Posts Categorized: School Lunches

A Revolution for Nutrition

by in School Lunches

Erin Dow

America is fat and getting fatter. Twenty years ago, no state in the country had an obesity rate above 15%. Currently, according to a recent study released by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 38 states have obesity rates over 25%, and if you lump overweight people into the same group, the number jumps to 60%. These figures include kids, the future of our nation and two key parts of the problem are the persistent presence of junk food and a lack of access to scratch-cooked nutritious food. One of the key offenders making this problem worse day-by-day is…can you guess what I’m going to say? School lunches.

A Revolution for Nutrition

Money Doesn’t Grow On Trees? Neither Does Pizza, Congress.

by in School Lunches

Erin Dow

Almost thirty years ago, after some Americans suggested ketchup was a vegetable, here we go again. This week, Congress released the final draft of an appropriations bill that threatens the USDA’s proposed improvements to school lunches. Among other things, the bill lumps tomato paste into the vegetable category, thereby making spinach and a slice of school lunch pizza analogous. Why? If we don’t allow it, schools will have to serve other (read: actual) vegetables, and that would be expensive, logistically challenging for schools and kids would be bummed. Yup. Bummed.

Money Doesn’t Grow On Trees? Neither Does Pizza, Congress.

New Food in School?

by in School Lunches

Lori Kaley

Have you been wondering how, for as long as you can remember, pepperoni pizza and French fries fit into the meal pattern for lunch at school? How is it possible that foods high in fat, sodium and calories are able to make the grade as nutritious lunch choices for students? All that is about to change. As part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has proposed new nutrition standards for school meal programs. Many of us in the nutrition community are very excited about the new set of standards since they propose to add more fruits, vegetables, whole grains and fat-free and low-fat milk to school meals while reducing the levels of sodium and saturated fat in those meals. These same nutrients are found in the Guiding Stars system used to rate the nutritional value of foods.

New Food in School?

School Year Resolutions

by in Eating Well, Family, School Lunches

Allison Stowell

What New (School) Year resolutions are you making this year? I know that you have them…we all do. September means crisp new notebooks, pencils with perfect points and all the promise of a school year that is organized, productive and dare I say…healthy?

School Year Resolutions

School Lunch 2.0

by in Expert Chef, School Lunches

Erin Dow

A couple of weeks ago I got to be a lunch lady, which was something I never imagined would happen but always secretly hoped would. I got to do it for a day, but real lunch ladies and gentlemen do it day in and day out. Honestly, I canʼt imagine how thankless that job is, especially in a high school where the majority of their customers are angst-ridden teenagers. Teenagers stuck within the four walls of high school. On a sunny day in June weʼre serving hungry, stuck, angst-ridden teenagers.

School Lunch 2.0