Firstly, it's going to be a very expensive idea. Whilst I would never deny a child a free meal, are there not more important things to do which might tackle obesity. What about all the schools that no longer have kitchens? Will they have to build them or ship in food from somewhere that's been reheated and lost it's nutritional value and tastes disgusting?
Secondly, the variation in quality of school meals needs to be tackled. Some schools have fantastic meals, others are awful. More emphasis needs to be put on the quality of food and sourcing local produce. Children can then learn where their food has come from and how it is cooked. Jamie Oliver has done a fantastic job of highlighting the nutritional quality of school meals. Unfortunately, not enough has been done following on from this.
For children to learn about healthy eating, school meals need to change drastically. Menus are full of stodgy high carbohydrate meals. Although children need some carbohydrate, the amount on menus is sky high. The fact they have fruit and vegetables/salad available means nothing when you look at the dessert options. Children need high fat nutritious food not high sugar junk which will create a lifetime of sugar addiction.
I honestly can't see this scheme making any difference to childhood obesity and it certainly doesn't educate kids on healthy eating because school meals are not healthy! For this to have any impact, school menus need to change to serve real food in it's real state closest to nature not something that's highly processed with no nutritional value.
What do you think to the idea? Do your children have school meals? I would love to hear your thoughts. You can email me on info@wisechoicenutrition.co.uk. Don't forget to visit the website www.wisechoicenutrition.co.uk
Hannah
