LOSD reminded: ‘Not all carbs are created equal’
The Lake Oswego Review, Dec 2, 2010
Last week I was at the Lake Oswego school board meeting, where several parents came to listen to the challenges and ideas being considered about the nutritional goals of the school lunch program. Food, glorious food, was the topic of contention.
It is important that the leadership of the district do some critical thinking rather that literal mindedness when following the recommended nutrition guidelines. Relative goals for fat carbs and proteins are used to steer the menu options. This approach of simply looking at the relative percentage of fat carbs and protein misses a central concept. Not all carbs are created equal. Highly processed food is empty calories, and they should not be the backbone of the school lunch program.
My son in at Lakeridge High School and he describes the food “as basically like MacDonald’s.” Why is that? It is because that is what was easiest. The parents who spoke out are all clearly wanting something better. I heard one woman express that despite the inconvenience she often makes her son’s lunch at midnight as she works in health and wants to have him well nourished.
The good news is that there are exceptional resources within the community. Great fresh local and affordable alternatives exist on the supply side of the equation.
At this time, the serious health risks of obesity and diabetes are being flagged all over the country as on the rise in young populations. Nationally, we are on a collision course with type 2 diabetes and obesity. Habits start young – good and bad. Please eliminate the use of high fructose corn syrup and modify the carbs to ensure that at least 50 percent of the carbs served are within a “zone diet” approved glycemic index. Also eliminate all milk that has BST as this has been linked as a probable cause to an alarming rate of premature puberty in girls.
When people define mutual interests and goals and work collaboratively they can achieve them. The district is challenged to meet the goals. I am reminded of Albert Einstein’s quote that you can’t use the same thinking to solve the problem as originally created it.
In this case it is a false economy to offer the children anything less than a decent quality meal for lunch.
As the district has cut PE at the elementary level it becomes more critical to improve our targets for food quality. Fortunately, we can look to the adjacent communities of West Linn and Riverdale and Portland – recently at Riverdale a dramatic increase in school lunch participation happened after the food quality was improved.
All of the parents at last week’s meeting were asking for changes to the existing offerings to integrate more nutrition into the equation. It can be done!
Kate Miller is a resident of Lake Oswego.
