Headline: Healthy snacks rule presents challenge for schools

[Villages PL]

What got me about this article is how tough kids have it today:

The article says, "They took away the fried chicken." OMG! In it's place they are expected to eat three baked chicken tenders covered in whole grain breading. This is cruelty! If a parent did this, the kid would be taken from the home and put in child protective services. This is simply unacceptable.
No kid should be put through this kind of abusive treatment.

And that's not all. There are no more French fries! The fries are baked!

These poor kids may end up needing the services of a psychologist for PTSD.

Sorry, I can't continue this any longer - I'm getting too choked up. :(

[OBXNana]

It wasn't until our son, about 24 at the time, met his current wife and realized French fries could be fried in the home. He thought they were baked in the oven and only eating out could produce that fried potato. This is not a stupid young man, it was the way he was brought up with dinners at his house.

With new guidelines of school lunches there is a lot of waste. The child brought up on burgers and fries will not suddenly think kale is cool. IF and I say IF, the student eats breakfast, is it better to allow them to eat pizza for lunch, rather than throw away a salad? The brain needs food to function, is a slice of pizza better than nothing? Can you change the mind set of a 5 to 18 year old for the 180 days they attend school?

It begins in the home and the hope is exposure at school will teach better eating habits. They have to take that first bite and I'm not sure they do or will.

[Sandtrap328]

Sure, pizza and a can of soda tastes great for a school lunch. No dispute with that.

However, if oven baked breaded chicken tenders, baked french fries, and a cold carton of milk was the only thing offered, the kids would eat it. Kids will not go hungry voluntarily. They might find out it is tasty. Maybe, schools could send home recipes for the parents could try them on weekends.

[OBXNana]

Sure, pizza and a can of soda tastes great for a school lunch. No dispute with that.

However, if oven baked breaded chicken tenders, baked french fries, and a cold carton of milk was the only thing offered, the kids would eat it. Kids will not go hungry voluntarily. They might find out it is tasty. Maybe, schools could send home recipes for the parents could try them on weekends.

Since the school year began, a local TV station did a report on school lunch waste. The trash cans had more food in them, than the kids. In our area, the kids simply are not eating. Our daughter is a teacher and she said in her school, many of the students have begun packing their lunches. For those students that the parents may not have time, the lunches are getting pitched. Our daughter said many of the students are dropped off in the morning with a bag from Dunkin Donuts with the child's breakfast of donut sandwich and chocolate milk.

The idea of recipes is a good one and with schools being on the Internet with parents checking daily, it would be something where the home could help. Many of today's youth leave school, get picked up by parent, stop at McDonalds, and head to soccer practice. This may be our geographic area and not typical.

Bottom line, so far in our area the kids simply are not eating. The TV news cast was not where our daughter teaches. At least two school districts have found this year, the kids will go without food. Maybe in the city the kids are hungry enough to eat what they're given, but in suburbia PA they don't.

[Villages PL]

Whether kids eat or not is up to them, as some have stated. Also, whether kids will be overweight or not is largely up to them and their family. So, you might ask, why should the schools serve healthy lunches? I think it's a good idea for schools to not set a bad example; instead they should try to set a good example.

Everything that happens in school teaches a lesson to young impressionable minds. Hopefully, the English teacher speaks proper English etc.. So why should food be any different? Schools should serve proper, healthy, whole foods so kids might learn good from bad.

If kids want to bring their own lunch, that's fine. In that case it's the parents that will take responsibility for their kids.

[Polar Bear]

...If kids want to bring their own lunch, that's fine. In that case it's the parents that will take responsibility for their kids.


Just in that case? [emoji15]

[tomwed]

Back in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s my friend's mother made him a bologna sandwich on white bread with ketchup every single day, Catholic Grammar through High School. The sandwich sat in his desk or locker until lunch time.

When we were in college and knew a little more about refrigerators, bologna and white bread we would laugh about this, a lot.

I lost track of him and hope he's alive and well.

ps Back in the day, he was thin, athletic and not the least bit sickly. It was a different time and place.

[Patty55]

Back in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s my friend's mother made him a bologna sandwich on white bread with ketchup every single day, Catholic Grammar through High School. The sandwich sat in his desk or locker until lunch time.

When we were in college and knew a little more about refrigerators, bologna and white bread we would laugh about this, a lot.

I lost track of him and hope he's alive and well.

ps Back in the day, he was thin, athletic and not the least bit sickly. It was a different time and place.

I hear ya, only we had bologna with mayo, tuna with mayo and Yankee Doodles for breakfast. Nobody was sick or overweight. No peanut kids, no hand sanitizers on our desks just our daily dose of salmonella :shrug:

[sunnyatlast]

A friend of mine worked as a high school cafeteria assistant cook/server from mid 1990s thru 2007. She said of all the various entrees offered, pizza was the only thing the kids wanted and ate it day after day and didn't get tired of it.

I don't see what's wrong with pizza and some fresh fruit and salad to choose or not choose. Whenever adults mandate what kids are to eat, they will choose the opposite because it's THEIR choice.

Government mandating what schools are to offer is another set of bureaucratic make-work jobs that pretend "it's about the children".

Let the district parents and food service decide what's offered and leave it at that!

[tomwed]

I hear ya, only we had bologna with mayo, tuna with mayo and Yankee Doodles for breakfast. Nobody was sick or overweight. No peanut kids, no hand sanitizers on our desks just our daily dose of salmonella :shrug:

Chocolate, salmonella and strawberry was our favorite ice cream. [don't tell the no milk guy---shhhhhhh]

[Bogie Shooter]

Government mandating what schools are to offer is another set of bureaucratic make-work jobs that pretend "it's about the children".

Let the district parents and food service decide what's offered and leave it at that!

What if the district agreed with the "government"?

[sunnyatlast]

What if the district agreed with the "government"?

Here are 81 pages of Federal Register discussion on it. This is only a tiny portion of the federal program's website pages....... Maybe somebody here can make sense of it.

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-01-26/pdf/2012-1010.pdf

And heres a 108-page manual on determining eligibility for school meals free or getting assistance:

http://www.fns.usda.gov/sites/default/files/cn/EliMan.pdf

[Buckeyephan]

Obviously, most of the people making decisions about school food have never done lunch duty in an elementary school. My school had over 60% of the students receiving free or reduced-priced lunch. We had the healthiest trash cans where most of the fruit went. The lunch program was supposed to feed kids who would have gone hungry without this. These kids couldn't have been too hungry because they chose to throw out their lunches rather than eat something they didn't like. So, the schools are between a rock and a hard place. What the the kids want isn't very healthy but they won't eat what is healthy. Good intentions are making many empty bellies. Oh, and we weren't allowed to encourage them to actually eat the food. They had to take a certain number of offered items even if they threw it away. Our tax dollars at work.

[tomwed]

I have a possible solution that is riddled with holes. It's a work in progress so feel free to help it along..

Every monday the student can choose between a turkey sandwich on whole wheat or a PBJ on whole wheat. tuesday, roast beef; wednesday baked virginia ham, thursday, turkey; friday, cheese [this needs tweeking]. And you get 2 pieces of fruit and milk.


Here's the kicker: If you choose not to take what is being offered you can put the lunch or any part of the lunch into a food basket. There will be no leftovers. At the end of the day a volunteer will take the food basket to a homeless shelter where it will be appreciated. The caf ladies and maintenance workers will have it easier. Hopefully, the quality of cold cuts will be better than the least expensive available which is what was served in my district.

Call it a uniform lunch code. One good thing about school uniforms is that it's not as obvious who the rich kids are.

Here are the lessons learned:
1] Nutrition is important
2] Charity is important
3] Not everyone will pander to your taste buds or other tastes.
4] In school, unfortunate kids eat the same as fortunate kids
5] Money is an object.
6] You have the right to complain about the menu. And if you can think of a better solution that addresses all the other lessons; you will be appreciated by many and we will make changes.

[Villages PL]

A friend of mine worked as a high school cafeteria assistant cook/server from mid 1990s thru 2007. She said of all the various entrees offered, pizza was the only thing the kids wanted and ate it day after day and didn't get tired of it.

I don't see what's wrong with pizza and some fresh fruit and salad to choose or not choose. Whenever adults mandate what kids are to eat, they will choose the opposite because it's THEIR choice.

Government mandating what schools are to offer is another set of bureaucratic make-work jobs that pretend "it's about the children".

Let the district parents and food service decide what's offered and leave it at that!

School itself is government mandated: There's a dress code and behavior code among others. Why should food be any different? The whole thing is bureaucratic from top to bottom.

[graciegirl]

Obviously, most of the people making decisions about school food have never done lunch duty in an elementary school. My school had over 60% of the students receiving free or reduced-priced lunch. We had the healthiest trash cans where most of the fruit went. The lunch program was supposed to feed kids who would have gone hungry without this. These kids couldn't have been too hungry because they chose to throw out their lunches rather than eat something they didn't like. So, the schools are between a rock and a hard place. What the the kids want isn't very healthy but they won't eat what is healthy. Good intentions are making many empty bellies. Oh, and we weren't allowed to encourage them to actually eat the food. They had to take a certain number of offered items even if they threw it away. Our tax dollars at work.


Of course you are from Ohio. You make sense.

And I'll bet you had children, too. Big difference in people who know what's good for kids when they HAVE kids.

[Bavarian]

Back in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s my friend's mother made him a bologna sandwich on white bread with ketchup every single day, Catholic Grammar through High School. The sandwich sat in his desk or locker until lunch time.

When we were in college and knew a little more about refrigerators, bologna and white bread we would laugh about this, a lot.

I lost track of him and hope he's alive and well.

ps Back in the day, he was thin, athletic and not the least bit sickly. It was a different time and place.

My mother put margarine on rye bread and then either Bologna or Lebanon or Salami or leftover meat from last nights dinner. She froze the sandwich so that my lunch time it would be defrosted and cold and safe, also Catholic Grade School and High School.

I survived the Sisters of St. Joseph and the Christian Brothers.

[Halibut]

I survived the Sisters of St. Joseph and the Christian Brothers.

Haha! During Lent we'd also have to take breakfast to school to eat after Mass, so add milk to the list of foods left sitting in various lunch bags in the cloakroom. Remember those individual portion size cereal boxes that were coated with waxed paper? You just poured in the milk. Depending on how diligent one's mother was, a kid might also have hard-boiled eggs. Our elementary school didn't have a cafeteria.

The British chef Jamie Oliver did a couple of TV series about changing the menus in school lunch programs. They (http://www.jamieoliver.com/us/foundation/jamies-food-revolution/school-food)were interesting to watch, but also kind of depressing.

[Villages PL]

Of course you are from Ohio. You make sense.

And I'll bet you had children, too. Big difference in people who know what's good for kids when they HAVE kids.

Those who have kids might know that some of them don't like to do homework. So maybe we should be against teachers giving homework assignments.

[graciegirl]

Those who have kids might know that some of them don't like to do homework. So maybe we should be against teachers giving homework assignments.

If you have had kids you know you choose your battles. They will marry someone who will pick your nursing home.

[Nightengale212]

if you have had kids you know you choose your battles. They will marry someone who will pick your nursing home.

lololol :)

[Deseylou]

Maybe it's the presentation of the food
Carrots and broccoli taste great when dipped in a little bit of ranch
Celery with a dash of peanut butter is good
Cooked veggies with a little bit of cheese
Debbie

[tomwed]

My mother put margarine on rye bread and then either Bologna or Lebanon or Salami or leftover meat from last nights dinner. She froze the sandwich so that my lunch time it would be defrosted and cold and safe, also Catholic Grade School and High School.

I survived the Sisters of St. Joseph and the Christian Brothers.

I survived the Sisters of Notre Dame and also Christian Brothers.

[Aandjmassage]

6 year old Grandchild Kayliegh does not even want to go to McDonalds. She said "Thats not healthy" So they can be taught better then we were.

[Kirsten Lee]

Here is a difference:

40 to 50 years ago went I went to Public school we had maybe about eight different main items like turkey, baked chicken, fish sticks, mock chicken leg (still don't know what that meat was), meatloaf, cheese on a bun, hamburgers. One one was offered per day. It was served with a starch like mashed potatoes or baked fries, a vegetable, white milk, and jello, or applesauce, or fruit. The most wonderful desserts every day. We had 15 minute recess twice a day and 1 hour for lunch. We ate and we went outside for at least 30 minutes of lunch. NO SNACKS. Nothing was fried.

With my children who have been in school for the past 17 years they were encouraged to bring snack thru 5th grade. One child in 1st grade had a teacher that had them eat snack at 10:45 and they went to lunch at 11:45. Whenever I went to school to eat lunch with my kids, I watched many kids barely eat. I think because they all had morning snack. My kids started school at 8:50 and the reason for morning snack was because the school felt some kids did not eat breakfast so they should have snack. Lunch was 40 minutes with 15-20 minutes standing in line, 15 minutes mandatory to eat and about 10-15 minutes for the playground plus one 15 minute recess a day in elementary school. Some type of pizza is served once a week. Nothing is fried. Dessert is served once a month.

Kids need more playground time especially when by the time they get dropped off from the bus it is dark. Every sport my children were involved in until age 12 had sign up sheets for snack and juice for practice and after the game. The moms revolted and said let's stop snacks since practice and games were right before dinner or right after dinner.

[sunnyatlast]

School itself is government mandated: There's a dress code and behavior code among others. Why should food be any different? The whole thing is bureaucratic from top to bottom.

Why should food be any different? (government mandated) Because a little person's stomach and how much it can hold is a very personal matter. Because what one kid wolfs down like it's the best food on earth is the same thing that will make another kid puke EVERY time.

I remember seeing kids puking at the garbage can where hot lunch trays/dishes were handed in, because they were forced to eat everything on the plate and "not WASTE it by throwing it away, uneaten". Well it sure as heck came out as WASTE when they puked it up!! AND they never forgot being humiliated in front of everyone for wretching over a trash can or blurting it onto the tray still on the table.

A stomach is not other people's business.

[rubicon]

Its one thing to ensure that children are not being deprived of nourishing food, its quite another to dictate what they will eat.

People in this country do not have a clue on how easily this government can move from a democracy to a central planner.

A prime example of how easy it is , is to look at the FED. Their role was to watch monetary policy and employment. They have moved quickly to the economy's central planner and many economists worry tha the FED is creating another bubble

People look at as the government is helping them

the government looks at it as people cannot choose wisely so we have to choose for them because they will always choose wrong

[tomwed]

Here is the article that is being discussed but probably not read. Pick it apart.



Healthy snacks rule presents challenge for schools
By LAUREN SLAGTER Kokomo Tribune
09/30/2014 9:04 AM

09/30/2014 9:05 AM

KOKOMO, Ind.
Northwestern students used to look forward to lunch every Thursday, when restaurant-style fried chicken and French fries would be served.

But this year, "chicken days" consist of three baked chicken tenders covered in whole-grain breading. The fries are baked too, and that's not the only healthy change that's hit school menus.

"They took away the fried chicken. They took away all the good food and gave us healthy food," said Northwestern High School ninth grader Ariel Bollnow, joking that she'd like to "have a long talk" with Michelle Obama about her concerns with the new school food.

The first lady advocated for the federal Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, which fully went into effect for the 2013-14 school year. Schools have gradually worked to implement new school lunch menus in recent years, complying with restrictions on how many calories can be served in a meal, the levels of sodium, sugar and fat in the food, and how many servings of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, protein and dairy must be available to students.

This year, all snacks sold in cafeterias' a la carte lines, school vending machines and any other place during school hours also must meet the federal healthy food guidelines.

Northwestern food services director Renee' Hullinger told the Kokomo Tribune (Smart Snacks present challenges for schools, vendors - Kokomo Tribune: News (http://bit.ly/1sLKV6q) ) the "smart snack" phase of the federal regulations has been the most challenging to follow.

"With the new regulations on all foods sold in schools, the nutrition stipulations are so strict that our hands are tied in what we can sell," she said, noting that new kitchen equipment was needed to replace deep fryers that can no longer be used. "The government made all these changes, but they didn't give us money to do the job."

Part of the difficulty comes from a lack of available products that meet the nutrition requirements. The vendors school food service departments previously worked with are struggling to come up with modified versions of their food products. Hullinger said right now, the snack options at Northwestern are approximately one-tenth of what they used to be.

"Manufacturers have worked as quickly as they could to change to meet these new regulations. There's so few foods meeting these regulations, and we're all trying to get them," she said. "A lot of these foods weren't available at the beginning of the school year."

"Our vending has plummeted," Hullinger continued, though she added it is too early in the year to have an accurate count on how their sales will compare to last year.

Other school corporations reported similar difficulties in simply finding enough qualified snacks to keep their shelves stocked.

Kokomo School Corp. has lost some of its outside vendors who used to serve food at the high school. So far, Pizza Hut is the only one that has been able to meet the federal nutrition guidelines, and it's been a long process, said food services director Jack Lazar.

"They really worked well with us on more than a year of planning to get an acceptable (product)," Lazar said. "Where the vendors are running into trouble is the sodium or the saturated fat."

Snack items and side dishes sold a la carte must have 230 milligrams of sodium or less, and entrée items sold a la carte are limited to 480 milligrams of sodium per serving. School food cannot have any trans-fat, and saturated fat must count for less than 10 percent of an item's calories.

There are specific times when exemptions from the guidelines are allowed. The Kokomo Area Career Center's culinary arts program runs the Kokomo Confectioners Company, and the treats sold there do not have to comply with the federal regulations because the store operates outside school hours. Similarly, concession stands at athletic events are exempt, and Indiana schools are allowed to have two fundraisers a year that sell food items that don't meet the school food nutrition standards.

Kokomo Schools communications director Dave Barnes said administrators get more questions from parents about the school food now, but they are more accepting when they realize it's a federal mandate.

"We saw this coming and even with the sodium, we've been cutting back every year," Lazar said, adding that Kokomo took out its deep fryers about 10 years ago. "We've really been proactive on this. But product-wise it's difficult for these companies."

Taylor Schools has drastically changed what it serves students this year because of the new smart snack regulations.

"We basically had to revamp the entire snack line because of it," said Taylor food services director Michelle Crone.

At many schools, vending machines that previously carried candy bars, Little Debbie treats and chips now are stocked with granola bars, whole-grain cookies and crackers, fruit snacks, trail mix and baked chips, usually in smaller bags. Pop is no longer sold in the vending machines or lunch lines, and it's been replaced with zero-calorie flavored waters, fruit juice and smaller bottles of Gatorade or Powerade.

Crone agreed with other food service departments that the sodium limit is a hang-up for most snack companies. She also has noticed the snack packages are getting smaller in order to comply with the regulations, but they're sold for the same price as the bigger portions.

Overall, though, the healthier alternatives have been a positive switch for Taylor, Crone said.

"They came up with a whole-wheat cookie that is to die for. Our kids are eating them like crazy," she said. "We're actually doing better than we did last year. You hear some complaints at first, but kids are just so versatile that they find something else they like."

Parents also have had to adjust the snacks they can send to school for their children's birthdays or class parties, as Taylor Elementary School has tried to align with the healthy food regulations. Principal Jeremy Luna said the school is accommodating parents in making the transition.

"It's been a slow transition because we still have some parents trying to bring those things in, but we work with them," Luna said. "If a parent came in with a bunch of cupcakes, I know I'm supposed to say 'no,' but I don't want to crush any kid's birthday dreams. Because it's a relatively new policy, we're willing to work with them."

The new snack regulations have been added to the student handbook, and reminders will be sent out on the school's automated phone calls to parents. Luna said one student's parents sent in cupcakes for the class in the first week of school, but they were willing to provide a healthier snack the next day instead, once they found out about the new rule.

As with any change, it takes time to adjust.

While Bollnow and her friends, Carleigh Feldhouse, Ellie Simms and Mackenzie Fraker, could list plenty of items they miss from their school lunch line - macaroni and cheese, brownies, big pretzels with cheese, waffle fries, Rice Krispy treats and pop - they also were happy to fill up on watermelon and grapes along with the baked chicken tenders served last Thursday.

"I'm kind of used to it. I think it's good they have healthy food because so many kids are overweight," Feldhouse said. "The one thing I don't like is that you can only get a certain number of calories. Some of us have bigger appetites."

Information from: Kokomo Tribune, Kokomo Tribune (http://www.ktonline.com)

This is an AP Member Exchange shared by the Kokomo Tribune.

[Villages PL]

If you have had kids you know you choose your battles. They will marry someone who will pick your nursing home.

Oh, no thanks, I'll pass on the nursing home idea.

[Villages PL]

Why should food be any different? (government mandated) Because a little person's stomach and how much it can hold is a very personal matter. Because what one kid wolfs down like it's the best food on earth is the same thing that will make another kid puke EVERY time.

I remember seeing kids puking at the garbage can where hot lunch trays/dishes were handed in, because they were forced to eat everything on the plate and "not WASTE it by throwing it away, uneaten". Well it sure as heck came out as WASTE when they puked it up!! AND they never forgot being humiliated in front of everyone for wretching over a trash can or blurting it onto the tray still on the table.

A stomach is not other people's business.

If you have a fussy or health-compromised kid, pack a lunch.

[Villages PL]

Its one thing to ensure that children are not being deprived of nourishing food, its quite another to dictate what they will eat.

People in this country do not have a clue on how easily this government can move from a democracy to a central planner.

A prime example of how easy it is , is to look at the FED. Their role was to watch monetary policy and employment. They have moved quickly to the economy's central planner and many economists worry tha the FED is creating another bubble

People look at as the government is helping them

the government looks at it as people cannot choose wisely so we have to choose for them because they will always choose wrong

Glenn Beck once said something to the effect that the government will eventually do whatever the people can't do for themselves.

rubicon, we want smart people who can make wise decisions or at least not make poor decisions, but instead we have a population that is two thirds overweight and obese. So they are either ignorant and/ or undisciplined and therefore incapable of teaching their kids. So what Glen Beck said is coming true.

Kids need a good example to be set at school so they will learn the difference between good and bad.

Are you helping when you say that no one knows what's good or bad because "experts" always disagree? Do you seriously see that as being helpful? No wonder people are lost when it comes to making proper food choices. We live in a society where people are encouraged to just eat what they like.