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    USDA Bans Whole Milk in Schools. Rolls Out Major School Lunch Reforms.

    By Piper Weiss, Shine Staff | Healthy Living – Wed, Jan 25, 2012 5:05 PM EST

    Whole milk just got expelled from school. White bread is up for suspension.

    On Wednesday, the healthy school lunch movement earned a $3.2 billion dollar raise, and with it a new set of mandates for cafeterias nationwide. The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a federally funded, five-year plan to improve cafeteria food and reduce childhood obesity.

    Take a look at school lunches around the world.

    The new guidelines, impacting about 32 American million kids, will guarantee more fruits, veggies and whole grains on the lunch table. Full-fat milk is off the menu, meaning kids will choose from low-fat or fat-free. Schools are also responsible for proper portion sizes. And those outsourced vending machines on school property stuffed with potato chips and candy bars? Those will be getting a revamp with healthier options too.

    Over the next three years, schools across the country -from Kindergarten through twelfth grade- will be required to implement these changes.

    What's really a vegetable? Congress has a interesting theory.

    In Wednesday's announcement, the USDA released sample "before and after" menu for the average elementary school to reflect the improvements the budgetary boost and guidelines will make. Fried mozzarella and marinara sticks are swapped out for a chef's salad. Pizzas get a whole wheat crust. Condiments are reduced in fat. And even canned fruit is out in, in favor of raw, fresher options.

    The changes that don't come cheap. At six cents a meal, the government will be forking over a major chunk of change. But that money is an investment in our population's future. With a 17 percent obesity rate for U.S. kids under 18, diabetes and heart problems threatens the livelihood of an enitre generation.

    Schools aren't all to blame. Their improvements are also a small part of the solution. A recent study pegs the bulk of childhood diet problems on parents. But it hasn't helped that educational outposts sanction the same food that's making kids sick.

    First Lady Michelle Obama has spent her White House tenure pushing for dietary improvements in schools. She's largely credited with these monumental USDA requirements. It's been 15 years since the government's nutritional arm has made any such changes to school lunch requirements. Despite all the energy behind the food revolution in recent years, this is the first time massive amounts of federal money is being allotted for a nationwide overhaul.

    Now comes the next hurdle: How will the government insure each school uses the funding responsibly? And if left to their own devices, how will schools dance around the definition of food groups? You'd think, at this point, the USDA wouldn't have to specify that pizza doesn't count as a vegetable. But even their expectations of schools are underwhelming. On the USDA's highly optimistic sample menu, one of the ideal vegetable courses- post-guideline implementation-isn't steamed greens but baked sweet potato fries. It's better than tater tots, but is it enough to curb an epidemic?

    Related:
    Pizza is too a vegetable, says Congress
     Shocking facts about school lunches
    Healthy school lunches by revolutionary thinkers

     
    • David
      David  •  2 months ago
      This is complete nonsence. Whole milk provides necessary fat for growing children. Not to mention vitamin D and calcium. People are being told what they must eat and how they must behave. Every person has a different need yet the government wants to treat us all the the worst most obese of us, this might help a few but will hurt the majority of us just like all the other government programs they come up with. If you really want to make a mess get the government involved. What ever happened to the land of the free?
    • Quon
      Quon  •  Sacramento, California  •  2 months ago
      I make my daughters lunch....we also pray together. The government has no
      say so in our choices!
    • Midnight Matt
      Midnight Matt  •  Santa Clara, California  •  2 months ago
      Eat all the meat, that processed meat, including the pink slime, all you want, but for gods' sake don't drink whole milk.
    • David
      David  •  2 months ago
      I say let's do a class action suit against the U.S. government.
    • mac
      mac  •  Church Road, Virginia  •  2 months ago
      Fat is essential and actually helps maintain proper body weight
    • John
      John  •  Wheaton, Illinois  •  2 months ago
      Schools have no business telling parents what to feed their children. There is nothing wrong with white bread and whole milk. I'm sure the next great liberal revolution will be to follow the children into adult life and force these weight-loss programs onto healthy, normal people who are fine eating natural, unprocessed food, not pink slime, sticks and twigs. How about a REAL healthy diet and a liberal dose of EXERCISE? If a child has a weight problem, THEN have a parent-teacher conference and discuss it, otherwise teach the children math, science and grammar and leave us all alone. After these massive government intrusions, I guess we will find ourselves in a few more years with Soilent Green on our breakfast plate and Big Brother controlling our lives. God help us.
      • Red
        Red 2 months ago
        There is plenty wrong with fluffy, snow-white bread. It is made from wheat in which the germ and bran have been removed, which contain vitamin E, fiber, and several other nutrients. Then the wheat has just a few vitamins replenished, and it is erroneously called enriched.

        However, John, you are right about exercise, and individual attention to diet instead of the same diet for all. Also, I believe that school menus are not the business of the federal government, but the business of the school districts, with parental and non-governmental professional input.
      • Will
        Will 18 days ago
        with our country going in to debt becuase of health problems related to obesity it is so the goverment's concern. This could possibly put our country on the right track again.
      • John
        John 17 days ago
        Thinking that our country has debt problems because of white bread is ridiculous. The problem isn't white bread... if the government tells children what they can and can't eat, then they will follow the children to college and adult life and tell them what they can and can't eat. I went to a college with an amazing football program where I saw players drink several glasses of whole milk and heaping portions of eggs, meat and cheese for every meal, and guess what, they were in break-backing practice all day and had amazing bodies! The problem is video games, lack of exercise, and parents keeping children in the house, not food. White bread has been around for centuries and only lately there has been an obesity problem. If any of you were correct about white bread, there would have been an obesity epidemic a hundred years ago when white bread became popular, not now. Don't push your crappy-tasting twiggy bread on me, thank you very much! Those of us who take care of ourselves have a right to eat whatever we want.
    • Midnight Matt
      Midnight Matt  •  Santa Clara, California  •  2 months ago
      What are Michelle 0|3ungh0le and her crew thinking?
    • Cal
      Cal  •  2 months ago
      the usda must have decided to dismiss its own study that skim milk actually causes the body to crave fat from other sources resulting in over eating. As gross as school lunches are I have a hard time seeing them as the cause for obesity
    • SE3.5
      SE3.5  •  Indianapolis, Indiana  •  2 months ago
      Whole milk is worse than pink slime? This government is nuts.
      • World Citizen
        World Citizen 2 months ago
        I say don't give it a pretty pink name call it what it really is Disinfected Bovine Waste Trimmings.
      • Andee
        Andee 2 months ago
        It is a well known fact that fats are needed in our diets to "oil" our joints so to speak; one of the healthiest, and according to dieticians, is bacon fat! We must consider, however, that portions and number of servings per week need to be considered..the dietician said 2 pcs, once a week! Perhaps she should invoke within herself what she is trying to invoke on our youth..her figure certainly needs attention! Too, whole wheat, many, many students/people cannot tolerate whole wheat and the elderly have to watch it for it flares up arthritis problems. This female needs to shut up and go away until she is qualified to work with our students! Have any of you read of what happened in Philly and LA with her diet? Students would not eat...cost taxpayers $40,000 and I believe that to be in each school although it was not distinctly spelled out!

        My aunt died from taking fats out of her diet and followed that of her husband. As the dietician said, one should never go on a special diet unless the doctor and dietician agree....
      • Andee
        Andee 2 months ago
        Heck, Christine, they do not care about true nutrition..they are going to force, through Monsanto and Con Agra GMO foods on us...they have little, if any nutritive value..you take it from there....dieticians, trained ones that is, educated ones that is and doctors yell and yell that processed foods cause an increase in cancer, neurological problems and just about anything else you can think of including acid reflux!
    • harry
      harry  •  Gainesville, Florida  •  2 months ago
      i know one thing you can tell a child what to eat but can not make them eat it. when i went to school i did not like there food so i would stop in the morning at the store and use my lunch money to get what i wanted. if you think our childern are not that smart you pepole do not know your kids
    • Cuffy Meigs
      Cuffy Meigs  •  2 months ago
      Further proof that liberals don't think you're smart enough to run your own life. They need to do it for you.
      • true democrat
        true democrat 2 months ago
        and more proof that liberalism is a mental disease, who's only cure is to drink Jones Town kool-aid
      • Wolf-Spider
        Wolf-Spider 2 months ago
        I'd rather have a Monster. I don't know Jones Town. I still can't figure out how anyone can think Progressives/Liberals are actually good. I want this world flipped back to where Good is good, and Bad is bad.

        Wolf-Spider
    • GILBERT
      GILBERT  •  Los Angeles, California  •  2 months ago
      THEY BETTER LEAVE THE WHOLE MILK ALONE I LOVE IT I CAN DRINK ALMOST A GALLON A DAY
    • World Citizen
      World Citizen  •  2 months ago
      I'm glad my kids are grown. They day the government were to tell me or my parents what to feed children is the day we need to start a revolution. They are way out of bounds. I can see getting rid of candy and soda machines bu this is going to far. Seriously, they think it is ok to replace quality beef with that pink slime Disinfected Bovine Waste Trimmings but you can't have white bread or whole milk. These people are insane... period.
    • World Citizen
      World Citizen  •  2 months ago
      Where do they expect children to get energy to play on the playground with? You need carbohydrates (bread) and you need lots of vitamin D (whole milk). Good luck with that the other thing is they will have the attention span of a nat unless you keep both in the diet.
      • Any Mouse
        Any Mouse 2 months ago
        I get all kinds of carbohydates without eating bread and I get vitamin D from other things I eat. Diabetics have to have carbohydates 3 or more times a day to keep their blood sugar level. At least type 2 diabetics do. Many foods have carbohydates besides bread and many foods have vitamin D, like vegetables.
    • Mary K
      Mary K  •  Hagerstown, Maryland  •  2 months ago
      how much pink slime do kids eat in schools these days?
    • Lynn
      Lynn  •  Morehead City, North Carolina  •  2 months ago
      Children NEED the fat in whole milk to grow properly, many vitamins can only be absorbed in the body with the aid of fats such as the ones found in whole milk! Plus these fats slow down the absorption of sugar from the carb laden meals served to our children thus preventing sky high blood glucose levels and helping to maintain energy levels. Michelle Obama and her FDA goons need to stay away from our kids
      • Will
        Will 18 days ago
        they don't need it when they are 100 lbs over weight.
      • Lynn
        Lynn 16 days ago
        I can guarantee you that not one single human beng on the face of the planet EVER became 100 lbs over weight from drinking milk. In fact recent studies have shown that drinking whole and 2% milk (vs skim milk) can help you lose more weigh and more importantly lose dangerous belly fat!!
    • Z
      Z  •  Washington, District of Columbia  •  2 months ago
      Which sounds healthier - ?
      1. Drink the milk from the cow
      2. Pump milk from a cow into a giant vat, allow the milk to sit and naturally separate into cream (floats) and milk, then funnel it into a centerfuge which separates the liquids and solids, filtering the liquid by density, retain the least dense portions and add artificial coloring to them to turn them back to white (skim milk is naturally blue'ish!!).
      You be the judge.
    • Jamie
      Jamie  •  Mobile, Alabama  •  2 months ago
      How many BILLIONS of human have drank whole milk with no ill effects?
      Now they are BANNING it?

      MAKE THE KIDS PLAY OUTSIDE!
    • Nvsblemn
      Nvsblemn  •  Colorado Springs, Colorado  •  2 months ago
      Healthy fats are deficient in almost every American. Healthy fat does not make you fat, but rather can be important to keeping you slim. The amount of carbs should be decreased before the removal of healthy fats. Skim milk is watered down with lots of added sugar.
    • Arya
      Arya  •  2 months ago
      While it is good that there is some recognition of the pitiable standards of nutrition in the country, I think it is a shame to ban whole milk. Whole Milk is one of the best complete food and an essential ingredient to a healthy diet. Problem is there is such little understanding of the human digestive process and of nutrition. what little is known is through foolish studies done by starry eyed fools to standards funded by special interests. This is pitiable.
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