No more junk food in schools

Not wanting to aid the obesity problem is a waste of money?

It appears that parents are still allowed to send whatever food in their child's PACKED LUNCH that they want. Schools just won't be selling the stuff. So what exactly is the problem?

What if at a job, your boss said we want you to be healthier, so we won't sell Coca Cola anymore and we won't stock the vending machine with 500 calorie candy bars. BUT ... you can still bring them to work from home.

So .... what's the problem? Nobody is telling you what to eat. They simply won't provide it.

Yes it is a waste of money. I fail to see how taking junk food out of the school is going to help when you just pointed out the fact that the kids who pack their lunches can bring whatever they want. So now kids will just brown bag it so they can have their cheetos, cookies, soda etc. Unless, like I stated in a previous post, they begin policing the packed lunches, searching them and confiscating the contraband food. In all honesty with the way things are going I wouldn't put it past the schools and the government to start doing this.

Unless, like I stated in a previous post, they begin policing the packed lunches, searching them and confiscating the contraband food. In all honesty with the way things are going I wouldn't put it past the schools and the government to start doing this.

Let us not hold parents accountable for food choices of their children. That would make too much sense.

I purposely have not read any of this thread besides the OP (the 2nd posts eye rolling was enough) and here are my 2 cents. I'm a teacher, a fairly young teacher, this is my 6th year teaching in a VERY poor school district (5th poorest in the good ole US of A). ALL of our students are on free or reduced lunch. Here is an example of a normal meal in one day, and they are the same every week; breakfast is a chocolate, full fat milk, a 'juice' box, a pre packaged waffle with the syrup already added in and and an optional fruit salad with heavy syrup. Lunch: another chocolate, full fat milk, a 'juice' box, a slice of cheese or pepperoni pizza, an optional side of canned green beans, an optional side of fruit in heavy syrup. Just in these two meals, my students are eating more sugar and fat than I eat in 2-3 days and they are in elementary school (2nd grade). All of the meals are served with the 'main dish' (packaged waffle, pizza, uncrustable, etc) on a Styrofoam tray and then they put all of the sides in separate little plastic cups so that the kids don't have to get it and they save money, which means almost no kids in the school get any veggies or fruit on their plates. It is a disgrace. I don't give a God dang if you support Obama, if you're a Republican or if you voted for the freaking tooth fairy, the way we feed our kids in public school is a shame and it has to change. My kids come in and have a mouth full of caps on their teeth b/c their baby teeth have rotted out from all the sugar they eat (and the free, traveling dentist bus is the one who puts the caps on and does their semi annual cleanings, during school ours, b/c they are all too poor to go to the dentist any other way). Half of them are on medication for ADD, ADHD, etc, etc, etc, and you cannot tell me that their diet, most of which is eaten at school, doesn't have a major impact. And the worst part is that these are kids who are getting their meals paid for by us, the tax payers, and that's what they have to eat. And I wouldn't dare deter them from eating it because many of them may not have dinner at night when they go home. So think about that next time you want to roll your eyes at people who are trying to fix this problem.

But does this prepare then for the real world? Temptation will be around as they get older. Its not the governments job to mandate foods.v these lunches cost more more and is given the nutritional info probably ate filled with preservatives and sodium. You can eat better and still be unhealthy without exercise.

This. And, also, it is NOT the government's job or right (and public school is the government) to tell me what to feed my child.

A "friend" of mine posted on FB a while back wanting people to back her up on getting rid of flavored milks in her local schools. Everyone was against it who commented, but she was adamant about it. So a few Nazi-like parents are pushing their personal agendas onto the rest of us.

All schools do now is prep for the test. Everything is about the test. They've dropped art, music and all vocations from the curriculum. They have also shortened the year to save money. They also no longer have physical education. So, I guess the logical next step is to cut recess. I dunno. I think it's crap. When I went to school we had everything. Auto shop, metal shop, wood shop, physical Ed, art, music, etc.

While this is the trend and true in some districts, it is not the case in all schools across the board.

Yeah, Im Talking about Southern California only.

As far as the comment about doing or eating whatever you want, I have to disagree. There are issues here. While my kids are healthy and eat well, some parents think nutrition is a donut and chocolate milk. They are idiotic parents. I think it's good to educate and control kids to the point where they can. Learning about proper nutrition is part of the deal, IMO. It's not some big brother scheme. It's the right thing to do. Why are they giving 5-year-olds a choice? Of course a young kid is going to choose crap. Take that option away. When hey are older, hey can make their own decisions. But, while they are young, they should learn about proper nutrition. A ding dong and a Pepsi is not "lunch", IMO.

I purposely have not read any of this thread besides the OP (the 2nd posts eye rolling was enough) and here are my 2 cents. I'm a teacher, a fairly young teacher, this is my 6th year teaching in a VERY poor school district (5th poorest in the good ole US of A). ALL of our students are on free or reduced lunch. Here is an example of a normal meal in one day, and they are the same every week; breakfast is a chocolate, full fat milk, a 'juice' box, a pre packaged waffle with the syrup already added in and and an optional fruit salad with heavy syrup. Lunch: another chocolate, full fat milk, a 'juice' box, a slice of cheese or pepperoni pizza, an optional side of canned green beans, an optional side of fruit in heavy syrup. Just in these two meals, my students are eating more sugar and fat than I eat in 2-3 days and they are in elementary school (2nd grade). All of the meals are served with the 'main dish' (packaged waffle, pizza, uncrustable, etc) on a Styrofoam tray and then they put all of the sides in separate little plastic cups so that the kids don't have to get it and they save money, which means almost no kids in the school get any veggies or fruit on their plates. It is a disgrace. I don't give a God dang if you support Obama, if you're a Republican or if you voted for the freaking tooth fairy, the way we feed our kids in public school is a shame and it has to change. My kids come in and have a mouth full of caps on their teeth b/c their baby teeth have rotted out from all the sugar they eat (and the free, traveling dentist bus is the one who puts the caps on and does their semi annual cleanings, during school ours, b/c they are all too poor to go to the dentist any other way). Half of them are on medication for ADD, ADHD, etc, etc, etc, and you cannot tell me that their diet, most of which is eaten at school, doesn't have a major impact. And the worst part is that these are kids who are getting their meals paid for by us, the tax payers, and that's what they have to eat. And I wouldn't dare deter them from eating it because many of them may not have dinner at night when they go home. So think about that next time you want to roll your eyes at people who are trying to fix this problem.

Let us not hold parents accountable for food choices of their children. That would make too much sense.

Love this.

I don't see a problem with it. You let the government educate your children, why shouldn't they decide what food can be served to them also?

We also let them build our roadways, why shouldn't they decide what vehicles we drive on them also?

Not too long ago, I probably would be upset. Blah blah blah, freedom of choice, blah blah. But now, I think it's a good idea. These aren't adults making poor choices about their health, these are children. People who can't understand what short term choices mean for their longevity. I seriously think this is a step in the right direction. We need to be healthier in this country. If we are healthier we are more productive, richer (less medical bills), and are able to do more. If parents won't teach healthy eating habits, then we should remove the temptation as much as possible.

If we're talking about government provided lunches? Great, I support what they are doing.

But if they try to tell parents that they can't send foods to school for the kids that pack lunch? That is something I take issue with.

why not have all the kids start wearing school uniforms too, lets just remove all choices in the schools now. This would make commies, socialist and ultra liberals very happy,

A lot of articles are stating that kids can still bring whatever food they want in their own packed lunches. Seems they still have lots of choices.

In high school, I ate Little Debbie snacks and ice cream for munch, then fast food or pizza after school. I was 110 pounds and size 3.

You know what was different then? Gym class and not spending all day in front of video games and computers.

Get rid of all the junk, but as long as they keep getting rid of recess and PE, kids will be overweight. They aren't addressing the real issue.