School Lunches

I’ve found a few interesting articles on school lunches within the last day. The first is an article in the Chicago Tribune. It’s about how some people are trying to improve school lunch get rid of their districts’ “Brunch for Lunch” since it is all carbohydrates, sugar, and fat. The part of the article that was most eye opening to me was that statistic that this district can only spend about $1 per school lunch! ONE DOLLAR!!! That’s less than a McDonalds’ or Taco Bell meal – and we all know how fatty those places are. It’s crazy.
I knew that Obama was into improving schools, and the article provided a little more information for me. “As Congress prepares to discuss the Child Nutrition Act, President Barack Obama has asked for an additional $1 billion in funding for school lunches, which would mean about 30 cents more per lunch.” (Chicago Tribune) One dollar and 30 cents per lunch doesn’t sound like much, but I guess it is an improvement.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/chi-suburban-school-lunches-jan05,0,6750587.story?page=1

Which is why two women in California (I think?) have decided to open Revolution Foods. Revolution Foods provides lunches to school. These are not normal lunches, they are “meals [are] prepared fresh daily and feature foods free of artificial preservatives, colors, flavors and sweeteners. Every lunch includes fresh fruit and vegetables.” (NY Times) I think this is great. Maybe a little over the top with the no artificial flavors or hormones, but way healthier for everyone. According to the NY Times, Revolution Foods makes about “30,000 lunches a day, in mostly low -income communities.” Fantastic since those kids tend to be heavier due to their parent’s inability to purchase expensive and healthy foods.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/us/24sfpolitics.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

The last article that I read was about Canada having something called The Healthy Food for Schools Act. This Act banns junk food, pop, and candy from school and mandates that kids have at least 20 min of recess!!!! Way to go Canadians!!! I hope Michigan/Granholm take a cue from our neighbors to the North and implement something similar. With the obesity rates being at a record high we need to do something. (And if my memory serves me correctly isn’t Detroit one of the fattest cities in the US? I’m pretty sure I read that somewhere at some point…)
http://education.change.org/blog/view/junk_food_unwelcome_in_canadian_schools_eh