Lunches For All!

Caution: Political perspective below...

School lunch is apparently on everyones radar.  The Child Nutrition Act is up for reauthorization this year and, with the new administration's focus on healthy eating--Michelle's vegetable garden on the White House lawn!--expectations are high that there will be increased funding.  According to an editorial in the Washington Post today, President Obama has included an additional $1 billion in the 2010 budget, allocated toward school nutrition programs.  That's great.  I get it.  The numbers from the proposed Child Nutrition Promotion and School Lunch Protection Act of 2009 are staggering. 

In case you're not up for reading a bill, I'll summarize:  since the 1970s, obesity rates have tripled among children ages 6 to 19; sodium intake is 214% above recommended levels; 85 % of children consume more saturated fat than is recommended; type 2 diabetes, which is primarily due to poor diet and physical inactivity, is rising in children; 1/4 of children ages 5 to 10 show early warning signs of heart disease, such as elevated blood cholesterol or high blood pressure; AND in 1996, children aged 2 to 18 years ate approximately 118 more calories per day than children did in 1978, which is the equivalent of 12 pounds of weight gain annually.  Final disturbing fact:  the national estimated cost of obesity is $123,000,000,000 a year, (that's $123 billion), 1/2 of which is paid through Medicare and Medicaid. 

I am not opposed to reform; I think it's clearly necessary and important.  However, let's be clear. Even though food allergies generally are on the rise, and celiac disease affects approximately 1 in 133 people, none of the bills currently introduced address the fact that eating in school can be deadly to many of our children. Why isn't some of this additional $1 billion in funding being used to make sure that every kid can eat?   Clearly a bit of a rant, but come on! If they think obesity is expensive, they should calculate the cost of not addressing this gap.

Currently, the only way you can force a school to provide gluten-free food for your child is to have them labeled "disabled" and getting a Section 504 plan implemented.   This process can be extremely lengthy depending on the cooperation of your school.  The ACDA has provided a handy website that summarizes each state's requirements and gives a "how-to" on getting the ball rolling. 

While you're fired up, take a minute to contact your Representative and let them know that school lunches should be available to all kids.