From Your Health Journal…..”I am always applauding Time.com for their great articles, and hope to bring traffic to their site, as I am with today’s article review about healthy school lunches. As some of you know, the USDA came out with new guidelines for healthier school lunches, but as healthy as they may have changed to, children were complaining of being hungry and not satisfied with their lunch. Many children who were very active, or just had fast metabolisms had a hard time with going on with their day as they were hungry, which impacted learning, physical skills, and an overall good feeling. The new requirements of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National School Lunch Program, put in place in January 2012, include eliminating full-fat milk, boosting whole-grain foods and reducing total calories on menus, and some schools are finding it a challenge to make their menus work under these regulations. Then, students starting speaking out against the new menus, even creating videos that went viral about this issue. So, a small controversy has begun, as the USDA has tweaked their guidelines which may help some students. Some people were happy with this, some were not, as the feel the USDA did not make enough adjustments. The USDA felt that some school districts actually got positive feedback with their new guidelines. Please visit Time.com (link provided below) to read the complete article.”

From the article…..

A viral video of students complaining about skimpy school meals prompts much needed adjustments to cafeteria menus.

Schools across the country continue to struggle with implementing the first new nutritional guidelines in 15 years governing meals served to nearly 32 million U.S. students every day. The new requirements of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National School Lunch Program, put in place in January 2012, include eliminating full-fat milk, boosting whole-grain foods and reducing total calories on menus, and some schools are finding it a challenge to make their menus work under these regulations. Amid pressure from government officials, however, the USDA recently loosened up on some of its requirements on meat and grains.

Throughout the school year, school officials complained that the calorie ranges under the new standards are too restrictive, leaving highly active kids, many of whom participate in intensive sports programs, hungry. Students from Wallace County High School in Sharon Springs, Kans., brought nationwide attention to the scanty lunch menus when they released a parody video highlighting the inadequate calories in the new meals. When parents and nutritionists pressured schools, several Senators from farm states, including North Dakota Senator John Hoeven, appealed to the USDA to adjust the requirements.

In response to the criticism, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced in a letter to Hoeven and Congress that the USDA would lift the cap on meat portions and loosen its requirement on grains. Vilsack writes:

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