Newsday's Article on School Lunches

www.DrWeigh.com

The recent articles in Newsday about school lunches were interesting. Schools need to make money (or at least not lose money) on food sales. The sad truth is that the healthier the meal, the fewer kids want to buy it. One statistic showed that schools make up to half their profits on the sale of chips and cookies. At a recent PTA meeting in my district, the moms told me that their kids have been complaining about the pizza. They said that the children no longer wanted to buy lunch on 'pizza Fridays'. This change occurred at the same time the school began serving whole wheat pizza with low-fat cheese. I don't know how to solve this dilemma. Perhaps as parents we need to convince our children that healthier food is better for our bodies, even if it doesn't taste as good. My experience has shown me that school officials are more than happy to make these healthy changes. It is the parents (and the children) who are hampering the process. Parents want school lunches that their children will eat. And children don't want to eat the healthier options. At our PTA meeting, the parents will asking for the old (more fattening) pizza instead of the healthier pizza. Personally, I tell my kids that they need to eat the healthier food. I don't really give them a choice. If they don't like the school option, they can bring a healthy lunch from home. But then the school loses money. It is a hard situation.