Are school lunches healthy?

Did you ever eat a hot lunch at school?
Would you say they were healthy hot lunches?
Have school lunches improved or gotten worse?
Do you know if hot lunches are from cans and boxes or actually made from "the real thing"?

What do YOU think makes a healthy and balanced school lunch?

Yes, about 50% of the time.
I imagine they were; my mother the nutrition fanatic
would never ! have let us eat them, otherwise.
I don't know - I would guess it varys from area to area.
I know there has been a great deal of chat about that very issue;
I hope to good purpose.
I would think it's a variety/mix of both.
I think a healthy lunch has to begin by being a meal a child will eat.

A meal a child will eat... maybe that will depend on what a child is normally fed and use to?
Should schools use processed foods and call them healthy?

Yup, OR... food that the kid doesn't normally get
(or is allowed to have) at home... it will depend on the child,
like most-everything.
BUT, the most nutrious, healthful meal ever is useless if it goes uneaten.
If the processed food is nutrious, yes.

The thing that gets me about processed food is the term itself. Unless a food is eaten whole, such as a carrot, or a berry, it is, by definition, processed. If it is frozen, it is processed. If it is canned or jarred, it is processed. Even whole wheat has to be processed to be turned into flour, or cereal. Even the most natural foods, if they are ground, or shelled, or skinned, or heated, or squeezed, or pulped, they are processed.

Natural? That's another thing. Salt, by itself, is 100% natural, but that doesn't mean it's good for you; in fact, more that 1 or 2 grams per day (1 gram = 1000 mg), is actually bad for you.

Are some things more processed than others? Of course, and generally, the less processed, the better. But think about it before you have that first cup of dried, roasted, and ground cup of "natural", or even "organic" cup of coffee. Or think about the fact that some foods wouldn't even be edible if they weren't processed. Some of your favorite foods even, like chocolate. Or Vanilla. Or many spices.

This is what I meant about processed foods...

4 Most Harmful Ingredients in Packaged Foods

Most of Americans’ household food budget is spent on processed foods, the majority of which are filled with additives and stripped of nutrients. Discover which common ingredients in the foods you eat pose the greatest risk to your health.

Grab the broccoli with cheese sauce from the freezer, the box of instant rice pilaf from the pantry, or the hot dogs from your fridge and squint at the ingredient list’s fine print. You’ll likely find food additives in every one.

Is this healthy? Compared to the foods our bodies were built to eat, definitely not.

Processed, packaged foods have almost completely taken over the diet of Americans.
Unfortunately, most processed foods are laden with sweeteners, salts, artificial flavors, factory-created fats, colorings, chemicals that alter texture, and preservatives. But the trouble is not just what’s been added, but what’s been taken away. Processed foods are often stripped of nutrients designed by nature to protect your heart, such as soluble fiber, antioxidants, and “good” fats. Combine that with additives, and you have a recipe for disaster.

Here are the big four ingredients in processed foods you should look out for:

Lots more found in this link..
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Many schools... even homes... use boxed, canned and prepackaged items. It's not as healthy as it seems?

Snookums [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.],
I take your point.
However [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
if it weren't for packaged food items no one at my house
would ever eat and that! is distnctly not healthy or healthful.
(It leads to starvation and death.)
I prefer to have died of SOMEthing...
and -(annoying as it seems to many); I'm still alive. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

British chef, Jamie Oliver , tried to reform school lunches into healthy, when he went back later, they'd reverted to their original=not healthy .
some habits are hard to break, maybe they need young and keen people to organise school lunches.

When a natural foods company made big changes to the school lunchroom at Appleton Central High School in Wisconsin, something radical also seemed to happen among a student body at risk for dropping out.

The soda-filled vending machines at the alternative education high school were replaced with new ones offering only juice, water and energy drinks. Natural Ovens and Bakery, a local company in Appleton, Wisc., took over the cafeteria and offered fresh fruit and vegetables, whole grain breads and entrees free of additives and chemicals, instead of pizza and fries.

Long standard-issue cafeteria tables made way for round tables, creating a more relaxed feel in the lunch room. But the biggest change of all was that discipline statistics plummeted.

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I have been to this school and found it amazing in so many ways. It has been said other schools could be doing this same lunch program for the same cost they have now. So... why aren't they? I believe it has something to do with the government funding and foods coming from the government... canned and boxed foods... prepacked and processed. I will be looking into that again.

I see...
does this explain the addendum to "advertising" ?
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Stuff it lady! lmao!!

Actually, it just amazed me that this school can do this on the same dollar amount others are spending on canned, boxed and prepacked food.

The addendum... as you call it... really should have been done ages ago. I am really far behind.