In Texas schools, a picture's worth 1,000 calories

MikeInAZ
MikeInAZ Posts: 483 Member
edited September 27 in Food and Nutrition
Read the whole story here....

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110511/ap_on_hi_te/us_calorie_camera

So this school in Texas spends $2M creating a program that photographs the lunch trays of kids. Then when they're done eating, it takes another snap shot. It can then determine exactly what the kid ate, how many calories, fat, sodium etc. And the parents can go to a website and see what their little ones are eating.

This was grant money and is an experiment set out by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. So at least the state didn't blow the money on this.. But still I think this is a terrible waste of money to spend on a public school. How about spending $2M over hauling the lunches they serve? Or saving a few jobs??

At my daughters school, they serve pizza, burgers, chicken nuggets, tacos, "crustible" PB&J, canned fruit in syrup, hot dogs, corn dogs, chocolate milk (that has more sugar than a 12oz can of coke), french fries, shall I keep going?. Oh but they have a salad bar which every kid can choose from (but seldom do). There is nothing they serve which isn't processed, canned, or fried.

We only let her get school lunch about every 2 weeks, as a treat (or days we forgot to make a lunch). Otherwise, she gets relatively healthy foods. At Her school, the meals are not subsidized , but I know some places, they are, and the kids eat this food daily. Gee, and you wonder why the kids are fat? It's not that Mom and Dad take them to McDonalds a couple times a week. It's the school lunches!!

Replies

  • denise980
    denise980 Posts: 296
    Oh my, this is very strange. I agree with you though. The food that the schools are serving needs to be looked at. The school that I work at has a lot of healthy choices, but we still have some kids that will eat just a bowl full of goldfish for lunch AND dinner (I work at a boarding school) and they are wondering why they are tired and not healthy...
  • krixi
    krixi Posts: 44 Member
    I think it's horrendous. I've spent time in America, and know what you're talking about. However, I grew up in Norway where the only thing that was offered in terms of food to buy was milk (not flavoured and sugary, pure milk), and fruit. Obviously everyone brought their lunch, so the parents chose what exactly the kids ate.

    I don't understand the logic behind offering that kind of junk food to children. Why would they create such bad habits that will last a lifetime, and start a weight struggle for so many people in the future.
  • MichelleB69
    MichelleB69 Posts: 213 Member
    WOW! What a colossal waste of money...what do they plan to do with the results? Make MORE chicken nugget days because that is the most popular food? I think you make an excellent point about the money being better spent overhauling the school lunch program...but it's amazing what the gov't will fund and what they won't :(

    Neither of my kids like the hot lunches served at our schools (typical nasty hot lunch food laden with fat, sodium and calories) so we pack. There are so many better options available than our local hot lunch program. But I also understand that for some kids, this may be the only hot meal of the day for them. Even more reason to make it a healthy one.
  • lajuice24
    lajuice24 Posts: 409 Member
    This is such BS. I can not believe they would waste money like that. Money that is needed very much so inside our classrooms. My son takes his lunch to school and every once in a while I will allow him to get lunch at school, but so much of it is pre-fab and not healthy at all.
  • mbulz53
    mbulz53 Posts: 26 Member
    ..
  • Noctuary
    Noctuary Posts: 255
    I was a low income kid. And you sort of have no real options sometimes. It's sad. I think the money was a good way to spend it. I mean they could have spent it buying more chicken nuggets. But I think showing the real problem in pictures is more moving then a graph or charts and figures.
  • _Bro
    _Bro Posts: 437 Member
    What a waste of money -- they should have just revamped the cafeteria meal plan!

    Changing the menu, investing in training staff, creating a program to leverage buying power with other schools in the same district, buy from local producers, etc...
  • maurilax
    maurilax Posts: 51 Member
    at first i thought that this was a ridiculous waste of money. Now im convinced that it is at least a good attempt to make a real change. generally with large organizations like a school board you need evidence to prove to them to make a change. just because you say the kids are eating unhealthy without some kind of proof to back it up they will never budge.

    I really hope that the reason behind this is to show that kids in schools need to eat better. if it costs 2 million dollars to make a change that could potentially be the start of eliminating Americas problem with obesity then it is just a drop in the bucket compared to the health care costs of the epidemic.
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