I have to admit that while I've heard  and read about issues with cafeteria food in schools being unhealthy, I really don't know ]anything about it first han.  My kids are 4 and 2 so they're not eating in a cafeteria at this point.  With the rise of obesisty in the US, it's not surprising that everything kids eat is being analyzed.  A couple weeks ago my 2 year old was put on a high calorie diet for being underweight.  When I looked at the list of recommended high calories foods, I had one thought:  this looks like a cafeteria menu! 

Her Education Blog writes about how she's seeing the very things on the cafeteria that are on my son's high calorie list: pizza, chicken nuggets and fried food.  She has a suggestion for how to go about changing this, "Wouldn’t it be great if all public schools were required to follow health guidelines just as they are required to follow curriculum guidelines?  If the government is going to control the schools then dang it they could do something about the food while they were at it.  Or, and this is probably the solution I like better, they could privatize schools completely.  I’m pretty sure if parents were picking where their kids were going to school and had an influence in where their education dollars were going they’d be more vocal and more insistent in their cries for healthy food."

The Blonde Diaries suggests less radical changes than privatizing the school system.  She mentions the vending machines and writes,  "I was shocked, shocked I tell you, to read the headlines on Yahoo News last week that the FDA is going to approve a cholesterol medication for children 8 and up to help fight the childhood obesity epidemic. I just don’t understand how we as a society could let things get this badly. There is no reason a child should have to be on cholesterol pills nor should there be so many larger children that it is now being deemed an epidemic. The easy thing is to place blame on the parents, genes, or the child but I don’t buy that. I think the bigger issue is society and what we are putting out there and deeming “acceptable” such as not exercising or making healthy choices. I can’t get over the idea that many schools have vending machines filled with crap and allow fast food companies to come in for lunch instead of hiring cafeteria workers to make lunch. We need to help our kids make wiser decisions in every aspect of their lives."

Lest you believe that kids' eating habits must improve during the summer when they are not in school, think again.  Hot days can bring out ice cream, Popsicles and sugary cold drinks like slushies.  The Temple points out,
"It is getting harder to make healthy choices, especially during the summer when it is so easy to lie around all day munching on something or to visit a fast food restaurant every few days. Current statistics show that 32% of the kids in America are obese, and 90% of those kids have a risk factor for heart disease. It is becoming a serious problem, not only in America, but all over the world as obesity rates increase." 

What to feed your child is a parental choice and varies from child to child.  I have one child who is right on target with his weight and  on 1% milk and another  who is underweight and on whole milk.  While my younger son has chicken nuggets on his list of approved foods, I don't want my older son much less my husband or I eating chicken nuggets.  It is a lot harder than you might think to accomadate everyone's different dietary needs, and I can imagine it must be difficult in families where a child needs to lose weight.  Those families have my empathy.  

On the positive side though my home state of MA is trying to pass a bill to make school lunches healthier.  The Hilltown Families writes about House Bill 4376. This bill