Dietician gives insight into school food guidelines
Comments (...)To the Editor,
School lunches may soon look different — but not different enough to stem the tide of childhood obesity. The U.S. Department of Agriculture just issued new guidelines for school lunches, but as a dietitian, I think it’s unfortunate that burgers, pizza and other unhealthy foods will likely still be front and center.
The new guidelines do not require schools to offer meatless entrées or nondairy beverage options to all students. Meat, milk and cheese are packed with calories and saturated fat, and they play a huge role in the obesity epidemic. The new guidelines offer low-fat and nonfat milk, but these products are still high in sugar and cholesterol. And a cup of 1 percent, unflavored low-fat milk has about the same amount of calories as a cup of sugary soda.
It is estimated that students get half to one-third of their calories at school. We need to make sure schools provide foods that set our future generations up for lifelong good eating habits — and lifelong good health.
Susan Levin, M.S., R.D.
Director of Nutrition Education
Washington, D.C.
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I am a local registered dietitian and I have to disagree with Susan Levin. Burgers and pizza can be prepared healthfully. Meat, milk and cheese are nutrient-dense foods. Low-fat and non-fat milk are not high sugar. And it is unfair to compare milk, a beverage loaded with calcium, Vitamin D and several additional nutrients to soda. In my opinion, school lunches have improved significantly in terms of nutritional value over the past several years. |
