The Evolution of School Lunches

Thinking back to my glory days of my freshman year of high school I can distinctly remember the absurdly unhealthy school lunches that I ate every single day and the pleasure that I took in doing so. I can still taste the uncooked chocolate chip cookies and Arizona iced teas that I would end my meal with so frequently. Fast forward to my senior year and the list of changes that have been made to school lunches seem to be endless. Arizona iced tea was no longer sold, the cookies were burnt to a crisp, and any “hot lunch” being served was whole wheat or reduced fat. I think I can still hear the hushed whispers of everyone mumbling “thanks Michelle Obama” after they threw away their half-eaten “healthy” lunch to get some reduced fat dessert if I listen close enough.

When Barack Obama was elected to his second term in office was when it seemed that the first lady really found her voice. The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 gave Michelle Obama the authority to approve snack and lunches that are being served around the United States.  With this new found power, Obama was able to remove all snack food from schools while limiting every child’s caloric intake to 750-850 during the school day. While I can see where Obama is coming from with a genuine concern for our nation’s rising rates of childhood obesity, I can only wonder if there is a better way to go about bettering the population’s healthy while not limiting schools on what can and can’t be sold to the student body. Not only are the students unhappy with what is being served to them daily, but parents are in an uproar, as well, because that is where their money is going. For some people, this is a non-issue, but for others it seems like the end of the world. Children and their parents are responsible for that they are consuming, so why should the government have such a strong involvement? Perhaps schools can limit the number of treats that are sold instead of eliminating them completely. In addition, they should still sell the lunches that were once sold but limit the portion sizes. There are ways to make a lunch healthy and appetizing at the same time, but this is something that very clearly is not being accomplished. Maybe in the future there will be some sort of happy medium that will please students and their parents while benefiting their general health in the long run.