It is a rare and amazing thing when a nutrition topic ends up being satirized on Saturday Night Live (my all-time favorite show). I think the pundits, Kermit and Seth Meyers, do a great job of tackling this controversial topic. Check them out here.
Congress recently passed a bill called the Agriculture Appropriations bill (a 401-page tome) that allows the tomato paste in a pizza served in the school lunch program to count as a serving of vegetables. The Obama administration, working together with the USDA, had plans to decrease the amount of starchy vegetables and tomato paste in school lunches but now with this new Congress-approved bill the school lunch program will not have to make these changes to the menu. The increasing cost of vegetables was cited as one of the reasons that the bill was adopted.
Unfortunately all the hard work that several groups have done to change the status-quo of the school lunch program have been for naught which means that the choosing, preparing and serving the healthiest foods will need to be done at home. Most families do try to make healthy choices for themselves and that should be commended in this economy and fast food culture. It remains a wasted teaching opportunity for children if school lunches are not examples of whole grain, low sodium, fruit-and-vegetable goodness that so many dietitians, teachers, parents and other health advocates are encouraging.
No matter what bill is passed, what guidelines are adopted or modified, stay strong and try to make the healthiest decisions for you and your family one meal at a time. Although we may not have Congress on our side, at least you have Kermit, Seth and the Beer Dietitian fighting the fight!
Buon appetito!
-The Beer Dietitian
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