5 Solutions for Healthy School Lunches

Childhood obe­sity is a major prob­lem in North America, where annual obe­sity rates have seen sig­nif­i­cant gains in recent decades. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 17 per­cent of U.S. chil­dren and ado­les­cents aged 2–19 are obese, nearly triple the share in 1980. Many stud­ies doc­u­ment the con­nec­tion between a school’s food envi­ron­ment and dietary behav­iors in chil­dren. As any­one who grew up in the U.S. pub­lic school sys­tem can attest, lunches served in the coun­try are highly processed and high in sodium, sugar, and fat.

Initiatives that con­nect school­child­ren to fresh, healthy foods and that encour­age healthy eat­ing habits from a young age are crit­i­cal to end­ing the obe­sity endemic. One exam­ple is the U.S.-based 30 Project, which brings together key orga­ni­za­tions and activists work­ing on hunger, obe­sity, and agri­cul­ture to talk about their visions for the food sys­tem over the next 30 years. The effort is explor­ing long-term solu­tions to address obe­sity and improve the food sys­tem by ensur­ing that every­one has easy access to fresh fruits and veg­eta­bles, among other goals.

With chil­dren prepar­ing to begin the school year, Nourishing the Planet offers five solu­tions for schools to encour­age healthy eating.

1. Connect Local Farmers to Schools

Providing locally sourced foods in school cafe­te­rias improves diets and strength­ens local economies. The U.S. state of Vermont is a leader in the nation­wide Farm to School move­ment, which inte­grates food and nutri­tion edu­ca­tion into class­room cur­ric­ula and serves local foods in school cafe­te­rias. Over the past decade, 60 per­cent of Vermont schools have joined the effort, form­ing a statewide net­work aided by the state’s Agency of Agriculture, Department of Health, and Department of Education. Children ben­e­fit from farm-fresh foods for break­fast and lunch, and local farm­ers expand their busi­ness into a mar­ket worth over $40 mil­lion. Urban areas across the United States, from New York to Los Angeles, are also par­tic­i­pat­ing in this grow­ing movement.

2. Savor Mealtimes

Emphasizing the impor­tance of meal­times teaches chil­dren to appre­ci­ate the value and taste of good food. France, which has one of the low­est rates of child­hood obe­sity in Europe, takes lunch very seri­ously. School lunches are well funded, and every part of the meal is pre­pared on school grounds in professional-grade kitchens—a stark con­trast to the heat-and-serve kitchens in U.S. schools. Kids from preschool to high school are served four- to five-course meals and are encour­aged to take time eat­ing and social­iz­ing with friends. At some schools, detailed menus even sug­gest what par­ents should serve their chil­dren for din­ner. Soft drink and snack machines are banned from school premises.

3. Implement School Gardens

School gar­dens pro­vide hands-on oppor­tu­ni­ties for chil­dren to cul­ti­vate and pre­pare organic pro­duce. In the United States, REAL School Gardens cre­ates learn­ing gar­dens in ele­men­tary schools in high-poverty areas of north Texas. The orga­ni­za­tion has found that the school gar­dens not only nur­ture healthy lifestyles and envi­ron­men­tal stew­ard­ship, but can also improve aca­d­e­mic achieve­ment through active par­tic­i­pa­tion. REAL School Gardens sup­ports 81 schools, pro­vid­ing daily access to nature for more than 45,000 chil­dren and 2,700 educators.

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