What’s for Lunch? Get the Not So Skinny on School Lunches

New research funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture finds that children who eat school lunches are more likely to become overweight – with many of the a la carte choices falling outside certain federal nutrition standards. Childhood obesity tops the list of concerns parents have for their kids. Why? Because American kids are getting fatter.

Is it the food they eat? Fifteen-year-old Tony says his diet was definitely unhealthy. “Chips, popcorn, soda, you name it. If it was there, I’d eat it,” he says.

How much they eat? Eighteen-year-old Matt admits he used to go overboard. “I would eat whole bags of potato chips. … We’d have two-liter bottles of soda; I’d drink probably the whole two liters … in a night,” he says.

Is it lack of exercise? “It’s OK if we want to sit at home, and play video games, and eat all day, and do nothing. I mean, our society has kind of put us that way,” says Jonathan, 16.

Or too much stress? Pediatric dietician Marilyn Tanner says, “It’s very common for kids – and adults – to use food as sort of a coping mechanism.”

The answer? It is all of these.

And according to the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, for the first time this year, childhood obesity tops the list of concerns parents have for their children.

But how can parents turn the tide?

Kathleen Zelman of the American Dietetic Association says: “Do it as a family. Kick them off the couch, get your exercise, stock your house with all kinds of healthy things and try to establish good eating habits, good healthful behaviors.”

Brenda Johnson, mother of an overweight child agrees. “Then it becomes a part of your lifestyle, and that’s what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to change our lifestyle to not being sedentary, but being active and making better choices,” she says.

It isn’t easy. And television, cars and fast food don’t make it any easier, but making better choices means exercise and a healthy diet.

Fifteen-year-old Tony knows that it takes hard work to shed extra pounds. “I wish, wish, there was some kind of a magic pill you could take, but there isn’t. You just gotta struggle through it,” he says.

What We Need To Know

In the past 30 years, childhood obesity has doubled for children between the ages of 2 and 5 and tripled for 6- to-11-year-olds. More than 15 percent of children between 6 and 19 are considered obese. Countering that trend, child advocates say, will require nothing less than a multi-pronged national effort.

Kids Health suggests the following strategies to help steer kids toward healthy food choices, at school and at home:

• Look over the cafeteria menu together. Ask what a typical lunch includes and which meals your kids particularly like. Recommend items that are healthier, but be willing to allow them to buy favorite lunch items occasionally, even if that includes a hot dog.
• Encourage kids to take a packed lunch, at least occasionally. This can put you back in the driver’s seat and help ensure that kids get a nutritious midday meal.

Today, less than 6 percent of high schools require juniors and seniors to take physical education. There is also an “enormous decrease” in the number of school playgrounds. And recess has disappeared in many elementary schools where principals, anxious about preparing students for high-stakes standardized tests, have deemed it “nonproductive.”

• Efforts are under way to reinstate physical education. Recommendations include a minimum of 150 minutes a week for elementary school students and 225 minutes for high school students.
• The Council of Educational Facility Planners International dropped its recommendations calling for vast acreage for large school sites, which will give school districts more flexibility in locating schools on smaller sites in places accessible by walking and biking
• By one estimate, 65 percent of students walked to school 30 years ago. Today only 10 percent do.

For more than 14 million children, accounting for 25 percent of students between kindergarten and 12th grade, no parent is home after school. The child must take care of himself or herself. Many receive strict instructions from parents: Lock the door and don’t go outside. It’s a recipe for inactivity and an opportunity to snack. Only 11 percent of students (6.5 million) attend after-school programs, where they are likely to get a nutritious snack and take part in fitness activities.

The reasons for childhood obesity are complex and cannot be pigeonholed in a single or few causes.

Among the reasons experts cite are:

• Kids’ backpacks are too heavy for walking too school.
• Children rely on school buses or family vehicles for daily transportation.
• Parents are concerned for kids’ safety and no longer permit outside, unsupervised play.
• More homework allows less time for play.
• Many schools have stopped scheduling recess.
• Toy vehicles of today are not kid-powered, but battery-powered.
• Computer games stimulate sports, rather than kids actually playing the sport.
• Kids often eat due to stress or boredom.

New research funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and reported in The Journal of Human Resources finds that federally-funded school lunches are contributing to the obesity epidemic, as children who eat school lunches are more likely to become overweight. Researchers analyzed data on more than 13,500 elementary students – and found that many of the a la carte items offered students fall outside the scope of federal guidelines.

Although cafeteria menus are coming under fire, the problem goes beyond what children eat to include when they eat. Crowded schools must extend lunch hours to serve everyone. An early lunch hour may come when the kids aren’t hungry, they may not eat a healthy meal, and then they’ll snack later. With a late lunch hour, kids might snack first and not be hungry for a good lunch. Finally, students also have limited time to eat.

Resources

• C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Tips for Parents to Help Children Maintain a Healthy Weight
• KidsHealth – School Lunches Kids Love
• WebMD Health on Childhood Obesity

Tags: Childhood Obesity, Cyber Safety, Food Revolution, Sue Scheff, Teen Help, Teen Obesity