From Your Health Journal…..”I recently found an interesting article by Mary Clare Jalonick that appeared on the Today Show web site via The Associated Press. The article is entitled New rules aim to get rid of junk foods in schools. Childhood obesity is rising all over the world, as so many children now show signs for heart disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes, weaker joints, and other chronic health conditions. On top of this, many of these obese or overweight children have low self esteem, get picked on at school, and have a hard time performing daily tasks like climbing up steps. Physical education classes are being reduced, as well as recreation programs. School lunches in the past have been high in fat / calories, and highly processed. Many children even have access to vending machines at school with unhealthy choices. But, for the first time, the government is proposing broad new standards to make sure all foods sold in schools are more healthful. Foods like fatty chips, snack cakes, nachos and mozzarella sticks would be taken out of lunch lines and vending machines. In their place would be foods like baked chips, trail mix, diet sodas, lower-calorie sports drinks and low-fat hamburgers. The new rules are the latest in a long list of changes designed to make foods served in schools more healthful and accessible. Nutritional guidelines for the subsidized lunches were revised last year and put in place last fall. The 2010 child nutrition law also provided more money for schools to serve free and reduced-cost lunches and required more meals to be served to hungry kids. Please support the Today.com web site by reading the complete article (link provided below), as this is information most parents should understand.”
From the article…..
Most candy, high-calorie drinks and greasy meals could soon be on a food blacklist in the nation’s schools.
For the first time, the government is proposing broad new standards to make sure all foods sold in schools are more healthful.
Under the new rules the Agriculture Department proposed Friday, foods like fatty chips, snack cakes, nachos and mozzarella sticks would be taken out of lunch lines and vending machines. In their place would be foods like baked chips, trail mix, diet sodas, lower-calorie sports drinks and low-fat hamburgers.
The rules, required under a child nutrition law passed by Congress in 2010, are part of the government’s effort to combat childhood obesity. While many schools already have improved their lunch menus and vending machine choices, others still are selling high-fat, high-calorie foods.
Under the proposal, the Agriculture Department would set fat, calorie, sugar and sodium limits on almost all foods sold in schools. Current standards already regulate the nutritional content of school breakfasts and lunches that are subsidized by the federal government, but most lunchrooms also have “a la carte” lines that sell other foods. Food sold through vending machines and in other ways outside the lunchroom has never before been federally regulated.
“Parents and teachers work hard to instill healthy eating habits in our kids, and these efforts should be supported when kids walk through the schoolhouse door,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said.
Most snacks sold in school would have to have less than 200 calories. Elementary and middle schools could sell only water, low-fat milk or 100 percent fruit or vegetable juice. High schools could sell some sports drinks, diet sodas and iced teas, but the calories would be limited. Drinks would be limited to 12-ounce portions in middle schools and to 8-ounce portions in elementary schools.
To read the full article…..Click here