Students strike against new federal school lunch rules

[Steadfast]

Mukwonago - By 7 a.m. Monday, senior Nick Blohm already had burned about 250 calories in the Mukwonago High School weight room.

He grabbed a bagel and a Gatorade afterward; if he eats before lifting, he gets sick.

That was followed by eight periods in the classroom, and then three hours of football practice. By the time he headed home, he had burned upward of 3,000 calories - his coach thinks the number is even higher.

But the calorie cap for his school lunch? 850 calories.

"A lot of us are starting to get hungry even before the practice begins," Blohm said. "Our metabolisms are all sped up."

Following new federal guidelines, school districts nationwide have retooled their menus to meet new requirements to serve more whole grains, only low-fat or nonfat milk, daily helpings of both fruits and vegetables, and fewer sugary and salty items. And for the first time, federal funds for school lunches mandate age-aligned calorie maximums. The adjustments are part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 touted by Michelle Obama and use the updated Dietary Guidelines for Americans from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

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[rangertough]

It strikes me that if you play a sport (which is an extra-curricular activity) then you need to be willing to bring in more chow to satisfy your dietary needs.

I have no idea what percentage of a highschool is student athletes but I will bet good money that there are more students that are obese than athletes.

Tough

[Steadfast]

If I were going to HS now I'd be siding with senior Nick Blohm.

Growing up, we moved (when I was 8.5) to a project in Brooklyn, NY (about 2 miles out of Coney Island) 56 families to a building - plus 30 something buildings.
Lots of fun as kids. Always some sport to play for the 15 years I lived there. My favorite in the summer was handball, spent 7 years on the courts while daylight was available.

I was never a big eater but cleaned my plate. Guess we were blessed by not having potato chips in the house.
I was always skinny as a rail. I went to a parochial school in Coney Island located 2 blocks from the Parachute Jump ride.
My brother & I ran 2 miles home to eat lunch and then usually ran back to school in a hours time. We did it for years.

Today if I did that and ate at school lunches I'd of prolly died of malnutrition. And/or my mom would have been thrown in jail for feeding us lunch.

Kids need physical activity - so toss those electronic games or disallow them at school but let them eat what they want.

[Lefty]

It strikes me that if you play a sport (which is an extra-curricular activity) then you need to be willing to bring in more chow to satisfy your dietary needs.

I have no idea what percentage of a highschool is student athletes but I will bet good money that there are more students that are obese than athletes.

Tough

Agree. Also believe it more the responsibility of the parents to control their children's diets than the school. It is not the school lunches that make the kids unhealthy and overweight.

[Jim]

Also believe it more the responsibility of the parents to control their children's diets than the school. It is not the school lunches that make the kids unhealthy and overweight.

Today's parents don't feed their chldren properly. Only one, of many responsibilities they have transferred to the schools.

[rgrokelley]

I'm glad this happened. Michelle Obama has devastated the school lunch program. Limited calories, because you might get fat... however when you have athletic students (many of my JROTC cadets are) they burn more calories. In the cafeteria the menus have been made "PC" so kids eat healthy. Examples? No salt. Nada. None. Also, no mayonnaise. If there is a chicken salad or something that requires mayo, yogurt is used in its place. You may have heard of the cafeteria police that drop in to make sure students are not bringing anything unhealthy from home. The most famous story was a few months ago, when a little girl, here in NC, had her lunch taken away by a government worker, and told that her mother didn't know any better.

The lunch was a turkey sandwich, an apple and a fruit drink. It didn't meet Michelle's standards, so they confiscated the kid's lunch from home and gave her fried chicken bits.

Fundamentally change.

You get the government you deserve

[Jim]

You get the government you deserve

Amen, brother!