Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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THIS WEEK WITH MARGARET You Have GOT to Be Kidding! THIS WEEK WITH MARGARET by MARGARET DICKSON You will have to take my word on this, but I have been around the block more than a few times in both the legislative and the school lunch menu arenas. As a member of the North Carolina General Assembly, I did my best to fi ght the good fi ght on many issues, including children's health and well- being, and as a mother I duked it out fairly regularly over such momentous questions as apples versus chips in the lunch bag. Even I, though, was fl abbergasted to pick up my daily newspaper recently and read that Congress is coming down on the side of pizza and French fries instead of carrots and leafy greens. What are they thinking? A little background might be helpful here. Amid rising national concern about childhood obesity, the US Department of Agriculture, which oversees federally regulated and funded school lunch programs, proposed earlier this year that schools move toward healthier menu offerings. The USDA was not talking about salad bars only in schools across the land. It was merely recommending limiting the use of sodium, using more whole grains, and cutting down on starchy vegetables, including potatoes. This mother, who once overheard one of the Precious Jewels explain to a visiting playmate that the reason the Dicksons had no sodas or chips in the pantry was because her mother "is a health food nut" as if that were a profession, fi nds the USDA's proposals not only reasonable, but laudable. So, too, did Congress, at least until the pizza manufacturers and potato farmers unleashed their lobbyists on those darn members of Congress who would like to help children get and stay healthy. All of a sudden, Congress released a revised spending bill that rolls back the new, healthier regulations, allowing the little bit of tomato paste on a school lunchroom-sized slice of pizza to be counted as a vegetable. It also stops any reduction in the amount of starchy vegetables available, allowing French fries ad infi nitum. all of us in our health care system. Children do eat more of their meals and snacks away from school than in it, so school food, no matter what it is, cannot be blamed exclusively for childhood obesity. This is not world peace, of course, but the whole incident strikes me as alarming and revolting on two fronts. We have all seen children who are far bigger than they should be even at very young ages. They walk through malls and other public places with odd waddling gaits, because their oversized thighs do not allow normal walking patterns. These are children who are developing heart problems and diabetes at ages unheard of in earlier generations. They are not able to participate even in playground games, and they are often the target of vicious teasing, even bullying, by schoolmates. Above the psychic and emotional tolls, they are also being set up for higher health costs as they age, a reality that affects Why on earth would we not want such children to be healthier? Then there is the very real special interest issue. It is clear that special interest groups have major impacts in Congress. In this instance, pizza manufacturers and potato growers took a look at the USDA proposed changes and saw that they could affect their fi nancial bottom lines. Hence the lobbyist blitz and hence the revised spending bill, reflecting their industries' concerns. These are important industries, certainly, but why should the health of their bottom lines come at the expense of the health of our children? As always, this issue is more complicated than it seems on its face. Children do eat more of their meals and snacks away from school than in it, so school food, no matter what it is, cannot be blamed exclusively for childhood obesity. Other factors — computer use, decreasing outdoor playtime, and the disappearing family meal — are at work as well. It is also true that healthier food, leafy greens, fruits, and the like, are more expensive than starchy foods like pizza and French fries, a reality which can put an additional burden on school systems struggling with expenses during this challenging economy. There is always the philosophical argument as well that "Government" has no business telling children what they can and cannot eat. All of that being said and at least somewhat true, I continue to fall on the side of healthier and higher quality school food. Schools not only feed millions of American children every day, they also provide — or should provide — guidance on what to eat just as they provide guidance on what one should know academically and socially to be productive members of our society. Teaching about healthy living in the classroom and serving up yummy but empty calories in the lunchroom is just another example of "Do as I say, not as I do." Every parent eventually learns that this is the least effective teaching tool ever. Those of a certain age may have a nagging little feeling that we have been down this road before, but you cannot quite call it to mind. Let me help. Remember 30 years or so ago when the Reagan administration declared that catsup was a vegetable? Everything old is new again. MARGARET DICKSON, Contributing Writer, Up & Coming Weekly, COM- MENTS? Editor@upandcomingweekly.com. Plan Your Holiday Parties Now! 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