Child Hospitalized for Malnutrition, Doctors Blame School Lunches
Â A young girl was hospitalized last week after complaints of feeling faint, followed by her passing out in her English class. The reason, according to doctors, was malnutrition brought on by the schoolâs shoddy lunch program.According to the girl, whose family is keeping her name private, she was regularly buying school lunches. The sixth-grader at the Gonzo-Tulsa Elementary School, attested that her school lunches had basically been her only means of survival for several years, due to her parentsâ expensive and destructive habits.âLast year, the lunches were better. We had more to eat and it tasted better. Now everything looks like something from the dumpster behind the Sonic. The food doesnât even taste like food anymore,â said the girl from her hospital bed. âI figured I would rather starve than eat some of the things they offered. Sometimes, even when I eat everything I get, I donât feel like itâs good for me to be eating it. I wish mom and dad would get off drugs and stop hitting each other. Then maybe Mommy could make my lunch for me again.âWhy was the food so bad to cause this starving young girl to almost cease eating? The new health guidelines appointed by Michelle Obama that schools nationwide are supposed to bow down to.Dr. Keith Ballard, Tulsa Public Schools Superintendent, gave his opinion. âIn the wake of this young girlâs experience, I am going to personally look at the food that our schools are serving the children. If our schools are compromising food quality and endangering student lives simply to please the Presidentâs wife, it may be time for our district to make a change.Michelle Obama shared her thoughts about the incident. âWhile I am rather saddened by the incident with this young girl, I cannot change my health plans because of one isolated incident. What if all we gave our children is what they want to eat. All they ever want is junk food! Thatâs why every single child in this country, and only in this country, is morbidly obese. These guidelines are here to help, not hinder.âAccording to school officials, the lunch that is served most days is steamed corn, boiled cabbage, yogurt, and milk. On rare occasions, a meat will be served. âThatâs normally reserved for holidays, though. Like on the Friday before Easter, the kids get a steakum in place of the cabbage,â said lunch lady Anne Jones. âThey all seem to enjoy meat.â