Lauren and I get a weekend edition of the Dallas Morning News (it's free, so I think everybody gets it), and there was a really interesting article in it yesterday:
FAVORITE EXCERPTS
So long, nachos. Hello, brown rice. Dallas school students can also say goodbye to high-sugar cereals, potato chips and sundry other snacks when they return to school this fall.
Finally! Not that school lunches have any impact on me since I don't have any kids, but this at least shows that somebody is paying attention and making things happen. This new system still may not be perfect, but who could argue that taking nachos off the menu isn't a step in the right direction!
The marching orders to improve children's nutrition come from the top. First lady Michelle Obama has made the issue a hallmark of her office, and the U.S. Agriculture Department has a competition encouraging schools to offer more nutritious food.
I am absolutely not going to get into a political debate, but this is a move that I will applaud.
Hamburgers and oven fries will be offered only once every two weeks at the middle school and elementary level. And breaded and pre-fried foods will be on the menu more sparingly. New items will include black bean burgers, hummus plates and Asian chicken bowls. Romaine lettuce and spinach will take the place of iceberg lettuce in salads. Brown rice will replace white rice.
Just like with most things, to truly make change it must be addressed via progressions. Rather than eliminating fries, they will bake them in the oven vs. deep-frying them and they will serve them less often. Continue to serve burgers, but instead of beef (low-quality, most likely) all the time mix in some black bean burgers. Iceburg lettuce = waste of space. So seeing this get replaced with spinach and romaine is a wonderful thing. Over time, significant changes will definitely take place.
The healthy upgrades do come at a price. DISD already spends about $80 million each year providing 120,000 lunches, 46,000 breakfasts and 10,000 after-school snacks. The new menu's food and supplies could cost up to an extra $3 million this year, said Brad Trudeau, the district's director of food production and procurement.
Sure $3 million is a lot of money, but let's be honest, it only represents a 3.75% cost increase over the previous year and an infinite improvement in quality. We can't even begin to calculate the costs saved in other areas such as a reduction in the childhood obesity epidemic, future healthcare costs saved for these children, and so on.
Bravo DISD.
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