Lunch Lessons: New Calorie Limits Add Healthier Items, Higher Costs to School Cafeterias
Montgomery and Prince George’s county schools serve more fruits and vegetables, but students may not be eating them.
Lunch Lessons
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Lunch Lessons: New Calorie Limits Add Healthier Items, Higher Costs to School Cafeterias
Montgomery and Prince George’s county schools serve more fruits and vegetables, but students may not be eating them.
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Lunch Lessons: DC Expert Talks About Improving School Lunches
Newly approved regulations for school lunches have forced schools to revamp their menu options, but a local expert talks about changing how children see healthy food.
In August of this year, Congress approved calorie limits on school lunches. Under the new regulations, cafeterias are required to serve twice as many fruits and vegetables while limiting proteins and carbohydrates. The DC-based Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), which is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting better nutrition, sponsors the Healthy School Lunch Campaign. The PCRM Healthy School Lunch Team works with school districts across the country and organizes meetings and presentations for school boards, PTAs, and student groups and its message is that the food served in school should promote the health of all children. PCRM has worked closely with D.C. public schools, along with schools in Montgomery …
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Lunch Lessons: New Calorie Limits Add Healthier Items, Higher Costs to School Cafeterias
Montgomery and Prince George’s county schools serve more fruits and vegetables, but students may not be eating them.
Every day at lunch, children across Prince George’s and Montgomery counties may be facing what conventional wisdom says is one of their worst nightmares. No, it’s not monsters hiding under their beds or behind their closet doors. It’s not zombies chasing after them, either. It’s fruits and vegetables. After Congress passed a nationwide law limiting the amount of calories schools are allowed to serve at lunch, schools in Prince George’s and Montgomery counties are adhering to the rules and serving up more healthy options for students. “Before this year, each student had to select three out of five items,” said Marla Caplon, Director of the Division of Food and Nutrition Services at Montgomery County public schools. “This year, the student …
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Lunch Lessons: Healthy Eating Excels at Broad Acres
Manna Food Center and MCPS work to bring healthy lunches to both the schools and homes of local elementary students.
It’s 11 a.m. on a Wednesday and students at Broad Acres Elementary School are making their way to the cafeteria to receive their lunch. The menu options consist of pancakes, carrots, spinach salad, cherry tomatoes, strawberry banana yogurt and milk. “I like the carrots, but I don’t like the white dressing,” said second grade student Ashley Padaro as she refers to the Ranch dressing. “It tastes like Cool Whip.” Ashley along with her classmate Rose Legiste opt for the tomatoes instead of the carrots and they both gulp down their strawberry banana yogurt as they make yogurt mustaches to each other. “Yesterday I ate the fruits and vegetables. Today I’m eating the vegetable and fruit yogurt,“ said Rose as she pops a tomato in her mouth. New U.S…
