Lunches from home banned in public school

by Aimee Keenan-Greene

The nutrition decision has been made for you, leave the lunch box at home.

That's what parents at one public school in Chicago, the Little Village Academy on Chicago's West Side, have heard.

Students are not allowed to 'brown-bag-it' unless they have a medical allergy issue.

All kids must buy the same hot lunch prepared by the school.

Principal Elsa Carmona said her intention is to protect students from their own unhealthful food choices, according to the Chicago Tribune.

The policy is raising many eyebrows, and issues, including parental control, cost, school revenue, and whether or not kids are actually benefiting if they don't like/eat what served.

Is this 'force-feeding' the best way to teach children healthy habits?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says childhood obesity affects approximately 12.5 million children and teens, 17 percent of that population. Changes in obesity prevalence from the 1960s show a rapid increase in the 1980s and 1990s, when obesity prevalence among children and teens tripled, from nearly 5 percent to approximately 15 percent.

Doctors say obese youth are more likely to have risk factors for cardiovascular disease, such as high cholesterol or high blood pressure, bone and joint problems, sleep apnea, and social and psychological problems such as stigmatization and poor self-esteem.  They are more likely than youth of normal weight to become overweight or obese adults, and more at risk for associated adult health problems, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, several types of cancer, and osteoarthritis.

 

Recently the U.S. Department of Agriculture  announced they are raising the nutrition standards for National School Lunch and School Breakfast meal programs for the first time in fifteen years.

 

Nearly 32 million kids participate in school meal programs everyday.

       

"The new nutrition standards for school meals represent an enormous improvement over the status quo. Capping calories, limiting French fries, and reducing the salt will all help America's school children avoid unnecessary weight gain and diet-related diseases. And requiring school lunches to contain more whole grains, fruits, and vegetables will teach kids healthy eating habits that they can carry with them for the rest of their lives. The recently passed child nutrition reauthorization law will provide schools with more model menus and recipes, advice, and funding to implement these rules once they're finalized and adopted.", said Margo G. Wootan, Nutrition Policy Director, Center for Science in the Public Interest.

The changes to school meal standards adds more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fat-free and low-fat milk to school meals.  The recommendations are based on the October 2009 report by the National Academies' Institute of Medicine (IOM),  School Meals: Building Blocks for Healthy Children. Schools would also be required to limit the levels of saturated fat, sodium, calories, and trans fats in meals.

The school menu improvements come as part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, signed into law by President Barack Obama last December. It is one component of First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! initiative to solve the challenge of childhood obesity within a generation.