RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! IT'S THE APPETIZER!

[Untaroicht]

This may technically be a meme, but it's concerned with news and a recent bill passed so to hell with it!

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/thanksmichelleobama
http://www.bustle.com/articles/50464-hi ... otus-fault

In 2014, public schools across the United States began serving lunch meals with revamped nutrition standards in accordance with the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, a federal statue signed into law by President Barack Obama in December 2010 which introduced a series of new standards for food sold on school grounds, including allocation of resources for schools to offer fresh produce through local farms and gardens and improving the nutritional quality of food served in cafeterias. The nutritional standard reform has been often credited to Michelle Obama as it has been a central tenet of her anti-childhood obesity campaign Let’s Move!

Granted, this is the way things used to be, but it's still a giant step backward. In my opinion, this is disgraceful. The average teen requires at least 2000 to 5000 calories a day to meet energy and growth needs, and school lunch policy mandates all teens receive only 750-850 calories. It does't matter how "healthy" the portion you're giving out may be if it isn't enough to sustain the body- and on top of that be inedible! Your thoughts NSG?

P.S. You can thank spongebob for the title

[Ashmoria]

how many more calories do you think lunch should have?

we have a nutrition and obesity problem in this country. a lunch like this with a reasonable amount of calories is a good start toward teaching better eating habits.

[Esternial]

The average teen requires at least 2000 to 5000 calories a day to meet energy and growth needs, and school lunch policy mandates all teens receive only 750-850 calories.

If children did not get fed at home, then this would be a problem, but I'd be more inclined to call Child Services rather than moan about this.

[Dei Terrare]

Yes the schools have to be more open to healthy options, but junk food once in a while is not that bad. The children needs to learn about controlling your diet.

[Frazers]

The average teen requires at least 2000 to 5000 calories a day to meet energy and growth needs, and school lunch policy mandates all teens receive only 750-850 calories.

If children did not get fed at home, then this would be a problem, but I'd be more inclined to call Child Services rather than moan about this.

Exactly. Complain about this as a convenience issue for the parents but acting as if it's a health concern is ridiculous. The parents need to be held responsible if they are able but unwilling to properly support their children's nutrition needs. If they're unable then help them at the source rather than putting the onus on the school.

[Lordieth]

They look healthy-ish, but the portion sizes look ridiculously small.

[Kelinfort]

#thankscongressforcuttingfunding.

What? Oh right, they don't know how this stuff actually works. Got it.

[Untaroicht]

The GAO, the Government Accountability Office, a federal agency, was asked by Congress to provide information about the implementations of Michelle’s program. This is a summary of their findings.
School food authorities (SFA) faced several challenges implementing the new lunch content and nutrition requirements in school year 2012-2013. For example, most states reported that SFAs faced challenges with addressing plate waste--or foods thrown away rather than consumed by students-- and managing food costs, as well as planning menus and obtaining foods that complied with portion size and calorie requirements. SFAs that GAO visited also cited these challenges.

Both states and SFAs reported that they expect many of these areas will become less challenging over time, with the exceptions of food costs, insufficient food storage and kitchen equipment, and the forthcoming limits on sodium in lunches.
Not to mention the calorie maximums based on age/grade AND the fact that if schools opt out of the program, hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal funding is pulled from already struggling public schools. Despite that, over 600 schools across the nation have opted out, and those that haven’t are facing high school student led lunchtime protests, which is how we get hashtags like this.

[Planita]

This is about what I already eat at school
Though it looks significantly more unappetizing, at least at my school it LOOKS like food

[Lordieth]

This is a prime example of a good idea in principle executed in a horrifically bad way. It deserves the mockery it gets. If I was served food like that in school, I wouldn't eat it.

[Galloism]

That's weird.

Our school lunches have improved since the program hit.

Of course, now they can buy from local farms where before they couldn't, and we have lots of local farms.

[Planita]

Why are they blaming Mrs. Obama she barely has anything to do with this.
"But somewhere along the way, the actual execution of the school lunch changes seems to have been botched. Which is obviously not the first lady’s fault. But, alas, she’s become a scapegoat for snarky teens with Twitter accounts."

[Lordieth]

That's weird.

Our school lunches have improved since the program hit.

Of course, now they can buy from local farms where before they couldn't, and we have lots of local farms.

I think part of the problem is going to be down to the efficiency of the school implementing the program, as well as local availability of ingredients, and pricing. You can give schools budgets and targets, but it's up to them to use the money efficiently, and therein lies the problem. Some schools will do it well, others won't. Which is why programs like this fail.

[Galloism]

That's weird.

Our school lunches have improved since the program hit.

Of course, now they can buy from local farms where before they couldn't, and we have lots of local farms.

I think part of the problem is going to be down to the efficiency of the school implementing the program, as well as local availability of ingredients, and pricing. You can give schools budgets and targets, but it's up to them to use the money efficiently, and therein lies the problem. Some schools will do it well, others won't. Which is why programs like this fail.

Delicate seasoning is key.

Our school hired a retired chef as a consultant 3 or 4 years ago and paid him a few thousand dollars to come in and teach all the lunchladies how to season things more correctly.

It helped, but not as much as you would think. Then this program hit, and they started buying most of their food from local farms, and the combination of two brought up the quality of food immensely.

[Butballs]

I hate it. I stopped eating that slop on a tray.

[Lordieth]

I think part of the problem is going to be down to the efficiency of the school implementing the program, as well as local availability of ingredients, and pricing. You can give schools budgets and targets, but it's up to them to use the money efficiently, and therein lies the problem. Some schools will do it well, others won't. Which is why programs like this fail.

Delicate seasoning is key.

Our school hired a retired chef as a consultant 3 or 4 years ago and paid him a few thousand dollars to come in and teach all the lunchladies how to season things more correctly.

It helped, but not as much as you would think. Then this program hit, and they started buying most of their food from local farms, and the combination of two brought up the quality of food immensely.

Aren't locally sourced ingredients usually more expensive, though? Seems a bit counter-productive.

[Cyrisnia]

I think part of the problem is going to be down to the efficiency of the school implementing the program, as well as local availability of ingredients, and pricing. You can give schools budgets and targets, but it's up to them to use the money efficiently, and therein lies the problem. Some schools will do it well, others won't. Which is why programs like this fail.

Delicate seasoning is key.

Our school hired a retired chef as a consultant 3 or 4 years ago and paid him a few thousand dollars to come in and teach all the lunchladies how to season things more correctly.

It helped, but not as much as you would think. Then this program hit, and they started buying most of their food from local farms, and the combination of two brought up the quality of food immensely.

What about the cost?

[Galloism]

Delicate seasoning is key.

Our school hired a retired chef as a consultant 3 or 4 years ago and paid him a few thousand dollars to come in and teach all the lunchladies how to season things more correctly.

It helped, but not as much as you would think. Then this program hit, and they started buying most of their food from local farms, and the combination of two brought up the quality of food immensely.

What about the cost?

Ehh... the school board says it's marginally lower. Nothing to write home about.

They said costs are down like 3/4 of 1% or something.

EDIT: Of course, the board made a big deal out of saving money because they're politicians. As an accountant, I know that's well within the range of randomness.

[Jumalariik]

The average teen requires at least 2000 to 5000 calories a day to meet energy and growth needs, and school lunch policy mandates all teens receive only 750-850 calories.

If children did not get fed at home, then this would be a problem, but I'd be more inclined to call Child Services rather than moan about this.

A lot of children don't get fed at home.

[Scepez]

You know, I'd say we actually have better meals in my school. Except we don't get whole apples...

[Esternial]

If children did not get fed at home, then this would be a problem, but I'd be more inclined to call Child Services rather than moan about this.

A lot of children don't get fed at home.

Which isn't a problem that the school should solve.

[Gauthier]

Why are they blaming Mrs. Obama she barely has anything to do with this.
"But somewhere along the way, the actual execution of the school lunch changes seems to have been botched. Which is obviously not the first lady’s fault. But, alas, she’s become a scapegoat for snarky teens with Twitter accounts."

Because she's the most outspoken voice for nutritional school lunch, plus she's an Obama which makes her The Enemy to Republicans, their Salt Sugar and Fat pushing corporate benefactors and their willing tools.

[The Nuclear Fist]

It looks like some of these schools confused "improving school lunch nutrition" for "restriction portions of their shit foot".

[Cata Larga]

Thank God I'm a college student.

[The Fraticelli Papacy]

The problem with the Obama school lunches is that:
a. they promise you as many fruits and vegetables as you want, but many schools don't buy more than one variety of either,
b. poor students can't go home and eat more, and so they're made to go hungry all day.

This was indeed a step backwards.