Last Friday, I had an opportunity to visit a local Elementary School as a Junior Achievement volunteer. My assignment was to spend half a day teaching 3rd graders about what it takes to build a city and run different types of businesses. It is a great program, and if you have any interest in helping kids in school, I highly recommend it. I had a lot of fun, although dealing with about 16 energetic 3rd graders for 5 hours left me pretty exhausted when I finished!

Anyway, this post is not about teaching or volunteering. I want to share with you my observations about what the kids were eating for snacks and lunch in the school cafeteria. It wasn’t fancy by any means; yet I was pleasantly surprised to see a good combination of reasonably healthy options of cooked entrees, fruits and veggies. I did not see a lot of junk food and sugary beverages.

I am writing this by memory; here is what was on the menu for lunch:

Entrees – choice of cheese pizza, tuna casserole or turkey

2 sides – choice of peas, salad, apple, chocolate chip cookie

Drinks – milk, chocolate milk, bottled water, tea, a few different soda (not too many)

Other (behind the counter) – potato chips, other snacks

Most kids picked milk, pizza, salad and apple. A few grabbed the chocolate chip cookie. Peas were not very popular!

A few of them brought their own lunch; Kraft’s Lunchables seemed to be popular.

What impressed me the most was that the cashier encouraged the kids to pick at least one veggie or fruit if she did not see any on their plate. That was really cool and I congratulated her as I paid just $4 for my meal.

When I asked some of the kids about fruits and veggies, I was impressed to learn that they liked broccoli, carrots, potatoes, apples and oranges.

During the morning session before lunch, kids were given a 10-15 minutes break mid-morning for a quick snack. Most of them brought something from home. I was disappointed to see several junk and sugary snacks. The teacher had a jar of pretzels for those who forgot to bring a snack. What impressed me though is that the teacher had them practice deep breathing, stretching out and a few simple yoga exercises before letting them return to their desks.

As we returned from the lunch, I took another look at the kids walking ahead of me in a single line. They didn’t seem to be overweight or obese. Food choices at the school cafeteria do make a difference. Of course, this is just a single observation and by no means a scientific conclusion.

What are your kids eating at school?

Photo Credit: absolutwade at Flickr
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