Healthier School Lunches Are on the Menu

After 15 years, the school lunch ladies will be dishing over some healthier grub to our children, says the National School Lunch Program.

With an additional six cents per meal, the schools could hardly figure out where to spend first. Fortunately, most of the improvements come in the form of omissions, including smaller portions, calorie limits, less fats and zero trans fat. There are some increases too, such as those in "dark green vegetables", whole grains, and fruits.

Despite an attempt to discount tomato paste (and thus pizza) as a vegetable Congress was able to successfully reverse that and maintain its status as equal to one veggie serving.

"It was a bit unfortunate that some groups had powerful friends in Congress and basically tried to sort of short-change [kids] and create some confusion with these standards," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

"Our response was to set up minimum requirements. You have to have a minimum level of dark green vegetables, you've got to have a minimum level of red or orange or yellow vegetables."

And coming on the heels of these changes will be laws affecting school vending machines.

Here are the quick bullet points:

• Offer a minimum of 8 to 10 ounces of whole grains. No more than two desserts a week may be used to meet this minimum
• Offer at least a half cup per week of dark green vegetables
• Offer at least 3/4 cup red/orange vegetables for grades K-8, and at least 1 1/4 cups in grades 9-12
• Offer at least a half cup of beans or peas
• Offer at least a half cup of starchy vegetables. There is no limit on starchy vegetables
• Offer at least a half cup of fruit in grades K-8 and at least 1 cup of fruit in grades 9-12
• Offer at least a half cup (grades K-8) or 3/4 cup (grades 9-12) of "other vegetables," which may be met with any of the above vegetables except for starchy vegetables
• Allow tofu as a meat alternative
• Get federal reimbursement only if they offer at least a half cup of a fruit or vegetable
• Contain no fewer than 550 calories for grades K-5, 600 calories for grades 6-8, and 750 calories for grades 9-12
• Contain no more than 650 calories for grades K-5, 700 calories for grades 6-8, and 850 calories for grades 9-12
• Obtain less than 10% of total calories from saturated fat
• Have zero trans fat
• Limit salt according to grade level
• Offer at least a cup of low-fat or skim milk

Read the whole article on WebMD 

Medicare Will Cover Obesity Education

Obama and Medicare have done good. For the most part.

The US government will now pay for a year's worth of obesity counseling for Medicare patients, putting an emphasis on lifestyle modification and education, knowing that in the long term, those who fare the best are the ones who have an understanding of the problem.


From TheHeart.org:
Tuesday, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it will cover obesity screening and counseling as a preventive service under Medicare. The services will be free to beneficiaries; the Medicare deductible and copay will not apply.

Medicare patients are eligible for "intensive behavioral therapy for obesity" from primary-care providers—nonphysicians included—in a primary-care setting if their body-mass index (BMI) is >30 kg/m2. They are entitled to one face-to-face counseling visit each week for a month, followed by a face-to-face session every other week for an additional five months.


There's also an incentive built in, wherein if a patient loses more than 6.6 lbs over 6 months, they qualify for another 6 months of education - and those who do not? Prison. Nah, just a 6 month period of the patient's "readiness to change".

Specific items covered under the new law:
- an obesity screening,
- an assessment of the patient's diet, and
- behavioral counseling and therapy to promote sustained weight loss through diet and exercise.

This course of treatment does not include medications for losing weight. How much Medicare will actually pay out to the healthcare professionals educating has not been established.

See the official decision memo published online by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).