Just three days ago, the New York Times came out with an article called “Antismoking Efforts Lose Ground to Obesity Fight”, which records how funds are flowing from the anti-tobacco movement to the obesity fight. One of the more compelling statistics they cited: “One in five Americans still smokes. But one in three is obese.” It’s clear that obesity is quickly stealing the spotlight as one of our nation’s greatest problems; it’s become a hot topic. Ergo, I’ve found that more often the question of responsibility is raised; it’s one I’ve had to carefully consider on occasion. I’ve come to the conclusion that we owes ourselves a fighting chance to live a long and healthy life—even if we have to sacrifice our sedentary lifestyles and junk food habits. But a topic that I find isn’t raised quite as often is a frightening one: What about when we can’t make those choices?

There are some of us who can’t afford to be picky about the foods we eat. And, although there are many groups that doubtlessly find themselves in this situation, my mind always goes to the kids that can’t control what’s on the menu. According to the Senate Agriculture Committee Secretary Tom Vilsack, 31 million children receive free or reduced lunches under the National School Lunch Program. These students are dependent on school lunches; they come from low-income households where finding food may be a struggle. As Secretary Vilsack says, for many of these children the school-provided meals “[represent] the only healthy food that they eat all day”.

But anyone familiar with school lunches would know that the nutritional quality falls short. Those unfamiliar with the lunches can visit a variety of blogs dedicated to documenting school lunches. Two blogs with lunches during the school year that never fail to disappoint are “School Lunch Found Guilty” and “Fed Up With School Lunch”; one blog is by students, the other by a teacher—both express disgust at the lunches. Both parties want healthy choices.

Luckily, there’s been an explosion of interest in school lunch reform lately. Earlier this year, a new show debuted on ABC called “Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution”. It featured a chef who began remaking a lunch menu in a West Virginia school, revealing as he did so the many nutritional shortcomings of the old menu. Then, in April, the Mission: Readiness organization released a notorious report which called obesity “an epidemic that threatens national security”. According to the report, approximately nine million men and women cannot join the military because they are too heavy. The organization also has begun appealing to Congress to take action and reform the standards for school lunches—standards that haven’t been changed since 1995. Until action is taken, these students will continue eating unhealthy lunches.

I believe that we are responsible for making the right choices for ourselves; the real question is when these students will be able to have a choice to make.

Sources:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/28/health/policy/28obesity.html
http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?contentidonly=true&contentid=2009/11/0578.xmL
http://schoollunchfoundguilty.wordpress.com/
http://fedupwithschoollunch.blogspot.com/
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/WellnessNews/nutrition-guidelines-school-lunches/story?id=8866065
http://cdn.missionreadiness.org/MR_Too_Fat_to_Fight-1.pdf
http://www.schoolnutrition.org/Blog.aspx?id=13911&blogid=622