[WebRover]

If my daughter were required to "buy" school lunch instead of bringing in her own, she would not have time to consume sufficient calories. She's a slow eater. By the time she would stand in line to get her lunch, she would not have enough time left to eat the items in her lunch she would be willing to eat. She won't drink milk (I won't either so I wouldn't be interested in forcing her to do so), doesn't like corn, won't eat foods that require substantial chewing, hates Cheerios (and went to a Day Care that served them 2x a week). I remember in day care there was one lunch that showed up on a three week rotation, where the only thing she would eat was the gravy. This is a 120 pound 5' 5" young adult that absolutely won't eat food she doesn't like and won't eat if she isn't hungry. I send in a protein based entree, a vegetable and a fruit for her for her lunch. If she were forced to eat school lunches, I'm afraid to think about how few calories she would eat.

My son, who burned off calories wrestling, played football and competed in track and field & weight lifted nearly daily could have eaten two school lunches a day and not have had enough calories.

With all the confusion over what constitutes "healthy" food, it's hard to comeup with a program that fits everyone. I think we're all in agreement that white flour and sugar aren't healthy for anyone. But I still see foods based on white flour and sugar promoted by the school menus.

[MindiV]

A FB friend posted this today...his daughter's friend brought a lunch to school. The kid is in first grade. The friend's lunch: a four-pack of Chip's Ahoy cookies, a Star Crunch, a Little Debbie jelly roll, a bag of potato chips, a carton of chocolate milk and a PBJ sandwich.

Sometimes you have to wonder about parents who do this stuff....

[iaradajnos]

American schools are packed filled with the full spectrum. To deny my kids their meals, we'd really be unhappy and pull them out of the schools. To allow families to serve unhealthy stuff is really doing a disservice to their education as well as their health.

I get that it's very complicated. I just don't want the schools to be dumping grounds for left over beef/dairy products or the worst animal byproducts that can't be sold anywhere.

I have a friend (a nurse) who used to be very concerned for her youngest of three sons. The boy was thin (but so was their eldest son and their father). She felt that it was much more important for him to eat anything than eat something healthy. For me that was a very slippery slope. I saw some of the meals that included fluff (marshmellow cream) and a little Skippy PB, choc. milk, and Pirate Booty veggie sticks.

Alternatively, my older son's lunch is raw tofu, raw broccoli, an apple and 1% milk. My younger son has brown rice, lentil soup, curried goat meat, and curried veggies with an apple and soymilk.

By the way, I'm not some great goddess of food nutrition. My older son prefers raw tofu and broccoli because my non-American husband served it not knowing that I would never have fed them that. My son asked me for raw broccoli & cauliflower and I had no idea you could eat those raw. My kids eat really healthy because their dad grew up on a remote farm in a remote country forced to eat healthy veggies and home-raised meat. I've learned alot from living over there and picking up info from 3fc.

[helwa588]

this is ridiculous. most school lunches are unhealthy. kids get better nutrition from home. i'd be pissed if my kid's school told me i couldn't send them food from home.