Eat, dammit

"He who complies against his will is of the same opinion still."

-- Samuel Butler

Goes for the lunchrooms, too, as this report from Wisconsin indicates:

Students at Wilson Junior High School had a wide assortment of healthy options as they walked through the lunch line recently. Pizzas made from scratch, cheeseburgers with whole-wheat buns, deli sandwiches, beefy nachos, and unlimited fresh fruit and vegetables were all on the menu.

In the past, students were able to choose any three items out of five in order for their lunch to be counted under the National School Lunch Program, but new regulation, the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, is aimed at helping kids make health decisions and requires that students take a fruit or vegetable on their lunch tray. The legislation also places stricter calorie and saturated fat requirements on foods offered to students and necessitates that any bread product offered must be whole grain.

Lynette Zalec, food service director with Chartwells School Dining Services, the company that provides the meal program for the Manitowoc Public School District, told HTR Media (http://htrne.ws/1fplZKG ) she has worked with local vendors to find healthy foods that kids enjoy to fit the requirements.

Students who made their way through the lunch line that day took fruit cocktail, broccoli, baby carrots or an apple to fit the requirement. However, while the legislation requires students take a fruit and vegetable, it cannot force them to eat it — and many students choose not to.

"We had very little waste before, now we have a lot of waste," Zalec said.

I get this -- I was a very picky eater when I was a kid and I fought with the nuns and the lunch ladies all the time back then. My kids are much better at eating healthy foods than I ever was, but they don't much like the new rules, either. Kids don't benefit from what they refuse to eat, but never mind that -- they need to get their minds right. And it's not just lunches:

The new standards also apply to food-based fundraising efforts — which could mean the popular heart-shaped suckers sold as a fundraiser around Valentine's Day will be a thing of the past.

Ken Mischler, the MPSD director of business, said the legislation could have unintended consequences if legislators don't tweak requirements.

"We don't know how to address this yet, and other schools don't yet either," Mischler said. "It may sound great, but what's going to happen is it's going to eliminate fundraising at schools is what it boils down to."

And when you start to hit the schools in the wallet, that's when it really gets interesting. There's more at the link; this is a story to watch.