Did you know that some schools actually want to make their lunches less healthy?

It's true. Some colleagues of mine, Jennifer Woo Baidal and Elsie Taveras, wrote about it in a terrific article in the New England Journal of Medicine that is a must-read.

Since 2012, public schools have been using updated nutrition standards. The changes, which came from the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (HHFKA), are simple and sensible: more fruits, vegetables and whole grains, less trans fats and sodium, healthy calorie guidelines. And as an incentive, HHFKA gave the schools more money.

Sounds perfect, huh? Healthier foods for the kids, more money for the schools.

But now, just two years later, many schools want out. Some school officials, food-industry advocates, and the School Nutrition Association have raised concerns--so much so that the House of Representatives included a way for schools to get a waiver and opt out in the 2015 Agriculture Appropriations Bill.

Why would any school want to go back to unhealthy school lunches? The answer is what it almost always is in these kind of situations: Money.

The problem, they say, is that fewer kids are buying the lunches since the changes. Now, it's not clear that this is all because of the changes--while it's true that fewer kids are buying school lunches (even though more qualify for free school meals), this started before 2012. Prices have gone up, and, well, school lunches hardly have a great reputation, if you know what I mean.

But it is true that the healthy lunches don't go over big with all children. Hey, we see this at our own dinner tables. While there are certainly children out there who love broccoli, many more of them love french fries.

However, at our own dinner table, we don't say: Oh, no problem, you don't have to eat your broccoli. Or any vegetables or fruits, today or ever. Just eat french fries. Because we know that this would be bad for our children, and we want them to be healthy. Shouldn't schools want the same thing?

And here's the other thing we need to remember: The more kids are exposed to a new food, the more likely they are to eventually like it and eat it. Not only does seeing healthy foods in school help set kids up for better eating habits, the simple truth is that it may take more than two years for this new way of eating to become normal and accepted--and for kids to start eating more of those apples and salads and stop throwing them out.

Read the original:

Some Schools Want Less Healthy Lunches (And Why We Need to Stop This)