School Lunches Go Green?

As the youth of America are adapting less healthy eating habits year after year, it seems that parents are losing more and more control over what their children are fed on a daily basis. At large public schools, parents attempts to voice their opinions about lunch services are largely overshadowed by the elements of assumed costliness of changing a lunch program and the conflict over foods that children will actually eat. Of course, if every elementary and middle school child was able to construct a lunch menu, it would most likely include pizza, chicken tenders, cheeseburgers, french fries, and all of the foods that parents dread seeing their children eat on a daily basis. So, where can these conflicting aspects of expected costliness and foods that children will actually eat meet up with the demands of parents upon school lunch programs to make their menus healthier and more sustainable?

First of all, the process to completely change school lunch programs lies in education, both on the parts of teachers and parents. Teach kids what it means to intake a balanced diet and not simply foods that contain little or no nutritious value to them! Over the last 20 years, childhood obesity has increased more than 50 percent. There is certainly something to be said about teaching children to eat in moderation and to not always go for the most fatty foods in the cafeteria or dining hall because ultimately, the decision is in their hands.

If the children are complaining to the school administrators that their lunch programs do not enough offer healthy and sustainable alternatives, then parents this makes your argument much more viable. Suggest changes that may include switching to buying produce from local farms because believe it or not, its, most likely, no more expensive than where the lunch service is currently getting their produce. Small changes like this go a long way for children in terms of learning how to eat healthy and sustainably and form habits that will be kept for a lifetime. So, parents work with your kids and the school lunch service to revise lunch menus because this really is a change your children will thank you for.

For a list resources and advice on making changes: http://www.sustainabletable.org/schools/