A Lunch War Isn't Always a Food Fight

This blog post is part of Blogher's Lunch Wars tour. I have been compensated for this post as part of the BlogHer Book Club, but all of the opinions and ideas expressed here are all.my.very.own. ( As if ANYONE would chose to have my opinions, lol!)

Anyone who has been reading here for longer than, say, a month might notice that I'm pretty passionate about nutrition. We make huge efforts to get enough veggies and fruit in on a daily basis. We limit sodas to special occasions - although my kids do love to stretch the definition of special occasions. We try to eat as whole foods as possible. I make much of our food from scratch. This originally began as a way to combat the food allergens that some of my kids have, but as I started to lose weight and transform the way *I* ate, it naturally became a way that I could control what my family ate.

I will freely own that I'm a bit of a control freak. I'm cool with that - after all, half of the battle is admitting that you have a problem, yes?

School lunches always pull me. I worked in the school cafeteria for three years. I have tremendous resp ect for the ladies who run the cafeteria, and cannot imagine the difficulty that they face every day. Creating a lunch that is a) within a budget guideline b) is nutritious and c) one that kids will eat and d) being mindful of both waste AND food allergens is a close to insurmountable task. To get it all done, day in and day out, is worthy of a great deal of respect. Many of my former co workers read here and I do want you to know that I love and respect them tremendously.

Hug your lunch ladies, people. Hug 'em hard, hug 'em tight. They work their TAILS off every day for many times rude and obnoxious ungrateful kids. Often when they try to prepare a healthier offering, it's scorned and discarded into the trash. Anyone who has seen an episode of Food Revolution knows of what I'm speaking.

I think the problem lies in the fact that things are done to make hot lunches more palatable to kids. Too many people - not just school lunch programs, but all over society in general -  cater to supposed "kid palates " instead of expecting the kids to be adventurous, to eat foods that aren't drenched in ketchup or salt or sugar. To think outside the box is not encouraged.

Case in point: Emma packed her own lunch. She packed 2 lowfat Babybel cheese rounds, 8 whole grain crackers, apple slices, carrot sticks, a Stonyfield Farms yogurt tube and a low fat organic chocolate pudding cup with a bottle of water. She was reprimanded for this lunch because she didn't have a sandwich. What she packed wasn't considered a complete lunch.

What she packed most certainly was a complete lunch. Maybe a bit dairy heavy, but it was a complete lunch. There were no sugary fruit snacks, no chips, no cookies, no high fructose sweetened juice drinks - just food. Kids don't have to eat dinosaur shaped nuggets, blue applesauce cups and fritos. They don't require a sandwich on white bread, made with sugar laden peanut butter and jelly. They will eat real foods - the foods that you enjoy, your kids will enjoy as well.

NOW - hear this loud and clear. We aren't saints - we eat our fair share of junk foods, mostly at parties and events and such. Those things are treats, they aren't given out on an every mealtime basis. Fast food is a treat. It's a once in a while - almost ALWAYS with Daddy - treat. It's going to the movies, pool party with your cousins, have friends over kind of stuff.

We haven't always been this way, but it's been about 5 years in the making. And it was a difficult transition. My kids balked. They rebelled. They fought me and argued and it wasn't until they grew older - and I'm talking the big people here, the ones who are old enough to remember the "old way" we ate - that they were able to see exactly what I was doing with their foods, and begin to appreciate it. They noticed a difference in their endurance when they ran, their skin tone, and how they felt overall.

Interestingly enough, one of my older kids still loves more junk food than is healthy. This particular child eats it as often as it can be purchased - and this kid has the worst immunity to illnesses I've seen. This kids catches, and keeps, everything that goes around. Child X has been known to eat fast food twice a day, eats chips and junk at friends houses and loves nothing more than Taco Bell. When Child X is sick, a vow is made to eat better and ingest more fruits and veggies. So Child X knows what's needed. Just doesn't want to do it.

Please share your thoughts, both here and on the Blogher page, on the School Lunches offered in your kids schools.

Comments

[Megan]

My best friend used to get mistaken for a teacher by the lunch ladies at our high school because she often bought salads. No student ever did that. She also got into an argument once with a lunch lady who insisted she couldn't substitute a small salad for fries. She could, it's just this lunch lady had never seen anyone want to do that before.

Meanwhile, I happily bought lunches of pizza, french fries, and chicken patties and begged my mom for Lunchables. I knew what I was eating had a lot of calories and fat, but nobody told me that that might be why I wasn't feeling very good towards the end of the day, or that I might have more energy and do better in school if I ate better.

But this was 10+ years ago, and I like to think things have improved overall. My co-workers pack lunches for their kids like the one Emma packed. Some parents are working to try to improve the food in the school system that has a lot of low-income kids, and one person is running for School Board on a healthy lunch platform. Many of my co-workers and friends say their elementary school kids love foods like sushi, salad and fruit.

I also keep in mind, though, that I live in a largely affluent area, and the people I know are pretty educated. When I worked in public schools in a more rural area, I saw a lot of lunchables, corn dog nuggets, fries and even soda.

[Angie]

I am pretty sure I would have been pretty upset at my child being reprimanded for that lunch. Good grief I think her lunch sounds really good! Way to go, Emma!

[LizP]

Wait, you can get yogurt in a tube that isn't a Go-gurt? I TOTALLY regret buying them and now my kids are hooked.

I purposely make my son get lunch at school just to force him to make his own choices rather than eat PB&J every day. They have a choice of 3 things plus a nice salad bar. He's usually hungry so he'll eat something. The school district is trying to be healthier. They're doing a test run where they removed chocolate milk for 3 months. This made me happy because I used it as a treat. When he was getting it every day at lunch it wasn't a treat any more. The district also tries to source veggies locally. It's not perfect and $2.50 per day is a lot but 1) he needs to learn to choose from what's there and 2) I H.A.T.E! making lunch every day!

[mayberry]

We would be in big trouble if sandwiches were the only "allowable" lunch. My kids almost always prefer soup, leftovers, or quesadillas to sandwiches!

[Iowamom]

I am confused as to who is analyzing their lunch? Is it customary to have your child's lunch discussed if it comes from home? I'm not being sarcastic I am truly interested in this. Our school wouldn't dream of doing this. I'm sorry she's feeling under the microscope and it sounds to me like she packed a winning lunch!

[Alice Gold]

I am with you about appreciating the lunch ladies and I think they do a pretty amazing job.

I am not worried about the meals being non-nutritious...it's a fallacy. Amy Kafala is a nutrition nazi.

I enjoyed your book review the most out of all of the ones I have read today. I like it when people tell how the book effects them personally.

Bravo on the 6 kids! My hat goes off to you and the lunch ladies.

[Amy]

My mom made us eat tons of fruits and vegetables and few processed foods... and I'm thankful every single day that she did. Good job, Carmen!

[Krista]

I agree with Iowamom. I know you've discussed that your children attend a private school so is policing the lunches common? Just because the kid didn't take a sandwich does not mean she had a nutritionally void lunch. Since my Celiac's diagnosis 3 years ago I had to throw out everything I knew about cooking to start fresh. I think the schools mean well, but in your circumstance I wish they'd stop looking at what's a convenient lunch vs quality. And to add what you said about child x, since I'm eating naturally gluten free ( protein heavy fruits veggies no processed foods) I'm in better health than I have in years.

[addy]

Terrific lunch! The adults I work with could learn a lot about nutrition from her. Seriously the crap they eat is unreal. And illness travels fast and hits hard in that place. But, has nothing to do with diet you understand...

[jules]

I'm only a month into public school lunches (kindergarten) and i'm really trying to do my best packing a healthy lunch. My daughter doesn't like foods mixed together and I send her with a thermos of buttered spaghetti noodle, whole grain or regular spaghettios, or chicken noodle soup (light on tne broth) as her "main dish" as well as a container of edamame,a fruit roll up, grapes, apple or orange, a pkg of cheese and crackers or string cheese, and a container of cashews with about 1/4 pkg of M&Ms. She can save some of this as an afternoon snack if she chooses and she eats almost or all of it. I know it's a lot of variety but that's what she's used to and I'm trying to make sure she gets a balanced meal. If I let her buy lunch-she'd get pizza and choc milk. I don't know why they have choc milk anyway. I'd let her buy milk everyday instead of packing a water bottle but i know she'd choose the choc milk over white milk-which she likes---but not in place of choc milk of course. Kindergartener's aren't ready for that kind of choice!

[Angela]

I think Emma's lunch sounds awesome.

[Tina]

I think her lunch choices were terrific!

I packed homemade soup, a fruit and veggies for my kids one day and my kindergartner came home and told me that she was told that she had to have a sandwich! It really made me angry that they would say anything to her AND that she felt like she was in trouble because she didn't have a sandwich.

When I make the choice to send my child a healthy, homemade lunch instead of having her eat a corndog from a lunch line, don't chastise my child about it. Get her name and call me. Maybe I can't afford to pay 2-2.50 a day for my child to buy a lunch that she may/may not eat and may/may not get her through the day.

I realize that the schools are trying to serve 'healthy' lunches and that the ladies in the cafeteria work very hard. Their resources are limited just like the rest of us. I just wish that they would take a closer look at what kids have before they say something.

[Tina]

I forgot to mention that our schools banned chocolate milk, however they now let kids have their choice of 2 drinks -which can include juice.

[kyooty]

If I make a sandwich on Monday? It will continue to show up at home until Friday (usually jam so it wont really go bad)