or PE. We've got plenty of sargeants coming home. They made great coaches when I was a kid.

Just last week, my grandboy, (kindergarten, age5,) chose cauliflower with cheese! On his writing paper yesterday, he wrote, "my favorite food is fish!" Yes, if you offer it, they will eat it. Thank you, Mrs. Obama for showing our children that eating healthy is way cool!

Regulating their food is a good idea but kids burn calories like crazy when they are active. When I was a kid, my parents would always say, "Go outside a play." Ride bikes, rollerblade, skateboard, sports, make ramps, explore a pond, go fishing, ect....

My point is this: Parents take freaking control of your child, take the remote out of their hand, and shove their little butts outside! I don't blame the school food, I blame the lack of direction and activities for these kids.

About time. Seriously.

Train up a child in the way he should go.... good call, fed.

Blake...when I was a kid, my parents did not want me to go outside. They were terrified that I would get lost, or go out in the brush and get bit by a snake or carried off by a cougar. And we lived in a suburb. As a result, my desire to be outside and with the other neighborhood kids died a quick death.

My parents had control of me. They were also a little paranoid about what I might do when I was out from under their helecoptering. There's a happy medium; total control isn't the answer.

peanut, it's Sergeants, not Sargeants. Sorry, just a pet peeve of a retired NCO.

Overall I agree with what they are trying to do. The one item in this article I disagree with is the mandate to only offer fat free or low fat milk. There have been studies done that show that kids should drink whole milk, not low fat or fat free. Apparently fats and in particular milk fat is necessary for neurological development. I have seen recommendations to give kids whole milk at least until they are 5 and I have not read of any problems with them continuing to drink whole milk so long as they stay within the proper body weight range for their age and height. Also, low fat and fat free milk does not taste very good and leaving kids with only the options of low fat or fat free milk may result in them switching to something else to drink that is far worse for them than whole milk.

If you want to make your kids fat, do it on your own dime, not the public schools. Personally I'm happy they're finally offering healthier food, when I was a kid it was all pizza and cheese burgers and fries every day at my school. If I hadn't been in sports I probably would have ended up obese. I want my kids developing better habits than that. Letting your kids eat anything they want might make them happy in the short term, but next time they're stuffing their face with mcdonalds think of how it will effect the rest of their life when they're unhealthy and obese. Diabetes and heart disease from being overweight are the fastest growing diseases in the country. If you want your kids to have health problems later in life, you can pack them a lunch with that garbage yourself.

JS in SD - I drink lowfat (1% or 2% milk) and frankly it tastes good. But, I see your point. I think if they put physical education back in schools I would be more in favor of whole milk.

Kids need the physical activities they get with recess and PE. All the healthy food in the world isnt going to do anything but make them fat if they don't burn the calories they get from the food.

Whole milk until age 12 was the old requirement, I believe by USDA or ay least WA for Foster children.

JS the recommendation is for children to drink whole milk until the age of 5 and then switch to low fat or fat free milk, and it tastes no different than whole milk.

The problem is making it taste good....I just graduated a little over a year ago and I can tell you I've known kids who have completely skipped lunch just because it wasn't "what they wanted, or it didn't look very appealing. Remember, you're feeding pretty picky eaters here.

This is, however, a good step considering how many children must have a free lunch because of low parent income. If it's going to be their only real meal for that day, it should at least be healthy.

I know kids need to eat healthier.. I understand why the Gov't does it.. I just wish the Gov't would keep out of the schools.. I know they will somehow screw it up. Think no child left behind and standardize testing

Judy, there is nothing healthy about cauliflower with cheese on it. Additionally, your grandson probably means the breaded, fried fish, again, not healthy. I doubt very much he means baked fish with lemon on it. Epic fail on both counts. A for effort.

CJ, I'm not talking about controlling their every decision in life down to what they have to go to college for. I'm saying, when your kid is becoming chubby, lazy, and addictied to the computer and tv, is when direction needs to be enforced to your kid.

@ prohibition doesnt work - you have no idea how metabolism works do you. If you eat the right foods you burn of as much as 30% of the calories just by digesting them, if you eat over-processed garbage you only burn about 5% during digestion. Not only that but healthier foods like whole grains and lean protein make you feel just as full but with less food, so you end up saving calories that way too. Physical activity is great and should be included, but eating healthier can make a massive difference even without exercise.

@lyndanne - if your kids go to public school its exactly that, PUBLIC. If you don't like it you can pack them a lunch or send them to a private school.

Reader, there is always something healthy about cauliflower, even with some cheese on it. My 3 year old daughter loves cauliflower and broccoli plain, and has never eaten breaded, fried fish, and she loves fish baked with lemon on it.

This is not Healthy. Increasing Grains and decreasing natural fats is a horrible idea. Wheat Bread has a higher glycemic index then processed sugar. Intake fat you burn it, intake Carbs you store it..

" A primary focus of my cardiology practice is to understand exactly why an individual develops coronary disease and risk for heart attack. While I was originally trained to do heart procedures like stents and angioplasty, I was deeply bothered by the fact that, in everyday practice, the cause of the disease was rarely uncovered. And I was skeptical that the crude concepts coming from cholesterol testing were sufficient.

Part of the effort I employ to uncover all the causes of coronary disease is something called lipoprotein testing. This identifies causes of coronary disease that are not reflected in standard cholesterol testing. Anyone who witnesses the deeper insights provided by lipoprotein testing will tell you that the most common abnormality—by a long stretch–that leads to heart disease is small LDL particles.

I was also bothered by the number of people with heart disease or risk for heart disease who were diabetic or pre-diabetic when I met them. 80% of the people I meet for the first time have one of these conditions.

In an effort to help my patients reverse diabetes and pre-diabetes and to reduce small LDL particles, I asked them to remove wheat. I did this because wheat has a high glycemic index: Two slices of whole wheat bread, for instance, raise blood sugar higher than six teaspoons of table sugar or a Snickers Bar. Foods that increase blood sugar also trigger formation of small LDL particles. And you know what? After removing all wheat, many diabetics became non-diabetic, pre-diabetics became non-pre-diabetic, and small LDL particles dropped to the floor. In other words, several of the most common conditions that lead to heart disease and heart attack improved dramatically or reversed completely—no drugs in sight.

But it got even better than that. People who removed wheat from their diet also reported substantial weight loss without restricting calories or portions. They reported improvement or complete relief from an astounding list of common health conditions, such as acid reflux, irritable bowel syndrome symptoms, skin rashes like eczema and psoriasis, mood swings, depression, arthritis, leg edema, palpitations, migraine headaches and many others. It became clear that, not only was wheat—“healthy whole grains”—the culprit behind much of the epidemic of obesity, it was also showing itself as many of the most common conditions treated with medication, even medical procedures. All just due to one food."

Dr. William Davis

@ kevinoffsite - Low carb diets are a fad, only work for stagnant people and are horribly unhealthy. Without complex carbohydrates your body goes into Keytosis, which is horribly damaging on your kidneys and liver. If you want to be healthy you need a good balance of protien, carbs and fats.

Tim - That is not true, you need simple carbohydrates, you do not need complex.

kevinoffsite - simple carbohydrates is just a fancy name for SUGAR, according to your doctor there a snickers bar is healthier than whole grain pasta... he should lose his license for that statement. Complex Carbohydrates take longer to break down so they release into your bloodstream slowly, which keeps your blood sugar even, eating Simple Carbohydrates (sugar) causes it to spike and then drop quickly, which is why you get the "sugar high" and the crash afterwards. If you don't believe me, feed some pasta to a kid, he'll be able to stay alert for hours. Feed that same kid a candy bar and he'll run around for about 20 minutes and then pass out.

Judy, there is nothing healthy about cauliflower with cheese on it. Additionally, your grandson probably means the breaded, fried fish, again, not healthy. I doubt very much he means baked fish with lemon on it. Epic fail on both counts. A for effort.

Wow Reader1950, that was kind of a jerkface statement. The cauliflower with cheese provides both veggies and dairy and probably got the kid to eat the cauliflower in the first place. He may not have tried it at all sans cheese. Mayhap one day he will even learn to eat cauliflower plain because he had it with cheese when he was little. Further, if they are being required to serve baked sweet potato fries, I would not be surprise if the fish were still breaded but it was baked, which definitely does help. You know nothing about the portion size the kid had. If his portion was reasonable then he got all the essential vitamins and nutrients he needed from the meal AND it tasted good, which gets him to eat it in the first place.

What? Did you assume the cheese was an entire cup of cheese wiz? You don't know. The kid likes cauliflower and fish. If/when I have kids, I hope they will not completely reject carrots and celery, and to get them to eat it (WITHOUT having a battle royale everytime) I will gladly supply Ranch dressing for dipping (in a reasonable amount) to snack on instead of Oreos. Im not going to shun the whole dang veggie snack because I need to give them some Ranch dressing to persuade them to eat it.

Ok so everyone saying this is a good idea... Do you know how big of an Epix fail this will become?

Do some google searches on the California school district that did this. Removed ALL the vending machines, took out the " good " foods kids like. Pizza, Hamburgers ect.. and replaced them with healthy food.

The School district was throwing all the food away. Kids refused to eat it. Hell an underground market sprung up from kids bringing chips, sodas, and other goodies to school to sell it to the other students..

all of this has been tried before and the kids gave the new lunch menu a big middle finger.

Thank you Dr. Davis!

When I gave up bread I also gave up acid reflux. That wasn't my aim but it certainly worked.

I am constantly amazed that so many of the pre-made "diet" foods include pasta.

Tim - Lose his license? When his study yielded positive results? My family doesn't eat bread or at least very little. We eat meats, green veggies and low glycemic fruits. We don't get sick, we are all slim (I lost 37 pounds) and it pretty much turned my son from severe ADHD to normal. Wheat is not required in your diet, period. You can live much healthier by cutting out bread alone. FACT

@Tim - But kids ARE stagnant people these days. They need to get off facebook and video and ride a bike.

Diet is no more of a problem than lifestyle. I don't even think high schoolers take 4 years of PE these days.

kevinoffsite - processed bread from the grocery store isn't complex carbohydrates. They process that stuff to within an inch of its life, it might as well be sugar. Get your bread from a bakery or the freshly made bakery section in your grocery store. There is a massive difference between that and the stuff they pass of as "bread" from wonderbread or other manufacturers. Anything that comes frozen shouldn't even be considered, like many "diet foods"

They should have never allowed them to be unhealthy ......

Don't forget pizza is a vegetable!

@Judy

Thank you Mrs Obama? For the way you grandchild eats? OMG woman, get a grip! You and your son/daughter should be the primary influences in his life. This certainly is NOT an area to be dependent on what the government says....that includes their wives. From what I've seen Mrs. Obama eat, she certainly isn't a role model.

My school district has already implemented a lot of these new healthy standards. My son started Kindergarten last year and I was completely shocked when I saw the lunch menu. It was full of whole wheat pastas, low-fat mozzerella's, whole grain pancakes and waffles, turkey pepperoni, brown rices and all kinds of beans and salads. Even an oriental mandarin salad. I thought for sure I would have to pack lunches for the next 12 years. A year and a half later, I barely pack lunches, he likes the school's choices. Just yesterday he got the yogurt lunch with a whole wheat bagel and apple butter. Our school district made the commitment for our kids to eat healthy and be active. They have a half hour outdoor recess everyday and gym class 3-4 times per week. I have found that I am cooking and eating healthier at home. I have always had fresh fruit and veggies, but now it's a lot easier getting my kids to eat them since it's the only choices they have at any point in their day, at school or at home. You have to start sometime with the kids, I'm glad my school district had this going before he even started school. I think it's fantastic.

@kevinoffsite As much as people want to disregard your post, I think you are on the right track to some extent. People eat entirely too many carbs. Particularly breads, pastas, chips etc. All of which raise blood sugar and overwork the pancreas. Does that mean someone should not eat carbs? No. But it should be done in moderation.

Take for example a lunch that consists of a subway sandwich and a bag of baked potato chips. You might think you're doing ok right? Not so fast. A 6" Turkey Breast Sandwich has at least 46 carbs. The baked lays has 23g of carb. That is at least 69g of carbs for your lunch. Say you ate one serving of grape nuts for breakfast (1/2 cup) that is 48g of carbs without sugar and without milk. 1/2 cup of skim milk is 12.3. Then say you ate 1 cup whole wheat spaghetti (37.1) with plain marinera sauce (10g) and a small side salad.

Total carbs for all three meals 176.4 and these are pretty small meals and I didn't include bread with the dinner (which most people would eat with spaghetti) and most people would not stop at 1 cup of spaghetti and definitely not 1/2 cup cereal. Not to mention a lot of people would have sprinkled sugar in their cereal. And I'm not even going to mention people that drink regular pop or sweet tea!

Most people are probably regularly consuming way more carbs than this each day!

Now tell me, does that sound like a healthy way to eat? Moderation should apply to everything. Also, it has been shown in some studies that carbohydrates increase tryglicerides as well. (google carbohydrates and tryglicerides and check out the gov and medical website docs)

Too many foods are overly processed now adays and chock full of carbs. One should be eating a LOT more veggies and definitely curb the carbs. Don't go crazy, just cut back some! Just like you don't need to eat a hunk of lard, you also don't need most of your food to be carbs!

This site has on several occasions posted pics of the food being offered. Awful. I also have read that some schools have tried offering the "better" food with zero luck and finally gave it up.

Typical of government they always go too far. Taking out all the vending machines, or only serving 1 percent milk is going to the extreme. I am 60 years old and still drink whole milk every single day and have my entire life. I cook and bake with heavy cream, real butter, cheese, eggs, etc. I also eat lots of veggies that I grow in my own garden and I love deserts. I just tried on a bathing suit today I found in some boxes in my basement while doing some winter cleaning and I tried it on for size. Fits great. I wore this bathing suit when I was in my 30s which seems like yesterday. LOL. I am probably about 10 lbs heavier but in very good shape because I work on our farm every day.

Folks, it is all about exercise and moderation. Most kids will never eat salad until they get much older. Kids like soup,(that is where you slip in the veggies) simple sandwiches, and a cookie or two with a banana or apple, pear. They are making this school lunch program much harder than it needs to be.

One thing. My family owns a restaurant. I can guarantee you that the quality of food the school is able to afford is low quality food. So mayo comes in about 3 price ranges and quality for restaurants. Peanut butter also comes in about 3 price ranges and quality. Jelly too. So often people don't think something taste good because the quality is lacking. So my frozen corn from my garden is a quality much higher than you can buy. The corn is sweet, kernels still pop with moisture instead of a big wad of starch that takes like mush. That is why kids usually hate veggies. The quality if lacking.

Tim doesn't want to give up his bread so he will argue it to death. If he would just do it, he'd realize that kevinoffsite is actually right. That's ok Tim. You keep telling yourself that. Just don't spread the misinformation around, there are enough people that do that.

Introducing healthier food options in schools is a Nice idea--yet when they and the teaching are not reinforced within the home---then the well intended message and foods are semi wasted.

LA schools found that the majority of children did not the healthier offerings, while many children in Tenn. tossed out healthier offerings.

But there are ways and foods that kids like and will eat and are not expensive--yogurt is one of them. And one or 2 flavors is fine, and it should be option with granola as not everyone likes yogurt with granola-----so it gets thrown away. Applesauce is another. Lettuce, tomato and cucumbers as well as celery and carrots are favorites. CousCous I'd say is pushing the agenda as well as previous frozen baked fish.

Additionally you get rid of the vending machines, they are culprits to over snacking.

All I will say is this: watch Fat Head. It's very informative.

To support the changes, schools will receive another 6 cents per meal in federal funding

So the govt. is mandating lunches that will be much more expensive then the food served now and are offering 6 cents a meal in off set? What a joke! Let alone there is much more to this story than what's in the article. You should investigate all the rules that have been implemented that restricts schools from making food from scratch. They literally push schools to buy frozen pre-packaged food, which is not good for anyone, let alone has far less natural ingredients than if made from scratch.

MMMM, more Tomato Paste as Veggies. How is that exactly healthy eating?

Trust Tomato Paste and Tomato Sauce are 2 separate ingredients----yet BOTH come from TOMATOES----which actually is NOT a vegetable but a FRUIT!

Sorry but you cannot have tomato sauce with tomatoes and you cannot have tomato paste without tomatoes--hence pizza offers a serving of veggies.fruits.

Sauce is a reference for a liquid substance. I do not know where you went to school, but my school pizza did NOT have anything remotely liquid about it, paste YES, tomatoes, maybe? :X

I am not a nutritionist but what I do know. Our body burns fat for energy, so fat intake with a balance of protein and minimal carbs makes a perfect meal. Our body does NOT TURN FAT INTO FAT, think about it. our body transforms carbs into fat most of which it stores IE love handles, low gut fat. Fat has been vilified and wrongfully so, fat and protein are vitally important to our bodies, we evolved primarily subsisting on them, not grains.

Our bodies do not process grains well, especially modern grains. Grains are essentially a poison, not a very potent one but poison none the less.

On the surface, the diet seems healthier, but it fails to address several concerns as annsrum and kevinoffsite pointed out. This diet is high in carbohydrates and glutens. Children who develop type 1 Diabetes (which is not lifestyle related, but viral), Celiac disease (reaction to eating gluten), this diet is not just unhealthy, but potentially deadly. The low carb diet is not a "fad." It's been shown to be very beneficial to people with the above mentioned conditions, as well as vital to morbidly obese individuals. Low-fat or skim milk contains more carbohydrates than whole milk.
Our grain products are not the simple, pure grains our ancestors had. They've been cross-bred, hybridized and genetically altered. It's unknown how these changes are affecting the populace, but we've all seen the papers talking about the increase in metabolic diseases.
I favor a healthy mix of foods, but the USDA's portions are off. They caved to pressure from groups like PETA, Sierra Club and the like. We need a little bit of crude fats and more proteins as well as green leafy vegetables, fruits, but a lot less carbohydrates. The poster who said we don't need complex carbs is just dead wrong. Simple carbs are the ones that convert to sugar the quickest, thus topping the glycemic index. Proteins don't convert at all, thus ending at the bottom.
It's simple biology, people. We're omnivores, but like true predators, nature placed our eyes side by side in the front of our face for binocular vision. We have incisors and canines. These are predator traits. This means we're geared to eat meat. Our convoluted intestines and molars give us the ability to digest fruits, vegetables and grain. If we were meant to eat more of these than protein, our bodies would reflect it. This is why we have such small pancreases. Grain and grass eaters consume a lot of crude fiber and the function of the pancreas is to break it down.
Do yourselves a favor and read about the work of Dr. Eliot Joslin and Dr. Frederick Mason Allen, pioneers in the study of carb restrictive diets and their effects. Read how the ancient Egyptians recognized metabolic diseases like Diabetes and how restricting certain foods helped.
Rescue yourselves from your own biases. Don't ever accept that there's only one right answer with regards to diet and nutrition. It just ain't so.

This is none of the Federal Government's business. They should be regulating national trade and national security, not kid's lunches. This is something for the state and/or county to concern itself with. Micro-management of any country of business is just counter productive and causes more problems than it solves.

Dan - Brilliant, Thank You, I'm not always great at getting my point across, but you nailed it..

I remember, back in the stone age, when most kids brought lunches from home, and parents were responsible for filling those lunch bags, we had peanut butter and jelly, bologna, fritos, ding dongs, twinkies, and everyone had to have milk (unless you had a dr's note and then it was always apple juice) Our parents did not count on the school lunch break to make or break our entire nutritional balance, and it wasn't the school's problem to figure out what was healthy for us. None of this food was the pinnacle of healthy eating, but it was portable and largely not going to spoil before lunch time got there. We also used to drink Kool Aid, because juice and pop were just too expensive (Remember real Kool Aid-take TWO Cups of Sugar and mix with one packet of colored powder-add 64 oz of water and stir) We also used to have afternoon snacks that included cookies, graham crackers....pieces of fruit, but to be honest, fruit was usually the last thing that we would eat, and fruit was probably the most thrown away thing in the lunch sacks...(Remember the stench coming from the coat rack because somebody's lunch bag from last week had a rotting banana or orange in it?) We obsess about food too much in this country as if there is some magic formula for good health and immortality. The reality is that as a doctor once told me "You don't eat too much, you move too little." Kids are meant to be active and as a society, we reward them being slugs and couch potatoes. In school, the active and fidgetty kids are sent off to be appropriately drugged for ADD or ADHD, so they too can join the zombie revolution. Recess was meant to vent energy, but most teachers want to go and have their coffee in the teacher's lounge rather than being the adult supervision over physical activity out of doors when it is cold or hot. Gym has become a joke, with most school districts coming up with creative ways to get out from under the mandate to have these kids physically active. Back in the dark ages, gym was every single school day, and even a dr's excuse only got you into an adaptive PE program, but you still had to do gym class. It was considered a requirement for graduation, and there were those who didn't believe it and wound up taking summer school to get the gym credit in so that they could graduate on time. In addition to sports teams, which by necessity have to limit the number of participants, most schools had intramural sports activities where you could still play basketball or volleyball, even if you weren't a superstar. Park district activities were definitely more affordable-the cost of a t-shirt and matching cap for little league or a jersey and helmet for flag football. Everywhere you go, you continually see signs that say no biking, skating, skateboarding....sidewalks are off limits, the street is off limits, can't bend a blade of grass, and many park facilities have been stripped of their equipment because of fear of frivolous law suit. So, instead of fostering a culture where children enjoy and look forward to vigorous physical activity, we are going to teach them to obsess about food and treat food as the enemy, something not to be enjoyed. And then wonder why they have anorexia and bulemia later on...

@ Colorado

I graduated a little over a year ago in Mississippi. I have to say that up until 9th grade, there was nothing healthy about the school lunch menus. Even after 9th grade it only got a little better. Baked Fries instead of Fried. Dear god....the amount of fries this school produced could have fed McDonalds lovers for weeks. ONE day out of the week they'd serve a side other than fries. Usually corn. Which is more of a starch I believe.

Anyways, the point I'm trying to make is that in some cases, the federal government is right and the state government is just ignorant or completely stupid.

Nor a fruit for the sauce.

Hey PEANUT---YEs the Sauce is a form of a vegetable therefore pizza has been considered a source for getting veggies into kids at school for decades. In fact it is only those who are obsessed with overly healthful agendas who question such.

However there is a reason why it has been approved by the USDA and by administrators for so long---and the reason is TOMATO Sauce is made with a vegetable----hence the pizza is also made with a vegetable. IN FACT a vegetable is a primary ingredient for pizza unless it is specific type such as White Pizza--which is made with a more oily sauce.

Peanut now you are sounding highly uninformed and I say so nicely!

Do your research before you stick your foot in your motuh again. Any form of produce with seeds within is actually a fruit.

And yes the Tomota in the pizza means that pizza is made with a vegetable/fruit and is thus offers a serving of veggies.

Way back when....when I was in high school, I can remember the federal government treating ketchup as a vegetable and counting it toward nutritional balance, so this same said entity really knows anything about nutritional balance. Excuse me, but the food pyramid has done more to foster obesity, because carbs, which make up the majority of the pyramid, also are the majority of sugars in our diets. We have taught people that carbs are a free feed if we never touch anything with any sort of fats.....See where that theory has gotten all of us. I am not a huge bread eater, but recently, I accepted half a sandwich from a co-worker and was shocked to discover that it literally tasted as if the bread had been liberally sprinkled with sugar (much like cinnamon toast) and it was a jarring contrast to the tuna on the bread. There is so much hidden sugar in processed foods and our reaction as a society, rather than to exert pressure on manufacturers to reduce the added sugars in everything (read the soup can or the spaghetti sauce jar and be amazed-and don't forget that corn syrup is sugar, as is dextrose, lactose etc), we try to eliminate all treats....The treats probably wouldn't hurt if the rest of the meal wasn't laced with added sugar. Our government allows high fructose corn syrup and allows the corn growers to launch ad campaigns telling us that "corn syrup" is just another sugar, which is true, but the same cannot be said for high fructose corn syrup and they don't make those distinctions in their ads. High fructose corn syrup is cheap, and the corn growers have huge lobbies, and the government subsidizes farmers (where in that equation does the health and well being of children enter in)

It depends on how you make the pizza. WHole wheat dough (or rice flour for gluten intolerant), fresh made sauce, real cheese, nor-processed toppings like turkey, pork, beef, shrimp (my personal fav), green peppers, pineapple, etc. It can be very heathy. Too many just choose not to make it that way. My kids really like the homemade ones the best.

I'd like to see cafeterias serving real food, not the prepackaged crop my kid's school serves. I'm sure it would save money. But if they aren't going to serve real food, then at least this is an improvement.

If schools had total control, they'd be serving potato chips and coke because corporate sponsorship would give it for next to nothing. All coke cares about is addicting kids to their junk drink product, not the health implications of drinking that crap. So if schools won't serve healthy food, we need the government to force marginally healthier food.

Yeah, harold. They're trampling all over state's right to win the, "fattest kids in America," poll.

How dare they tell us we should have kids that can fit through the bus door, and who won't have heart attacks by 20?

As for paying for it, are you arguing for higher taxes to fund bigger government? Just wondering. I'm all for it, because, based on what I've seen the states doing at the local level with our kids, someone needs to step in and make them do something different. We could probably subsidize the entire food budget for every state by repealing the capital gains "special" tax rate, and letting the Bush tax cuts for millionaires expire.

That's really what the federal government is there for: making sure the states don't screw their own people. Creating a basic minimum of behavior. Making sure that local crap like Jim Crow stays in the past where it belongs.

Now what we have to do is put an impenetrable wall between money (er, free speech) and government, so that corporations and the obscenely wealthy are not bullying our representatives into passing bad laws, and we'll be golden.

This mandating assumes kids will have a more adult palate and choose salads over fries. They won't. Kids aren't like that. Fries are comfort food and kids need comforting. Veggies can be presented through casseroles, or soups.

When I was growing up almost all the kids had a peanut butter sandwich or baloney. Some got lucky and got ham and cheese. Everybody got a banana or apple. Everybody got a cookie or two usually homemade. Some got lucky and got a twinkie or something like that. I never got that. Too fattening my mother thought. NO SODA. Sometimes a few chips or pretzels. We all brown bagged it. Only on Friday when they had pizza did everybody eat the school lunch. Oh, many did get ice cream as a desert. Again, I was not allowed since that was fattening. We all drank whole milk and in fact choc milk. I swear on a stack of bibles I cannot remember anybody in grade school being fat. A few boys were chubby but by high school has literally turned into tall lanky kids.

It is the processed foods and lack of exercise that is causing obesity in kids. That coupled with the fact that they eat 24/7. Nobody I knew could eat unless they asked permission. Food was allocated when I grew up. So I mean it had to last for the entire family.

Fawn: I think you'd be surprised if someone compared the portion sizes and the ingredients from school foods from the 70s and school foods today. As with any complex problem, there is no one single source to blame. Improving the school foods will help.

Agreed Tracy - everyone has their own opinion on what is increasing obesity in children - but to be effective we have to pick one that has been shown to contribute (nutrition is definitely linked with health if not obesity) and work on it.

I agree activity levels also should be increased (for improved happiness and attention span as well as physical health) but increasing nutritional value and good eating habits for kids is something this particular branch of the government can do (they already regulate lunches - this just sets better standards) and I'm happy about it.

II've heard so much about this obesity crap. Then why are all the sizes for girls 0- minus 8 these days. A size 14 is really a 2. Give me a break..

There is an overweight problem for those who do NOT exercise. Schools are cutting out time on the playground and many sports because it isn't affordable. Get those going again and I'm sure you will be seeing a change.

I also will say again.....from what is reported Mrs. Obama eats (I'm NOT calling her any names) she really is not a good role model in this area.

According to everything I've read about it, healthy eating and exercise go hand in hand. 1 out of 3 children in the US is overweight or obese probably because about 70% of adults are overweight or obese. Kids will eat the garbage their parents make, or more than likely pick up at the take out for them. If their parents sit on their fat asses all the time the kids will do the same. Children have to learn about a healthy lifestyle somewhere and it probably won't be learned at home. Mrs. Obama is doing something that none of her predecesors seemed to want to tackle. I think she's a great role model for kids and adults. You, on the other hand, are an uniformed, nasty sh*t. I sure hope you don't have any kids.

Childhood obesity "is what it is" because kids get no fresh-air exercise. The closest thing they seem to get anymore is pretending to play games with their Wii consoles. Computers, cell phone texting, video games are the biggest causes. A lot of the calories in these so-called "bad choices" can be burned up with vigorous physical exercise. If parents would stop using "technology" as a baby-sitter, and send (better yet, take) their kids outside for some exercise, the problem would mostly go away.

Mel, exactly how are you going to "burn up" artery clogging cholesterol and blood sugar-spiking processed carbs with vigorous exercise? Exercise is important. Eating properly is important.

A lot of the calories in these so-called "bad choices" can be burned up with vigorous physical exercise. If parents would stop using "technology" as a baby-sitter, and send (better yet, take) their kids outside for some exercise, the problem would mostly go away.

Yes, excercise is important. No one is denying that, but eating healthy also plays a large role in combating and preventing obesity.

I agree about the blood-sugar spiking carbs, but studies are increasingly showing that dietary fat does not raise bad cholesterol. In fact, diets high in saturated fats actually lower triglycerides while raising HDL and the good large-particle sizes LDL. So while getting more veggies in the schools is a good thing, they'd be better off serving only whole milk instead of skim and using real butter instead of low-fat substitutes.

The kids still have to eat the nutrious food. We recently had a girl whose mother was a Vegan over for a birthday party. Her mom told my wife all the foods she couldn't eat. Once her mother and my wife were out of the room, the girl gobbled down al the meats, cheeses, ice cream, and eggs she could.

I dunno - since the tax payers are chipping in a portion of the money spent on school lunches, I do think we have a right to require that it's decent, wholesome food.

Still, I don't think the food is the problem - it's the lack of activity.

Don't forget that all those children who grow up to be adults with diabetes, who won't have healthcare if Republicans get their way, will also be treated on our dime.

You are right. Why use a new style of light bulb that last longer (in the long run cheaper), uses energy for light instead of heat when we have perfectly good 1880's technology we could still be using. Why would we want to encourage good eating when clearly bad eating supports our current agriculture system and healthcare spending with the high rates of diabetes, GERD, osteoarthritis, etc.... It is all govt. BS, if I want to run an open coal fire , dump my sewage in the river, put chemicals into my property then by god it should be my right as an American, right Frank?

You're right Fawn. It is the lack of activity. All the people you see on here that agree with this are the ones that won't take responsibility for themselves or their children. They shouldn't be worrying about the lunches so much as they should be worrying about physical activity. Just because healthy food is put on a kids plate doesn't mean they are going to eat it unless it something they like.

Sure, dabouv, why use a relatively safe light bulb when you can use one with mercury in it, the packaging of which instructs disposal as hazardous waste; or one that starts a fire if left plugged in and switched on after it burns out. Or one that gives much less light than a standard bulb.

And, why let parents take care of their own kids' eating habits when Mrs. Obama and Mr. Vilsack can do that? Good grief, if the school's lunch menu isn't satisfactory, PACK a lunch for the kid! To Griggle below -- you need the government to get your kids to eat vegetables?

Frank, you go ahead and feed your children nothing but processed food if that's what you think is "patriotic". But do carry health insurance so the rest of us don't have to pay for all their illnesses in the future.

Mel, florescent lights have been used for YEARS and they contain mercury. CFLs don't give less light than a standard light bulb.

Parents can still give their children all the junk they want, YOU can always pack a lunch full of ho-hos and dingdongs.

Seriously Sarah? Do some thinking for yourself... Everything the government does is on our dime. The only way the government can "make" money is by taking ours.

But where will the food service industry dispose of its surplus utility grade beef?

CLEANUP AND DISPOSAL OVERVIEW
The most important steps to reduce exposure to mercury vapor from a broken bulb are:
1. Before cleanup
a. Have people and pets leave the room.
b. Air out the room for 5-10 minutes by opening a window or door to the outdoor
environment.
c. Shut off the central forced air heating/air conditioning (H&AC) system, if you have one.
d. Collect materials needed to clean up broken bulb.

2. During cleanup
a. Be thorough in collecting broken glass and visible powder.
b. Place cleanup materials in a sealable container.

3. After cleanup
a. Promptly place all bulb debris and cleanup materials outdoors in a trash container or
protected area until materials can be disposed of properly. Avoid leaving any bulb
fragments or cleanup materials indoors.
b. For several hours, continue to air out the room where the bulb was broken and leave the
H&AC system shut off.

Yep, CFLs sound so much better. From the EnergyStar website:

http://www.energystar.gov/ia/partners/promotions/change_light/downloads/Fact_Sheet_Mercury.pdf

Seriously, Sty? What are you talking about???

If those kids grow up, and if they aren't insured, either privately or publically, it will only be those of us who are insured who'll pay for them. Now, if we're all insured, our slice of tab will be smaller, won't it?

What anything about this...

Do some thinking for yourself... Everything the government does is on our dime. The only way the government can "make" money is by taking ours.

Has to do with my point is completely beyond me.

They're not telling you what your kid can and cannot eat, just offering health-conscious choices in the cafeteria. If you want to feed your kid crap and make him or her morbidly obese, feel free to pack his/her lunch every day, and he/she can wolf down all the cookies and chips you want them to.

Yep, CFLs sound so much better. From the EnergyStar website:

Those who pay attention realize that CFLs are a transition technology. LEDs, when their costs come down, will not only be cheaper, but run much more efficiently than CFLs and contain no harmful chemicals.

LEDs seem like the superior choice, and there are a few other technologies in development also.

Of course, if you don't break lightbulbs (I never have, even incandescents) you don't have to worry about cleaning them up. In the end, even CFLs consume/emit less mercury than incandescents, since those coal plants blast tons of it into the air.

So you drink low-fat milk? What do they feed veal calfs to fatten them up in 16 weeks (from 100 lbs to 350-400 lbs) Whole milk is not bad. Its how you eat and exercise that determine the effects of diet on you. Tell me the difference between sugar and honey/ low-fat(2%)/whole milk (4%)? Oh, the ice cap is melting so where will the polar bears go? Where they normally go in summer (land) where the seals pup and live. Duh

Matt-3468366

Were you aware that in many school districts across this country, the unions that work the school cafeteria's countenance no competition and that schools have prohibitted children from bringing any outside food into the schools, including the brown bag specials from home????? Were you aware that in the world of politically correct, many children are not allowed to bring lunches from home because it would create social tension among the children whose parents will not or cannot send a lunch bag to school with their kids? In a world where everything has to be equal, many families do not have the choice of sending a lunch with what they want their children to eat. And nobody that I know of can have their children come home for lunch as used to be true when schools were in the neighborhood where you lived.

@Sue: No, I wasn't aware that there are school you're not allowed to send kids to school with a home-packaged lunch. I've yet to hear about this, so if you have details, please, I'm interested.

I think you underestimate kids.

You do know griggle it's vise versa as well. I do love this part of your tirade though"christians have to be allowed to pray in school". Are you saying if you had your way a child would be breaking a law by praying in school? It seems to be you are. And if you really want to get on about abortion, then lets debate it.

You know, or those skinny kids could pack their own lunches and bring whatever they want??? I'm not articulate enough to express the shear insanity and illogic of arguing against better nutrition. It just makes me say, gguahahahahaaaaa!!!!!!!!! What???

I find it amusing that Jack Smith thinks whole wheat pizza is suffering...

And by the way...skinny kids can be just as unhealthy as fat kids.

Er...Jack...how, exactly, is feeding children good food causing them to "suffer"?

Shhhhhh,

Dont tell the liberals that. They are liking their "utopia". It's like that Salad dressing commercial for Happy Valley, where kids are dying to eat a salad and fighting over a brocolli sprout!

Thank you, Judy, for inserting some intelligence into the discussion. It has been sorely lacking thus far.

Sadly, refined, overly processed foods and GMOs products are loaded with cheap chemicals and mass produced on a scale that affords the food producing monopolies the ability to keep prices extremely low compared to healthy whole food and organically grown products. The movie Food Inc is really good high level look at the problem.

If you want your kids to eat junk, then provide it for them.

Then give me back my tax money.

I didn't want my tax money being paid for the Iraq War, or giving subsidies to oil companies, but it was.

You have no idea what your kids eat at school so shut up and hope the government does a better job at feeding your unfortunate off spring than you obviously do

More Nanny state stuff. Steal money from me (taxes) and then make the schools feed my kids what they think is right and not what I want them to eat.

riiiiiight... They do not make your kids eat anything, they give them the opportunity to purchase a school lunch if they so desire. As for "stealing" the fact is most kids that get school lunch pay for school lunch.

Uhm, Ralph? My tax money is going to the school system too and I don't even have any. You couldn't afford to pay what it costs every year to educate your little darlings without the taxes paid by people who do not benefit directly from the school system at all. I'm just hoping that enough of them pay attention enough to get good jobs someday and pay into Social Security so it doesn't go bankrupt on me (as I am doing for today's elders). And I'm all for them having decent food if they choose to buy their lunch at school instead of bringing it from home. Last time I looked, school lunches were an option, not a mandate.

Yes, thanks for throwing in your useless whining 2 cents worth. You are exactly what is wrong with this country. You offer no viable solutions to any issue but you're always the first and loudest one to chime in about how something won't work or isn't right when others do step up and try to make improvements. Do us a favor - either get your fat a$$ off your couch and become part of the solution or stay on your couch and keep your yapper shut

I've never seen a school that didn't have water fountains. And the parents of kids with dietary restrictions need to ensure that they provide the child with whatever it needs.

Amen to that!

Eating healthy IS the schools problem, because they provide lunch and many times breakfast to the kids. BTW, did you see the first lady last night? She does not have an enormous "back side"

What the children eat is up to the parents not the school or government.

then let the parents feed them at home, or send a lunch to school.

Reader1950 - First Lady Obama is in good shape and is an excellent role model for children everywhere. I'm sure you were against Laura Bush's campaign for literacy also? Eating healthy is good for children and should be done everywhere - including school. Why are you against something that will be good for children? And, I don't know what grocery stores you go to but mine have lots of healthy items - including a very large produce isle.

Common Man - what children eat IS partially up to the schools since that is where they eat a meal. Get real!

The government provides money to the schools for meals, it is within their rights to expect the best product available be purchased with that money.

The government provides money to the schools for meals, it is within their rights to expect the best product available be purchased with that money.

The government provides money to the schools for meals, it is within their rights to expect the best product available be purchased with that money.

the government provides money to those schools, they should be telling children how to eat.

moron they are called public schools and the government has been telling them what to serve and what classes to teach for decades. They are simply making the meals healthier. It is not a conspiracy. Crawl back under your rock

How about less carbs and more healthy fats .... Lets stop serving our children PROCESSED JUNK... it's not the good fats it's the JUNK...

harrison - Isn't it sad that a lot of those who criticize this "first overhaul of the school lunch program in more than 15 years", are probably results of the public school system? We have a long way to go.

They aren't mandating what your children eat. They are mandating what the schools serve your children.

thunder thighs Obama? Neither Michelle nor Barack is fat.

raddave, if you like them big thighs I am sure if you searched real hard and with a little government assistance you could find them.

I saw her last night at the SOTU and she was wearing a tight dress and there was nothing FAT on her. She has muscular thighs, but not "thunder thighs"

Common Man - making nasty remarks about our First Lady hardly shows any intelligence or taste. Our First Lady is very stylish and a great example for the country's children to follow. She does NOT have thunder thighs or anything close. Your hatred of all things Obama says more about you than it does about them - and none of what it says is good.

Seeking, he probably prefers calling her "Moochelle"

@Common Man: You are probably the same type of guy who cries about your insurance rates being hiked up ever higher because of all the health issues with obese Americans, and then says that overweight Americans should pay higher premiums. Wouldn't this help to fix the problem?

Every state in the union includes the need to educate its citizens. Look up yours. If my taxes are going to pay for public education, at least children should be educated in something that they can benefit form every day, and learning about nutrition is something I think we can all get behind.

Schools will spend as little as humanly possible to meet the minimum standards set by the USDA. Processed, high-calorie, high-sodium, high-fat foots are cheap and thus the go-to staples of public schools. We almost never allow our 8 year old daughter to buy lunch at school becuase all they offer is pizza, processed chicken-like nuggets, and other such crap that barely passes for food let alone part of a nutritious diet. Until they are required to, schools will not change for the healthier if it costs more. I'm usually not one to advocate for regulation or increased government oversight, but this is one area where it's probably warranted.

Maybe if Moo-chelle lost a little weight she wouldn't need her own 747 to fly her everywhere. BO and thunder thighs then could share the same plane when travelling.

Wow. Commonman (lacking all that may be "common" or "manly") is willing to throw the health of children under the bus just so he can make a racist comment about the First Lady of the United States of America.

It's been awhile since I've seen such a shameful lack of morality. I wonder if he has to take his white hood off to type.....

I'm reading all these comments and watching it deteriorate into a name calling political debate and yet I want to take issue with is SeekingSanity saying Mrs. O is stylish. I'm not going to comment on her butt or her thighs since I have no room to talk on that subject, but I will say she is FAR from stylish! She's worn some of the ugliest outfits I've ever seen on a First Lady and I've been through a lot of First Ladies in my lifetime! I wish somebody would help her with her wardrobe so that she would look more polished and less thrown together. Barry looks nice in his suits and casual attire...

As far as the whole food mandate--my kids ate crap from middle school through high school from the vending machines and I didn't like it one bit. However, when they came home they were served decent food with fresh fruits and vegetables. They were-and still are-active and health conscious (one is a crossfit instructor and the other teaches swimming to children and likes to run a few miles every day) and even with the junk food they ate at school, they were never overweight or unhealthy because they were physically active all the time. I think physical activity is the key, but I do agree they need to get rid of the vending machines and put decent food in the lunchrooms.

"Moo-chelle" doesn't need to lose weight. And, I love how a morbidly obese man, Jabba the Hut, calls her "Moochelle"

Gee, I wonder what kind of carbon foot print Moo-chelle is leaving when that 747 is carting her butt around the world?

We need more power Scotty!!!!

Newt? Is that you? It's awful nice of you to drop by and post you're true thoughts as "commonman" before you head off to the porn sites.

My guess is, given the lack of cognizant ability to remain relevant, "commonman" has yet to ever set foot in a public school. Howse that home schoolin' workin' out fer ya???

God only knows what critters romp around in their kitchens as well.