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Students strike against new federal school lunch rules
Mukwonago – By 7 a.m. Monday, senior Nick Blohm already had burned about 250 calories in the Mukwonago High School weight room.
He grabbed a bagel and a Gatorade afterward; if he eats before lifting, he gets sick.
That was followed by eight periods in the classroom, and then three hours of football practice. By the time he headed home, he had burned upward of 3,000 calories – his coach thinks the number is even higher.
But the calorie cap for his school lunch? 850 calories.
“A lot of us are starting to get hungry even before the practice begins,” Blohm said. “Our metabolisms are all sped up.”
Following new federal guidelines, school districts nationwide have retooled their menus to meet new requirements to serve more whole grains, only low-fat or nonfat milk, daily helpings of both fruits and vegetables, and fewer sugary and salty items. And for the first time, federal funds for school lunches mandate age-aligned calorie maximums. The adjustments are part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 touted by Michelle Obama and use the updated Dietary Guidelines for Americans from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The changes are hard to swallow for students like Blohm. On Monday, 70% of the 830 Mukwonago High students who normally buy lunch boycotted cafeteria food to protest what they see as an unfair “one size fits all thing.” Middle schoolers in the district also boycotted their school lunches, with counts down nearly half Monday. They’re not alone in their frustration; schools across the country are reporting students who are unhappy with the lunch offerings.
AbigailAdams
September 19th, 2012
A weakened body weakens the mind. A weakened mind is easier to indoctrinate and won’t detect poor teaching skills.
Anyone with a child in public school where they don’t actually cook anything (just rewarm prepped stuff), knows just how bad school lunch has been across the land for a while, now. And all those “fresh” fruits — incredibly underripe and inedible. Veggies? Anyone see a kid voluntarily eat raw brocolli? School lunch? Just another opportunity for gov’t fraud, waste and abuse.
old_oaks
September 19th, 2012
I think it’s friggin hilarious!
Moochie and all her wisdom didn’t see that coming!
Kids will stop eating? Kids are picky? NO WAY!
Hopefully the Romneys can undo this mess because I bet there’s legislation in there somewhere that will force feed kids who won’t eat their BS.
AngelEm
September 19th, 2012
Remember this is the Michelle Obama’s idea. The same twit who judged Gabby Douglas for having an occasional Egg McMuffin (which has about 300-350 calories, btw), despite her burning massive amounts of calories to train and practice. This is obviously something Obama knows absolutely fuck-all about and clearly doesn’t follow herself.
conservative cowgirl
September 19th, 2012
Good for the kids. Now let’s hope they understand and make a connection as to who is doing all the oppressing in this country and it isn’t those with conservative values!
When my teenage son was in two sports, it was frightening how much food he shoveled into his mouth all day every day and never gained a pound except for muscle. I felt like a fireman on a steam train just constantly shoveling coal into the boiler!
dick in detroit
September 19th, 2012
trim your sideburns, fur
what? nobody thought that was coming?
norman einstein
September 19th, 2012
How much more proof is needed that starving kids in school, as a way of controlling childhood obesity, is insane?
They will not only NOT eat the Tuesday Special tofu pizza, they will go home and pig OUT, as the man said, on anything they can get their hands on.
RosalindJ
September 19th, 2012
70% of the 830 Mukwonago High students who normally buy lunch boycotted cafeteria food you say? ‘Unhappy with the lunch offerings’? That’s a shit load of union labor crafting that stuff, not to mention district contracts. Boo hoo. Try and sell the costs to parents during hearings for the next property tax increase. I would love to be a fly on that wall.
So good for them. The elementary school I went to had no cafeteria, so I took my own lunch for years. When I arrived at a school that did serve lunch, I tried and rejected it. Pure swill. I can’t say that there’s been a huge improvement. The tweaking to meet some Harvey-inspired notion of nutrition is just more feel-good efforts. I do not think it’s meant to be of sustenance – AbigailAdams nailed that one.
Unneutral
September 19th, 2012
Sounds like a great opportunity to open a black market, twinkies, candy bars, sodas……
AbigailAdams
September 19th, 2012
@Unneutral — haha! Yeah, you can probably sell porn 500 ft. from a school, but you’d get serious time for hawking a can of soda or a twinkie from the same distance. That’s how Lefties roll.
AbigailAdams
September 19th, 2012
You know, there is a serious, very serious obesity problem in this country. Report just out today about the short-term predictions that some huge majority of Americans (all ages) will be clinically obese. And obesity does cause myriad health problems and concomitant health care costs (which of course means that those of us paying for health insurance will get tagged for the delta for those not paying). I’d like to see more discussion on what the real solutions are to the problem of obesity. I don’t think it’s right to stop school bake sales because I don’t think they have anything to do with the problem. And making kids eat crappy school lunches isn’t a solution either.
Dano
September 19th, 2012
Mooshell has a BIG fat ass, do, da. Do, da…
Noelegy
September 19th, 2012
So…how many courses in nutrition are required for a law degree?
moarkdave
September 19th, 2012
They have limited the schools use of salt and pepper. They can not have shakers for the students to use either. One kid, that I know, has been making a small fortune selling salt and pepper packets to fellow students.
They are only allowed to serve potatoes ONCE per week, usually baked. The get a half of a baked potato with no butter, salt or pepper.
Even the teenage girls are complaining of still being hungry after they have eaten all of their food.
Carlos The Jackal
September 20th, 2012
How does that Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 work when the kids are hungry because they won’t eat the government swill?