Healthful School Lunch Options - Ideas for Change in America

New York Coalition for Heatlhy School Food, a statewide non-profit, supports the inclusion of a plant-based option as a healthy choice in school meals. To learn more about our work, click here: http://www.healthylunches.org/learn_more_1.htm (our website will be completely redesigned in about 3 weeks, so check back for a much improved site). By reading this you'll get some ideas about how you can promote healthy food in schools, based on our pilot projects.

We wrote and got passed a NYS legislative resolution requesting a plant-based option as a healthy choice, farm to school programs, nutrition education that includes information on vegetarian/vegan and multicultural eating patterns, and more. This is not a law but it is a recommendation, and it passed unanimously in the spring of 2004.

It's important to understand that schools have very little money to work with to provide a healthy lunch. There is only about 90 cents to provide a 5 component meal, and about 20 cents of that is in the form of commodity foods, provided "free" to schools, compliments of our federal tax dollars. Many of the entrees depend on these commodities, and the most common entrees served are: chicken nuggets, mozarella sticks, cheeseburgers, and pizza. To create change, talk to your elected officials at both the federal and state levels, letting them know how important it is to increase the reimbursement rates for school meals. On a more local level, talk to your superintendent, school board, and business superintendent. If you talk to the food service director understand that they are under unbelieveable pressure and they do not receive any of the school budget dollars. Instead they must be a self supporting department and it is very hard for them to make ends meet. That's why so many rely on selling processed junk food. Think of ways you can help to make positive changes happen without costing them more money and time, as these are very real constraints that they have. Stay tuned for more suggestions. - by Amie Hamlin