[StarGetsFit]

Originally Posted by amber961

Know what burns me up about it?? The fact that teachers and the administrators say that the kids won't eat the healthy food.

This comment burns me slightly. Just so you know, teachers don't have any say in what a school serves for lunch. Not once has anyone in the school administration or the food services manager approached me as to my opinion of the projected school lunch menu for the month.

However, communities do have a lot of power. The elementary school I work at ditched out district food provider last year in favor of a commercial organic provider. However, that proved to expensive maintain. So, the parents at our school found a local organic farmer (5 miles from our school) who also owed a small store where he sold his products. His store had a commercial kitchen. The parents asked him if he would make our lunches and what it would cost. They provided the principal and school board with a plan and the cost of having farm to school lunches. The board voted to approve it.

Now, every day our students can have lunches that are 90% local, with produce that was picked that morning and breads that were baked in the same town that we live. The meats are all natural and the lunches are all vegetarian two days a week. And parents spearheaded this.

Don't just tell your school board that the lunches need to be healthier, give them a plan on how to do it. Work with your PTA/PTO on it. There's A LOT of grant money out there right now for farm to school lunch programs, however, most schools can't afford grant writers. They need talented and passionate community members to help!

Oh, and even with these awesome organic lunches, I still have parents send their kids to school with a lunchable and cookies to eat. I even have couple that send a candy bar and a Pediasure. Luckily, our parents also banded together to provide daily, in-class healthy snacks for our students free of charge.

The PTO and Food Services Manager got together and now families sign up to provide a healthy snack items to the school on a rotating basis. It's a volunteer program. Usually we have whole grain bread, nut butter, a vegetable and a fruit for the children to choose from.

The parents at my school have really rocked out with their dedication to providing students with healthy food!

[chickybird]

Originally Posted by StarGetsFit

This comment burns me slightly. Just so you know, teachers don't have any say in what a school serves for lunch. Not once has anyone in the school administration or the food services manager approached me as to my opinion of the projected school lunch menu for the month.

This.

[Jen516]

"There were days they were having NO VEGGIES, unless you count french fries "
Sadly, french fries DO count as a vegetable by federal statutes. The school lunches at most schools are an utter failure. Is it really a surprise that childhood obesity rates are skyrocketing? And they are just being set up for more failure down the road. Habits ingrained as a child are tough to break -- I know that first-hand! It seems to becoming an issue though, so hopefully it will change. I know the high school I teach at is getting better - not great, but better.

BTW, somebody mentioned the baked doritos - those things are great! Still not fantastic nutritionally, but a good treat. And you can't buy them in any store. At least not that I've seen -- and I've looked!

[cheryl126]

Ah, school lunch. I was one of those kids whose parents packed a horrific nutrient-free lunch. A typical lunch for me would be: a little debbie snack cake, a bag of chips, a fruit roll-up and a capri sun. I never ate breakfast either, so I would eat my lunch bag full of sugar and then tater tots, chicken nuggets, or who knows what else for dinner.

The very small spark of hope is that I actually got picked on in elementary school for how unhealthy my lunches were, so the nutrition education in class was having an impact in my school, at least among the kids. However, I don't think my mom had a very good grasp of nutrition education and it was just easier for her to pack pre-made garbage like that even if I protested. The food I received in my lunch was definitely largely due to its convenience and the fact that my mother just didn't care. Fortunately, even though my lunches were criticized by my elementary school peers, they were often willing to trade some of their more desirable healthy options. Snickers bars provided great currency for me...I could trade for pretty much anything I wanted!

Sadly, this type of diet is the norm for so many people. I still see it when I go home to visit my parents and among so many of the kids in the neighborhood. I work in health care now and if you really ask patients about their diet, there are so many who almost never touch fruits or vegetables. Kids can't even identify celery and have never eaten broccoli in their whole lives. It sounds like some schools (albeit a very small fraction) are slowly starting to get the message and hopefully if these kids are at least introduced to some of these fruits and veggies that they never encounter at home, the concept of eating healthy wouldn't be so alien.

[Slimjem]

I am a single parent of two and have chosen to commit time and money towards packed lunches. I make the kids sandwiches the night before - whole grain white bread such as Sara Lee or store brand wheat. My kids opt for PB&J for one and PB & pickles for the other. I stock up on the Capri Suns or Hi-C when on sale. The kids love yogurt and there are plenty of options out there. I buy apples or clementines, grapes and plenty of bananas. They do like lunchables and I will only buy those when they are truly on sale (and w/ coupons) for when they have a short week @ school. Luckily these items are never on sale nor do I have a coupon. The kids 7 & 8 pack their own lunch in the morning with what I've prepped for them. I have not had any complaints and I include their opinions when preparing the grocery lists. Only complaint I have is the schools "free" lunch open to the whole student body could be better. Get rid of the poptarts, high sugared cereals, breaded chicken patties and some sort of hot pockets w/ eggs & sausage in them.

[Slimjem]

Meant free breakfast program above.

[fcuser10395743]

When I was a primary (elementary) school teacher I saw some truly shocking lunches! Since the schools were banned from using salt in kids' food they didn't replace it with herbs and spices or anything they just left the food bland and tasteless. I ate it a few times when I forgot my own lunch and yuk yuk yuk! Many schools don't have a kitchen on site so they have to have food cooked and brought in on a heated truck or brought in and microwaved on site, that's vile.

I actually used to get bullied at school for having a healthy packed lunch, if you can believe that! The other kids used to say I had dirty bread because it was brown not white and recoil in horror at my messy lunches because theirs was all in packets - packs of chips, packet of cookies, candy bar.

But the worst lunches I've seen come from home are 4 candy bars and a soda - "he won't eat anything else" well I'm sure he won't if you continue to provide that!

One of the worst changes I feel is that there is no longer a set time that everyone sits down and gets up from the table. At my school everyone sat down on first or second sitting and some of the older students were head of the table serving up, minding our table manners and encouraging us to eat the variety of foods, but most important we had to sit at the table whether we ate or not. Too many kids now know that if they spend less time at the table they will get more time in the playground so they rush in, cram in a couple of bites of lunch then rush from the table and go to play soccer. OK, great that they are exercising and they are not hung up on their food, but they don't fuel themselves properly because they are swapping it for more time. If they had to stay at the table till the playtime bell rang they'd eat more and eat it properly instead of stuffing it in unchewed.

Luckily we don't have the daft rule about "it's better for kids to have their calcium in chocolate milk that not at all" that applies in many states of the US, we have only white milk or water, and many schools now ban bringing soda from home. All kids age 5-7 get free fruit in Scotland, and it's cut up in little bags ready to eat with plenty of variety each day. Some schools do this well and issue it in the classroom so the teachers can supervise who eats it and encourage them to try it, with the teacher getting a portion too to demonstrate eatin g it. In other schools the kids can collect it if they want it off a trolley in a corner on the way out into the playground, and I think that's sad because the kids who would eat it anyway get some and the rest is left over.