It’s almost back to school time and that means school lunch. One of the issues with childhood obesity is the unhealthy school lunch that contributes to poor eating habits. Whole Foods – a natural grocery store is stepping in to help (smart PR move) with the Salad Bar Project.
How you Can Help Fight Childhood Obesity? One way is to work locally and nationally to improve school lunch. The idea is “to help bring fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and healthy proteins to school lunch programs.”
Their goal is to provide a salad bar in a local school in each of the communities they serve. The salad bars will be donated to local schools through a simple online grant process. Whole Foods Market is partnering with Cooper’s nonprofit, F3: Food Family Farming Foundation for the process. Any public elementary, middle or high school within 50 miles of a Whole Foods Market is eligible to apply with the support of the school principal, nutrition service director and the superintendent of the district.
The school must apply with an application and grant applications will be accepted between Sept. 1 and Nov. 1. Applicants will be chosen based on the grant criteria and the level of the school’s commitment to sustaining the salad bar, and will be announced in early January 2011.
The funding comes from donations at stores. Last year, Whole Foods Market and shoppers donated more than $700,000 for the project. They have a web site – thelunchbox.org with tips for healthy lunches.
What kind of lunch are our kids eating at school? “On average, only 90 cents per lunch is spent on food and many children are eating mostly frozen, highly processed, packaged foods. With no national standardized limit on sugar or other ingredients like artificial colors, flavors or preservatives, it is common to find hamburgers, chicken nuggets, French fries, chocolate milk and corn dogs offered as a typical school lunch.”
Congress is now reviewing the Child Nutrition Act. It was passed in the U.S. Senate last week. The House of Representatives now needs to pass its version of the bill in time for President Obama to sign the legislation before Sept. 30, when the current Act expires. Failing to do so puts the new funding and other policy changes in jeopardy.
We hope to see a child nutrition bill that helps standardize healthier options for healthier eating in schools.
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