New York school drops Michelle Obama lunch standards: Kids too hungry

Ooops.... It looks like this brainstorm didn't pan out all that well after all?

New York's Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake school district has become the latest casualty in first lady Michelle Obama’s preferred lunch plan, dropping the menu after too many students complained of hunger.

“[Food service manager Nicky] Boehm and her staff worked hard to implement the new regulations, but there were just too many problems and too many foods that students did not like and would not purchase,” said Assistant Superintendent Chris Abdoo about the National School Lunch Program in a statement reported by EAGNews.org. “Students complained of being hungry with these lunches and the district lost money.”

I think what they are saying is you can order a menu to be changed because you feel you are that much more intelligent on the matter than those who do this for a living in the lunch programs ...and you can order the children be offered nothing else to force that choice. However, you can't force them to eat it, let alone buy it. They'll just go hungry first.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is in charge of managing the lunch program and estimates Mrs. Obama’s new wish list for student meals would cost about $3.2 billion to bring to fruition around the nation.

Source

Of course, what's a few billion between friends? It's not like we have people suffering under Sequester or anything. Our nation certainly has nothing better to be doing with that money than ordering school children from the White House, to eat what they're told to eat. Who would have seen this outcome?

KIds who are athletes need MANY more calories than Michelle Obama's version of lunch.
The kids and the parents know what they need. Not the White House.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


What's good for one body type is not good for another. Unless of coarse we were all robots and all take 5w30...

In a perfect world Lady Obamama~ But alas you fell short... Just like... Your... Bazinga~

reply to post by Wrabbit2000
Anyone who has raised children can attest to the fact that they can be quite finicky when it comes to their food. They will refuse to eat rather than eat something they consider "yucky". At home you can prepare certain foods in different ways until you find one that makes the food tasty to the child, but such methods are impractical in an institutional setting such as a school where foods must be prepared in mass quantity.

As children get older their tastes change and they are more open to trying different foods, but when young most children refuse to budge in their likes and dislikes and would rather go hungry than eat something that seems disgusting to them. Being a mother herself it seems like the First Lady would have understood this- unless she left the raising of her kids to others up until she was in the national spotlight, which would explain a lot!

Originally posted by littled16
reply to post by Wrabbit2000

 

Anyone who has raised children can attest to the fact that they can be quite finicky when it comes to their food. They will refuse to eat rather than eat something they consider "yucky". At home you can prepare certain foods in different ways until you find one that makes the food tasty to the child, but such methods are impractical in an institutional setting such as a school where foods must be prepared in mass quantity.

As children get older their tastes change and they are more open to trying different foods, but when young most children refuse to budge in their likes and dislikes and would rather go hungry than eat something that seems disgusting to them. Being a mother herself it seems like the First Lady would have understood this- unless she left the raising of her kids to others up until she was in the national spotlight, which would explain a lot!

I'm sorry, but this isn't true. This is only true for parents who let their kids run their household. If you let a kid choose, yes, they would rather eat cookies, candy, and pizza every single day. But they will eat whatever you prepare for them once they understand that is all they are getting.

This is a problem with our society, we cave into our children's stubbornness. That is all that is going on with this lunch program as well. There is a reason that many children in this country are fat...it's because when a program like this is suggested...the adults give into the crying of spoiled brats.

reply to post by firemonkey
I raised my kids to eat whatever I cooked or they would get nothing else, but even they would "pick" particular items out of the dishes I served (the youngest would pick out onions and bell pepper, the oldest would pick out tomatoes) until they got older and their tastes changed. Such behavior is common among small children. I admit that there are idiots that let their kids run the show, but most children outside of the presence of their parents (such as when at school) will eat only what they like that is included in their lunch and leave the rest, even if the lunch is brought from home. Any school lunchroom worker can attest to that fact.

reply to post by firemonkey


Heh, I agreed with the post before yours until I read what you had to say and I agree completely. My kids are incredible difficult when it comes to eating and my wife wan'ts to give in all the time but I force them to eat vegetables sometimes because they need them and they don't know any better and given a choice, they would never eat them.

Back in the "old days" kids ate the food that was on the table or they didn't eat, those kids I'm pretty sure were a lot less picky but American society is pretty far removed from that time now so it's easier said then done these days.

All of that said, schools aren't prisons and I don't know how much we have to insist on a perfectly balanced menu as the children are only eating 1 meal a day there typically and that is done in the middle of the day. Parents ideally should be influencing their children's decision at the lunch line but the kids should have some solid choices as well and I just don't see how it is any of Michelle Obama's business.

This should be a local decision on the county level and if the children, parents and administrators have an issue they can come together through community meetings and vote to change it. That is how the majority of government should work, local rules that can be changed by the community easily and accessibly without over complication.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


I say give these kids what they want to eat.

You are only a kid once.........

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


This really sickens me. We have a nation of little fat future diabetes cases and we come out with a menu to make them not so fat and diabetic. They complain. "Waah... these aren't Twinkies and pizza! Waaaah this is enough to only feed one normal child!"

So what do we do? We give them back their pizza and soda. Freakin' disgusting. Any parent who can't get their kid to eat a carrot over a hot dog is not trying hard enough. It's their lives we are talking about.

reply to post by firemonkey


Well said I agree and would add. If at home the child is eating to their little hearts content then they go to school to find significantly lower portions. They will be hungry. School isn't there to offer buffets or power your child's system for their after school activities. That's part of whats wrong with the school system now. They are turning into over grown day-cares particularly in the inner cities where they practically get breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Pretty soon they'll have to tuck them in at night.

The problem here is short term actually. A change from junk food (yay, pizza and French fries again) to healthyish food doesn't go over well all of a sudden.
The solution isn't to go from the greasy foodstuffs to tofu and sprouts overnight, but equally damaging is also rolling back to deep fried candy coated hot dogs because some kids moaned about it.

Public school. use the best nutritional science, then let the kids either go hungry, pack a lunch, or simply cave in and eat healthy. Not enough? take a sandwich with you to offset it.

Originally posted by sonnny1
reply to post by Wrabbit2000

 

I say give these kids what they want to eat.

You are only a kid once.........

Youth is a time when habits are formed.
Fat kids are usually fat adults
School is meant to teach good habits. I suspect you don't have kids.

This always happens whenever an idealist type person with gigantic visions of grandeur and self esteem issues at the same time begin to make forceful changes or just highly influential changes.. This pretty much fits most politicians these days...

How many of these kinds of things do these people have to do before they feel embarrassed enough to regain any kind of sanity? The school system is obviously run by the types of people who worship and adore our king and queen rulers without even the need for consulting an issue before implementation.../

Originally posted by SaturnFX



Youth is a time when habits are formed.
Fat kids are usually fat adults
School is meant to teach good habits. I suspect you don't have kids.

Sorry Saturn, I disagree.

Have three kids, not one of them is fat........



Schools don't teach kids "habits" anymore. Parents are a child's Role Model. I recently had to pull my oldest out of one of her classes. An Honor Roll student getting mediocre grades, all because the teacher was going through a Mid life crisis. They fired the teacher due to questionable teaching skills and a bad attitude.

When it comes down to food, The First Lady has lost touch with reality. I would even bet her children don't eat what she proposes.

American kids have become used to portion sizes that are FAR larger than what should be considered normal.

Yes, they're complaining of being hungry, because they're used to lunches of 1,000 calories + of deep fried, high fat, high carb, high sugar meals.

When you cut 1,000 calories to 300 - 500 calories, then yes, kids are going to be hungry, especially if they don't eat the high fibre vegetable portion of that meal. I suspect these kids are eating the protein portion of their meal and throwing out the veggie and fruit portion that is designed to be slow absorption to keep them full, then complaining that they're hungry.

reply to post by littled16


Mom?

This is the first thing I've heard of BH-BL doing that made sense. Once you pass BH, I'm pretty sure most of BL is inbred.

Either way, I don't see how they were losing money. I don't think they outsource their food program and the BH area has higher school taxes than most anywhere else in the surrounding counties. Including here and our taxes are ridiculous.

Lol back to the pizzas, tacos, chips and high fructose corn syrup soft drinks! Should we add a super size option to these meals? I think so!

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


Why am I not surprised?

Oh right, because the government wants to CUT spending, which means they pretend like they are feeding you smaller, healthier portions that still lead to a balanced diet, but the truth is simple: It does not at all create a healthy mind or body.

Although, I do have to wonder if over consumption at home is the reason these kids are 'hungry' when they do eat balanced meals. If you are use to pounding down 4000 calories a day at home and then the school changes that to way less, I could see you being hungry.

That wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing either I suppose.

Hmm..not sure which of those two scenarios I believe.

~Tenth

Originally posted by sonnny1
reply to post by Wrabbit2000

 

I say give these kids what they want to eat.

You are only a kid once.........

And they end up paying for 12 years of unhealthy eating in school with 70 years of health problems related to obesity..

Yeah, just let kids eat whatever they want. Because that's really really good parenting.

Nothing like starting early with a Americanized serving size.

How are kids going to be satisfied when their normal serving size at home is like 3x more?