Lunch Wars

I just finished reading Lunch Wars by Amy Kalafa for BlogHer Book Club. 
It's not a sweet, feel-good kind of book.
It's a get-up-and-do-something, make-a-difference-in-your-children's-lives kind of book.

Ultimately, it's about educating ourselves, making all parents aware, and then doing something about it. And, by IT, I mean, NUTRITION.  Specifically, nutrition in our schools.

Reading this book made me want to dwelve deeper into my children's school lunch program.
I have one son in elementary school and one in high school.
And both boys tend to bring their own lunches to school, although they will occasionally go through the line and buy something in the cafeteria.

Our school district seems very upfront about school nutrition.
They post the menus on the district website and send them home each month with the kids.
On the website you can find out the nutrient info for each item on the menu.

So all school districts do this?
I'm not sure.

Here's Monday's meal at the elementary school:

Meatball Sub
Chicken Nuggets
Wheat Dinner Roll
Ham and Cheese Sandwich
Egg Chef Salad
Wheat Dinner Roll
Cheesy Broccoli
WG Soft Bake Pretzel Rod
Fresh Tomato
Fresh Cucumber
Sliced Peaches w/Juice
Fresh Grapes
Orange Juice 100%
Butter Sugar Cookie
1% White Milk
MILK, Skim, Chocolate
Skim Milk
Ketchup Packet PC
Mustard Packet PC
Mayonaise Packet PC
ItalianDressingPacket PC
Ranch DressingPacket PC
Margarine

And here are the nutrients:

ELEMENTARY-Lunch

Monday, Sep 26, 2011

Recipes	Calories	Cholesterol mg	Sodium mg	Dietary Fiber g	Iron mg	Calcium mg	Vitamin A IU	Vitamin C mg	Protein g	Carbohydrate g	Total Fat g	Saturated Fat g
Meatball Sub	335	37	976	3.40	4.06	264.82	281	3.00	21.86	34.19	12.18	4.92
Chicken Nuggets	180	20	450	2.00	1.80	40.00	0	0.00	13.00	14.00	8.00	1.50
Wheat Dinner Roll	120	0	200	2.00	1.08	10.00	0	0.00	4.00	22.00	1.50	0.50
Ham and Cheese Sandwich	250	33	1025	2.00	2.49	75.00	150	0.00	15.28	29.43	7.28	3.43
Egg Chef Salad	130	75	195	0.89	1.19	242.57	2306	18.68	10.04	2.58	9.08	5.18
Wheat Dinner Roll	120	0	200	2.00	1.08	10.00	0	0.00	4.00	22.00	1.50	0.50
Cheesy Broccoli	61	9	252	1.91	0.47	128.34	774	25.58	4.55	4.70	3.08	2.16
WG Soft Bake Pretzel Rod	70	0	65	1.00	0.72	0.00	0	0.00	2.00	14.00	0.50	0.00
Fresh Tomato	16	0	5	1.09	0.24	9.07	756	11.52	0.80	3.56	0.18	0.03
Fresh Cucumber	6	0	1	0.19	0.11	6.24	41	1.09	0.25	1.42	0.04	0.01
Sliced Peaches w/Juice	37	0	7	0.00	0.00	0.00	220	0.88	0.00	8.79	0.00	0.00
Fresh Grapes	38	0	1	0.51	0.16	7.92	57	2.26	0.36	9.71	0.20	0.06
Orange Juice 100%	50	0	15	0.00	0.00	0.00	0	42.00	1.00	13.00	0.00	0.00
Butter Sugar Cookie	160	10	140	1.00	1.08	0.00	100	0.00	2.00	29.00	5.00	1.50
1% White Milk	102	12	107	0.00	0.07	305.00	478	0.00	8.22	12.18	2.37	1.54
MILK, Skim, Chocolate	130	5	200	0.00	0.36	300.00	500	1.20	8.00	24.00	0.00	0.00
Skim Milk	83	5	103	0.00	0.07	299.07	500	0.00	8.26	12.16	0.20	0.14
Ketchup Packet PC	11	0	85	0.13	0.03	1.35	42	0.59	0.10	2.61	0.02	0.00
Mustard Packet PC	4	0	75	0.21	0.06	2.62	2	0.01	0.16	0.46	0.19	0.01
Mayonaise Packet PC	78	4	67	0.00	0.02	0.89	6	0.05	0.12	0.19	8.64	1.31
ItalianDressingPacket PC	28	0	130	0.09	0.02	1.21	40	0.14	0.03	0.51	3.00	0.45
Ranch DressingPacket PC	63	4	95	0.02	0.03	2.71	7	0.03	0.12	0.51	7.08	1.05
Margarine	30	0	30	0.00	0.00	0.00	300	0.00	0.00	0.00	3.00	1.00

(Sorry, my formatting cut off the protein, carbs, total fat & saturated fat amounts, but they are there!)




Authors like Amy Kalafa should be applauded for not only taking the time to see what the problem is and offering solutions...but also for bringing it to our attention.  Let's face it, as parents, we don't always have time to make sure every aspect of our children's lives are the best they can possibly be. Sometimes we need the extra help.  The extra info.  The nudge to make a change and make a difference. It takes a village people, and we're all in this together.

This was a paid review for BlogHer Book Club but the opinions expressed are my own.