What Do You Think About School Cafeteria Lunches

Chicago schools have banned students from bringing in their own lunches citing that a lunch from the school cafeteria is more nutritious than what most students would bring from home. Of course, this issue has become a big controversy, but also brings up some questions about our own school cafeteria lunch menus. Are the menus as healthy as they should be or could be for our kids?

Terri Locke, cafeteria director for Northborough and Southborough public schools, said that a traditional based menu is used, which follows the USDA guidelines.

Locke cited that “the difficulty is in giving students a meal that is good for them that they will buy and then eat. Not an easy task.”

She commented that “chicken nuggets are very popular even with the students at the high school.” 

In January, the USDA announced changes to its guidelines for school lunches, the first time in fifteen years that changes have been made in an effort to address the increased obesity rates in children.  The new guidelines should be instituted by 2012 and menus should have choices that reduce saturated fat, sugar and sodium; increase whole grains; offer fruits and vegetables daily; and for the first time set a maximum calorie count in addition to minimum counts.

These changes would include, for example, oven baked fish nuggets instead of breaded beef patty or cheese pizza using whole wheat crust.

In Northborough, all rolls and pizza crusts are already made using half bread flour and half whole wheat flour stated Locke.

Dee Merritt, Certified Nutrition and Wellness Consultant  and owner of Nutritional Merritt,   thinks “that more attention needs to be focused on the amount of sugar in food.  It’s excess sugar that is contributing to diabetes, obesity and a myriad of other health issues.  More attention needs to be put on the quality of foods we are feeding our kids as well as ourselves.  Less bad fats, lower sodium and watching that you don’t go too crazy with calories are all good factors to consider when choosing foods but I think that the focus should be a little more centered on trying to obtain a better balance of protein, fat and carbohydrates so that blood sugar levels are kept at an even keel because that is really the key - whether you are interested in managing your weight or helping with focus, behavior and energy.”

Mike Miller, a wellness teacher in a district outside of Northborough, shared his insights. “Having worked through food choice changes at a school one thing is clear; when students are only provided a healthy lunch, they will choose it, and choose it often.”

“In a time where childhood obesity has reached exponential proportions, and type 2 diabetes has been on a rapid increase in children, it becomes clear that we as parents must push for healthy opportunities for our children. This starts within the home, and should extend to the schools as we seek to provide a partnership in providing a healthy atmosphere to properly develop our kids,” said Miller.  “Proper nutrition, coupled with adequate exercise benefits the school as a whole. Students learn better as they are less fatigued and can concentrate and focus better in the classroom when these two needs are met. It should be our objective to educate the ‘whole’ student which should include proper nutrition. Considering students are learning about proper nutrition in classes, we should be the model for them to follow.”

Patch reader Colleen Ahlquist recently commented on the site’s Q&A link and feels that the elementary and middle school lunches have room for improvement.  She suggested that “improvements could be made by buying fresh food from local growers, including whole grain breads, and offering freshly made entrees with lower salt content.” 

With kids in the school system for the past eight years, Ahlquist stated that “there has been no changes in the menus all those years except for one week this past fall. An attempt was made one week to offer healthy choices. They offered fresh fruits and veggies from locals such as Davidian Bros. Farms and Berberian Farms.  I emailed the school department to praise them for this and offered my help to continue in the effort.”   There was no follow up to her offer.

Merritt agrees that “the school lunches are quite unbalanced in relation to protein, healthy fats, and quality carbohydrates.  They are very heavy on the high glycemic type of carbohydrates – rice, bread, desserts and almost every meal is something on a bun.”

Merritt explains that “if there are too many carbs in one’s diet and they are not utilized by the body for energy, they quickly turn into sugar, which is stored as fat.  Also, a diet too heavy in carbohydrates can affect mood, behavior and energy levels.  Excess carbs can cause cravings for more carbs, may contribute to fatigue, and may possibly affect attention, which is critical for students trying to grasp concepts and learn new material.”

School budgets are, of course, often the stumbling block to making changes in the menu. 

“I think that some minor changes can be made to help boost the nutritional content of the meal  and still make it tasty without breaking the bank,” commented Merritt.  She suggests, as an example, swapping brown rice for the white rice and adding black beans to the taco lunch or adding healthy fat and fiber  by  adding avocado to the taco. “These simple changes can make a big difference and still keep kids satisfied.”

We aren’t Chicago and we do have another option instead of our kids buying school lunches as cited by another Patch reader,  Diane Gaudette , who also commented on the Q&A link.  “If we don't like the options, we can always pack the kids a lunch from home.”

Another reality is that parent eating habits affect their children’s eating habits. 

“Kids are constantly mimicking the way we talk, act, what we eat and whether we are active,” stated Merritt.  “We are role models and need to set good examples, teach our children and give them the tools to make the best decisions possible.  Involve kids in meal planning and preparation so that they feel like they are making some decisions and taking ownership.  Also, coming together as a family for dinner is a great way to teach your kids about good nutrition and help create healthy habits that will carry them throughout their lives.”