Trump Strikes Obama-Era School Lunch Guidelines


By Cooking Panda

Well, this is pretty disappointing.

Many will remember Michelle Obama as one of the most health-conscious First Ladies to ever grace the White House.

While her husband served his eight years as President of the United States, Michelle tirelessly worked to help ensure that people everywhere could have more access to nutritious foods and mindful choices — especially children. Who could forget her monumental “Let’s Move” campaign, that got people exercising, enjoying fitness, and informed more people about childhood obesity, and helped to counteract it?

When healthier standards for school lunches were finalized in 2012, many considered it a phenomenal achievement for all, and were grateful to the Obamas for prioritizing the health of all Americans, as well as working so diligently to ensure nobody who wanted to live well would find themselves unable to achieve their health goals.

However, thanks to a huge 1,655-page government bill released on May 1, the Obama-era nutrition standards for school lunches are all set to fall by the wayside, while less healthy choices, such as white bread, sodium-laden food and chocolate milk, are back on the menu.

Apparently, the changes are largely being enacted thanks to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, who claims that after “years of feedback from students, schools and food service experts about the challenges they are facing,” he determined it was high time to re-evaluate the rules, according to Sacbee.

What does that mean exactly? Well, for starters, it means less whole grains and more salty items will start being consumed by schoolchildren.

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Proponents for the changes, however, say that many children refused to touch the more healthy food anyway, which was costing schools lots of money and waste.

“All the way through this, the yardstick on the school lunch program was whether or not the kids were eating,” Kansas Republican Sen. Pat Roberts said, per Sacbee. “We had kids sneaking into the school cafeterias with salt shakers and ketchup.”

Um, okay Senator. 

What do you think of the potential new regulations?

Source: Sacbee / Photo Credit: USDA/Flickr

Tags: Cafeteria lunch, let's move, Nutrition, obama, school lunch
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