Saturday, November 20, 2010

School Food, setting it straight, starting with the basics

"And most kids don't get good food at home either" the response to a question I posed to someone in reference to the current quality of school food.

My response "I KNOW! That is the main reason to give them good food in school!"

FACT: Fast-food industry spent $4.2 billion on advertising in 2009 and Congress can't pass CNR that provides $4.5 billion over 10 yrs.
 
FACT: 17 million kids are food insecure in this country, 31 million kids are in public schools. These 17mil kids need to have access to good food and nuggets & tater tots dont cut it.

Skeptic: Schools can not solve all the problems. How about starting with some of those fast food companies? You think these kids that are food insecure eat whole muscle grilled chicken at home!? No, they eat processed packaged sugar filled crap... If they even get that! Look at the food the food pantries and food banks hand out! We need to feed kids in schools what they are used to eating, not teaching them about other foods.
 
My Response: It is the schools job to educate children on good nutrition, it is public school and the kids are not the problem the parents are. We can't educate kids that junk food is acceptable because it is easier. That defeats the purpose of education. 

I hated calculus but the school didn't let me take geometry because it was easier. Why should school meals be different?

FACT: The government doesn't subsidize fast food but they do subsidize school meals through the USDA. The same program subsidizes food pantries! 

NOW is the time to make these changes!

Schools need to do good by the kids in all aspects including food. 

My kids eat healthy at home, why should they be subjected to nuggets, cheese filled breadsticks and flavored milk when they don't get it at home? They get chips, candy and cookies at their afterschool program but rarely at home. Because the school chooses to feed this junk to my kids I should sit back and let it happen?? It should not be the responsibility of my elementary aged children to choose no snack over junk snacks. But if I don't want them to eat the junk in school, too bad because that is the only snack available. I can choose to send a healthy snack but there is no stopping my kids from eating the junk.

Kids like milk but imagine the day when the the ladies say sorry we only have vanilla WHITE milk today but no plain! Whats wrong with that picture?  

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