Food for a Thought...

How many of you daily buy the lunches that the school provides? Though cheaper and more efficient than brown-bagging it everyday, is the quality of the meal the same as what you could make and bring yourself? To be honest, the school food often looks appalling to me, and not at all nutritional. Processed potatoes with condensed meat-based gravy? Yuck. Though some of the food is bearable, like the pizza, almost none of it is health conscious. Yes, Stevenson offers some healthy alternatives like salad and fruit, but most schools don't have that luxury. They are forced to purchase the cheapest and largest quantities of food that they can serve to their students, often processed, soaked in high fructose corn syrup, and/or frozen to be microwaved. And parents are left wondering why the obesity rate of children is quickly rising. Is this the kind of example we want to be giving to the children and teenagers that buy lunch? All these artificial additives and preservatives we put in our foods are perfectly fine and eating your fresh vegetables and fruits aren't important? I think that if we want to have a healthier generation, it should start in the school, where kids learn not just math, reading, and science, but habits they will have for life.

There is a blog that I am following that addresses this exact issue: http://fedupwithschoollunch.blogspot.com/. It follows a teacher that uses the pseudonym Mrs. Q as she eats the food that the school she works at serves everyday for a year. It includes pictures, descriptions, and is a very interesting read. I would recommend anyone who is intrigued to read, because like stated before it is very interesting and really makes you think about what we are really doing to make an impact on kids' health and their lives.