The crusade for better school meals - a real change

The crusade for better school meals - a real change

Recently, the media has reported new findings about the increase in childhood diabetes and its dire consequences. This news has once again raised the alarm about the growing obesity epidemic among our children and young people. The problem is so serious that experts are recommending drastic changes to our children's diets. But could complacency, denial and ignorance among the adult population prevent our young people from receiving the help and education they need to make these drastic changes?

Dining tables and trays for the school canteen

In a recent school screening visit to a high-ranking east college for one of my daughters, I had the opportunity to ask questions about the quality of the food that is offered in the campus cafeteria. Was the food in your school free of pesticides? Wasn't it genetically modified? What about meat sources? Were hormones and antibiotics injected to the students in factory farming? Were there natural, healthy and biological food options in the cafeteria, which were taken over by some of the most modern schools across the country such as Yale, UC Berkley, Duke and Oberlin Colleges?

The question seemed to be amazed at the college employee. She said she was not sure about the quality of the food in the cafeteria. She did not know whether the focus was on offering natural, vegetarian or biological options to the students. It was not clear that the school provided nutrition food that appealed to some of the serious health concerns with which Americans are faced with ever younger age ... eyes.

This reaction appears to be typical of school professionals at all levels of education. I recently had the opportunity to interview the food service directors of our local educational institutions about nutritional quality and education in elementary, middle and high schools. I was told that kids wouldn't eat healthy-looking food and that they just wanted the food you'd find at any fast food restaurant. Furthermore, they implied that it was not the responsibility of the school system to provide healthy food for children. That is the job of the parents.

I agree that healthy eating habits start at home and parents have to demonstrate their children in the kitchen and at the dining table, but that does not release our education system from its responsibility to teach good nutrition. Our schools have to inform about the elements of good nutrition and train and proceed with a good example. That means clean, healthy canteen meals. And healthy means and should not mean "uncomfortable for the taste buds of children". Healthy, natural food, prepared with good recipes, can be far more delicious than the fast food that is on the nun lunch menu of the school canteen today.

Unfortunately, political concerns have hindered the progress of the campaign for better school meals. We cannot afford to turn a blind eye to this important issue and allow large food conglomerates to dominate the school cafeteria by default.

Healthy food from the romper room to retirement

The basis for a lifelong healthy eating begins in early childhood. When we bring children closer to healthy, natural food, give them nutritional knowledge and teach them how to prepare delicious meals, they will probably continue to continue good eating habits until adulthood.

Taking children to the local farmers market to purchase produce is an example of expanding the way we learn about food and shop.

We need a revolutionary approach to transform our food system. Intake of cafeteria food is critical if we want to stave off childhood obesity, malnutrition and diseases caused by poor nutrition in our youth. The evolution of our planet's food depends on a gentle but decisive revolution in the market, the kitchen and the cafeteria.