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Local petition seeks to make Corbin schools serve healthier lunches
Posted On 02 Sep 2009
All across the country, children and adults alike are battling obesity and Kentucky is in the thick of the fight.
According to recent statistics released by the Centers for Disease Control and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Kentucky weighs in with the 7th highest rate of adult obesity with 29 percent falling in the category, and the 4th highest of overweight youths (ages 10-17) at 37.1 percent.
Health officials say these findings, which also label childhood obesity as the number one public health problem in the nation, should be a call to action.
Locally, Cheryl Graham, a Nurse Practitioner at Corbin Pediatrics is taking the fight personally and she is starting with a place where local children spend a lot of their time; school.
Graham has recently spearheaded an attempt to get the Corbin Independent School District to consider serving healthier lunches to students. In addition to sending a letter to Corbin Superintendent Ed McNeel, Graham said a petition is available at the clinic where she works to allow those concerned to show their support.
In the letter, Graham states that "approximately one third of children in the U.S. are overweight or obese. While school meals are certainly not the only contributor to this epidemic, schools have the opportunity to model healthy nutrition practices starting early in a child’s life."
"First of all, this is predominantly me doing this," Graham said. "Corbin Pediatrics, as a practice, we all have a huge concern about the increasing rate of obesity we are seeing nationwide.
"In the letter, we state the numbers pertaining to the state," she added. "In counseling both parents and children in checkup visits, or any kind of visits where weight becomes a topic, you assess what they are eating. They usually will say we eat breakfast at school and we ask what are you eating at school.
"So I started hearing about some of the foods that were available for them to choose," she added. "One of the things they told me their child had eaten for breakfast was honey buns. With that, I started looking for information relating to their school menus."
The letter goes on to explain that meals, particularly at Corbin Primary School, offer many high-sugar/high-fat items.
"Especially alarming are the honey buns, donuts, Pop-Tarts and gravy and biscuit offerings. The most worrisome aspect of the lunch menu is that pizza is available for selection every day."
The letter claims that an "overabundance of starchy carbohydrates are served at many meals and high fat/high sodium processed meats such as corn dogs, hot dogs, popcorn chicken and chicken nuggets are on the menu. There are no restrictions on the snacks for younger children and the food is frequently used to reward children for achievement."
Graham said she knows the significance of the financial situation regarding the food, but she said she feels strongly about the cause and feels like the letter to McNeel emphasizes that notion.
"The Dietray Guidelines for Americans, which is the cornerstone of federal nutrition policy and nutrition education, emphasize whole grain cereals, bread and pastas, fresh vegetables and fruits, low fat dairy products, lean proteins, decreased saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, sodium and added sugars," the letter states. "Menus that follow those guidelines would not only be healthier, but would set a good example for children and families."
"One of the positions I am taking is that we certainly don’t blame school meals for causing this epidemic, you are starting to send a message very early in a child’s life," Graham said. "When I counsel kids regarding healthy food choices we are talking about what they are choosing for breakfast and lunch and stuff like that.
"This goes into the whole teaching of unhealthy practices at an early age and we want to improve upon that," Graham said.
As for the petition, Graham said that currently they have about 20 signatures, but hope for more. She also said that the Corbin Board of Education has contacted her and stated they are interested in working together toward the cause.
Next week, the News Journal will feature part two of a three part series focusing on child obesity and how schools can play a part.
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Even students who are from homes where food is scarce suffer from the lack of nutritious food options at school. Food that is high in sugar, like honey-buns, tend to cause students to feel hungier faster despite their high calorie content.
A better option for all students would be to serve healthier meals, but allow students (especially those who recieve free or reduced lunch) to get seconds if they are still hungry for free. Notice that obesity is highest amongst the poor in our community, because cheap foods tend to be high in sugar and fat. These foods should not be available at school.
Normally, I would never bother to comment on anything I read in these articles. But in this instance comment is needed.
Sad to say the previous comment from Angela is all to true. I personally witness this reality every day and indeed it seems to be prevalent in the local community because of drug abuse and the resulting poverty.
Even though I agree with the premises of healthy eating and that a healthy diet should be required in the school systems, the implications of that reality would result in children essentially starving as they rely on the calories that are taken in at school.
I assume that breakfast is still served along with lunch and as a taxpayer that has no children in the school system, I would gladly pay a few cents more on my cable bill to provide for an afternoon snack for the children with free and reduced meal pricing, as those children would benefit most from such a service.
Also the of special activities such as eating from local fast food stores while on a field trip are unfair to the poor children that are given sack lunches because they do not have money to purchase food.
Even though the lunch is nutritious and free it still has a stigma attached to it. All should be required to eat the sack lunch.
This is a public school, where children are taught the principles they will employ during their life. One should never be excluded at a public school function because one is poor. That is what the private schools are for. Thanks for reading.
While this is a good idea, the focus should also be on the parents who instead of heading to the drive-thru should be at home making a meal, as for the cafeteria’s choice of high carb. meals for some children of these doped up drunken parents it’s the only meal they get during the day, I have no problem with it being high in calories.