I work in Massachusetts at a residential facility for kids and teenagers, and we long ago cut whole milk out. One percent is all they get, and only one cup, only at meals - just water at snacks and in between times.

I'm no nutritionist nor am I informed about what is on the school menu, but isn't the culprit for most obesity refined sugars and processed fats?

To me, eliminating ketchup, corn (syrup) products, that have next to no nutritional value would make more sense than eliminating whole milk that DOES have nutritional value...

The move away from WHITE bread makes sense - but if the WHEAT bread isn't whole grain - much of the purported benefits are lost. No?

Jennifer, I agree. What a pointless elimination.

Jennifer - I agree as well. And some think that the processing that is required to remove the fat from milk can actually be detrimental to your health.

But you can't eliminate ketchup because that is classified as a vegetable, thanks to Ronald Reagen.

amanda -
And we all know what happened to HIM.

Meanwhile, Jennifer, you're right. But I don't think that school cafeterias are going to shop from the perifery of the grocery store like doctors tell you and skip those middle aisles where all the pre-processed stuff is anytime soon.

But you kind of have to hand it to him for the THOUGHT, at least.

Curtis -

I suppose the THOUGHT is nice. But to get more philosophical - our bureaucracies and organizations get a lot of PR mileage out of 'gestures' as opposed to substantive action.

And we (the faceless masses) are too accepting of these gestures in lieu of something truly meaningful. But I digress from the topic of food.

It's only whole-milk or half-half for me in my (one daily) cup of coffee!!!!

I work in a school. Even when they make a half-hearted attempt at better food, they always fail in the big picture. They worry about whole vs. 1%, but they still use the most processed, disgusting meat, and colorless, canned vegetables. Everything that is cooked is cooked off-site, shipped in an reheated. They call cheese melted onto a rock-hard, hotdog roll dipped in pizza sauce a "dunker." That is considered a lunch entree. It is revolting what they feed the kids.

And that (following from chrisB) is why kids load up on junk food the minute they burst out of the school grounds. Nacho cheese Doritos taste a heck of a lot better than the "nutritionally balanced" glurge served in the cafeteria.

I'm not saying all children would like veggies if properly cooked... but it's easier to like a happy, crisp greenbean than a sad, gray greenbean.

Parents need to just make their kids bring lunch, and educate them on good eating habits. You can't rely on government institutions to do this for you.

When I was in junior high (1990-93), we had fast food lunch. Monday was Domino's, Tuesday was Hardee's, Wednesday was a local mexican place (chimichangas, refried beans and rice), etc. Parents complained enough and two years later we had yogurt, fruit, and a salad bar. But kids just loaded their salads with croutons, ranch dressing and bacon bits.

I'm more disturbed by the habits people form at this age rather than the actual food they're eating.

ORGANIC MILK please, otherwise the purpose is not served

I think part of the problem is that kids are served so much "kids' food" instead of learning how to eat what the adults are eating. They don't learn to enjoy more complex tastes. Everything is either blandified (not a real word) or soaked in corn syrup. Some kids won't eat yogurt unless it's blue and candy flavored. I watched a kid eating teal colored pudding the other day! bluck!

Oh boy, what a topic. This is as difficult to figure out as social security. I don't see the point in serving reduced fat milk when kids are eating MCDONALDS for goodness sake. Everyone has great points. Edie's is particularly good. Wouldn't whole fat milk be better than the potential harm that might come from processing milk down? Kids need fat. Heck, I need fat. Its the quality and type of the fat that matters. Potato chip fat is not good. No kid ever got fat from drinking whole milk. How ridiculous. And bread: even my friends think that whole wheat means whole grain. I was raised by a mother who cooked really healthy meals and we did not have tons of money. School food used to make me sick. I never saw a canned string bean until grade school and didn't know what it was. I guess what I'm saying is that people pass the buck on this one just like other issues. I think its time everyone - parents, school teachers, government - paid attention to the fact that we have generations of children whose palates are being groomed for garbage. And then people wonder why they smoke and use drugs. Many of these kids never have access to wholesome food and I really think they don't develop well. I wonder sometimes if its a way of numbing future citizens. I'm very empassioned about this topic. I don't have children of my own but I have nieces and nephews and two of them were raised on junk. Both overweight and stressed. The other two, healthy and happy campers. Most of it - due to diet.

I was unaware that whole milk was served at all. It was always 2% or chocolate when I was in school.

Speaking of ketchup being classified as a vegetable (despite being made from a fruit?) does anyone remember that case that classified frozen french fries as a fresh vegetable? Maybe that was an April fool's joke that got stuck in my head...

Isn't fat required for calcium to be absorbed? And isn't whole milk the only milk that's fortified with Vitamin D?

I think that focusing on whole milk is spending time focusing on the wrong culprit, but I'm really happy to hear that chocolate, vanilla and strawberry "milk" are out of the cafeteria. Those are more like milk drinks that contain TONS of sugar.

I've been volunteering with a program called CookShop through FoodChange. I think that this is a fantastic program which focuses on more of the real issue, which is that kids (and their parents) barely know that food grows in fields, on trees or from animals.

Organic milk is great, but I think the bigger issue there is to change the way milk is produced in the US. In Canada, organic milk is not as important since rbgh and other hormones aren't allowed in ANY milk production. Then you're sure that your kid isn't getting nasty hormones from school, friends' houses or other places.

(And, as a side note, I know lots of great parents who feed their kids organic creepy prepared foods... just something else to think of in terms of how we teach our kids to eat.)