General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
samplegirl
(11,481 posts)pipoman
(16,038 posts)I am a chef and believe many of the new regulations for school lunches are ludicrous. I also believe that the deterioration of school lunches before the regulatory changes were bad..unhealthy, fat and sugar laden foods were no good for the kids.
The new regulations require feeding kids things few will actually eat. If we are serving foods kids won't eat, how will the regulatory changes help nutrition? They won't. Kids will simply skip school lunh and go to the convenience store or home and eat junk after school.
While I believe the First Lady's heart was/is in the right place, I also believe it a huge error to mandate serving food kids don't like. There is a happy medium.
Scuba
(53,475 posts)"The USDA (which administers the program) says growing pains are to be expected, but the complaints from school officials are getting louder; they say kids aren't eating the vegetables and low-fat choices and end up too hungry to learn. And they're saying they're losing money from throwing out all the uneaten food."
"Under the program, the federal government dictates portions and menus. Lunches must include fresh fruit, vegetables, and whole grains. And there's a calorie cap: 850 for high school kids (idiotic), 700 for middle school, and 650 for elementary school."
Scuba
(53,475 posts)pipoman
(16,038 posts)it is a stupidly ridiculous set of regulations. If you wish to pretend it isn't, help yourself..it certainly isn't helping the kids..
Scuba
(53,475 posts)pipoman
(16,038 posts)until a person has had to traverse government food regulations it is difficult to fathom the completely ineffectual and silly extent of the impact.
LWolf
(46,179 posts)when there was a real kitchen, with fresh food cooked on site, served on real plates, at every school.
THAT would be the place to start, when it came to preparing healthier lunches.
Food that "few will actually eat?" Too many kids are raised on pre-processed, over-processed, fast and junk food. That's why they don't want to eat healthier food.
We could address that in several ways. We could make the lives of the average family less stressful; fewer hours working, more time to prepare meals together. We could make sure that, not only did they have to work less to provide support for themselves, but they made enough money to buy better quality food. We could regulate the food industry in ways to discourage the pre-processed, over-processed junk food so ubiquitous in our culture today. We could invest in more, and more wide-spread, public education about nutrition, food, and how their food choices affect their long-term health.
And, at school, where some kids get 2 out of their 3 meals a day, we could make sure that they are eating healthy, fresh, nutritionally sound food. We could quit adding fat to increase the calorie content in small portions so we don't have to give them more food.
A bunch of years ago, we had a major legal battle that removed my grandson from his mother's custody, permanently. There were many reasons. Food wasn't one of them, although it was a big issue with him.
Since he could sit up, clutch food, and direct it at his mouth, he'd been fed nothing but finger/junk food. We tried, in the small time we were allowed to see him, WHEN we were allowed to see him, to teach him how to use a fork and a spoon, to get him to eat healthier things. It was an uphill struggle.
He would eat hot dogs cut into bite-sized pieces. He would eat spaghetti-os. With his fingers. He would eat cheese, or a burger with nothing but bread, meat, and cheese. He would eat fries or chips. Or mac & cheese. With his hands. He would eat fruit loops or ramen.
He absolutely, unequivocally refused to eat anything green. The only fruit he would eat were slices of banana. He would not touch whole grain bread.
When we first got permanent custody, when he was four years old, we had to set up awkward food rules. He ate with his family at the table. We served one course at a time. The vegetable course came first. Nobody got anything else until they ate all of their vegetables. And vegetables were not carrots and potatoes, were not canned, were not fried, and were not slathered in "ranch" dressing. Fresh carrots were sometimes offered as snacks during the day. No refined carbohydrates were offered. Whole grain bread came with the main course, after vegetables. Dessert was fresh fruit, sometimes with cheese.
It took YEARS of this before you could place a freshly prepared meal in front of him without complaint, and without withholding the "meat" until after he'd eaten what he "hated." If we'd given up and served him junk food, he'd have made meal time a lot less stressful, but would that have been responsible and caring on our part? Today he is a healthy 13 year old. He still hates "vegetables," although he eats them willingly. He even LIKES "salad," although I suspect he likes the stuff that goes ON the greens more than the greens themselves. He still prefers junk food of every kind, which we don't deny him; it's just limited to infrequent "special occasions," not included in his every day diet.
Habits hardwired 0-4 tend to be almost impossible to completely re-wire. It takes a lot of time and effort to make progress. As far as school lunches go, students aren't going to eat healthier if they continue being fed crap that they "like."
Here's the thing. I have spent much of the last 3 years maneuvering state and federal regulatory nonsense in attempt to bring good, made from scratch cooking back to a health care facility. The term "hospital food" didn't exist until government regulations (necessary to prevent health care businesses from serving bad food to save money) became a behemoth of difficulty for facilities who wish to serve good food. The vast regulation made pre-prepared foods the standard of the industry because they were designed to comply with regulation. When the pre-prepared (by con-agra, stouffer's, swanson, and 500 others) foods were introduced one of the primary benefits and justifications for higher food cost was that staff could be reduced and the staff that remained needn't be skilled cooks...anyone can slide a pan in the oven and open a jar or can..now fast forward to the present...healthcare dining is populated by revolving door "nursing home cooks" not actual people who know how to cook actual food.
I could cook, and train other cooks to make nutritious foods the kids would eat in exactly the same way I have for healthcare, but alas the schools are not allowed to do such a thing. It is equivalent to "no tolerance" when it comes to extraordinary willingness to make things better. For instance, from the article I linked above, "there's a calorie cap: 850 for high school kids". A 6', 175#, moderately active, 18 year old male requires around 3,000 calories per day. Having such a silly arbitrary regulation is right up there with expulsion of 3rd graders for holding ones hand like a gun, on the 'stupid shit government does' scale..
I live in a small community and am known by nearly everyone. I serve several special events at our local high school each year, out of their kitchen. There is not a stove top in the kitchen..I repeat, there isn't a stove top in the kitchen..they couldn't cook actual food if they wanted to..
I appreciate the things you have chosen for your grandson. By your own words, "Habits hardwired 0-4 tend to be almost impossible to completely re-wire. It takes a lot of time and effort to make progress.". Our schools don't have the time, nor the inclination, nor the ability to "take a lot of time and effort to make progress", therefore, as I stated, there is a happy medium between junk food and raw vegetables..that is traditional, good, homemade food made from raw ingredients on site.
I fully support your happy medium. 
