School Food Crisis

When considering the topic of stealth health, I couldn't help but think about all of the students in lunch rooms across America, and that in large part, the idea of stealth health would have to be aimed at them. But I have a hard time seeing this being implemented with school food programs being in such a crisis to begin with.

School lunch programs are under attack across America due to shortened lunch periods and the lack of nutritious options available to students. School officials say this is due to constrained lunch budgets.

Fresh foods and grains tend to be more pricey than other items found on school menus, like pizza and cheeseburgers. Unfortunately, the most expensive items on the list are often the first items to be cut, leaving students without any fruit, vegetable or whole grain options.

Needless to say, this doesn't leave much choice for students who prefer vegetarian options. Too often the only options for students maintaining a vegetarian diet are limited to PB&J sandwiches on white bread or cheese pizza. Sure, these foods meet the basic vegetarian requirements, but are they really the best choices? Should they be the only choices?

Moving on to shortened lunch periods. Schools today are trying to feed between 500 & 1,500 students in a one and a half hour window. Lunch rooms are often too small or ill equipped to serve this many students all at once. The solution adopted in many districts has been to shorten the length of many lunch periods in order to squeeze more periods and more students into the same one and a half hour window.

There is much debate about whether the shortened lunch period, fast food scarfing atmosphere is financially motivated or whether it is the result of overcrowded schools. If monies could be redirected or funding for health lunches could be increased, then fruits and vegetables could be added to lunch menus. Lunch rooms could be expanded to appropriately accommodate students.

On the other hand, if we could solve the issue of school overcrowding, there there would be less students to feed at any given time. However, this means building more schools, and that becomes yet another financial issue. In the end, this argument could go round and round. Budgets will always exist. There is no way to get around them. Perhaps we need to begin looking for solutions to our school food problems that are both cost effective and nutritious. Any ideas?
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