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School lunches: recipe for obesity
Associated Press
FILE PHOTO
Health groups are asking lawmakers to establish healthier nutrition standards in Michigan schools.
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As child obesity rates increase in Michigan and across the country, some nutritionists say fatty school lunches may be to blame.
“Right now, a typical school lunch looks like fast food: chicken nuggets, pepperoni pizza, cheeseburgers,” said Jennifer Keller, a staff dietitian with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.
“Schools aren’t letting kids realize what healthy food is.” About 15 percent of American children are overweight, said Charles Kuntzleman, a University of Michigan kinesiology professor and chair of the Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness.
Another 25 percent of children are at risk of being overweight, he said.
The National School Lunch Program, which provide funds for reduced price and free meals to needy children, is up for reauthorization this year.
Nutrition-minded groups are asking lawmakers to establish healthier dietary standards for the program during the reauthorization process.
Most school districts use those guidelines when developing their menus. But food service directors in Michigan schools say they already are trying to make menus more nutritious.
Dearborn schools bake their french fries instead of frying them. And nothing is fried at the elementary level in the Plymouth-Canton Community Schools.
Four salads are offered daily to older students and food service officials meet with parents every other month to create healthier menus.
Teresa Arnold, food services director at Plymouth-Canton Community Schools, said the fare her cafeterias offer is healthier than the menu may suggest.
“When the menu goes out, it just says pizza or chicken nuggets.
It doesn’t explain that items are baked and not fried and that it’s an all-white meat chicken nugget,” said Arnold. “So it’s automatically just thought of as a high-fat item.”
Some people also are criticizing the presence of vending machines on school grounds, many of which sell soda and sugary snacks.
State Sen. Virg Bernero has introduced two bills in the past two years to ban soda vending machines or replace them with ones than sell milk. Neither has passed.
Now the Democrat from Lansing plans to work with a state nutrition committee to develop guidelines for school lunch programs.
“We have an opportunity in our schools to help our children to form some healthy habits,” he said.
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