Eat & Think

Before we get into the question of whether our kids get enough to eat, we need to explore the meaning of a word that has been used in a healthy and, we hope, ongoing discussion in our community about the new federal guidelines for school breakfasts and lunches. (See story on page 1.)

The word is hunger.

We looked up its definition online and it varies greatly from "a desire for food" to a "painful sensation or state of weakness caused by the need for food." That's an interesting range, a spectrum almost, spanning from something that could pass for an "appetite" to something that's closer to "starvation."

It's worth remembering that we're dealing with different ranges when it comes to dealing with this topic and it's the reason we're con- cerned about it: the first real federal reform of school menus doesn't seem to take "ranges" into account. We feel it should.

The new guidelines, which stem from the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, went into effect on July 1 and some parents and observers in our communities feel they make the law a contradiction in terms. They believe the portions dished out in our cafeterias now leave some kids feeling hungry and they're not alone. The web is full of sto- ries about school districts across the country receiving complaints from parents and kids who think the new guidelines just don't cut it.

Now we're not talking about "hunger" on the starvation end of the spectrum. Putting all things in perspective, our kids still eat more than many of their counterparts around the world and most likely healthier too, which was the whole idea behind the act.

Most of us agree that younger generations face an obesity epidemic from food and beverage ingredients that satisfy taste buds but do noth- ing to nurture growing bodies and, in many cases, actually deprive the body of its ability to process and absorb nutrients.

Something had to be done to curb our kids' junk food addiction and this was an important first step. But a law that may have been designed as an equal opportunity provider of better nutrition fails to take into account the many differences among kids. But kids also need good nutrition to perform well in school.

The new guidelines call for lunch portions ranging from 750 to 850 calories for students in 9th-12th grades. That's a tight range compared to the variation of calories recommended for different age groups and genders. For ages 4-8, they range from 1,200 to 1,800 calories per day for girls and 1,400 to 2,000 for boys; ages 9-13: 1,600 - 2,200 for girls and 1,800 - 2,600 for boys; and ages 14-18: 1,800 - 2,400 for girls and 2,200 - 3,200 for boys.

Granted those are the recommended number of calories in a daily diet of which school meals represent a portion, but we'd like to make two points here. First, to kids in many of our households these school meals are a significant part of their daily diet and secondly, the range in the guidelines don't account for the kids' greatly varying rates of physical activity.

Should an athletic student from a disadvantaged household be stuck with the same lunch portions as a more privileged student on the chess team who has more access to snacks and well-rounded meals at home?

In Waitsburg, about 42 percent of the district's student body relies on free or reduced cost lunches. The percentage is 57 in Dayton and almost 86 in Prescott.

Schools, which are reimbursed for a portion of their breakfast and lunch programs by the federal government for following the new guide- lines, aren't allowed to offer second helpings to students who want or need them without paying more.

There are many other variables that go into this equation: how much of the kids' lack of school nutrition comes from the growing methods used for what they get to eat? In a lot of mainstream foods, the essential minerals, vitamins and nutrients are processed right out of the raw ingredients. To what extent do kids who have grown up on (un)healthy amounts of processed and junk food need time to adjust to a more balanced diet? Exactly how picky are our kids anyway? Have they em- braced the new choices of fruits and vegetables on the lunch menu or do those food groups go to waste? And is that the reason they feel hungry?

We think parents and school districts should take a bit more time to scrutinize our kids'eating habits before deciding how to make sure they get the nutrition that's right for them.

But we also feel the federal system ought to have at least some flex- ibility in accounting for the range of nutritional needs our kids represent.