Posted on 04/23/2015 2:08:50 PM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
In the farm-to-fork-crazed city of Portland, Ore., campus gardens supply public school cafeterias and food service workers seek out chicken free of antibiotics.
But the school system's nutritional director finds there's one advocate for healthy food whose demands she just can't meet — Michelle Obama.
"We have tried every noodle that is out there," said Gitta Grether-Sweeney, the Portland nutritional director who says she is exasperated by the federal school lunch rules the first lady champions. "Whole-wheat noodles just don't work in lasagna. We are having to go lawless to use regular pasta."
The locally sourced macaroni and cheese the schools had been serving turned to mush when it was made with whole-grain macaroni to meet the new rules, Grether-Sweeney said.
That once-popular meal is now off the menu. So too are wraps, which she says won't hold together with the brittle wheat tortillas she now must use. Many fewer meals are getting sold at school, she said.
Food service directors like Grether-Sweeney have been warmly embraced by Republicans who are trying to undermine federal school lunch rules that they see as the cornerstone of a nanny-state agenda from the first couple.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Wait, so Moo made her lunches the law of the land? Or was this decision the school board’s?
Part of the child nutrition act of 2010 passed by Pelosi and Reed at the urging of Moochelle. Local boards that don’t go along lose their Federal lunch funding.
Moochelle doesn’t set the school lunch menu at Sidwell Friends School.
Hoagies & grinders, hoagies & grinders
Hoagies & grinders, hoagies & grinders
Navy beans, navy beans, navy beans
Hoagies & grinders, hoagies & grinders
Navy beans, navy beans
“Beaners....
Beaners....
Beaners...
Beaners.. Are Gonna Kick you in the Face”
The fact is that it *IS* difficult to serve meals that are lower in carbs, higher in protein, higher in veggies, etc. on a small budget. Some of these schools are trying to feed kids on $0.60 a meal.
You can’t do that without fillers.
The other problem is that individuals have different nutritional needs. A 110 pound girl who’s a bookworm isn’t going to have the same protein and caloric needs as the 220 pound school linebacker.
My son went from living off of 1,800 calories a day to 5,000 calories a day once he took a job as a tower climber. Weight gained?
ZERO pounds.
He can’t eat enough. Now he’s eating a pound of brats as a light snack and he’s saying that his goal is to get up to 7,000 calories a day. He needs to in order to do this job.
That is the crux of the problem. The government is trying like hell to find a ‘one size fits all’ approach to nutrition when it doesn’t exist.
And that’s actually the problem with anyone who’s Big Government. There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to LIFE.
The problem is not cafeteria lunches at school.
The problem is outside of school. It's fast food for dinner, bussed to school, bussed home, sitting on their ass staring at TV or a phone most of their waking hours or watching video games. No biking, walking, running, playing ball.
They are sedentary and they eat high calorie garbage. THAT is the problem, not their lunch at school.
Sponsoring FReepers are contributing
$10 Each time a New Monthly Donor signs up!
Get more bang for your FR buck!
Click Here To Sign Up Now!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.