LA School System finding Michelle Obama's "healthy lunch" program a big flop!

[teapartysamurai]

So, some will say, "Why didn't you put this in education?"

Because this isn't about education. This is about the liberal nanny state and how their "good intentions" are always a huge fail.

It's lunchtime at Van Nuys High School and students stream into the cafeteria to check out the day's fare: black bean burgers, tostada salad, fresh pears and other items on a new healthful menu introduced this year by the Los Angeles Unified School District.

But Iraides Renteria and Mayra Gutierrez don't even bother to line up. Iraides said the school food previously made her throw up, and Mayra calls it "nasty, rotty stuff." So what do they eat? The juniors pull three bags of Flamin' Hot Cheetos and soda from their backpacks.

"This is our daily lunch," Iraides says. "We're eating more junk food now than last year."

For many students, L.A. Unified's trailblazing introduction of healthful school lunches has been a flop. Earlier this year, the district got rid of chocolate and strawberry milk, chicken nuggets, corn dogs, nachos and other food high in fat, sugar and sodium. Instead, district chefs concocted such healthful alternatives as vegetarian curries and tamales, quinoa salads and pad Thai noodles.

There's just one problem: Many of the meals are being rejected en masse. Participation in the school lunch program has dropped by thousands of students. Principals report massive waste, with unopened milk cartons and uneaten entrees being thrown away. Students are ditching lunch, and some say they're suffering from headaches, stomach pains and even anemia. At many campuses, an underground market for chips, candy, fast-food burgers and other taboo fare is thriving.

L.A. schools' healthful school lunches panned by LAUSD students - Los Angeles Times

Now this is funny to me, because I noted this from my kid. She's in middle school now and because she's older, she requested to start buying lunch instead of packing it ("all the other kids do," she whines).

But that was more than a year ago. THIS year with the big push for "healthy eating" via Michelle Obama, my kid absolutely surprised me a month and a half ago when she told me the "lunch food is awful, can you please pack my lunch?"

I'll tell you, that was a shock. A year ago, she whined that no one else packed their lunch and the food in the cafeteria was better.

The kid was so thrilled a year ago to buy her own food. But something has changed since then and I notice she is not the only kid this year toting a lunch box instead of buying.

So what changed? This is what has changed. It's from my kid's school website:

First there's an announcement there are changes to the lunch menus this Year which I'm not including, because I'm not giving you info and location of my kid's school and then there is this:

Beverages:

• Schools must follow the beverage guidelines per grade grouping. Reference the Beverage Restrictions grid. (
• Not factoring in milk, at least 50% of beverages sold a la carte in any given location must be no calorie or low calorie.

Food Items:

• If a food item can be considered a “component” for the USDA school breakfast or school lunch programs, the food item may be sold a la carte, in the same serving size as with a reimbursement breakfast or lunch meal, without the need to evaluate the nutrition information of that food item.
• If a food item cannot be considered a component, the nutrition information of that food item must be evaluated:
  • At present, the only readily available option for the nutrition information evaluation that conforms to the requirements is to use the Alliance for a Healthier Generation Guidelines.
  • If the food item meets the nutrition guidelines for the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, the food item can be sold a la carte.
  • If the food item does not meet the nutrition guidelines for the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, the food item cannot be sold a la carte.

So, the nannies from Michelle Obama on down decide they are going to push their good intentions and bright ideas on the kids AND THE KIDS WON'T EAT IT!

This is typical of liberals. All this time, food and money wasted on a bright idea that any parent with common sense could have told them wasn't going to work.

Way to go Michelle. Maybe next Obama can have you fix healthcare like Bubba wanted Hillary to do with his.

 

[bodecea]

What a surprise. When given a choice, kids eat junk food.

Thanks for the enlightening post....

 

[syrenn]

oh.. you mean the same school district that gave jamie olliver the boot?

 

[J.E.D]

Really? Kids prefer junk food to healthier food? Wow, what a shocker! Next you're going to tell us that alcoholics don't like drinking and driving laws and smokers don't like it when they have to step outside for their smoke. This proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that everybody hates Michelle Obama.

 

[Jackson]

And I am still concerned about the duplication of funding when someone gets welfare checks, FOOD STAMPS and free lunch and breakfast. Common sense would tell me that is a duplication of funds somewhere along the line. Pack the kids lunch for Goodness sakes and save this country millions! Eat cereal at home!

 

[Seawytch]

Where is the "nanny state" that is alleged in the OP?