Healthy Foods

I remember my first day of my new school way back in 8th grade. I wandered into the lunch hall, bought myself a soda, a cheeseburger, and a cookie. "This is amazing," I thought. "I can buy whatever I want!" The next day went much the same way, but with a soda, two slices of pizza, and a Klondike Bar. You can see where this is going. When kids have the opportunity to make decisions for themselves, they almost invariably make the one that will bring them the most immediate happiness.

To my horror, the very next year there was no more soda to be found. Instead, there was a selection of flavored waters and teas. Where there was once a freezer stocked with ice cream, there was now a salad bar. My school had gone from feeding me real sustenance to feeding me rabbit food. I was crushed! How does anyone live like this? The answer: Easily and healthily.

Obesity, Diabetes, Hypertension. All things that you don't want appearing on a medical chart. Having school lunches high in saturated fats and cholesterol raises the likelihood of children being diagnosed with these chronic diseases. So by eliminating some of the more unhealthy food, we're actually lengthening kids' lives. Sounds great!

However, what are we going to replace the junk with? Kids are notoriously picky eaters: If it's not Mac'n Cheese or a hotdog, they don't want it. I think this is where the problem comes in. You have to make food that's appetizing to most kids, which means that eliminating the already limited options is hardly a good idea, unless you can add in things to take its place.

After taking a look through a list of healthy alternatives to a typical packed lunch here, I determined one thing: children would be pissed. As adults with (hopefully) more defined pallets than a seven year old, we can note that many of these things are actually very good. But tell a little kid that you're taking away his Oreos and replacing them with trail mix, and you're likely to be on the receiving end of a tantrum.

So what is the best option then? Have students grow fat and unhealthy? Mandate what kids can and can't eat? I think that as we are presumably not a pediatrician intimately familiar with this child's medical history, we shouldn't be doling out medical advice. It should be up to the kid's doctors and parents to de
cide what he can or can't eat. Maybe there's a kid out there with Uncommon Condition #5, wherein he has to consume double a normal calorie diet. He'd have to eat somewhere in the range of 230 cups of undressed salad, something unattainable with restrictions on what he's allowed to eat.

True, I didn't make the healthy options when I was given tastier options, but I was also 90 pounds fully clothed, soaking wet, and holding a rock. I wasn't the people who are being targeted by this program.

Besides, with today's fancy-pants technology, where many kids pay for lunch with pre-paid debit cards anyways, is it so far-fetched to send a statement to the child's parents telling them what the child bought? That puts the decisions in the hands of the parents and doctors, and would help teach the child responsibility.

Sources:
http://www.pcrm.org/health/healthy-school-lunches/
http://www.medpagetoday.com/Pediatrics/Obesity/38327