For those of us with children it's "That time of year again...." The store ads seem a little shinier. We’re joyous in the thought of sending our little offspring on their way to their next year of academic achievement, yearning to fill their little minds with the wanderlust of knowledge that awaits them. Hallways filled with youngsters just bursting with energy, and mothers like me happy to hear the pitter patter of little feet heading onto school buses and out of our houses once again! Yes, it's Back to School Time!!! I don't know how the stay at home mothers feel, but even a working mom such as my self gets all giddy at the anticipation of sending my son back to school! Ahhhh yes, school is almost back in session and that means many things. Amongst them it means that I must prepare for the "Greening" of my son's 5th grade lunch experience. Why do I have the feeling that he's not going to be so enamored of me when it comes time to address this issue? With all the new found statistics running through my head I feel like I’ve just taken a Stats 300 level course all over again! I think this year may be a little different from the last few…this year it may be the school district running from me, rather than me running from them and all their “VOLUNTEER for this opportunity” flyers that come home the first week of school. Let them be warned…I’ve read the nutritional guidelines and the districts’ menus…and mamma ain’t happy! You know what that means…When Mamma Ain’t Happy, Ain’t Nobody Happy! Ha!
The lunches served to school children today are an atrocity and demonstrate exactly what is wrong with the way we eat in this country today. If there is to be a debate about Healthcare I think we should start off with a debate about the dietary health of our children. A large portion of Healthcare’s roots are truly formed in the foundation of childhood dietary patterns. What we learn to consume as children we will carry forward with us as adults, as we pattern our eating habits out of many different things we experience. It's as elemental as that. If we provided at least one meal a day to school children that were well balanced and nutrients dense as possible, we would be improving the health of that child in unimaginable ways. For many rural and urban children that may be the only nutritious meal they receive all day.
Of the children born in the year 2000, the CDC statistics show that 1 out of every 3 Caucasian and 1 out of every 2 African-American and Hispanic children are going to have diabetes sometime within their lifetime and most before they graduate high school. Those numbers are staggering! In this country where we have the space to grow and provide the kind of food that will nurture our children the Department of Agriculture sees fit to allow the following meal to pass as allowable under their current “Standards for Elementary School Nutrition Guidelines”: 4 Chicken Nuggets, ½ cup canned fruit cocktail, ½ cup tater tots, 1 6 oz container chocolate milk. Can you count the amount of high fructose corn syrup and Trans fats in this meal on one hand? I asked my son if this was considered a normal meal served at his school and he told me not only was it typical, but went on to tell me about other “really good” school lunches that the kids love. Needless to say I was not too thrilled with the excitement in his voice as he described the “Mac-Meals” to me as if he’d just pulled into a drive through.
It’s not that I was not aware that the school lunches were not unhealthy, or that I was under any suspicion that they were serving salads in elementary schools these days. I too live in the fast food corporate world of tasteless, pass it through the car window, I have to get back to the office, eat now taste it later convenience meals, that end up not being all that convenient in the end. I however have been well aware that the Department of Agriculture is the ruling body for oversight and regulation on such affairs and frankly was a little disturbed to see how they have slacked since I was in school many years ago. Knowing that the statistics show that nutrition is directly related to how a child learns and the more nutrient dense the food, the better the scores have been shown to improve. One would think that the Department of Agriculture wouldn’t be so influence by lobbyists at the cost of our children and our nation’s future. I guess I am not as surprised at their unbridled love of the almighty lobbying dollar as it would seem. I deal with lobbyists on a weekly basis and see what influence they have on regulation and the entities that our government has in place that are supposed to be keeping a watchful eye on industry and commerce to “keep the citizenry safe”.
Well, I feel no safer knowing that what passes for a meal at his school wouldn’t pass for one at a homeless shelter, so what I do plan to do is to tackle this cause head on with those on the front lines….PARENTS and CHILDREN. After all why not, us mothers carried their little bald headed butts for 9 months in the womb, then birthed them into this world only to keep after them and watch over them thus far…why not a few steps more. Why would we put in all that time, worry, effort and energy just to settle for inferior nutrition when we send them off to a place where we hope they are learning and growing to become the best the world has to offer in the future? We worry about what they are taught, so why wouldn’t we worry about what they are fed?
To that end I offer the parents and children some great resources that together we can use to help us stand together and change our school’s nutritional offerings. It’s not a magic bullet, or a secret formula. It’s easy as going back to the basics! Using local producers who offer fresh produce and reconsidering the choices of meals put together. What child doesn’t like a fresh tossed bowl of pasta with tomato sauce? Now let’s see if we can sneak in that side salad with it. In fact what if we incorporated a Garden Club into the school and the children grew their own salad? What if we took health class to the next level and taught real nutrition by giving kids front line life skills in “Healthy Prepared Snacks” and taught them how to cook for themselves, even if it was just a healthy after school snack. There is a revolution taking place with the next generation and I hope we as parent’s help these kids steer clear of the fateful facts the CDC has placed upon their heads! There is still time to save our children, but only if we provide them the tools and the opportunities to escape those dismal statistics. We must demand better of our schools, not more…..just better. It can be done and it can be done at an amenable price to how it is being run right now. Please take the time to visit the following websites to see how change is being made, and how you can either do it yourself with your child alone, or band together and change your district!
If you think school lunches have me ramped up, wait until you hear what I have to say about PVC in our kids school supplies!!! Why don’t we just give them a chunk of lead to chew on huh!!….ha! J/K I know we can easily mitigate that issue, but I do feel compelled to address some of these issues as the new school year draws closer, because only together can we as parents change things that we know damn well are wrong in our school systems. We can argue on matters of curriculum, but matters of health are a little clearer cut. I thank you for hearing me out.
Websites:
Chef Ann: http://www.chefann.com/
Green the Lunch Box: http://www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/6359
30 Ideas from Good House Keeping (Use your best Judgment and make substitutions): http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/food/healthy/ideas-kids-school-lunches
Build a Better Lunch Box: http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/products/wholedeal/lunchbox.php
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Well said! I particularly like the idea of the schools buying produce from local farmers and also the idea of creating a 'school garden'. Just think how much the children could learn about how to grow things and the nutritional value of the foods they grow and eat.
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