Column: Why expand school free food programs? High school kids
are complaining about food? So what's new? What's new is that
some high schoolers are giving thumbs-down reviews to Michelle
Obama's childhood obesity initiative to cut down on calories in
school lunches. One group of students in Kansas were so, uh,
famished, they created a four-minute video that was posted on
YouTube called "We Are Hungry." They say 850 calories are not
enough. The lunch calorie limit is a response to decades of
federal reports condemning the federal school lunch program for
its high fat and poor nutrient content. A 2010 University of
Michigan study found that students who regularly eat school
lunches are 29% more likely to be overweight, and that
consumption of school lunches was the single strongest predictor
of childhood obesity. Unfortunately, at the same time brakes are
being tapped on caloric intake at lunch, the Obama
administration is championing a vast expansion of the school
breakfast program. At the same time some kids