Examples of bad science

[jackelgull]

Well, the kids would at least put them in the proper trash cans but largely your right. I think parents should stop blaming schools for behaviors they enable. Kids aversion to vegetables and other foods that are considered to be healthy start at home. The school can either try being healthy under the naive assumption that kids will just go along with it, or they can be pragmatic and buy the cheap delicious foods. I don't really blame them for choosing the latter option.

 

[brennan]

Which part of the school meals legislation you are so angry about bans calories?

 

[Kaitzilla]

Which part of the school meals legislation you are so angry about bans calories?

I never said they banned calories.
But capping high school meals at 850 calories is stupid. (Hello sports?)

And making terrible tasting food means kids throw it in the trash where it belongs.
How nutritional is 0 calories?


These scientists, regulators, and administrators never have to eat the *#@^ that results from their rules.
That's what makes me angry.
They don't give a crap what the kids and lunch ladies say.

http://www.npr.org/2015/09/08/438473608/lunch-ladies-want-healthy-hunger-free-kids-act-to-lighten-up

ALLISON AUBREY, BYLINE: As students in St. Paul Minnesota head back to school this week, the district's Jean Ronnei says there are still some meals that get kids excited, like this one.

JEAN RONNEI: Fresh roasted chicken, cornbread that's homemade, apple kohlrabi slaw and strawberries.

AUBREY: But Ronnei says her schools may not be able to serve this exact meal much longer. The problem, it has too much salt. The next phase of the federal nutrition standards, which have been implemented in stages over the last few years, are set to get stricter. So she's going to have to change the recipe.

RONNEI: The sodium is too high when you throw in some barbecue sauce on top of the rotisserie chicken.

AUBREY: And that means food will just taste different. She says this exemplifies the kinds of changes school cafeterias have been making to comply with the new rules. It's not just less salt but also less sugar, fewer choices in snacks. And schools have also had to replace things like white sourdough bread and tortillas, two favorites, with whole-grain-rich alternatives. Now, as a result, Ronnei says some students don't like these changes. And they've stopped buying lunch in the cafeteria.

RONNEI: We have had a financial loss each of three years in the St. Paul school district.

AUBREY: Now, not all school districts are struggling. But Ronnei, who is currently serving as president of the School Nutrition Association, says her district is certainly not alone. According to USDA data, about 1 million fewer students bought school lunch last year out of roughly 30 million students in the system. Now, that might not sound like a lot, but Ronnei says it takes its toll.

RONNEI: When we lose participation and food costs and labor costs rise, at some point the financial picture is gloomy.

AUBREY: Because if school districts lose money in their cafeteria programs...

RONNEI: They have to dip into the general fund. And the general fund is what supports classrooms.

AUBREY: To address this, the School Nutrition Association is lobbying lawmakers to relax some of the nutrition rules.

RONNEI: We'd love to see changes with the sodium and whole grains in order to have some flexibility.

AUBREY: The Healthy Hungry-free Kids Act is now 5 years old. And Congress begins the process of reauthorizing the law this month. The School Nutrition Association has found some lawmakers who support the changes they're asking for. But Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, whose department oversees the school nutrition programs, says he's opposed to any rollbacks.

TOM VILSACK: This is not the time to take a step back. This is a time to double down.

AUBREY: Vilsack says there's good evidence that the law is doing exactly what it was intended to do.

VILSACK: The CDC just recently came out with a report that indicates the meals are indeed healthier. A study from Harvard Public Health School shows that kids are eating more fruits and vegetables.

AUBREY: And given the evidence that links salt to high blood pressure, Vilsack says it does not make sense to cave in and weaken any of the nutrition standards.

VILSACK: This is what we need to be doing for the benefit of our children.

"And that means food will just taste different" is a polite way of saying dog food.

Also, Secretary Vilsack wants to double down on these brutal regulations!

Thankfully he only gets to torture 29 million students this year with awful food instead of 30 million.
I suppose the problem will solve itself in 29 more years when the healthiest possible school meals are perfected, and 0 children eat them.


Here is the screaming wall of text about how deeply unpopular they are:
https://twitter.com/search?f=realtime&q=#thanksmichelleobama&src=typd

 

[brennan]

Guarranteeing one midday meal with 750-850 Calories is not starving kids. Nor does roast chicken become instantly tasteless without the addition of barbeque sauce.

 

[CavLancer]

I've had tasteless chicken in America. I think they load them with steroids like the cows. The chickens here are smaller but taste like chicken.

I don't take drugs like that Kaitzilla, and believe I never would. Anti depressants make people do crazy things...

 

[warpus]

Just charge less for healthy meals that kids are refusing to buy. If they have the option of a $4 brocolli goulash (or whatever) vs a $6 happy meal, they might very well go for the greens. If the burger is cheaper, guess what..

This of course would have to be subsidized in some way, preferably with federal money. You don't want schools to have to dip into other parts of their budget to make this happen.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

There are other ways to flavor food than sugar and salt. And if vegetables and chicken are prepared properly (and if they're fresh), they shouldn't need extra flavoring.

That said, I don't blame kids one bit for not wanting to eat green beans. Those are disgusting, and as recently as a couple of months ago I couldn't force myself to eat them (and I tried, telling myself that they're nutritious, good for me, etc. - and still couldn't do it).

But why are they throwing milk away?

As for how much they get... I spent many years in school situations where lunch consisted of a sandwich and either milk or fruit juice. Sometimes, if we had bananas, I'd take one of them along.

I never bought lunch in my high school cafeteria, since the whole hallway reeked of ketchup (seems just about everyone who ate there bought french fries). I'd find a quiet bench somewhere, or sit on the floor beside my locker and eat my sandwich and drink my apple juice. After I started working in the library, I was allowed to eat in the back office (but had to do it fast, since we couldn't leave the main checkout desk unattended). And when I had club meetings during noon hour, that's when I took a bit extra, since I had more time to eat it.

Are the kids in these schools not allowed to bring lunch from home? Sandwiches don't cost that much if you make them yourself, and there are all kinds of nutritious ways to do it that kids will like. I remember one year when my mother was relieved that there wasn't a fight over school lunches because I was in my sardine sandwich phase - all she needed to do was make a sardine sandwich, put in a couple of cookies or a banana, make sure my monthly milk account was paid up (there was a milk program at school), and I was good to go. And since the other kids got the crazy notion that sardines = cat food, nobody ever tried to steal my lunch.