Monday, December 19, 2011

Michelle Obama's school lunch idiocy rejected in LA: It's "been a flop. The menu will be revised."

it's problematic when you're a hypocrite demanding that others live by a standard you refuse to even consider.  The Klingon Princess is no exception, having consumed large quantities of foods that few of us have ever heard of of... and cannot even hope to afford.

But she's been instrumental in setting up the school food gestapo, with grandbreaking idiocy such as outlawing school bake sales and the like.  The result?

The kids won't eat her swill.

LA Schools Reject Michelle’s School Lunches

From an unfazed Los Angeles Times:

L.A. schools’ healthful lunch menu panned by students

For many students, Los Angeles Unified’s introduction of healthful lunches — part of a campaign against obesity, diabetes and other problems — has been a flop. The district says the menu will be revised.
By Teresa Watanabe, Los Angeles Times
December 17, 2011         
It’s lunchtime at Van Nuys High School and students stream into the cafeteria to check out the day’s fare: black bean burgers, tostada salad, fresh pears and other items on a new healthful menu introduced this year by the Los Angeles Unified School District.

But Iraides Renteria and Mayra Gutierrez don’t even bother to line up. Iraides said the school food previously made her throw up, and Mayra calls it "nasty, rotty stuff." So what do they eat? The juniors pull three bags of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and soda from their backpacks.

"This is our daily lunch," Iraides says. "We’re eating more junk food now than last year."
For many students, L.A. Unified’s trailblazing introduction of healthful school lunches has been a flop. Earlier this year, the district got rid of chocolate and strawberry milk, chicken nuggets, corn dogs, nachos and other food high in fat, sugar and sodium. Instead, district chefs concocted such healthful alternatives as vegetarian curries and tamales, quinoa salads and pad Thai noodles.
There’s just one problem: Many of the meals are being rejected en masse. Participation in the school lunch program has dropped by thousands of students. Principals report massive waste, with unopened milk cartons and uneaten entrees being thrown away. Students are ditching lunch, and some say they’re suffering from headaches, stomach pains and even anemia. At many campuses, an underground market for chips, candy, fast-food burgers and other taboo fare is thriving.
Naturally, there is only one thing to do. They must ban packed lunches and strip search students before they enter the cafeteria to make sure they are not carrying any contraband substances, like Cheetos.
Acknowledging the complaints, L.A. Unified’s food services director, Dennis Barrett, announced this month that the menu would be revised. Hamburgers will be offered daily. Some of the more exotic dishes are out, including the beef jambalaya, vegetable curry, pad Thai, lentil and brown rice cutlets, and quinoa and black-eyed pea salads
The district is even bringing back pizza — albeit with a whole wheat crust, low-fat cheese and low-sodium sauce, according to food services deputy director David Binkle…
The new menu, introduced this fall, was hailed as a revolutionary step by the nation’s second-largest school district to combat the growing epidemic of youth obesity, diabetes and other health problems. It was the latest healthful food initiative by the district, which banned sodas on campus in 2004, nixed the sale of junk food during the school day and called for more produce and less salt and fat to be served.
This year, L.A. Unified, which serves 650,000 meals daily, has received awards for improving its school lunches, including one last week from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and another from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.
Michelle Obama’s group, the Healthier US Schools Challenge, also gave these schools awards.
More:

She's as out of touch as the moron she's married to.

2 comments:

Martin Hash said...

Lame school lunches aside, the U.S. has a HUGE obesity problem. We've gotten people to quit smoking, we're managing alcohol consumption, and drug use is mostly uneventful - BUT FAT IS KILLING US. If people are going to eat themselves and this country to death, I have a stake in that, and so do you. At least Michelle's trying something, no matter how ill-advised and ridiculous.

K.J. Hinton said...

I, least of all, can't disagree with your obesity assessment.

But as I understand it, Mussolini made the trains run on time.

When she holds no position or power except to be Obama's occasional bunk-buddy, she should have no say. That SHE is "trying to do something" is part and parcel of the problem.

It's kinda like rich Hollywood types adopting a Chinese baby as a fashion accessory: Michelle is not a dietitian. She really doesn't know what she's talking about and the proof is in the pudding, so to speak, and the LA Unified School District has weighed in on her idiocy and meddling hobby.

If the people of this country need either her advice or policies, she can run for office and we'll ask her for them. Otherwise...

The first rule of leadership is to lead by example. And her example is horrific, as she.... AND her kids.... typically dine on foods we've never even SEEN, let alone afford or eat, and has consumed massive amounts of fats and other things that she doesn't want US to eat but are, apparently, perfectly OK for HER to eat.

The word for that is, of course, hypocrisy.

And in my corner, she gets no points for "ill-advised and ridiculous" efforts.

As Mr. Miagi said: "There is no 'try' There is only do.... or no do."

She wants us to eat a certain way because she's concerned for our well-being?

Swell.

Then she should set the example.

Otherwise, she should STFU and go away.

Meanwhile, stop exercising non-existent political muscle with fund raisers to get your own way, PARTICULARLY when your own way is "ill-advised and ridiculous."