01/9/2012:
"I think schools should have a healthier lunch cause it is not fun to be
overweight. People overweight dont get to do everything people can do if
not oevrweight. Being health is a good thing. Healthier bodies turn out to
get in to better jobs cause they have healthier minds. A health body means
a health life time.
"
08/30/2010:
"I have had the honor to have lunch with my first grader twice, on Mondays.
I have come away dissapointed. The first Monday the school served Chicken
noodles, or Burrito. My son chose the chicken noodles so I decided to
sample the burrito. It wa horrible. The fruit was a half of an orange,
which all the children threw away because they had a hard tim peeling it.
When I was a child the oranges were cut into wedges which I thought was
much easier to consume. Today the choices were Tomatoe soup or burrito. My
son chose the burrito so I chose the soup. It came with a half grilled
cheese sandwich that was very dry and crusty, the soup was ok. The veggie
was sliced carrots, they were bland. There was sliced watermelon which was
a winner in my book. All in all our childens lunches seem to be pretty
sad. I am a full paying/tax paying mother, whom is discouraged about our
childens lunches. I thought I would like to engage in a lunch committe to
help try and make lunch better for our k!
ids, I will proceed with this quest, if any other mothers or fathers
would like to join me to help make a difference I would like to hear from
you."
08/27/2010:
"I think one problem with school lunches is the insistence on it being
'hot.' What our cafeteria serves is really just kid junk food: hot dogs,
hamburgers, chicken nuggets. If there were a sandwich bar with no white
bread, and side raw veggies, kids would find enough things to eat and not
eat lots of fat. The problem is that it takes too much time and adult
assistance, and there would be problems of food waste. But the hot lunches
served in cafeterias are far from healthy choices."
02/24/2010:
"My daughter brings healthy lunches to school and has always eaten well.
But now that she is in Kindergarten we are having a problem - the teachers
give candy out as rewards, parents send in cookies and junk food for snack
time, the PTO sells cookies and candy to raise money. I'm battling forces
all over the place, not just the cafeteria..."
03/12/2009:
"as a parent i dont think my child should be told what they can or cant eat
for packed lunch she was told no choclate fair deal but there hot dinners
have choclate puds thats just not fair!!!!"
02/26/2009:
"I think children and parents should have the right to eat what they want.
It's good to get them involved, but I don't think that they really want
their children eating no sugar at all."
03/19/2008:
"these are all very good suggestions, i am doing my project on how young adults today are getting bigger and bigger at a very young age. I was wondering what are some other tips you can give me to help out with my project? "
03/5/2008:
"eliminate vending machines!"
03/5/2008:
" We need to take out sugar in food at school"
01/29/2008:
"I think that those are very good ideas"
01/24/2008:
"that was amazing i could use it"
01/23/2008:
"THis is great, however, we have some choices once they are in primary school by packing lunches. What about the daycares? The food is horrible! Poptarts for breakfast, pizza with ranch dressing for lunch, cookies and juice for snacks. I am not allowed to send my own food, therefore, leaving me very little choice on what she can eat. Please help!! We are giving ourr children a poor start right from the beginning at daycares."
10/18/2007:
"The school lunches have turned for bad to worse. Have your children been complianing about how bad the food taste, mine have. So i went to try the food and they are right it's terrible. They come home hungry if they don't like the food. What happens to the kids who only eat the food at schools and not at home. If the food is so bad and they don't eat then what happens? Do they just go hungry? I live in a rual area and there are alot of migrant workers and the kids only eat at schools and the food is really bad, so they go hungry. I'm not talking about not having junk food but they are limited to how they cook the food so it is so terrible tasting. I think if they are limited to how they have to cook they should teach them how to cook the food so it taste good."
07/19/2007:
"rap a tap tap was both of my girls' favorite book of all time! it is now my favorite of all time. it's taped together so when i find another copy i will save it for my grandkids!"
10/10/2006:
"i feel the school lunches is not nutrtional. they claim thier is to many over weight children in this country. they need to get rid of the snacks and sweets and potatos rice breads, they need more health foods in the school systems. lie veggies, fruits, nuts. and plenty of water bottles. "
10/2/2006:
"Sugaryness may taste good, but it is bad for you. I agree to take away sugar over letting it stay, but taking it all away is not a good thing. Reduce it, but dont destroy it! Maybe a bag of chips at recess and a healthy sandwich or sompthing at lunch will probably do the trick."
09/18/2006:
"I am a senior this year and i can remember when i used to have 3 recesses in first grade. Also when i was in 8th grade my recess used to be gym. I havent taking a gym class in my high school career. Im very upset about that. I know of other school that have advanced gym and weightlfting as courses you can take. I think more schools should be like that. Since they are taking our good foods away. They took our juice machines out, they were health for you. But now they have all this sugar free stuff and it taste nasty. This artical really helps my reports and hopefully the people running this country realizes that they can not tell us to stop eatting fatting food and then turn around and take our recesses and our gym classes they are plain stupid im sorry "
03/11/2005:
"i think the biggest problem is not the food but the amount of exercise these children are getting i know that when i was in school we had at least an hour lunch and 3 30min breaks durring the day but now your lucky to get a 30 min lunch and 1 10 min break they are pushing too much in-class time and not enough outside running time i mean a child sits in a class room for about 8 hours then they send home tons of homework that the child has to get done so alot of parents keep the child in to do it so basically a child does nothing but sit on there hind ends all day instead of being a child."
03/2/2005:
"this was a really great article, but i would like to learn more about what is in the cafeteria food."
01/25/2005:
"I thought this was a great article, with lots of valuable links. One thing I'd like to point out however, is that salsa, your opening example, is not really that bad of a food. It is low-cal, and high in Vitamin A, and it is, after all, made from vegetables. The problem lies, not with the salsa but with the foods it is served on/with. Otherwise, I found the article very helpful. Thanks!"
01/18/2005:
"when i was in 6 th grade i was overweight in my school [chain of lakes] we had papa johns, chick fil a slurpies,but then in the summer i started hitting the gym it was hard but i started liking it. i really like fruits and vegtable. but when i was in 7th grade every thing changed. we had double cheese burgers, greasy pizzas just like last year,chips with alot of grease in it and sodas. but the most things i was happy about was that they had salads but i wasnt happy was that they only had few of them.my friends used to be very healthy but now they are over weight.sometimes i think that the school doesnt really care about the kids health. what i really think they care about is the money.they said that if they get more healthy stuff there money will go down.for once can they ever think about somebody else than them self.
i try to convice my friends to eat more healthy stuff but they wont listen. im in 8th grade now its still the same i'd just hope that one day this greadyness would end"
01/4/2005:
"I think the problem in the cafeteria starts with the long lines. My son takes whatever he can get to quicker. He has informed me he stood in line for almost the whole lunch period. He had 5 minutes to eat what was left, not what he wanted. I do have a problem with candy and soda machines, we never had them at my schools when I attended. We drank milk, orange juice, and water. Candy has no place in the school either. Why can't we put in machines that have fruit and sandwiches like they have in hospitals. Would'nt that make more sense? Then if the lunchroom is overcrowded they have some good choices. Instead of coke machines put in bottled water, gatorade, canned juices etc.There is nothing wrong with hamburgers, pizza. This is what everyone is eating on a daily basis, and they do have nutrional value. "
11/24/2003:
"I know as a parent that kids need to eat healthy and I try my
best to make sure that my family does. I am also a cafeteria manager and its
my job to prepare healthy menu's for the students that I serve. Most of the
time they like what I prepare for the them but most of the time they want
the junk food which they get on the way home from school. I think the reason
that kids are getting so fat is not from school lunches, its from going to
fast food places and liquor stores and getting the pepperbellies and soda's
and chips that is why they are getting fat. I would like to ask one
question, can you really make people eat healty if they don't want to look
at all the unhealty people in the U.S and it will tell you No.
"
05/20/2003:
"I am a high school student, and I am writing an argument paper
on how candy, cokes, and non nutritional products should not be sold in
school cafeterias, from elemenary to high school. I have been doing a lot of
research in this area and I totally agree with everything people are writing
about on here. reason being that I know I go to school everday and when I
get hungry, there are always junkfoods available that sound good and arent
good for me but I eat them because they are 'there.' It makes me tired for
sports practice after school and just flat out horrible for me!
"
04/22/2003:
"I'm always flabbergasted to learn that there are soda machines
in the schools now, not to mention hamburger and pizza franchises brought
in. Just another thing that doesn't help the students' thinking -or
wasteline. This accompanied by a decrease in physical ed spells big trouble,
and we're seeing the results. I'm ready for a turnaround, maybe this, the
week of 'Turn Off the TV'...
Thanks for the great article
"
04/2/2003:
"I wish some sort of legislation would pass that would require students to
participate in P.E. everyday. My daughter is 10 and gets a quick 20 minute
lunch and rarely gets to go outside for an afternoon break. Physical
Education should be part of the school curriculum everday like the other
subjects.
"
04/1/2003:
"in one school district we took out sodas and candy for a while
and parents went
wild.. They felt like their child should be able to have a coke and their
favorite
candy Bar!
"
03/24/2003:
"I seem to be the only parent in the school who thinks it's a
bad idea for the PTA to sell candy during/after lunch. My kids come home
with a ton of candy. My 5 year old had 5 cavities at his last dental appt.
Everyone on the PTA thinks I'm overreacting by wanting the PTA to stop the
sale of candy. They think it's a great idea, not to mention a good fund
raiser. I think we are teaching our kids unhealthy eating habits and we are
permanently affecting their dental health. It's ironic when the school has
a dental hygientist come in to talk about the proper way to care for their
teeth and to stay away from sugary snacks, but then the school offers them
taffy and pixie stix. It's not like these kids are deprived. They have
class parties, special events, birthdays, holidays, not to mention
grandparents who give them treats. Do I have to fight a losing battle with
the school as well? Am I the only one with any common sense? Why are so
many parents afraid to say no to their children? The answer I get is that
the kids like candy, so I should let it be. Well, kids like lots of things
they shouldn't have. That's why they have parents--to set limits and
protect them, yes, even from candy. Does anyone out there agree with me?
Any ideas on what to do?
"
02/10/2003:
"Help, we're a very small school, 245 students k-12 under one
roof. The lunch lady rules the roost, and folks are afraid to cross her.
Some concerned parents are getting together to come up with ideas and plans
to change the menu. We want to rid of all the fries, 3x3 brownies with
frosting, bread bread and more bread filled with breaded chopped chicken
meat etc. Does anyone have ideas on how to be diplomatic while we are in
the process of getting started?
"
01/30/2003:
"The menu at my childrens elementary school is sound
but all the extras they can buy are not. This and the lack of physical
activity are a cause for great concern. My chidren were allowed to buy
as many junk food items as they wished until I had cafeteria staff flag
their lunch accounts with some limits.The only tip off I had (besides my
son bringing home a backback full of goodies) was that their lunch money
for the month was gone in one week.
The kids have one gym class a week and a 20 min recess a day. What
a deadly combo. I think it is bad for their mental health as well, they
have a high volume of work to complete, are allowed sugary snacks, very
little social time, and only a 20 min recess. Often on the days i pack
my chidrens lunches they bring some or most back home and tell me they
ran out of time during their 20 min lunch to eat. These are chidren,
they need more down time! After they return home we are bombarded with
homework, and after school activities.
Both of my children are in the 90th percentile for their weight and
50th percentile for their height. Both parents are diabetics. It scares
the heck out of me that my children could develop diabetes so young, I
must be ever vigilant to prevent it.
Schools should be an ally for teaching kids to be healthy, they
should not even offer unhealthy snacks regardless of the profit margin.
We push them academically much faster than previous generations
without giving them balance. How will they handle this stressfull world
with poor nutrition, and time to blow off steam? I see why so many
choose to home school these days.
"
11/14/2002:
"The New Hampshire Dental Society is interested in seeing
that
soft drinks are removed from vending machines in the schools in NH. It
is
reassuring to see the committment for overall health of our school age
children
"
