Monday, March 7, 2011

Proposed Changes to Your Kid's School Lunches

I know I'm a little behind on posting this, but better late than never! Have you seen the newly proposed school lunch guidelines? From the looks of these guidelines most children will be eating healthier than their parents! Is that sad? I think not. This is a great opportunity for kids to start better eating habits. The proposed guidelines were created due to the updated Dietary Guidelines, and they were created based on the following recommendations;

• Lower saturated fat consumption
(<7% of total calories)

• Lower sodium consumption (<1500 mg per day)

• A new red/orange vegetable subgroup.

Here are some of the important changes that have been made to your kids' (or future kids!) school lunches:


FRUITS and VEGGIES: What was once a 1/2 cup - 1 cup fruits/vegetables combined, is now 3/4-1 cup vegetables, and 1/2 cup to 1 cup fruit per day. There is also a requirement for lunches to include dark green and orange vegetables every week, plus legumes (beans, peas, lentils) and a limit on starchy vegetables (such as corn, and potatoes).



MEAT and MEAT ALTERNATIVES: For meat and meat alternatives, there is now a 1.6-2.4 ounce requirement (per lunch), which isn't much different than before.



GRAINS: The new grain requirement isn't much different than before, at 1.8-2.6 ounces per day, but my favorite part is that whole grains are no longer only "strongly encouraged" but instead half of the grains that are offered must be whole grain. Awesome!



MILK: The milk requirement is still one cup, but chocolate milk has to be fat free and there can only be skim or 1% white milk offered.


My final thoughts and comments:

- Why such precise ounce measurements?! Who wants to weigh out 2.6 ounces of grain?!

- The whole grain requirement is slightly weak, in my opinion, but I guess I shouldn't complain. Compared to "strongly encouraged" this is a big improvement!

- Are they going to work on getting higher quality foods in the schools? I have this fear that the food will not taste good because schools have very little money to spend on food. This may backfire and make children hate healthy food. Not good.

- I still wish they would call the "Meat and Meat Alternatives" category "beans and meat" so as to stay consistent with the dietary guidelines and MyPyramid. Wouldn't that make things a little less confusing?!

- I'm slightly confused about how they are differentiating the legumes from the starchy vegetables. They have a limit on starchy vegetables, but I don't think they are counting peas, lentils and beans as starchy vegetables, because those are now required. I think I need to read more of the document to understand this.

- Want to share your thoughts or concerns about these new rules? The USDA is accepting comments from the public until April of this year.

** To read more details about the new school lunch guidelines, check out the USDA website and click on "Proposed Rule", which is beneath Reauthorization 2010. **


QUESTION: What do you think of these proposed changes? If these rules were in place, would you feel better about having your kids eat school lunches?

23 comments :

  1. Great to know they're starting to move in the right direction!

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  2. I think it's a step in the right direction...but it is definitely not what I would consider "good."
    I don't have kids---but I don't trust the quality of even the "healthier" options and improvements, so I'm pretty sure I'd just pack everyone's lunch so I knew where the stuff was coming from!

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  3. I think you should be on the board of people deciding what should be included in school lunches! =)

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  4. i think it's progress!!! they still have a ways to go in my opinion, but they are making an effort to improve and i like it!

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  5. Glad to see you blog about this. I believe that it is a great start. For so many years we have ignored the what our children eat at school. But those meals create habits that are hard to break when the children get older. If we expose them to healthier foods and give them a chance to taste them and expand their food experience they will be all the better.

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  6. I think you made a good point about the new lunch changes making kids view healthy foods as gross. I think you're right that they don't have the money to offer REALLY GOOD foods. I would still pack my kids lunches but at least they are trying to move in the right direction! In my opinion, each school needs a dietitian. Sadly, these jobs a seriously scarce and almost unheard of!

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  7. Our school recently changed to no chocolate milk at breakfasts and grade K has a salad on fridays instead of french fries ??!!! We have a long way to go at our school!!!

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  8. Well it sounds like it's at least a step forward instead of backwards. It stinks that schools can't afford better, because I'm sure you're right ... the healthier food is not going to taste good (especially when a lot of the junk food doesn't even taste good!)

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  9. I think they are heading in the right direction...I want my niece to learn at an early age, the importance of healthy eating

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  10. While I think these changes are definitely going in the right direction I'd still want my (future) kids to eat lunch brought from home. I think it's important that the focus be on learning how to eat well at home, but not everyone can so for those that eat lunch at school the improvements are welcomed!

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  11. Why the potato and corn hate? I think these foods are just fine if eaten in whole form (and with the skin on the potatoes). Instead of limiting these two foods, simply encourage a variety of vegetables be eaten.

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  12. I share your worry about cafeterias making these foods taste nasty and then turning the kids against it. Don't get me wrong, the idea is good- it just worries me a bit.

    I also agree with the Lily about the potato and corn hate being annoying. I think the kids could do worse than some potato!!!

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  13. I work at a school and the lunches are disgusting. And the variety? If you're offering me (at 7 years old) pizza or a salad with grilled chicken, do you even need to guess what I am picking?!?! And the desserts... my goodness. Why do we even offer desserts at lunch? Yay for the changes!

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  14. they started this new campaign at my high school (where my mom works) where if you buy a 'not healthy' food then you have to buy a 'healthy food' to go with it. like if you buy pizza then you have to buy a side salad or something like that. which i think is stupid honestly but i guess making attempts to promote healthier choices is always good. idk i don't think schools have found the right way to promote healthier eating quite yet but hopefully we'll get it right soon haha

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  15. Thanks for sharing your ideas. Our kids need enough nutrients in their lunch so that they'll be able to participate well in class.

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  16. Seriously, who measures grains like that. Very bizarre. But I think the changes all sound positive! I like the addition of the red/orange fruit inclusion. It seems like all of these changes to the legislature are good, but I'm curious, like you said, how the quality is.

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  17. This does sound like some great steps in the right direction - like you said though, I hope they don't take the time to cook the food with a lot of flavors - spices, etc.

    Otherwise, will kids start "rejecting" this better for you food?

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  18. Great review. Looks like some good changes and I agree with the grains. Any improvements are still a step in the right direction. My only concern would be that I have seen school lunch recently and I know what goes on. The kids get their foods, and then at our school with 10 minutes left they can go use their own money to buy a la carte. This is usually cookies and cup o noodles. They toss the healthier meal and run after these other foods. If that could be eliminated we may be better off. Otherwise, I watch a ton of veggies thrown in the trash each day. Would you believe it breaks my heart and sometimes I get overly excited and have to stop myself before I say something I should not. I have never tossed out as many veggies as I did when subbing pre-K the other day. I could only get 1 kid to eat the vegetable.

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  19. I think that most of the changes sound good, but you're right..schools don't have a ton of money to spend on food, and I can see them bringing in less than edible veggies and fruits, which would be super unfortunate. I would like to see more attention paid to local and fresh food! :)

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  20. Love reading your takes on this. I have no kids, but I do care about America and its population.

    I have no idea why they have to be so precise though...why can't we just rough-eye it? Esp with veggies and fruits...so what if it's 2 cups?

    And don't all kids have different nutritional needs? Some kids might need a bit more calories.

    Happy to hear about the whole grains though. I think we should start young and let kids appreciate the lovely nuttiness of whole grain products.

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  21. Sounds like the proposed changes would be a step in the right direction. Thanks for sharing.

    However, to be honest, I always packed the teenager's lunches, and I plan to do the same with the toddler. I really want to know what my kids are eating, and unless I buy it and make it myself, I just don't...

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  22. I read "meat alternatives" and didn't know if this meant TVP or legumes, confusing I agree. My pie in the sky wish is that there could be some requirement for quality regarding hormones and antibiotics but first things first.

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  23. Great summary of the new guidelines, Gina! I think some of the changes are great, while others have the best intentions but could cause some trouble. Adding more colorful fruits and veggies is a smart idea, as is requiring half the grains be whole, but I worry that schools who don't have an RD or other professional helping them with menus and obtaining product might have a hard time knowing how to change their current menus (and changing menus is hard as it is), especially with limited budgets. I hope menus won't become more monotonous as a result. However, I think these guidelines will force food service companies that supply to schools to develop healthier options - not more breaded chicken patty, how about a roast chicken option? (That was a new item at my food service rotation - exciting!) Overall, good changes! Although, I had to laugh at some of the oz and cup measurements! :P

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