It’s about time. The USDA changed its nutritional guidelines for adults and kids this week, which has triggered a long over due shift in the standards in place for public school lunches.
The major changes include:
- Age-appropriate calories and sodium. A first grader won’t be eating a day’s worth of sodium intended for a high school student.
- Only low-fat and skim milk in cafeterias. Chocolate milk must be skim.
- Fewer starchy vegetables. You’ll see fewer potatoes and less corn, more salads.
- Trans fats will be reduced to 0 grams per serving.
While these changes to the national standard may not instantly lead to a better menu at cash strapped schools across the nation, this is definitely a step in the right direction. Just a peek at the sample menu shows more veggies, more baked food, less fried food and more whole grains. Frankly, the food just sounds tastier, regardless of the much improved nutritional standards.
The change is part of First Lady, Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” initiative, which included overhauling the school lunch programs both to cut down on obesity problems and to give kids more energy throughout the day to do what they’re supposed to be doing in school. Learn.
Not to worry though, not all school lunch favorites are off the menu. Baked tatter tots turn out to be a surprisingly good alternative to french fries, weighing in at only 150 calories a serving and 7 grams of fat, verses the 310 calories and 19 grams of fat in fries.
