Health and Nutrition at School

While most parents are worried about what gets into kids' heads during a typical school day, some are also becoming increasingly concerned about what goes into their stomachs during lunch breaks as well.

Fortunately, national organizations like the School Nutrition Association are researching and providing information on school lunch programs across the country. Each year, the School Nutrition Association chooses one school district as the example for other school lunch programs, both in terms of nutrition and taste. This year, the honor goes to Fairfax County in Virginia, according to a recent report in the Washington Post.

What Does a Healthy School Lunch Look Like?

There are many factors that go into assessing what a healthy school lunch looks like, according to HealthSchoolLunches.org. This organization, founded by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, has issued a number of recommended changes that they would like to see in school lunch programs, including:

• Offer vegan or vegetarian dishes daily as an option to other school lunch fare.
• Meet the nutritional needs of all children, including those that are lactose-intolerant, by offering calcium-rich, nondairy beverages at all meals.
• Include a variety of vegetable dishes, as well as fresh and dried fruits.
• Provide programs to teach healthy eating principles to food service staff, parents and students.

In addition to these criteria, the School Nutrition Association also looks at the financial and program management of a school district when determining the award recipients for the year.

Fairfax

A vegetarian diet isn't one embraced by the majority of Americans today. In fact, according to the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, most Americans exceed the daily amount of recommended protein by a significant amount, with much of it coming from meat and animal products every day. However, many public schools are hoping to change that trend by introducing "Meatless Mondays" to their students and faculty.

According to an article last year by U.S. News and World Report, numerous schools across the country have begun offering vegetarian selections to students on a daily basis. These choices were provided in addition to meat entrees, giving students both diet options. However, Meatless Mondays are a new concept that was recently introduced by Baltimore City Public Schools and is quickly spreading across the nation as other school districts are hopping onboard the vegetarian bandwagon.

This TEDTalk discusses the concept of Meatless Mondays.

Going Meatless in Baltimore

A report in the Washington Post stated the Baltimore City Public Schools launched their Meatless Mondays campaign in October of last year. Instead of the usual fare of hamburgers, pizza and "pigs-in-a-blanket," the schools are providing students with healthy, meatless options like cheese sandwiches, cheese lasagna, and mixed vegetable bowls.

Melissa Mahoney, a chef and dietician with the Baltimore school district, said the idea started as an element of a themed-approach to

Chicken nuggets, pizza, hamburgers, and iceberg lettuce salads: these nutritionally-questionable food choices are common fare on public school lunch menus. However, beyond the question of healthy food options is a much scarier prospect: are school lunches even safe for our children to consume?

The potential prevalence of E. Coli in school lunches has already been scrutinized, but there are more nasty shocks in store for parents and public school students. In fact, the standards governing the preparation and food content of school lunches fall short of minimums imposed upon even fast-food restaurants, such as KFC and McDonalds!

Meaty Treats: The USDA’s Low-Quality Provisions

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) oversees the school lunch program countrywide. Although there are strict guidelines in place, a significant percentage of the millions of pounds of meat consumed by children in the school cafeteria continually fail to meet quality standards imposed by fast-food outlets.

No parent would feed their child meat only fit for pet food or compost, yet meat from “old birds” is exactly what children are being served at school, as found by USA Today’s investigation. Even KFC and the Campbell Soup Company refuse to buy such meat because of quality considerations, and these corporations stopped doing so more than a decade ago – yet our children are eating this very type of questionable quality meat.

This video from The Rubin Report discusses the low quality of many public school lunches.

As we enter into the height of the flu season, the spread of the H1N1 virus has already closed down many public schools across the country. Although schools are preparing against campus outbreaks, will your child’s school take the necessary precautions to shut down the campus?

According to MSNBC, the Brookings Center on Social and Economic Dynamics estimates that closing down schools and daycares for an average of four weeks could ultimately cost between $10 billion and $47 billion. Shutting down campuses results in a loss of productivity and financial resources, while the schools simultaneously incur cleaning and reopening costs. Because closings can result in such severe costs, “The government is urging schools to close only as a last resort, such as when large numbers of kids or staffers come down with swine flu.”

While officials are hoping that schools can avoid the costly and dreaded inconveniences of school-wide closings, reality may not align with their ideals. According to reports, approximately 200 schools closed before early October 2009, which affected an estimated 80,000 students.

This video offers professional insight into the H1N1 influenza outbreak.

When a School Decides to Shut its Doors

What level of an outbreak will prompt a public school to shut its doors? While each school’s leaders may utilize a different set of criteria, it appears that most public schools will close the campus once 30% of their students have influenza

While Americans are generally aware that a diet high in sugar can lead to diabetes and obesity, did you know that it can also negatively impact your child’s development? Some studies have found that children with high-sugar diets are more likely to engage in conflicts, have behavioral issues at school, and perform relatively poorly on standardized tests.

If these theories are true, then a diet free of sugar may be ideal for children, especially as students move through their formative years in public schools. Subsequently, some public school leaders have banned overly-sweetened foods for their students on campus. Remarkably, many of these “sugar-free” schools have reported significant changes and positive benefits!

In this video, Sarah Krieger reviews easy healthy school lunch ideas to include snack ideas for schools that have Nut and Sugar restrictions in place.

The Trend of Sugar-Free Schools

While many public schools have recently begun experimenting with sugar-free campuses, one particular elementary school in Georgia has enforced a no-sugar policy for nearly a decade. As CNN reports, Browns Mill Elementary School in Lithonia implemented a no-sugar policy for its K-5 students in the late 1990s. The elementary school prohibits bake sales, sodas, sweet snacks, and other unhealthy sugar-filled treats on campus.

In place of these options, students attending Browns Mill Elementary opt for healthier foods and beverages, such as low-fat milk, vegetables, and sandwiches served on