Schools to lop junk off menu

Sugar is sugar and everyone needs it to some degree. I would be more concerned with the corn syrup that is one of the worse additives in most foods. That corn syrup consists of gmo additives. Nearly every single thing you consume has corn syrup and that to me should be the cause for alarm.

They should put more effort into education rather than food. What a waste of resources! Besides, students need to eat to have a clear mind. Give them inedible slop for lunch and they can't concentrate. Wonderful way to go. Did they even bother doing studies on this?

The food police are coming for your Ho-Ho's! Wait until they come for your beloved Spam Hawaii. It has 15 grams of fat per serving so no more Spam allowed for your kids.

There also has to be a policy to make sure food is GMO FREE. No Long-Term Safety Testing--Genetic engineering uses material from organisms that have never been part of the human food supply to change the fundamental nature of the food we eat. Without long-term testing no one knows if these foods are safe. GMO food should at least be labeled and the students allowed to choose mutant GMO produce or not.

Anonymous wrote:

Sugar is sugar and everyone needs it to some degree. I would be more concerned with the corn syrup that is one of the worse additives in most foods. That corn syrup consists of gmo additives. Nearly every single thing you consume has corn syrup and that to me should be the cause for alarm.

You are so right about the corn syrup. It is one of the worst things to consume and it is in so many types of food items. This is long overdue. The other posters are missing the point. You can have healthy food that kids enjoy. I have seen these kids. They are fat and that can lead to sever health problems. Healthy mind and healthy body go well together. Try feeding your kids healthy food and you will be surprised at all of the positive results.

I'm glad to see that Lt. Gov Duke Aiona is taking the intiative about our younger Keiki's health. I attended Maryknoll Elementary with him in the 60's. We had a lot of time to exercise during our lunch hour and before school started every day. We didn't have a play ground but we had a large parking lot that was used for Sacred Heart's Church. We all were very active with the time that we had to play basketball, baseball "with tennis balls"....

Mahalo Lt. Duke for thinking of the younger generations of keiki's..

Aloha,

Clayton Lum

Although I am for a "healthier" choice in the schools, I laugh as I think about how educators are required to do much more than teach the basics. Educators are now accountable to practically "raising" other people's children.

Furthermore, it is difficult to promote a "healthier choice" when the healthier choice is much more expensive than the unhealthier one... especially here in Hawaii where we now pay nearly $10 for a gallon of milk!

Now they're telling you what to eat and drink!!! Watch out Hawaii

Size portions are more important. I know vegetarians who are fat because they eat too much.

What the hell is the DOE doing now with this new policy!! It is the parents responsibility to teach children what is healthy and what to eat. Good grief. Why in the world is the DOE getting involved in nutrition!!! The kids will still go to the manapua trucks after school or to McD's to buy their junk anyway. Another useless inane DOE policy.

It's good "junk" will be taken off the menu for school lunches. Now can someone address why on the big island, children are allowed only 15 minutes for lunch? Is this all that is allowed for all Hawaii schools? How healthy is it for children to rush through their lunch break? How many children are suffering from indigestion, let alone not being able to concentrate on studies the rest of the school day because they didn't have time to eat enough? Healthy food for a healthy mind and body - now please give the children time to eat it. Especially at $1.25. Is school lunch price going up?

I've been on the Guinness diet for some time now and it's working great. I eat some junk food during the day but drink two pints of Guinness beer (OK, maybe three) per night.

In the last year, I've dropped body fat, although I've somehow gained 15 pounds around my middle. My hair has all grown back and I can see through walls, it's been great!

hisensei wrote:

Although I am for a "healthier" choice in the schools, I laugh as I think about how educators are required to do much more than teach the basics. Educators are now accountable to practically "raising" other people's children.
Furthermore, it is difficult to promote a "healthier choice" when the healthier choice is much more expensive than the unhealthier one... especially here in Hawaii where we now pay nearly $10 for a gallon of milk!

I agree. I have been a teacher and now a counselor for 22 years in the DOE. I have fun PE programs, fitness programs. I am concerned at the elementary level when DOE is saying to add PE minutes when they don't provide a qualified PE teacher to do PE. And when are the teachers going to do it? Hamamoto, do you look at the standards at all? The teachers have to cram a year's work in 3 quarters because the HSA test is in april. Shibai! Good in principle. It is like telling Duke's basketball team to win the state with 20 minutes of practice and get a coach who doesn't know anything about basketball.

Meleana wrote:

It's good "junk" will be taken off the menu for school lunches. Now can someone address why on the big island, children are allowed only 15 minutes for lunch? Is this all that is allowed for all Hawaii schools? How healthy is it for children to rush through their lunch break? How many children are suffering from

indigestion, let alone not being able to concentrate on studies the rest of the school day because they didn't have time to eat enough? Healthy food for a healthy mind and body - now please give the children time to eat it. Especially at $1.25. Is school lunch price going up?

I am guessing that that school is so pressured in meeting the academic standards the DOE has dumped on the schools that they don't have enough time of the day. Sad. They don't have enough time to eat and not enough time to do the PE requirement.

In today's society, these children are given fast food choices by their parents daily.
The slippery slope that the DOE foodservice (Kaneshiro) faces is a continual slide whereby the children rather wait till after school to buy something to eat, that' a fact.
Offering healthy looks good from the political sense, but not practical from the common sense perspective.

I thought they did this years ago......Oh they planed years ago to start it years later! I get it! My misuderstanding!

What a great idea. Healthy food and exercise is what most kids (and adults) need here in Hawaii.

Westside Wind wrote:

In today's society, these children are given fast food choices by their parents daily.
The slippery slope that the DOE foodservice (Kaneshiro) faces is a continual slide whereby the children rather wait till after school to buy something to eat, that' a fact.
Offering healthy looks good from the political sense, but not practical from the common sense perspective.

Not all children have the option to buy something to eat after school. I'm talking about kindergartenders being allowed 15 minutes to eat. I don't think many parents give their kindergarteners money to buy junk food after school, let alone let them walk to a store after school. On the big island, many kids get to school by bus.

Let Kamehameha funds and management run the public school system.

My problem with this school nutritious program is that, kids don't like them. These foods end up in the trash cans and they are not free. To me, I rather buy something that my kids will eat rather than ending up in the waste dump. Apple sauce and apricot for examples, kids are dumping these in the trash can. I think we need to emphasize more on physical fitness and give the kids more choices in cafe. lines instead.