Done Right Food School News - Sep 2010
School Food
School meals have often been criticized for many years. Too many days with fast, convenience foods like chicken nuggets, hot dogs, hamburgers, corn dogs, pizza, french fries, tater tots, chips, cookies, and cake on the school lunch menu. While many of today’s school food manufacturers make some convenience foods that have been modified to be lower in fat, salt, and sugar, the words on the menus remain the same.
Nutrition Education Challenge
With “pizza”, “chicken nuggets”, and “hot dogs” still listed on the menu, it’s difficult to be confident that these foods are better for our children. It also creates a challenge when teaching young students which foods are ”healthy” and which foods are “less healthy”. The hot dog continues to be a commonly desired and eaten food, while hope is held out that it’s the “healthy” kind.
Healthy Diets
Even though these foods can be lower in fat, salt, and sugar --- they are still highly processed, heat-and-serve, convenience foods. A healthy diet needs to include much more fresh, wholesome, scratch-cooked, nutrient-rich food --- and much less convenience food.
Our Children
Students are in school almost half their daily lives. A typical school serves two meals, ie, breakfast and lunch, each day. So, if students eat both meals, the majority of their nutritional intake comes from school food during the school year. If averaged out over an entire year, about one-third of the student’s nutritional intake comes from school food.
That’s alot of meals. It’s clear that schools meals are a critical part of the diet of today’s children. So as much as possible, meals at school need to consist of healthy food, as well as teach a healthy message for the rest of their lives. For these reasons --- Done Right Food is committed to making sure that it is “DONE RIGHT”.
Our Done Right Food Commitment -- Healthy Food, Healthy Message
DRF follows our own Healthy Menu Guidelines when planning menus that offer great food for students at school. Menus are aligned with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, health education curriculum, and school wellness policies. Our guidelines state specific types of healthy, wholesome foods that are popular with students and are served every day in school. Daily lunches include fresh green leafy salads, fresh vegetables and fruits, lean meat and poultry, reduced fat cheese and dressings, whole grain items, and more. Breakfasts offer low sugar cereals, low fat yogurt, etc. All meals offer skim milk.
In addition, the guidelines state specific types of heat-and-serve, convenience, less “healthy” foods that will not be served at all. Lunches do not include any breaded chicken products, hot dogs, corn dogs, hamburgers, frozen pizza, french fries, tater tots, fried chips, etc. Likewise, breakfasts do not include any high sugar cereals, chewy cereal bars, pop tarts, etc.
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