Good Nutrition Starts At Home

August 28, 2013

KidsIf you have kids in the family, make sure they’re taking their daily multivitamin—because school lunches aren’t cutting it.

You’d have to live in a cave to have missed the push over the last several years to improve the nutritive quality of school lunches—to do more than count ketchup as a vegetable. And up until now it’s largely been seen as a success. Schools started having their own gardens, cut back on salty, sugary foods, and started making real meals.

But despite the schools efforts, the kids aren’t biting.

Healthy school lunch programs are losing money in many places, even with government subsidies. Kids won’t eat the healthy options (which often also have smaller portions, prompting more sack lunches). Commentators say it’s an adjustment the kids have to struggle through, that many of them have never tasted many of the fruits being offered. How long before schools go back to junk food in their vending machines to make up for their losses on healthy lunches?

That means that parents and caregivers need to step up. You’re probably already doing your best to feed your kids fruits and veggies, but school poses a huge potential nutritional gap in their day (and if they stay late for activities, that’s a looong day).

That’s why it’s up to you to include a daily multivitamin with their morning meal—get it in their tummies before their out the door, then it’s one less thing for you to worry about.

Do your school districts have healthy lunches?

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