Debate Over Lunch Break on the Menu (The Spokesman-Review)

Lisa Paolino
S-R Parents Council
February 19, 2007

Our son came home from school one day and announced, "We don't get seconds at lunch anymore!" Our first thought was that it must be related to budget cuts. Instead, we found out that the policy is intended to fight obesity.

"I'm going to toot our own horn," said Catherine Abbott, Food Service Director for the Mead School District. "We are the heroes of the school. Kids love to go to lunch." Abbott says that lunch time is a needed break from the study time of the day. Good nutrition is an important tool in helping students learn.

Abbott notes that their staff in the district work very hard to provide nutritious and delicious meals to their students. It's no wonder that kids want to have seconds and thirds at lunch. Yet according to the National School Lunch guidelines, having seconds can give the students more than the recommended daily amount of calories.

"As a teacher I have spent much time in the school lunch room," wrote a reader named Corina on the Parents Council blog. "Each kid is given the same amount of food and it is plenty for any kid. Majority of the students don't finish what they are given. Back in the day when they would receive seconds it would just be for the dessert (if there was one)."

"It must be nice to be able to go back for seconds," wrote parent Mark Utley on the blog. "In the schools my kids have attended, Cheney and Medical Lake, the children are given a very short amount of time to complete their meals. Several times my sons have said they have to rush to finish in time. Shoving food in their mouth as fast as they can is what creates obesity. Schools need to re-evaluate their lunch schedule and give the student enough time to properly eat their lunch, even if it means longer school day."

Utley has a point – the University of Rhode Island performed a study that showed that when people eat slowly, they will need fewer calories to feel full. In theory, eating quickly can lead to the consumption of more calories. When schools don't allow seconds, the students are being served the proper amount of calories to fulfill their nutritional needs whether they are eating fast or slow.

The Mead School District allows 20 minutes for lunch. The Cheney School District has an average of 20 minutes, while the Medical Lake School District ranges from 20 to 30 minutes for the lunch period.

Mead utilizes research done by the National Food Service Management Institute when determining the length of lunch times. The report, "Eating at School," was based on a study of 18 schools in four states, including Washington.

The study found that elementary students on average spent 10 to 14 minutes getting their lunch, eating, and then cleaning up, leaving 6 to 10 minutes for socializing in a 20-minute lunch period.

The research also showed that "the eating time for all students was very consistent. Socializing time appeared to change in direct relation to the amount of time allotted for the lunch period."

Abbott stresses that the healthy food served at school lunches are a benefit for paying parents because the meals are nutritious. Parents can feel good that their children are being provided with healthful food.

Dana Malone, a registered dietician, is a nutrition wellness consultant with the Mead School District and with other districts in the Spokane area. Malone, "Mrs. Nutrition," says that in the Mead elementary schools, the Nutrient Standard Menu Planning is used to develop school menus. It is a system that analyzes the nutrient content of food to meet nutrition standards.

"While we follow the guidelines, we also kick it up a notch and introduce new foods, including whole grains and a variety of interesting and different fruits and vegetables." Whole grains are brought in through avenues such as whole wheat hamburger buns and in the crusts of pizza. Malone calls it "subliminal nutrition."

"We love to have our children eat school breakfast and lunch," said Abbott. She notes that the Mead School District is taking part in the HealthierUS school challenge, which recognizes nutrition excellence in schools. It "encourages schools to go further and to recognize those who chose to do so."