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December 7, 2020 – Defence Stories
Author: Pamela Hatton, RD, MSc, Strengthening the Forces

Did you know what you eat influences how you feel? There are psychological, biochemical and physical connections linking what we eat to our brain health, and scientific evidence shows the quality of our diet influences our moods. While you might want to eat ice cream and chips when you’re sad, the truth is, eating a bowl of oatmeal and berries will make you happier.

Is your child's cafeteria failing to provide healthy, nutritious food?

By Elizabeth Foy Larsen

Deep-fried popcorn chicken, tiny taters, bread, barbecue sauce, ketchup, milk. That high-fat, high-sodium, low-fiber menu is a typical lunch at a typical American elementary school. We know about it because Mrs. Q., a grade-school teacher, decided to eat her school's lunch every day for an entire school year and report anonymously to the world on her blog, "Fed Up With Lunch: The School Lunch Project"

Read why a good diet and nutrition are important for high student performance.

by Grace Chen

While the intake of food is vital for proper performance, many of the widely available and popular foods in schools today are actually hindering children’s abilities to learn. Loaded with sugars, caffeine, chemicals, and sodium, many popular menu items are leaving kids tired, unfocused, jittery, and sick—which not only impacts students’ grades and performance but also influences their behavior and moods. 

BY RACHEL BORTON, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR

... Education leaders and administrators may not understand how organic school meals can be to ensuring a student meets their daily nutritional needs. Students who come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds often receive their only healthy meal of the day while at school.

Novel cafeteria audit indicates true cost far exceeds simple calculation of uneaten lunches

by Jeff Mulhollem

 An innovative assessment of food waste at a U.S. school by an international team of researchers suggests that American school cafeterias waste more food than those in other developed countries, and the true costs extend well beyond just the weight of food not eaten.

The waste could be costing schools $1.7 billion each school year.

By Benita Gingerella

An estimated 530,000 tons of food is wasted each year at school cafeterias, according to a new report from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

The nonprofit evaluated post-service food waste in 46 schools in eight states across the country over a six-month period and found that participating schools wasted an average of 39.2 pounds of food and 19.4 cartons of milk per student per year.