As many have you heard, there continues to be frustrations with the recent changes to school menus. The National School Lunch nutrition guidelines were updated this year to now include more fruits and vegetables, more whole grains, low fat dairy, and restrictions on total fat, trans and saturated fat, and sodium. As a dietitian, I think these changes are a great improvement in the nutrition content of the meals and will make a positive impact in our children’s health, long term. Change is never easy and most of us don’t like change, which is partly why we have heard more negative feedback than positive right now.
In the last few weeks, I have had the opportunity to visit with Kaitlyn Hemmingson, SDSU Nutrition Graduate Student who has been assisting Brookings School District with their menu updates as well as the Watertown Coordinated School Health group. From what I’ve gathered from these visits, is that the feedback is really individualized for each district. Some schools have been prepping to make these changes in the last few years so those districts have already gotten their students accustomed to these changes whereas, other district’s are struggling a bit more with student’s appeal and satisfaction to the changes. It will also take some time for the foodservice folks to figure out which foods students like and which need some revising, as well as learning to cook and prepare the foods in a manner students will enjoy. The last update for school menus was 15 years ago and as many know, the health of our nation has greatly changed in the last 15 years as we now have about 66% of Americans in the overweight-obese BMI categories, leaving only about a third of Americans at a healthy weight.
I feel these changes are a step in the right direction and it’s just going to take some time for students to adjust and get used to the changes. In addition, it’s going to take some time for our foodservice workers to adapt the menus and learn how to prepare the new foods in an appetizing manner for students to enjoy. A main complaint is that students are still hungry, so what both Kaitlyn and the Watertown Coordinated School Health groups are recommending is that parents take initiative and pack their child some extra snacks in their bookbag for afterschool or in between sports and we recommend these snacks to be healthy ones to help fuel their bodies. Healthy snacks include whole grain granola bars, fruit, trail mix, half a turkey sandwich, whole grain crackers and cheese, etc. The long term effects of these menu improvements will make a tremendous and positive impact on the health of our nation, so be patient and give it some time to work!
To view the full report you can click this link: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-01-26/pdf/2012-1010.pdf. Page 24-25 lists the chart of recommendations for each food group according to age groups and the sodium restrictions.
If you have any questions about these changes, don’t hesitate to contact me!
-Kelsey
