Mom Conquers Cafeteria In Healthy School Lunch Crusade

One San Francisco mother is spearheading a campaign to overhaul the lunches that the city's public schools are serving its students, CNN reports.

As Michelle Obama advocates against childhood obesity, celebrity chefs educate children about sustainable cooking and Congress decides on the amount of money to give to the National School Lunch Program, Dana Woldlow is proving that healthy lunches are possible, even with a tight budget.

Woldlow told CNN,

"Three months after we started our pilot project, the cafeteria was breaking even. Six months into it, our cafeteria was one of two in the school district that turned a profit. So much for the idea that you will lose money if you stop selling junk food in your cafeteria."

WATCH:

To see what you can do to ensure students in the U.S. are served nutritional lunches, check out The Jamie Oliver Foundation and the nonprofit organization The Lunch Box.

Comments

[RocheTm]

12:52 PM on 10/06/2010

Honestly there should be more focus on this type of stuff. Why? Answer these questions. How many nobel prize winners have you seen are over weight? How many documentaries have you watched featured experts in any field that where over weight?

Of course people with more education tend to be healthier so these examples are not the greatest but it is known that poor health and exorcise has a bad effect on the brain. Expecting a child to think when it is difficult for them to do such a thing isn't going to get us far.

The problems in education are not as simple as many want us to believe. Truth is our entire culture is breeding poor education. Role models for children today are celebrity whores and druggies. Role models for children 30 years ago where astronauts and scientists. We choose food that damages the body over food that improves it. We promote activities that encourage the shutting off the mind instead of putting it to use. We cut funding for schools that cannot afford basic supplies like books and paper and give it to schools that have an endless supply of extra curricular activities. We allow bad teachers to keep their jobs and push out the best. We bully the smart people and cheer on the ignorant(see Obama and Palin).

Few children are lucky enough to live in a two parent household. Fewer still get to spend any quality time becausethey are tobusy working or playing on facebook.

[VanessaFas]

10:22 AM on 10/05/2010

Good for them. But in the school district's defense, school lunch is supposed to be easy and cheap to make, as the women slinging the food are not 5-star cooks.

And until the schools take out the soda machines, and regulate the nutrition within lunchboxes, you will only improve the system so much. I taught my daughter and her friends about nutrition using the Girl Scout curriculum for the Food Power badge. And I discovered that some kids were drinking soda every day, eating fried foods on a regular basis, and not understanding what was needed to keep themselves healthy, energized, and strong.

Until people are willing to stop relying on fast food or processed food or "fun" food, we can only do so much. I am one of a small minority that thinks junk food and soda should be taxed at a high rate, to discourage it from being purchased. But until others agree, we will have 1st graders with soda-related cavities, and scrawny malnourished kids, as well as obese malnourished kids.

Wake up, America! Your kids need you to lead by example.

[Sol eire]

09:48 AM on 10/05/2010

Parents are worse than the schools. I've worked lunch duty at an elementary school. I see kids day after day with Lunchables, soda, chips, fruit roll-ups and cookies. At least in the cafeteria, you get an apple.

[OhSusana]

06:39 PM on 10/04/2010

After many years of hearing from parents, Houston ISD is making strides in serving healthier meals at all HISD schools. Though not spa lunches and breakfasts, the foods they are offering are much better than they were as recently as last year. Breakfasts: daily fresh fruit, some of it locally sourced; all baked goods are whole wheat; vanilla yogurt rather than artificially flavored/colored facsimile. Lunches: no more frito pie!!; turkey peperoni pizza; acorn squash for veggie option; 2% unsweetened milk.
It took many years of many parents calling for change, but we are getting somewhere!!

[kozmo2000pa]

10:30 AM on 10/04/2010

All about healthy lunches and those who promote it. Kudos to this mom! One thing i would like to see change is the milk. I'm a big advocate for non-rBST milk. Weather this is safe for human consumption is heavily debatable. Little info: BST is normally produced in the pituitary gland of the cow. Someone decide that if you take it from one cow and inject it into another, milk production increased. The "r" part comes from when they take the BST to the lab and recombine the DNA, creating a synthetic. This is actually illegal in many countries. I know i stepped off the topic, but its something important to me and my family. Thanks for reading.

[1Woman4Obama]

03:42 PM on 10/06/2010

I think most milk in CA is non-rBST -- at least, I haven't come accross any on store shelves that don't have the stamp.

[kozmo2000pa]

09:39 AM on 10/07/2010

Interesting. Is that something the state adopted as a law?

[PamperedHousecat]

11:17 PM on 10/02/2010

I wonder if Glen Beck would approve of her actions, since he already condemned Michelle Obama's efforts, saying "the government" couldn't trade in his french fries for carrots.
Then remember, many of these kids have greater access to cheap fattening foods, because they live in "food deserts", where much of the food is sold at gas stations, convience stores, or liquor stores that don't sell fresh foods.
I remember a 20/20 show that followed a young African-American man who was looking for employment. He had $5.00 to spend on lunch and the only choice he had was a local Micky D's. The salad cost $4.99, but he could get TWO double-cheese burgers, a large fry and large soft drink from the $.99 menu. Guess what he bought?
It was by no means healthy, but it was, sadly, filling.

[pbh493]

10:07 AM on 10/04/2010

F&F.
I saw a similar program where a mom had to get on two buses in order to get groceries from a grocery store. Turned into a 3-4 hour excursion with transferring and waiting. People don't understand until they see it and sadly, many people are too consumed with their own lives to venture into someone else's.

[Michael Mouton]

10:59 PM on 10/02/2010

I'm so sick of you libs! The free market's invisible hand has shown that kids want fatty, salty, sugar-filled foods, that's how we do things 'Murica, this is not Mother Russia.

[Michael Mouton]

10:59 PM on 10/02/2010

Sarcasm

[PamperedHousecat]

11:32 PM on 10/02/2010

Thanks.I thought you were a member of "Americans Against Food Taxes", and wanted the guvment to not tax soda pop, because it is "vital" to feeding the family in these tight economic times.

[Vivian Alicia Evans]

07:47 PM on 10/02/2010

Utimately, it needs to come from the parents. Our schools in B.C. have a healthy foods program where the parent is encouraged to send lunches that are in within the guidelines. We even have a fresh fruit or veg snack scheduled 2 times a week every second week. Of course all this can only work when children are exposed to this healthy lifestyle at home.

I agree there are parents that can not afford to feed their kids 3 square meals a day and that is where the school must step in with healthy lunches. However if like stated the schools have access to subsidized food from the federal govt that is substandard, what kind of message is that putting out.

There is no easy solution to this problem. But changing the mindset of parents is the start and having real support from the govt is another.

[wishfulslinking]

02:45 AM on 10/02/2010

It's about time.

[suzjazz]

10:22 PM on 10/01/2010

HOORAY!!! Some good news in a world of bad news.

[Seaniebhoy]

04:01 PM on 10/01/2010

Didn't Jamie Oliver do this already?

[AmericanLeslie]

06:05 PM on 10/01/2010

in West Virginia

[wishfulslinking]

02:45 AM on 10/02/2010

Yes.

[dbishop76]

01:47 PM on 10/01/2010

I'm so glad I pack my kids' lunches. They won't eat the junk they serve in schools.

I also think that this could be solved if schools would invest the time and resources to plant gardens for fresh vegetables. It's a great learning tool for the kids and it would definitely help cut costs.

[pbh493]

10:10 AM on 10/04/2010

Careful! Trading is a rite of passage. I sent my children with lunches everyday all through elementary, middle and high school. I would say that 1/2 the time they ate the entire packed lunch.

[1Woman4Obama]

03:44 PM on 10/06/2010

Exactly!

[KLMwrites]

12:42 PM on 10/01/2010

You go girl. How pathetic schools preach health lifestyles, and serve corndogs and french toast sticks for lunch.
http://returntoworkmom.blogspot.com/

[Arina K]

12:03 PM on 10/01/2010

It's funny because so many kids actually get TIRED of all the fat, fried foods in the cafeteria. In my old highschool in Canada, there was never a salad in sight in the caf. Why is that? It's so much cheaper, so much better! It helps kids think better, and get through the day with more energy.

Why is there fat foods? Because the school boards sign contracts with the stupid companies who produce all this food with CORN, and OIL. I mean, go out and do some research, nobody likes that food - but the schools can't get out of their contracts.

[Vivian Alicia Evans]

07:38 PM on 10/02/2010

f&f! When I went to school in B.C. back in the seventies and eighties in a rural elementary and high school we did not have a school cafeteria and hence no school breakfasts or lunches. Thank goodness my mom packed our lunches and provided a healthy breakfast.

[am10]

11:38 AM on 10/01/2010

I'm all for cleaning up the the school lunch menu. But I draw the line at banning bake sales, soda machines (that are only on after school), and elementary school parties.

[Jared Watts]

01:36 AM on 10/04/2010

Agreed, and banning parents from packing certain things for their own kids. My little brother had his lunch thrown away because it was leftover pepperoni pizza that "didn't have any vegetables" on it so it wasnt considered balanced enough..

[am10]

02:47 PM on 10/04/2010

Oooh! I hope your mom was at the school immediately for that one!