School Lunches

Do you get this image in your mind?

Are school lunches meeting the nutrition standards that parents would like?

Based on studies done by multiple sources, school lunches today have improved in both taste and nutrition. However, even though the lunches meet the standards in protein, vitamins, calcium, and iron, they still exceed recommendations for fat.

Some schools have tried to make changes to their menu to accommodate these statistics, but still many fall short.

Still, other studies have contributed to even more startling statistics. Lunches provided from home generally are even less healthy than those purchased through schools!

I thought about it, and things started to make sense. First, how many lunches from home that students bring include milk? According to studies, 87 percent of school lunches include milk, while only 7 percent of lunches from home do. Also, lunches from home include many more snacks than school lunches do. Chips, fruit-rollups, pudding, and candy bars may all include some vitamins and minerals, but they also contain a lot more fat than recommended.

Another issue that is often brought up is that "School lunches are gross. There's nothing good to eat. They're not appealing." To combat this complaint, many schools have used student surveys and other student input, as well as parental input to modify the lunch menus. This has improved the opinion of many students.

There are good arguments from both sides of the issue. And of course things vary from region to region, even school to school. My school in particular has had student input for the lunches. I eat school lunch about once every two weeks. I usually always purchase a milk from school to go along with a lunch I take from home.

Some interesting things to think about anyway.

Here are two links that discuss the school lunch issue. These take a more confrontational approach toward school lunches.

Consumer Reports for kids

Kids health for Parents

"You are what you eat, from your head down to your feet."