Schools try to keep kids from tossing out fruit, veggies

Orlando Sentinel ^ | September 30, 2012 | Erica Rodriguez

[Cincinatus' Wife]

At Triangle Elementary School in Mount Dora, students shuffle through the lunch lines loading their plates with pears, plums, pizza slices and fruit slushies.

At the lunch tables, many devour the cheese-and-mushroom pizza, guzzle their milk but leave whole pears, ripened plums and the slushies destined for the garbage.

[Nip]

Decades ago when I ate regularly at a high school cafeteria, student teaching and more, the meals were prepared on site and you had two options. You could go through the lunch line where you were served a balanced meal - meat, starch, vegetable, and beverage for a fixed price. or, you could go through the a la cart line where you picked and chose between between various selections. If you had a “late” lunch your selection in the a la cart line could be limited because they ran out of popular items.

This gave you a wide variety of options. It also gave the home ec classes a regular weekly teaching point.

But, then came more Federal food programs and their supporting REBs (rear echelon bureaucrats).

When I elected to eat lunch with my children in the late 1980s, I was horrified at the selection and lack of quality forced upon them. Luckily they could chose on a daily basis between school provided and brought from home lunches. Since we all cooked and had no problems with left overs my two children ate rather well through their 11 years in the local school system.

[trailhkr1]

Kids are obese because they don’t get out and play.

They also eat way to much...

[moovova]

We need a trash cam on the front door of the White House.

[massgopguy]

I think of the Simpsons episode where the Devil thinks he is tormenting Homer by force feeding him donuts.

[flaglady47]

Well said.

[Marie]

Well, if they allowed some SALT or BUTTER on the cooked veggies, I’ll bet the kids would eat it.

I won’t eat cooked veggies without those things on it. It tastes like crap.

And what about a healthy dip for the raw veggies? There are many more options than just ranch dressing.

Gnawing on a piece of celery can seriously suck. Add some peanut butter and it’s a pleasant experience.

I was a picky eater as a child and I remember, I really did try. Veggies and milk just didn’t taste right to me. I’d choke it down, but it was hard.

My daughter is a hummus, veggie and milk eater and always has been. My son struggles. Now that he’s grown, he has all sorts of tricks to get raw and cooked veggies into his body.

But serving kids a low-salt (or NO salt), low-fat diet just isn’t the answer.

Now the fruit does mystify me. Kids usually like fruit.

I’d just make ‘em eat the fruit first. Then the rest of the meal.

[TASMANIANRED]

Just how much will the “trash monitor” make?

[hinckley buzzard]

We had hotdogs, baked beans, chili, hamburgers and milk for school lunch, along with canned peach slices, pbj sandwiches and eskimo pies for dessert. Then we ran outside to play for half an hour. Our class of thirty had one (1) recognizably fat kid in it; and he was sickly.

The government has gone berserk and the mediacracy with it.

[pops88]

I read a few months ago that Michelle had consulted her personal chef. No where have I read she consulted a licensed nutritionist. If she did, they should have their license revoked, or perhaps they feared for their life.

Children are growing, as are their taste buds and olfactory system. They are more sensitive to tastes and smells than an adult. Smart moms know to hide vegetables in casseroles, or serve the peas next to the potatoes and gravy so they can be combined to choke them down. The idiocy is astounding and it’s hard to believe it’s gone on so long now.