While we were driving home in September, I had time to listen to a lot of radio from Montana to Nebraska, back to Montana and then back to Nebraska again. Something that really hit a chord with me involved the changes to the school lunch program. I shared a couple of Trent Loos’ blogs (blog #1 and blog #2) and also shared with you my opinion in my blog titled “It’s What ANY Momma Bear Would Do”.

Harvest Public Media posted a couple of questions on their Twitter account recently relating to the changes in the school lunch program. I answered them by telling them how the changes have affected our family. I received a phone call from Grant Gerlock with NET Radio asking me if I would be willing to help him with an article on how these portion cutbacks are affecting my children. I agreed. Grant came to our house last Thursday to record my answers. He also went to our school and interviewed our district superintendent (Thank you, Dan!). The outcome was a story published by Harvest Public Media, “School lunch changes create meaty issue”,  and by NET Radio, “Slimmer School Lunches Struggle To Fit In”. The radio interview can be listened to at both sites. 

The changes to the school lunch program comes down to this one statement, “The idea here was to decrease the amount of protein and focus on making sure kids had enough room for these other foods they really weren’t getting enough of,” says Marlene Schwartz, deputy director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University.

After listening to the interview, Callie became quite upset when she heard Marlene’s comment, “Part of parenting is being a little bit tougher and saying yes, I know, you might be mad you don’t get as many chicken nuggets now as you did before but here’s an apple and that’s better for you and that’s really the right thing for you to do“.

Callie’s comment was, “I really wish the people who have changed things would come eat our lunch, sit through classes all afternoon and then participate in sports practice after school. More kids need to figure out a way to get involved to let people know this isn’t working”.

Marlene’s statement upset me because I took what she said as being told I wasn’t being the right kind of parent. I wasn’t being tough enough on my kids because I didn’t  make them eat more apples rather than more chicken nuggets. Government now believes they can parent my children better than I can. I disagree!

Eating an apple rather than another chicken nugget

“Fruit and veg contain a lot of water, air and fiber which pack your gut, producing ‘filling’ signals in the small intestine. Apples, for example, are about 25 per cent air and, as they’re digested, they produce the hormone GLP-1, which sends satiety signals to the brain.

The trick is to eat high-satiety foods at the beginning of a meal. ‘They get you to feel fuller early on and the evidence shows you don’t compensate for this later by eating more,’ says Robert Welch, professor of food science and nutrition at Ulster University.

You may not fancy kicking off a meal with a plateful of diced apple – and no restaurant would offer it – but the next best option is a salad, for similar reasons.

Protein is the most satiating of the three food groups (compared with carbohydrates and fats).

It is why the high-protein, high-fat Atkins diet works: despite the fat, you can’t eat a lot of protein before your stomach says stop.

The average British diet is about 15 per cent protein, which is adequate for growth, tissue repair and maintenance, says Dr Johnstone. ‘But if you increase that to around 20 to 30 per cent of your calorie intake, you’re going to increase satiation significantly.’

So what makes protein so filling? It triggers the production of the ‘full-up’ PYY hormone in the brain, and sparks the release of glucose in the small intestine; both send out satiety signals.

It is why, traditionally, the main course in a meal is protein-based.” – MailOnline.com

Estimated Calorie Requirements

The “Let’s Move” website states, “Many children consume at least half of their daily calories at school, and for many children, food served at school may be the only food they regularly eat.” The new school lunch provisions state MAXIMUM set calories –  650 calories for elementary-schoolers, 700 for middle-schoolers and 850 for high-schoolers. The “Estimated Calorie Requirements” chart found on WebMD:

^a These levels are based on Estimated Energy Requirements (EER) from the Institute of Medicine Dietary Reference Intakes macronutrients report, 2002, calculated by gender, age, and activity level for reference-sized individuals. “Reference size,” as determined by IOM, is based on median height and weight for ages up to age 18 years of age and median height and weight for that height to give a BMI of 21.5 for adult females and 22.5 for adult males.

^b Sedentary means a lifestyle that includes only the light physical activity associated with typical day-to-day life.

^c Moderately active means a lifestyle that includes physical activity equivalent to walking about 1.5 to 3 miles per day at 3 to 4 miles per hour, in addition to the light physical activity associated with typical day-to-day life.

^d Active means a lifestyle that includes physical activity equivalent to walking more than 3 miles per day at 3 to 4 miles per hour, in addition to the light physical activity associated with typical day-to-day life.

At what level of required caloric intake do your children fall into? Are they getting enough throughout their day to maintain a growing body? Unless we have more support from our policymakers requiring USDA to take a second look at the recent changes, kids will continue to walk away from the government funded school lunches and moms will continue to pack lunches to help their children get through their day because...that’s really the right thing to do!