said those students can refuse up to three items on the tray, but must take the fruit and vegetable servings whether they plan to eat them or not.

The district’s principal, Jim Bolden, said that at the beginning of the year, food service put fresh peaches on the students’ trays, only to helplessly watch them be thrown away by students who didn’t want them:

I bet we threw away four boxes of peaches.

The 8th grade class, which had planned — as always — to sell candy bars to fund its class trip this spring, has had to find new ways to fund it as sales of candy bars this year are allowed only during certain hours. Says Bolden:

Next year we will not be able to do any selling of food products at all. Right now we cannot sell from an hour before lunch until an hour after lunch ends.

Not only is the mandated food not popular and often wasted, there also is not enough of it, and students are protesting. Students in one district have released a YouTube video parodying their quest for enough to eat during the day. A Facebook page asks kids to send in pictures of their meager lunches.

According to Livestrong.com, teenagers need between 2,000 and 3,000 calories per day to be healthy, and athletes can need as many as 5,000 calories. But the new regulations limit the intake to just 750-850 calories on the tray. Which, if the food is unpalatable, means the students may not be getting even that much.

http://pjmedia.com/blog/wasted-food-hungry-kids-michelle-obamas-bill-in-action/

[The Mad Monk]

School lunch calorie limits leave bitter taste with some Kansas students

Suzanne Perez Tobias The Wichita Eagle
Some Kansas students and at least one political leader say new school lunch guidelines aimed at limiting calories and encouraging good nutrition are having an unintended consequence:
Hungry kids.
“Here we are in the Wheat State … and I’ve heard some very sad stories recently about school lunches,” said Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Fowler.

One was from Wallace County High School in Sharon Springs, where students and teachers created a YouTube parody, “We Are Hungry,” that blasts the new calorie guidelines:

Give me some seconds, I,
I need to get some food today
My friends are at the corner store
Getting junk so they don’t waste away …

The video, based on the Fun. hit “We Are Young,” shows students staring woefully at lunch trays, stuffing lockers with junk food, collapsing during volleyball practice and crawling on the ground in exhaustion.

“There’s just not enough” food, said 16-year-old Callahan Grund, a football player and star of the video. By Friday it had garnered 48,000 views – more than 62 times the population of Sharon Springs, a farming town not far from the Colorado border. “When you have chores in the morning and football practice after school, you need energy. … This doesn’t cut it,” Grund said.
T
he major sticking point: a new federal rule that sets calorie maximums for school lunches — 650 calories for elementary-schoolers, 700 for middle-schoolers and 850 for high-schoolers. Protesters in Kansas and elsewhere say 850 calories isn’t enough for some high-schoolers, particularly athletes who can burn calories by the thousands.
State education and nutrition officials say portion sizes at most districts haven’t changed. Students in Wichita, for instance, can get more food at lunch this year because there’s a wider array of options, a la carte items and nearly unlimited servings of fruits and vegetables.

Pockets of protest seem to be coming from districts that once ignored calorie maximums, said Cheryl Johnson, director of child nutrition and wellness for the Kansas Department of Education. Until this fall, districts that opted to spend more could supplement standard school lunches, serving larger portion sizes and offering extra servings of entrees, breads and other high-calorie items.

“Some schools were providing excess food, above the requirements and the nutrition guidelines,” Johnson said. “That’s the reason we’re seeing some comments and protests. “For the most part, we feel the new guidelines and menus are being well-received.”

Brown-bag protests

The new guidelines — the first major overhaul of school meals in 15 years — also require cafeterias to serve less fat and sodium and more fruits, vegetables and whole grains.

Linda O’Connor, an English teacher at Wallace County High School, penned the “We Are Hungry” parody after a colleague, Brenda Kirkham, posted a photo of her school lunch on Facebook and sparked dozens of outraged comments.

The lunch included one cheese-stuffed bread stick, a small dollop of marinara sauce, three apple slices and some raw spinach. Kirkham supplemented the lunch with items from a salad bar, including cubes of ham, bacon bits and dressing, which were available only to teachers.

“I asked why the sauce had no meat and I was informed that due to the breadsticks containing cheese, the meat would put us over the guidelines for protein,” Kirkham wrote. “Now think of a high school boy who works out at least three hours a day, not including farm work. … I’m furious. The ‘cheese’ inside the breadstick is approximately three bites. This is ridiculous.”

In past weeks, students in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and St. Mark’s school near Colwich have organized brown-bag protests, packing their own lunches instead of buying school meals.

Huelskamp and Rep. Steve King, a Republican from Iowa, have introduced a bill that would repeal the calorie maximums imposed by the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which won congressional approval in 2010. Huelskamp said the new lunch guidelines are “a perfect example of what is wrong with government: misguided inputs, tremendous waste and unaccomplished goals.” He also opposes rules that require students to take servings of a fruit or vegetable at lunch, regardless of whether they plan to eat it.

“If every member of Congress would actually go into a school cafeteria and take a look at the trash can, they’d see that what sounds good on paper doesn’t always work out like you think,” Huelskamp said.

Planning other meals

Vicki Hoffman, director of nutrition services for Wichita schools, said reaction to the new lunches so far has been mostly positive. Wichita schools cut down on waste by setting up “share tables,” where students can leave items such as bananas, oranges or packaged foods they don’t want.

“There’s still some waste, but not as bad as we might have expected,” she said. “We’re also seeing kids eat things they might not have eaten before.”

Johnson, the state official, said claims that school lunches don’t provide enough food to keep high school athletes energized through practice are unfair and misguided.

“It’s one meal. It is designed to meet the nutrient needs of an average student of that age group, but it’s never going to meet the needs of students who burn far more calories,” Johnson said. “We need to encourage breakfasts at home or at school. We need to encourage students to take all of the items at lunch and then to plan for after-school activities by packing a healthy snack.”

School districts that once financed bigger lunches could continue to offer extra food and comply with the calorie restrictions by establishing an afternoon snack program, Johnson said. Parents of athletes and other active children should make sure they have a healthy snack between school and practice, Johnson said.

“The guidelines don’t say this is the only food a student should have all day,” she said. “We know from research that it is much better to have six small meals and snacks during the day as opposed to a lot of food at one time.”

Sam Eckels, a sophomore at Northeast Magnet High School in Wichita, said his school lunch portions — one recent day it was steak fingers, mashed potatoes with gravy, peas and applesauce — are adequate. But he packs fruit snacks and a sports drink to keep him going through after-school basketball conditioning at East High.

“The lunches are pretty good,” he said last week. “I don’t see any difference from last year.”

Kirkham, the Sharon Springs teacher, said she has started letting students eat snacks during her afternoon classes, even in art.

“I have quite a few football guys come in here, and I’m like, ‘Hurry up and eat so it doesn’t get on your project,’ ” she said. “I mean, they’re starving. This isn’t about some spoiled kids who want too much food.”

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/09/24/169497/school-lunch-calorie-limits-leave.html

[dannubis]

Again, why such a large fraction of american parents fail to teach their children healthy eating habbits and to have enough exercice is beyond me.

[The Mad Monk]

Apparently the governemnt is doing no better.

Perhaps we should force feed them, foie gras style?

[Uncle Sparky]

Were those articles from 'The Onion'? This is satire right? Or has the US really become this pathetic - throw out the peaches and let kids buy candy?
Let the students miss a few meals - maybe they will learn something, and lose some fat.

[snoopy369]

Those rules sound really dumb. On the other hand, school lunches do (still, apparently) need major work. Calorie counting is not and never has been the answer - but the quality of the food should be. Prepared from scratch, with fresh vegetables and fruits and enough options so that students DO eat a balanced diet, and they should be able to take however much they want (within reason). Childhood obesity is not primarily caused by overeating - it's by underexercising and by not eating a balanced diet.

[Hauldren Collider]

Why should the feds be involved in picking school lunches? It's not like the feds are any more competent than state governments.

[Wezil]

It's an evil communist plot to sap your precious bodily fluids.

[The Mad Monk]

“I asked why the sauce had no meat and I was informed that due to the breadsticks containing cheese, the meat would put us over the guidelines for protein,”

You can give growing kids too much protein?

I mean, 100% meat or close to would be bad, but in this instance? Too much protein???

[Hauldren Collider]

It's an evil communist plot to sap your precious bodily fluids.

I knew it! Damn you Obama!

[snoopy369]

I think the issue is that the local governments have been doing an absolutely horrible job of managing school lunches. You can argue about whether the feds should involve themselves to fix this or not, of course; but certainly many of the local governments are shirking their duties. Since the feds provide much of the money that funds these lunches, they feel that they have a right to have a say in how that money is used.

I would assume the 'too much protein' isn't referring to the amount of protein itself, but using 'protein' as a shorthand for 'meat or similar', which needs to be balanced by veggies. Of course, this is an example of someone who is a part of the problem - whomever decided that a breadstick filled with cheese was a satisfactory lunch for anyone, anywhere, should be shot.

Either way, when my kid goes to school he's bringing his lunch, no question, every day. It will be nutritious and good tasting, and he'll want to eat it.* He's already off to a good start - at 1 he eats whatever we eat, every day for every meal, including all sorts of ethnic food. Gorged himself on some yummy chicken curry (the real Indian kind, not the **** british people eat) last Saturday

*Subject to terms and conditions, and the vagaries of kids' moods.

[Hauldren Collider]

If the voters of those school districts think it is a problem, they can vote to change it. I'd rather keep these sorts of decisions as close to the parents as possible, and that means leaving it in the hands of local and state government, in addition to the 10th amendment reasons to keep it out of the hands of the feds.

[Wezil]

What level of government is paying for the lunches?

[The Mad Monk]

The level that is trying to take over our lives.