School Lunch Standards

Improving school lunch programs is a popular topic these days and for good reason. Most public schools have given in to the big money maker companies and have scaled down food service costs by preparing fast processed foods. I asked a student what the typical lunch consists of and she said: fried nuggets, fried chips, cookies and a soda or sports drink. So the typical meal does not have anything fresh, like fruits or vegetable, and is filled with hydrogenated fats, sugar, and chemicals.

Sunshine Wellness is proud to offer a healthy alternative to children, parents, and schools. We have expanded our services to prepare and deliver healthy lunches to schools in the Santa Barbara area! As a Registered Dietitian, my passion has always been to educate and provide our youth with healthy, natural food in hopes to instill good nutrition habits forever.

There was a documentary showing a few weeks ago called Two Angry Moms. It’s about two moms who are fed up with the food served in public schools as well as the politics involved and they crusade to make a difference.
www.angrymoms.org

There’s now a local program called s’COOL FOOD Initiative funded by The Orfalea Fund. Their mission is to create a community of healthy children across Santa Barbara County who make educated food choices throughout their lives.
www.sCoolFood.org

In order for you to understand the magnitude of this problem, here are some recent statistics from Two Angry Moms:

• 35% of American Children are obese or at risk.
• This generation of children will be the first in the nation’s history to live shorter lives than their parents.
• 30% of boys born in 2000 and 40% of girls will develop diabetes.
• There are soaring rates of asthma, ADD, anxiety, autism, learning disorders and depression among children.
• 1 in 4 children take a prescription medication daily for these chronic illnesses.
• Americans spend 200 billion/year in diet related health care costs. Twice as much than any other developed country.
• 50% of all cancer could be prevented through healthy diet and exercise.

As a parent who cares, here are some things that you can do:

• Have lunch with your child at school to see their lunch program first hand. If you are not happy with it, join your School District Wellness Committee or school board meetings.
• Plant a garden with your child. Pick produce with them and show them how to use it in your meals.
• Take your child to the farmer’s market every week.
• Serve lots of fresh produce at home. Add fun dips, like nut butter, yogurt and hummus.
• Rid your cabinets and refrigerator of packaged products that contain high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, artificial sweeteners, and other chemicals.
• Plan and cook at least 1 meal a week together.
• If your child prefers, pack healthy lunches for school.

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