When we announced that not only will more children have access to meals at school but also that those choices will be healthier it made me think back to the days when I was in school and sometimes you had a choice between salisbury steak and taco pizza… I have covered the nutrition in Virginia school lunches and years ago I was told… “They live up to the standards we are required to follow…”  meanwhile those guidelines in my opinion… have long been overdue for an update…

Now I understand the arguement some people make about offering healthy alternatives that children won’t eat.. they “want” the taco pizza… but my response to that is we have an epidemic of obesity that will only be helped through education regarding the number of calories and grams of fat in food and the effects too much “junk food” has on our bodies over time… and the consequences of leading a sedentary lifestyle..

There are things all of us “want” but that doesn’t mean we always get those things or that those things are good for us… and that is when we all need to take a step back and look at the fuel we are putting into our bodies and the amount of time we spend being active… yes we all lead busy lives.. but what good are we if we get a million things checked off of our “to do” list but can barely climb a flight of stairs…. or end up dying an early death from a heart attack because we didn’t have enough time to go for a walk… exercise… and eat a better diet…

I know there are challenges on all fronts when it comes to maintaining a healthy lifestyle and I am certainly not perfect… I try to have healthy habits but sometimes I start to veer off course and will “treat” myself a little too much.. or find excuses and reasons why I can’t fit in a workout.. In the end I know I am only cheating myself… and it is nice to hear some of those lessons are going to be carried over at school.. parents can only do so much.. I think kids and all of us for that matter need to have healthy habits emphasized in all avenues of life.

And.. sometimes we don’t even realize how many calories we are eating - here is a link to [url=http://www.calorieking.com]http://www.calorieking.com[/url] a website I find helpful for figuring out how many calories certain foods have in them.. that way it makes it easier to avoid diet pitfalls.