No leadership on healthy diet for kids - Pocono Record

Editorial

January 07, 2014

The U.S. Department of Agriculture showed a short-sighted approach in announcing last week it will permanently weaken guidelines on the amount of meat the National School Lunch Program can offer school children. A growing body of evidence links saturated fat and animal-derived cholesterol to the chronic problems of obesity, heart disease, diabetes and other ailments.

The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 aimed to raise the amount of fruit and vegetable consumption that low-income students eat, helping to fight epidemic levels of childhood obesity and diabetes. Weakening these guidelines only lets schools serve more of the very kinds of foods that raise health risks again.

Anyone who's aware of the intensive lobbying that goes on daily in the nation's capital shouldn't be entirely surprised. Agribusiness has millions of dollars to promote meat and highly processed, sweetened foods. Vegetable growers must appeal to creative cooks and sensible parents. Given the choice between a burger with fries and lentils and rice, what would your child choose?

Critics of the school lunch program also say the government shouldn't be making menu choices — that kids' diet is up to parents. But all too many parents make poor nutritional choices for their families. Offering children a healthier diet at school may be the only exposure they ever have to wider variety of menu options. Everyone, regardless of income level, should to learn to recognize green, orange and yellow vegetables and whole grains and to learn why they should be components of a healthy diet, just as everyone should learn other life skills like money management or driving.

Adopting a healthier way to eat is not easy or fast, but kids should have a chance to try different foods no matter what they are served at home or, increasingly, when eating out. They can get processed meats and fried foods anywhere; just observe the sheer number of fast-food and chain restaurants and the volume of food they serve.

While young people are in school, though, they should be learning about, and eating, foods that are good for them. In the best of circumstances, they could take part in the cooking process. Some of these kids might actually adopt good eating habits and enjoy a lifetime of better health.

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