Students would rather starve than eat healthy

Espressocycle
Espressocycle Posts: 2,245 Member
edited October 6 in Food and Nutrition
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/22/students-say-no-to-healthy-school-fare/?gwh=9A3BA0EB113832756B61F4FACE243AF0

Granted, LA was trying to get kids to eat stuff like quinoa salad when they just aren't used to that sort of food, but I find it depressing that kids were throwing away healthy food and then suffering from headaches and anemia from not eating. I wonder how long such kids would go without any food before finally eating carribean meatballs? Days? Weedks? Until death?

Full text below:

The Los Angeles Unified School District broke new ground earlier this year when it started phasing out junk food and offering students healthful new fare. The decision by L.A. Unified, one of the largest districts in the nation, to swap out corn dogs and chocolate milk for quinoa salads and vegetarian curries was seen as a move that might inspire other districts across the country to do the same.

But this week The Los Angeles Times reports that the revamped school menus have been less than popular. Students have been throwing away meals and bringing their own junk food to school, forcing the district to bring back some of the foods it worked so hard to replace:

Many of the meals are being rejected en masse. Participation in the school lunch program has dropped by thousands of students. Principals report massive waste, with unopened milk cartons and uneaten entrees being thrown away. Students are ditching lunch, and some say they’re suffering from headaches, stomach pains and even anemia. At many campuses, an underground market for chips, candy, fast-food burgers and other taboo fare is thriving.

Acknowledging the complaints, L.A. Unified’s food services director, Dennis Barrett, announced this month that the menu would be revised. Hamburgers will be offered daily. Some of the more exotic dishes are out, including the beef jambalaya, vegetable curry, pad Thai, lentil and brown rice cutlets, and quinoa and black-eyed pea salads. And the Caribbean meatball sauce will be changed to the more familiar teriyaki flavor.

The district is even bringing back pizza — albeit with a whole-wheat crust, low-fat cheese and low-sodium sauce, according to food services deputy director David Binkle.

“We’re trying to put healthier foods in place and make food [that] kids like, and that’s a challenge,” Binkle said. “But we want to be responsive and listen and learn.”.

Replies

  • Keiras_Mom
    Keiras_Mom Posts: 844 Member
    Sad. Thanks for sharing.
  • mrmanmeat
    mrmanmeat Posts: 1,968 Member
    It's the parents fault.
  • Espressocycle
    Espressocycle Posts: 2,245 Member
    To be fair, I suspect some of the new dishes were poorly prepared by staff more used to just opening cans and pouring them into hotel pans.
  • westcoastSW
    westcoastSW Posts: 320 Member
    That is sad. I live in LA (no kids though -- so no direct experience with LAUSD), and there's such huge ethnic diversity that I think it's great to offer foods besides the "traditional" hamburgers and pizza. Evidently though, it was too great a shift too quickly for kids' palates. Unfortunate :frown:
  • solman66
    solman66 Posts: 175 Member
    I can't blame the kids, I wouldn't eat half that stuff either.
  • jsuaccounting
    jsuaccounting Posts: 189 Member
    To be fair, I suspect some of the new dishes were poorly prepared by staff more used to just opening cans and pouring them into hotel pans.

    Yes, I share your thoughts. Poorly prepared foods can be made to taste good by adding lots of sugar, cheese, and oils. Otherwise, food quality and preparation needs to at a higher level. This takes attention to detail in purchasing and preparation, as well as proper food preparation techniques.
  • theome
    theome Posts: 101 Member
    i wonder what the ages where. Changes like this need to be made at the younger level, primary school and middle school levels. If you push something like this on teenagers- this kind of response i figured.

    When i was in high school our district got healthy but only the highschools. They took away soda, pizza, cookies, chips, replaced milk with (expired) soymilk. It did no go over very well to say the least. Kids where infact selling junk food from lockers. It only lasted a year before things went back to the way they where except they charged more for junk food and lowered the prices of the more healthy options.
  • kit_katty
    kit_katty Posts: 992 Member
    Pad Thai isn't exactly healthy... personally I'd love to try pretty much all of what they have listed, then again I'm not a kid anymore... They should have done baby steps... sheesh.
  • lessac
    lessac Posts: 105 Member
    Reminds me this: http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/what-school-lunches-look-like-in-20-countries-arou

    School lunches tell a lot about eating habits of a country.
  • crzyone
    crzyone Posts: 872 Member
    I am a school teacher and the past few years we have made a real attempt to teach the kids about making "healthy choices." We have a salad bar with a big fruit bowl every day. I have been really proud of our high school kids lately (Well, I've just noticed it lately) that they eat a lot of fruit. Many of them will bring an apple or orange out with them to eat on break and some of them get really excited when there are grapefruits or peaches in the bowl. It's kind of amazed me because I don't remember being taught such as a teenager nor do I remember that I would choose healthy when given the opportunity, so hopefully our efforts have been helping.
  • cantobean
    cantobean Posts: 287 Member
    That is really sad. But I have to say, it was pretty naive of the LA schools to think that kids who had never heard of things like quinoa and pad thai to eat and enjoy them right away. I love those foods, but kids want to eat things that are familiar, that their families eat, and that they can pronounce. And it is not the parents' fault that they don't have access to foods like quinoa and pad thai. It is all wrapped up in culture, income, family traditions, and the businesses and restaurants in your neighborhood.

    There IS a way to make healthy meals that are more familiar to the average urban American student. What about turkey sandwiches on whole wheat bread? Or grilled chicken breast with broccoli and rice? Roasted turkey with mashed sweet potatoes? There are definitely healthy options that kids can understand, access, be familiar with.
  • mgmlap
    mgmlap Posts: 1,377 Member
    My daughter has friends wo literally will starve themselves..,thinking this will make them skinny. So when I pack her lunch....I ALWAYS add extra yogurt, cheese, protein, ect to ensure these girls eat.

    Its sad cause my kid eats breakfast every morning...and lunch and dinner..,.and I control all 3. She feels so much better. On the days I dont do breakfast cause of time constraints..she really feels it. Besides..my kid sees what I eat..and marvels that I have lost 40 pounds..so she understands the whole . "i have to eat to get fit"
  • theome
    theome Posts: 101 Member

    There IS a way to make healthy meals that are more familiar to the average urban American student. What about turkey sandwiches on whole wheat bread? Or grilled chicken breast with broccoli and rice? Roasted turkey with mashed sweet potatoes? There are definitely healthy options that kids can understand, access, be familiar with.

    this.
  • Troll
    Troll Posts: 922 Member
    some of that sounded yummy, until i remembered lunch ladies at my school could ruin canned gravy and frozen chicken nuggets. If you serve that kind of food, you have to hire people that can prepare it.
  • Bentley2718
    Bentley2718 Posts: 1,689 Member
    I doubt LA Unified hires great chefs, so they easily could have been producing food that even people who normally like the dishes being served wouldn't eat. Also, that is a huge change from what kids are accustomed to getting, it sounds like too much too fast. I hate to criticize school districts trying to improve food quality, because I know federally funded lunches are on very tight budgets, but maybe they could try smaller changes, like those they made with the pizza. Or try things closer to what kids normally get, like bean and rice burritos which can be made quite healthy, or including more fresh vegetables.
  • ItsMeRebekah
    ItsMeRebekah Posts: 909 Member
    FL is trying to take away potatoes, saying they are not healthy. This is hurting our farmers.
    Also, they are trying to pass a bill to eliminate PE for middle school and up.
  • wish21
    wish21 Posts: 602 Member
    Actually. My school is cutting back to. They have decided we are too "overweight" so they decided to bring in healthy things. Here's the thing we are put on a strict budget. So are lunches aren't healthy for one they are the same, but less. Like for example one time at lunch they served us 5 french fries and 2 chicken strips as the main meal. I didn't go to lunch that day so I have no idea what the rest was. I do not eat lunch any more because 1) I am counting cals and 2)I am saving a lot of money. Oh I am a junior in High School. I bring my lunch
  • JeremiahStone
    JeremiahStone Posts: 682 Member
    Most of those diss require careful preparation. They were probably poorly prepared. Nothing better than some jambalaya or rice with curry chicken :) unless its made by some hobo..
  • HealthyAcademic
    HealthyAcademic Posts: 85 Member
    I worked at a summer program where one year the chefs (who were amazing) tried to serve healthy salads and soups. The kids would just go order pizza for delivery. It was really sad. The food was delicious.

    It does need to be introduced slowly and in small amounts. And introduced at a younger age.

    My students will try a bite of something if I insist it is tasty. But they wouldn't eat it on their own and probably wouldn't eat more than a bite or two.
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