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TechnoratiDoes Your Child's School Get an A+ in Lunch?
When I was in school, lessons were done with a No. 2 pencil and a composition notebook. The "three R's" were reading, writing and 'rithmetic, and mystery meat was the main option in the school cafeteria. How things have changed! Now, many kids are as likely to do their homework on a PC as they are with paper and pencil. The "three R's" are recycling, reusing and reducing, and many schools are serving veggie burgers, faux chicken sandwiches and other meatless meals. Perhaps one day, teachers will even be giving apples to the students.
While Salisbury steak and chicken nuggets-foods that cause kids' cholesterol levels to skyrocket-are still staples in most cafeterias, many lunch menus have gotten a healthy makeover. All 110 Gwinnett County public schools in Atlanta, for example, offer tofu-based corn dogs, fresh fruit, soy milk and other vegetarian options. More than half a million meat-free meals have been served in Gwinnett County schools since last fall. Grady High School, also in Atlanta, even has a separate lunch line for students who want vegetarian foods, such as pasta lo mien and soy-based sloppy Joes.
Many schools are scrambling to meet the growing demand for vegetarian fare. Three schools in Broward County, Florida, began serving Gardenburgers, vegan chili and other healthful choices after a vegetarian student circulated a petition among her classmates. Officials at James Logan High School in Union City, California, incorporated vegan foods into the regular lunch menu when they saw how many kids frequented a student-run vegetarian "Smart Cart."
The Los Angeles Unified School District-the second-largest school district in the nation-serves various vegan foods, and Wayland Public Schools in Framingham, Massachusetts, offer homemade hummus, salads and other meatless options. Preschoolers at BellaVita School in Longmont, Colorado, even help grow the fruits and vegetables they eat in a community garden.
I can't wait for this trend to spread to every school in the nation. All parents want their kids to have healthy choices and it can be frustrating if you live in a school district that flunks lunch. My girls "brown bag" it, with inventive meals from the Vegan Lunch Box blog, so I know they're getting wholesome food. But all kids, no matter where they live, should be able to order nutritious vegetarian meals right at school.
Plant-based foods are rich in complex carbohydrates, protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals-all the nutrients kids need to grow up healthy. A steady diet of meat and dairy products, on the other hand, contributes to the soaring rates of obesity, type 2 diabetes and other ailments that are afflicting our children. Earlier this year, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued guidelines calling for cholesterol screening of children as young as 2-and cholesterol drugs for kids as young as 8-because so many youngsters today are overweight.
The Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences has urged school lunch programs to offer fewer animal fats for yet another reason: so that children won't be exposed to so many dioxins-cancer-causing toxins found in meat and milk. By serving vegetarian meals instead of animal products, schools can help set children up for a lifetime of good health.
As the late Dr. Benjamin Spock said, "Children who grow up getting their nutrition from plant foods rather than meats have a tremendous health advantage. They are less likely to develop weight problems, diabetes, high blood pressure, and some forms of cancer."
Other leading pediatricians endorse vegan diets for children, as does the American Dietetic Association. It will be a gold-star day when parents can count on schools to promote nutritious vegetarian meals too. After all, schools should help foster our children's health, not harm it.
31 Comments so far
Show Allmikep: I believe that lunch is the concern of the school. A poorly fed child is not an optimum learner. Many parents lack the money or the knowledge or the maturity to provide good meals. As thegreatrockyhill says, lunch may be the one good meal the child gets. Schools should educate on nutrition by setting a good example and giving kids an opportunity to boaden their tastes.
To me, better a delicious well-balanced salad or soup than fake soy hot dogs. If I know school lunches, these hot dogs are likely to be mass produced junk and end up in the trash. I believe we have to be careful about being stampeded by any group, including soybean agribusiness.
I still cling to the old recipe for nutrition - a wide variety of natural whole foods is best. The more I studied the chemistry of nutrition and biochemistry, and saw the complexity of the interactions and how incomplete our knowledge remains, the more I realized the wisdom of the traditional advice: eat a wide variety of foods focusing on fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains etc., each item in moderation.
Some ideas have evolved. I have a different understanding of the humane, health and ecological consequences of eating meat. Grain-bean combinations provide the same necessary amino acid combinations as meat. I am more conscious of buying locally produced foods as a way to support family farmers and as a way to cut down on transportation.
And I am afraid of my food: hormones and drugs in meat and dairy; heavy metals and PCBs in fish; pesticides and genetic modifications in plants. I try not to eat too much of the same thing. Parents who can afford it would be well advised to get organic food where possible so toxins do not build up and affect the delicate developing systems of children and babies. Of course, as always, the poor are not able to afford the same level of choice. Therefore, social solutions are required.
The best situation for schools, as TerriD says, might be to bypass contracters and have a chef that cooks up simple foods such as soup, sandwiches and salads, with vegetarian and vegan choices, from ingredients purchased daily at a market depot. This costs money, and offers no contracts to big food providers, which are problems as we increasingly live in a Dickens novel in our nickle and diming of children's needs.
Please make the connection between war and the looting of the country and problems like not having the quality of school lunches.
Joe
The cause of better school lunches is a good one, but this is the wrong approach.
First, meat is crucial in the nutrition of our children. Historically, meat bashing came from corporate sponsors of trans fats, the manufacturers of cheap, unhealthy vegetable oils. In particular the 1977 US Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs, chaired by George McGovern led the way by following corporate spin on saturated fats from meat and dairy. See the writings of Mary Enig on this. She now works with westonaprice dot org on this. And search “Mary Enig--a lone whistle blower against trans fats.” As it turned out, saturated fats, especially from grass fed animals, are much more healthy than so many of the vegetable oils that now dominate our foods, including foods that qualify as vegetarian. Our children need the fat soluble vitamins and other crucial nutrients that meat, dairy and eggs provide.
Second, among vegetable fats and foods, soy is hugely problematic. It is not something we want to dominate our children’s diets. Here too, the Weston Price Foundation is a leader in the science of nutrition. Search their article, “Studies Showing Adverse Effects of Dietary Soy, 1971-2003.” We must not let our ideologies, corporate or vegetarian, cloud our understanding of the results of science. It’s one thing to knowingly make sacrifices in your own life as a spiritual discipline, it’s another to impose this on children.
Third, (from the comments,) let’s not get lost in the vast current misunderstandings about corn, especially as it relates to the commodity of the U.S. farm bill. What hasn’t been understood, even by progressives, is that cheap corn (which is then overused in livestock feed and food products like high fructose corn syrup) and other commodities come from a lack of price floors. Because corn and other farm commodities lack price responsiveness on both supply and demand sides, the price is usually far below full costs, as it was under the market conditions we had 1981-2006, (except 1996), according to USDA-ERS. In September 2005, for example, the price of corn was only 25% of parity (roughly a living wage, figuring full costs, not just cash costs). Subsidies to farmers don’t affect this economically, they just keep farms from consolidating as rapidly and keep media attention focused away from the hidden but much larger defacto subsidization which below cost commodities provide to the hugely concentrated agribusiness output complex (exporters, food and feed mills, industrial processors including ethanol and biodiesel, corporate feedlots and animal factories). We need price floors were the giant corporations have to pay full costs. Make them pay the subsidies. We don’t need any subsidies with fair prices. Search “The Facts Behind King Corn,” which is at nffc dot org.
Fourth, keep in mind that 3rd world economies rely hugely on farm income to overcome poverty and then hunger and starvation, and livestock is the major value added for farmers world wide. While US and EU subsidies are tremendously unfair, (since they prevent our farm economy from being so devastatingly destroyed as corporations reap in the hidden corporate defacto subsidization,) getting rid of them does not directly increase commodity prices (and indirectly it would merely increase some by a mere 2-4% and decrease others, as leading econometric studies have found, while dumping at below cost has often been in the 20-40% range, and even above 60% for cotton). Therefore subsidy elimination without the price floors (to end the secret corporate welfare to corn buyers and other commodity buyers,) as advocated by groups like the National Family Farm Coalition, does not address this long term cause of massive world poverty (ie. caused to a large degree by cheap farm commodity prices 1981-2006). Of course, massive aid is also needed to overcome this quarter century of nonstop devastation.
Fifth, remember that livestock on diversified farms (not taken away by corporate animal factories because of below cost prices, as described above,) are important in keeping fragile land in crop rotations like hay and small grains, which also lessens the use of non organic nitrogen and other fertilizers, as well as herbicides, insecticides and fungicides. And yes, buy organic grassfed meats, and help get them into our schools. With skyrocketing fuel costs (more than a tenfold increase relative to wheat since the 1970s) organic foods will become cheaper than petroleum based in the long run. Because remember, grassfed production relies on draft power (not fossil fuels) for much of the season, as livestock (cattle, hogs, sheep, goats, chickens, turkeys, etc.,) harvest their own feed and spread their own manure, turning earth saving grasses and forages into nutritiously dense foods.
I still can't believe the garbage they tried to feed us in the schools I went to. In high school the food was somewhat better, but it still wasn't a highlight of my day.
And they used to wonder why the kids would play with their food, or brown bag, or not eat at all.
I got a "reduced" lunch too. Half the time I'd pocket the dollar, skip lunch because the food was so awful, and just eat when I got home.
It affected the learning somewhat because well...you'd be hungry. :)
mikep-
"I think American schools need to focus on education, and stop worrying about what the kids eat. We don't need nutritional advice from schools. Parents are perfectly capable of managing their diets. Schools should focus on learning. Period. They are not organizations whose purpose is to allow selected groups of people to pursue their own social agendas, no matter how "wise" they might appear to be."
You have a point, but with many of the kids in our schools, particularly the urban (mine) and rural schools, school lunches and breakfasts (They had it at our school too, but I skipped that too, yuk!) might be the only meals these kids get regularly.
One thing I do think they need to do is get the vending machines out of there though. Kids get enough marketing. Keep it out of school.
thegreatrockyhill - Great comments - reality check.
I laughed. My kids would go peek in the cafeteria storeroom and come home and tell me about "Grade D size small" apples and other funny labels on the food cartons. The apples were tiny, deformed, sour and hard as rocks. Nobody ate them. They would have been good for applesauce, but there was no kitchen in which to make that. But on paper, the fruit requirement was met and the NYS apple industry had a dumping ground for its unsaleable merchandise.
My grandkids, who go to public school in a European country, will walk along the counter and discuss with other students the qualities of the different cheeses that are offered. They are discriminating eaters. The cafeteria food is much better there.
Joe
Ok, some important information is missing in this article. The greatest source of obesity is CORN. Earlier I posted my confession about corn in another article and here I think it is appropriate:
Ok, I admit. Corn is indeed the biggest culprit of them all. It is indeed very energy intensive and sucks up more water and petroleum. Half my earnings come from corn but I do admit that even that is going to change as corn proves to be more costly. Am I ashamed that it takes 7 barrels of oil to produce 8 barrels of corn ethanol? ABSOLUTELY. Am I ashamed to see corn being misused for producing corn feed made with petro-chemicals to shove down the throats of cows and chicken instead of allowing them to roam and feed off grass which would make a huge difference in both the environment, resource usage and even health. YES I AM ! For the last two years, I have happily shifted away from letting corn production be my main source of earning revenue. Two years ago, 80% of my earnings came from corn and that was the peak. I have seen shifted away from corn and now it's down to 45%. This Nebraskan apologizes for the health, environmental, and resource suffering and damage done to others in this country and on the planet for allowing corn production to spiral out of control. Interestingly, when I turn to environmentally and health-friendly farming practices, my earnings are not only somewhat better but I notice stability and a little more happiness.
AMERICA, LET'S STOP THE CORN MADNESS ONCE AND FOR ALL !!
P.S:
I'm always glad to voice my opposition to corn because I stand up for the truth and nothing but the truth. I don't know if I can convince other Nebraskans overnight but with the irrigation drying up, peak oil hitting us for good this time, and the water crisis only getting worse, maybe more will follow. If not, the worst case scenario is going to be a Great Depression 100 times worse than the one in the 1920s. I can convince a few corn growers to consider switching but I know the change isn't going to happen overnight. I'll spread the word on possible better bio-alternatives such as switch grass or maybe even hemp although the latter is banned as far as growing is concerned, I think.
Finally, there's problems with eating a high-soy diet. Considering the fact that most soy grown is the GMO "Roundup-ready" soy from Monsanto. How much roundup is sprayed on these soy beans? How much of it has been absorbed?
Also, between soy and corn, agriculture is quickly becoming a mono-culture.
Australian researchers found that men who consumed a soy-rich diet had significantly lower testosterone levels than beef eaters.
http://www.menshealth.com/cda/article.do?category=other.diseases.ailments&channel=health&conitem=43f99...
higher intake of soy foods and soy isoflavones is associated with lower sperm concentration.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18650557?ordinalpos=16&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_Re...
High tofu intake is associated with worse memory in elderly Indonesian men and women.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18583909?ordinalpos=25&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_Re...
:-)
If I remember correctly ( someone may be able to confirm/ elaborate).. soy is estrogenic.. which might explain the lower testosterone levels? Our bodies weren't meant to eat that much concentrated soy foods. Or extreme amounts of ANY foods, especially in " concentrated" forms. A soy bean is a far distant relative of a soy burger, or all the soy-filler that goes into foods. granted, it is probably healthier to eat the soy, than to feed the tons of soy to a pig, cow or chicken.. for those mystery nuggets.. But still- we need to make healthier ( and informed) food choices.
I don't have the links handy ( if anyone is interested, I can track them down and post them)... but many schools have gone off of their marriott contracts and started preparing their own healthy and often organic foods.. and the byproducts are getting most of their kids off of medications, fewer disciplinary problems, better classroom performance etc.. what we eat profoundly impacts how we feel, act, and perform. The body is essentially a chemical factory- everything we put into it.. is an action.. which is going to have a reaction ( be it good or bad). No two bodies react quite the same as each of us is absolutely unique ( both as individuals, and as bio-chemical processors). What most people do not appreciate is that a food allergy isn't just something that causes a visible physical reaction. A food allergy can be a reaction to something as benign as potatoes or bananas ( as well as the better known allergens like wheat or dairy).. but they can cause a child to turn into every teacher's behavioural nightmare. I have seen clinic footage of absolutely delightful children, who- when exposed to their particular allergen - display a wide range of reactions, from ADHD, depression, exhaustion, severe aggression.. and.. when an neutralizer was administered.. stopped!
food for thought.. since the range of foods offered is so much more diverse.. and.. the chemicals they are grown with are more extreme(?).. and what we are putting into them ( additives and colours etc).. is so much more intense.
general rule is- eating it closest to the way it was grown is optimal. adding less to it is better.. and a healthy range ( rather than monoculture) is better for the body. eat what is " in season" as it is closer to what the human biology has evolved to need. Think about it- fruits and vegetables more in summer.. heavier vegetables and root vegetables in winter.. and a suggestion for any- try wild-crafting where possible! example- burdock roots- cooked up, taste like artichokes) are easy to come by, free, and very healthy for the body.
What about changing our corn-fed shit back to grass-fed? Big Government should stop subsidizing Big Agri and Big Corn against the small farmers.
Small farms are the way to go... get the factories out of the food... Once the large corporations get their hands on something, they'll quickly turn it to shit in the name of profit.
I have talked to people who say they don't want to pay more for better meat ! It astounds me.
Yeah, that's a sad state of affairs.
A steady diet of meat and dairy products does NOT cause people to be obese ! It's all of the processed "food", cookies cakes and candies, deep fried everything, massive portions, sugar-laden sodas.
What a crock this article is.
Agreed. PETA would have us all not eat any animal products. As I've said, the problem isn't with eating meat, it's with the industrialization of the food supply.
I recently watched a documentary about PETA and I agree with about 1/2 of what they say. Things like animal cruelty... it's not necessary to be cruel to the critters before we eat them. But PETA also believes that Animals should have the exact same rights as people, which I don't agree with. Is the wolf wrong for eating the deer? Not at all, so why am I wrong for eating the deer? Hardly logical.
I totally agree about cruelty. I want to find cruelty-free meat, eggs, and milk products. I'm willing to pay more from them. My sister raises chickens, they are as free range as owned chickens could be, and they are well-fed. Best tasting chicken I've ever had ! She lives far away from me though, I know of no reasonable consistent way of transporting the chicken from her place to mine.
True that. My parents used to be able to get plenty of meat and diary food that was from grass-fed animals rather than animals forced to eat corn-feed shit. High fructose corn syrup and aspartame is far too pervasive. In Japan, my wife met young men and women who could drink 10 sodas a day and still not be fat. The trick ? Those sodas use stevia in place of high fructose corn syrup and aspartame. Back here, the FDA classifies stevia as "dangerous" despite the fact that it is a political LIE. It's no different from the DEA classifying Viagra as "safe" all the while classifying Cannabis as Schedule 1 despite the fact that Cannabis is a proven harmless plant even if its 26000 industrial uses could force Big Oil, Coal, Tobacco, Cotton, etc ... on the defensive.
My parents too. And even to this day they eat milk and dairy products daily. Neither of them is overweight. 78 and 80 they are in excellent health, neither one takes any prescription drugs. My mother takes OTC calcium plus D from Walgreen's. My father takes a daily multivitamin.
Thanks for the info about stevia, I'm going to research it.
www.stevia.com and www.stevia.net is what I found. They're the best sources of information to enlighten the public. The FDA is a FRAUD.
Jane M is right. Corn is the biggest problem. The diabetes and cardiology industries are thriving on the corn-based American diet. Watch the 2007 flick KING CORN and you will understand.
While I agree that we should all eat less meat and more vegetables, I really feel that switching to tofu hot dogs and sloppy joes is not the way to go.
The real problem as I see it, is all the highly processed, heavily salted, sugared and preserved crap we eat.
I have a simple guideline when I'm picking food for my family. How long until it rots? If it doesn't rot in a few days, then it's most likely crap food.
I buy raw meat and vegetables, cut them up and cook them, just like my great grandmother did. I go easy on the meat, just like she did out of economic necessity. We are as healthy as horses, and we save a tonne of money too.
A vegan diet is not the total answer for children, although eating some meatless meals is not a bad thing. Un-fermented soy products, in large amounts, are actually not healthy at all. The problem with commerical meat and dairy is that they are mostly corn-based. If you can eat grass-fed meats and grass-pasteured milk, your health will be much improved. Real butter from grass-fed cows, pure coconut oil, even lard are better for you than corn/soybean/canola oils that are heat-processed.
Just for the record: the Wayland Public Schools are in Wayland, Massachusetts. I am delighted that they have gotten rid of the mystery meat that we ate back in the late 60's. In Framingham, MA they have the Framingham Public Schools.
JaneM
And don't forget that grass-fed meat and diary needs to be brought back. Big Government has allowed Big Agri to RIG the market for decades especially with Big Corn.
In my opinion, the problem is not meat itself, it's the FACTORY FARMS... industrialization of food. Personally, I like my critters organic, medium-rare.
Wut ?? You don't like to eat the flesh of extremely stressed out overfed drugged up immobile animals ???
Unfortunately, they are correct. Please read my confession post on the dangers of corn overuse and overproduction.
I think American schools need to focus on education, and stop worrying about what the kids eat. We don't need nutritional advice from schools. Parents are perfectly capable of managing their diets. Schools should focus on learning. Period. They are not organizations whose purpose is to allow selected groups of people to pursue their own social agendas, no matter how "wise" they might appear to be.
This MAY be the funniest thing I have EVER read. "parents are perfectly capable of managing their diets".... If this were even remotely true, 90% of "food" companies wouldn't be in business. Parents are the ones who purchase all of those shitty "foods" that are making children obese--- If they were "perfectly capable" the "food industry" wouldn't get away with selling what they do. .... So all parents are capable huh?... including those that are on "free and reduced lunch"-- that means that when in school the district is responsible for 66% of that student's nutritional intake.... sounds sort of important doesn't it?
Social agenda? Nutrition?.... Really? ... Give me a break-- if we actually ate what we are supposed to eat, we wouldn't have the problems we have with our health.
... Let me see- How many Americans died from Heart disease last year??? Gee... I wonder... And how many died from TERRORISM????!!!!!!
Yeah, that's what I thought.
But getting kids to eat the right foods is part of education. Besides, more kids have parents who are both working overtime and are unable to spend enough time with their kids to educate them. At least give nutrition teaching a class of its own. Hell. I'll even be happy to create a class course on the dangers of corn-fed meat and diary and food additives and alternatives to them that need to be brought back. Health matters a great deal and bad health can lead to poor socializing skills.
It doesn't help that grocery stores and convenience stores are filled to the brim with stuff that is advertised to be "food" but barely qualifies as such. So young kids who don't really know better think it's OK because, hey, the store is selling it, or it's in the vending machine at school. And they don't understand that they are setting themselves up for trouble down the road. As one of the original junk food junkies (I got hooked in the mid 1960's), I have a great deal of sympathy for them.
"Parents are perfectly capable of managing their diets."
[rolls around on floor laughing]
As a former teacher, I must take issue with this generalization.
Most parents of young people today can't even cook and are completely ignorant of nutrition. They choose the easiest alternative when providing meals for their kids.
Nutrition and childhood education are inextricably linked. Children are not like adults who can skips meals with hurting themselves. Children's growing and developing bodies need consistent fueling. There is an abundance of research establishing the value of school-based food programs.
q
I recognize the content of this article and applaud the shift to more meat-free and dairy-free choices. I've always maintained that healthy diets consist primarily if not exclusively of beans, grains, fruits, vegetables, and other non-animal sources of nutrition.
I also agree that the meat industry - especially the beef industry - contributes greatly to pollution and global climate change.
But I have to tell you that those tofu hot dogs may be the worst food ever created. The last time that I ate one it took a week to digest.
q