The lunch options at your school cafeteria might look very different next year.
The federal government is proposing new guidelines for snack bars and vending machines at schools across the country. If their proposals are passed, foods like fatty chips, snack cakes, nachos and mozzarella sticks would disappear from the lunch line and the vending machines. Instead, kids would be able to choose foods like baked chips, trail mix, diet soda, lower-calorie sports drinks and low-fat hamburger.
The changes are part of the federal government’s battle against the bulge. A third of all school-age kids in the U.S. are overweight or obese. That’s one out of every three kids! The government hopes the new guidelines, which were released on February 1, will reduce the number of overweight children through better nutrition and exercise and combat childhood obesity. The public has 60 days to comment on the rules before they are finalized for the 2014-2015 school year. If you’re curious, this is what the current guidelines say.
Do you think it would help kids lose weight or eat healthier if they had more low-fat options at school and fewer fattening ones? Tell us what you think!