Recess Before Lunch, Chocolate Milk & Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution

I had lunch with big boo at public school kindergarten yesterday. While I was waiting for him I observed what the kinder kids were selecting from the school lunch line. 22/24 of them chose chocolate milk. 2/24 of them chose the salad. Big. Huge. SIGH. The good news is most of them chose a fruit (either whole apple or sliced strawberries in a syrup). Don't even get me started about the pretzel "side dish" to the pizza entree. I guess that meets the 2 "breads" requirement for lunch. Ummm..

The Chocolate Milk School Lunch Problem
I firmly believe that chocolate milk causes more problems that it solves in the school lunch line. Some experts believe that nutrients in the milk make the regular sugar consumption worth it, but I disagree. It's not just about the sugar. Even if we completely put aside the 660 tsp of sugar a kid consumes annually with one flavored milk at lunch, and 8K tsp K-12, there are worse consequences!

It's about the false sense of fullness a young child gets when they guzzle a drink. The kids only get 15-20 minutes to eat. If they sit down and guzzle a drink, their stomach (which is the size of their fist) swells up, and their brain receives a message that they are full, and the urge to eat is diminished. So now you have a young child who's been trying hard to sit still to learn to read and write all morning, who doesn't really feel hungry anymore, and he finally has a chance to be silly and make his neighbors laugh, and guess what. He's not really eating. The minutes are flying by and still the tummy feels artificially full from the flavored beverage. The kids are laughing, their food is barely nibbled, and the teacher returns to the lunch room to collect her class to head out to recess. The kids see her and try to stuff a bite or two in before she gets to the table. Then they head to the garbage can and toss a good portion (and empty milk container) of their lunch out. They probably don't really notice the hunger until they are back in the classroom trying to learn how to count to 100 and about rocks.

• Nutrient Density It's true that plain milk is a nutrient dense food. But so is an apple. And plain apples are widely accepted by most kids. But put an apple next to chocolate milk and it looses some of it's appeal. The sugary sweetness of the chocolate milk is much stronger than the natural fructose sweetness of the apple, thus many kids won't be interested in the apple when paired with chocolate milk. Now give them a glass of water, and an apple and see how much of the apple is eaten. Do the experiment yourself. Get a sweetened beverage, a glass of water and some apple slices. First sip the water, then eat an apple slice. Observe the sweetness of the apple. Then gulp the chocolate milk and taste a bite of apple. I suspect it won't taste as sweet after the milk.
  
• White Milk Refusal - I also have a child who does not care for white milk. My first born was a milk guzzler, so when little boo refused plain milk it surprised me. He might only drink 4oz a day, often less. I know he'd drink 10oz or more daily of chocolate milk if I gave it to him, but I chose not to start a life long milk-sugar habit. He gets plenty of diary in cheese and yogurt, and plenty of protein and calcium from other non-dairy sources like meat, beans, bone broths and green veggies. There are other kid approved options.
  
• Water is a macronutrient. Water is a fine substitute for milk, flavored or plain. While chocolate milk might be "more nutritious" than juice, sodas or other flavored beverages, when compared to water, it fails. Not to mention, water is one of the four macronutrients the body needs in large quantities. Sure water lacks protein and vitamins it too is a nutrient the body craves. If you leave the protein and vitamins out of the beverage, kids are more likely to pick up food (green veggies, chicken) that has those same nutrients and eat up.
• Opportunity Cost - Remember this concept from high school economics? Basically when you make one choice, you're foregoing the other choices. If a child is filling their belly with chocolate milk, they are not filling their belly with apple, carrots and spaghetti. If you knew your child was ONLY drinking chocolate milk, and refusing the majority of what was left on his tray, would you still want your child to have access to chocolate milk at school?
  

I get so emotional when I eat lunch at school. I'm sad that the kids are so poorly nourished, then expected to behave and learn in class. And it's not just about what options they have to eat. A lot of it is whether or not they actually eat it. And I'll be the first to say that some "junky" food is better than very little of anything. So instead of sitting here feeling emotional, I've been thinking about what I can do about it. What I can help others to do about it. There are many things that even a busy working parent can do. I have a little more time on my hands, so not all these will be feasible for all of you, but if you care about the way kids are eating in this country, these are some action items you can take to make a difference.

But My Kids are Homeschooled/ Don't Eat Cafeteria Food
Maybe you think this problem doesn't touch you because your kids are homeschooled, or your child takes his lunch to school. But it does touch you. Homeschooled children may not mingle too much with mainstream, but the mainstream's poor health has caused a health insurance crisis for all of us. If you want your kids to be able to afford quality health care for their families, then you need to help the public eat better.

Take Action
Don't waste your time being upset about it. Go do something about it. It made me feel better. Not all of you have time to volunteer at the school, but I know you all have time to send an email to your principal or PTA group to make a suggestion or ask a question.

• Recess After Lunch : Some schools have switched schedules and sent kids to recess before lunch. This lets kids get their wiggles and socializing out first, build up an appetite and schools report more food being eaten and less behavior problems during the school day. Talk to your principal about the schedule switch and let them know you want it considered. In Spring Branch ISD, the individual schools have discretion as to whether to make the schedule change. It's being considered at my son's school and I'm finding out whether I can add any efforts to see the change happen. Stay tuned for more details. Here is an article with a lunch/recess switch pilot program results you can email to your PTA, school principal, school nurse and CIT group.
• Find Campaigns that matter to you & get involved. It might be increasing funding for real produce at school (slow food's campaign to give school kids the school food they deserve), or reading more about Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. I'm just getting started to learn what I can DO.
• Volunteer at your child's school - Ask your PTA or principal, or child's teacher what you can do to help kids at your school learn about real food. Go in and eat lunch with your child. If you've never emailed the administrators of your school, don't be afraid. They like to know kids have involved parents.

Are you tuning into Jamie Olvier's Food Revolution tonight? It's on Friday, March 26th (8p ET, 7p CT), and here's the trailer. Report back, I want to know what you think about the show.

This post is participating in Fight Back Friday hosted by Food Renegade (link coming soon)