Inadequate Public Funding and the Sale of Competitive Foods as a Revenue Source

This is a guest blog-post by Professor Timothy D. Lytton

First Lady Michelle Obama’s recently launched Let’s Move campaign to reduce childhood obesity has put a spotlight on reforming school food.

The primary reason for the abundance of unhealthy foods in schools is inadequate public funding of school meals and schools in general. Unfortunately, the sale of unhealthy foods, popular among students, is an essential source of revenue for many schools.

Today, most schools are dominated by foods that are high in sugar, fat, and salt. These items—pizza, burgers, French fries, cakes, snack foods, soda, and candy—are sold in cafeterias, vending machines, and school stores. In addition, students sell these foods to raise funds for extra-curricular activities, parents provide them for in-class birthday parties, and teachers give them out as rewards.

Unhealthy Foods in the Cafeteria

School food services sell unhealthy kids’ favorites as a la carte items in the cafeteria to make up for inadequate school meal subsidies. Additionally, they have incorporated them into the subsidized meals themselves in order to avoid losing student participation in the meal program. (The Federal funding is paid per participating child).

Here’s how it works: Read more…

This is an important week for the future of US school lunch nutrition. The Child Nutrition Act is up for re-authorization, and many groups are hoping the program will increase spending to improve the nutritional value of school lunches.

The School Nutrition Association (SNA), which represents more than 75% of the food service workers in American schools, is convening in Washington DC for their annual Legislative Action Conference. Michelle Obama addressed the group, which is very supportive of Let’s Move, her new initiative to battle childhood obesity.  Details here, thanks to ObamaFoodorama.

Yesterday the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee convened a hearing Improving Children’s Health: Strengthening Federal Nutrition Programs.

Lunch for the session was prepared by Chicago high school students who had won a school lunch cooking competition late last year. The lunch they prepared had to be both nutritious and tasty. These amazing kids could only spend $2.68 per meal, the allotted funding by the government for school lunches that feed millions of children across the nation daily.

Last week  we had the honor of participating in a blogger conference call of the Healthy Schools Campaign, headed by Rochelle Davis, Founding Executive Director.  The non-profit organization is dedicated to making schools a healthier place to learn and work. They focus on improving school food and physical activity and their efforts, such as the “Cooking Up Change” culinary competitions for students, have already been showing success in the Chicago area in the past year.

The organization strongly support the First Lady’s efforts and itself has won 2 honorary co-chairs of the Campaign are the Karen Duncan – wife of the Secretary of Education,  and  Christie Vilsack – wife of the Secretary of Agriculture.

According to Rochelle Davis, In many schools today there is a big disconnect between what students are taught is healthy and what they are actually served in school cafeterias.The cheaper foods being served today are the least healthy – full of fat, sodium, and very highly processed. Davis is campaigning in hopes the government will prioritize the funding to be able to pay for healthier foods for school lunch. While she doesn’t expect thing to change overnight, she does believe that raising the awareness level of school administrators, food service directors, and the kids themselves can bring about substantial change, even with small financial increases from the government.

A big question that looms – will kids actually want to eat all the healthy food?

If they don’t like the broccoli at home, why would they eat it at school?

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Former President Bill Clinton was released from the hospital a few days ago after undergoing a procedure to bypass a clogged artery. In a statement to reporters at a childhood obesity event of the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, Clinton blamed his poor health on

“the habits I acquired in my childhood, mostly the way I ate and the way it interacted with my own biology and propensity to produce bad cholesterol…I ate too much fried food, too much ice cream, too much everything”. read more…

Fried food – too much fats, too much salt. Ice cream – too much fats, too much sugar. Too much everything – calorie overload. Not a recipe for a healthy life.

What you need to know:

Former president Clinton. First Lady Michelle Obama. Cabinet members. All are involved in some way with our nation’s obesity epidemic. Clinton, like Obama realize that adults who have developed bad habits are much harder to turn around compared to children who have their whole life ahead of them. We all remember president Clinton’s uncontrollable burger cravings. That’s why he and Mrs. Obama are focusing on ways to combat childhood obesity. They’re hoping to affect food consumption patterns at a young age.

Unfortunately the junk food companies know this too. “Get ‘em while they’re young, and they’ll stay loyal to your brand forever”. The consumption patterns their marketing efforts have yielded so far (and continue to shape) will eventually lead millions into hospitals for treatment.

Unless we parents take action.

What to do at the supermarket:

Instead of taking Clinton’s negative remarks of “too much this or that”, let’s focus on the positives, on things you want to get your kids to eat and enjoy. This means real food, with real flavors. Expose them to fruits and vegetables from the minute they can start to chew. Even if they don’t like something, try multiple times, showing them a good example by eating the same. Eventually they will come around and start to eat produce as well. Maybe not everything, but at least french fries and ketchup won’t be your only option.

Get the family into a water drinking habit, relegating sweet juices or sodas to “uncontrollable” events such as holidays or parties out of the home. Tap water is safe, clean, and delicious in almost all parts of the country. And it’s much easier to grow up drinking water than having to switch from soda to H2O as an adult.

By helping your children to develop sophisticated taste buds, you will encourage lifelong appreciation of real food tastes, with less reliance on sugar/fat/sodium. This triumvirate is the lowest common denominator used by the junk food industry to mask all the other band ingredients and make everything seem great.

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In addition to Michelle Obama, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack is pushing for the removal of junk food from schools. The plans include adding more children to  free breakfast and lunch programs.

“Our children deserve better nutrition, and our country’s better and brighter future depends on it,” Vilsack said. “And with the reauthorization of the Childhood Nutrition Act scheduled this year, there won’t be a better time than now to act boldly.”

Schools will get more fresh fruit and vegetables and more whole grains for kids. Some of this to be sourced locally!

At least that’s the vision.

Will this really happen?

As with many bold initiatives, this one will probably be watered down, or in our case, sugared up. The last time sugary soda was removed from school vending machines, Snapple was the alternative. Nutritionally, both are bad.

There is a substantial cost element here. The government’s corn and soy subsidies have made sugary and fattening products very cheap compared to whole foods, so how will schools be able to afford these new programs? Don’t forget that vending machines help schools financially -  for every candy or cola sold, the school sees a few cents from the manufacturer.

With so many lobbies looking out for the interests of the food industry, it will be interesting to see how Vilsack and Obama’s plans will play out. While we wish them luck, we remain skeptical.

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Today, First Lady Michelle Obama will formally announce a campaign to end childhood obesity. In one generation. This lofty goal is very much in need, as over one third of American children are overweight or obese. Mrs. Obama wants the program to focus on nutrition education for parents and kids, more exercise, and improved school lunches.

As we recently wrote, this campaign has slim chances of success. The reason is simple – it is far more profitable for America to “fix” obesity related ailments than to prevent them. The industries that stand to lose if obesity goes away are fast food establishments, junk food manufacturers, beverage manufacturers, health care, weight loss, and supplements.

Additionally, the underlying incentive system that has made junk food so cheap needs to be revamped. But the farm subsidies for corn, soy, and wheat will not be disappearing anytime soon. That’s because the USDA holds two ends of the stick – taking care of big Agriculture corporations while at the same time taking care of little kids. Who do you think pays better?

Sorry for the pessimism, and we hope to be proven wrong. But this initiative is like a tooth whitening service when a root canal is due.

What to do at the supermarket:

There is good news for individuals who want to change things for their family. Actually, with a few small changes, you can start improving your children’s diets. The clearest cut, though not always easiest, is the switch to drinking water instead of sugary drinks. In case you’re wondering, juice is a sugary drink.

Read nutrition labels and note the serving sizes. Many times the actual serving size is much larger than the one written on the box. This will help you calculate the real number of calories you and your kids will consume.

And offer more fruits and vegetables to your children. As Michelle Obama says “Sneak a few grapes in for breakfast, pack an apple for lunch, and make sure that they actually ate it.”

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First Lady Michelle Obama has a legacy she wants to leave behind: drastically reducing childhood obesity. Yesterday at a Mayors Conference in Washington DC,  she announced a new initiative in this spirit, to be formally announced in February.

After presenting the dismal stats (around 18% of kids are obese), Mrs. Obama outlined what is to be a joint effort at the federal, municipal, and non-profit levels.

“The idea here is very simple: to put in place commonsense, innovative solutions that empower families and communities to make healthy decisions for their kids.”

The main points:

• improved school lunches
• more physical activity (including school phys-ed cut due to budget constraints)
• access to fresh and healthy foods in all communities (nutrition deserts are all too common in poor urban areas)
• nutrition education for kids and their parents.

This is a great plan, and Mrs Obama deserves kudos for bringing childhood obesity to our collective attention. No doubt her status as the nation’s number one mom, with personal experiences and challenges in feeding her family, make her one of the best champions for the cause.

However…

I’m sorry, First Lady, your plan, while commendable, doesn’t have a fighting chance.

Here’s why: Read more…

First Lady Michelle Obama is making a guest appearance on Sesame Street in honor of the show’s 40th anniversary. Elmo, Big Bird and 3 cute kids get to plant some seeds and talk about the health benefits of eating veggies.

Future farmers? probably not, but credit the the First Lady for pushing the agenda of good nutrition through fresh local food, some of it grown in your own back yard.

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