# What (Exactly) Is Michelle Obama's Role In The School Lunch Program? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 21, 2015, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-michelle-obamas-role-in-the-school-lunch-program/720520 "2015-05-21T14:51:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2015, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-michelle-obamas-role-in-the-school-lunch-program/720520/41 "2015-05-22T01:54:09Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > You’re right. The biggest part of the problem, in my not so humble opinion, is not healthy food, but \*awful \*(“healthy”) food. Get some actual chefs in there along with those nutritionists, put actual kitchens with working stoves and ovens back into the cafeterias so they can cook fresh food, and get the kids themselves involved in meal planning and prep. My completely rectally derived three step plan for fixing school lunches. > > You’re wrong. That’s not an opinion, that’s based on actual science. > > [Parenting Center: Parenting Tips and Advice from WebMD](http://www.webmd.com/children/news/20100315/school-lunches-linked-to-kids-obesity) > > [School lunch and TV time linked with childhood obesity | ScienceDaily](http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130812103006.htm) > [Health status and behavior among middle-school children in a midwest community: What are the underpinnings of childhood obesity? - ScienceDirect](http://www.ahjonline.com/article/S0002-8703(10)00888-4/abstract) > > [http://archpedi.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1675660](http://archpedi.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1675660) Your cites backup my claim about those kids not participating in phrisical activity. If they did their caloric intake wouldn’t matter quite as much. Seems they’re so lazy they can’t even make their own lunch. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2015, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-michelle-obamas-role-in-the-school-lunch-program/720520/42 "2015-05-22T02:13:54Z")
> [@electronbee](#): > > Maybe parents should do their job and feed their kids breakfast instead of hoping the kid will make it to lunch, entirely famished. And then be aghast that they are still hungry. Of course they should. But if the parents don’t–if they send their kid to school on a breakfast of Diet Dr. Pepper, as one of my students’ parents did–what then? Do we say, “Sorry kid, sucks that your parents are incompetent at feeding you”? Or do we try to pick up the slack as a society? Whatever your opinion, we as a society have decided on the second option. [14% of households](http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/err-economic-research-report/err173.aspx) at some point in 2013, including 10% of households with children, experienced food insecurity. School breakfasts and lunches are part of how we answer that problem. I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, school lunches when I started teaching were gross, and you don’t know what I mean until a kid is carrying on a conversation with you with their surplus-meat-corndog breath making you about keel over. They really really did not look good for kids. The changes in requirements for more vegetables and fruits are very positive. On the other hand, the reductions in salt and fat are…problematic. Once a couple of years ago our cafeteria manager made a bunch of chicken biscuits for staff. I went down and got one–or at least tried to get one, instead getting a biscuit-shaped wad of mushy brown paper. The whole-wheat biscuit had no noticeable salt or fat, and the chicken patty was breaded but not oiled and was baked not fried. Also not salted. It was repulsive. I’d much rather the school lunches allow a little more salt and fat, but focus on the inclusion of good fresh vegetables and fruits. Recognize that a little sacrifice on the health front will lead to more consumption of the good stuff. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2015, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-michelle-obamas-role-in-the-school-lunch-program/720520/43 "2015-05-22T02:26:45Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Your cites backup my claim about those kids not participating in phrisical activity. If they did their caloric intake wouldn’t matter quite as much. Seems they’re so lazy they can’t even make their own lunch. Nice try. None of them found physical activity to have as high an odds ratio as (pre-2012) school lunches. Only one of them even mentions physical activity, for that matter. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2015, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-michelle-obamas-role-in-the-school-lunch-program/720520/44 "2015-05-22T02:35:50Z")
I think childhood obesity has more to do with poverty AND kids who don’t remain active than anything else. You ever drive through the inner city? A lot of them are eating junk from mini marts that accept food stamps. Nothing you do about school lunch is going to change that. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2015, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-michelle-obamas-role-in-the-school-lunch-program/720520/45 "2015-05-22T02:47:13Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > I think childhood obesity has more to do with poverty AND kids who don’t remain active than anything else. You ever drive through the inner city? A lot of them are eating junk from mini marts that accept food stamps. Nothing you do about school lunch is going to change that. I work in the “inner city”. And yes, food deserts and choices of cheap, high calorie, nutrient devoid foods outside of school are certainly part of the problem. Less physical activity in neighborhoods where kids are kept inside because they might get shot is part of the problem. Still not the point. The point is that what you think is wrong, when it’s actually studied, by scientists, and you’re still refusing to accept the evidence because you think your hunch trumps reality. School lunches that only met USDA standards before 2012 did have a connection to overweight kids, and that applies in rich Michigan schools as well as in the inner city. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2015, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-michelle-obamas-role-in-the-school-lunch-program/720520/46 "2015-05-22T03:00:01Z")
> [@SirRay](#): > > Well, the healthy lunch menus are not full of the old favorites like Hamburger/Fries/Hot Dogs/Mac & Cheese/Fries kind of stuff that American kids DO kinda like. I never liked any of those things if they came from the school cafeteria. My kids seem to have a lot more choices and variety of appealing food. My daughter doesn’t do school lunch because of the process involved, so I don’t know if she would like the food. Our local schools serve free (to anyone who wants it) lunch all summer, including chain pizzas and similar things. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2015, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-michelle-obamas-role-in-the-school-lunch-program/720520/47 "2015-05-22T03:10:36Z")
> [@electronbee](#): > > Maybe parents should do their job and feed their kids breakfast instead of hoping the kid will make it to lunch, entirely famished. And then be aghast that they are still hungry. > > Really, you don’t want a big lunch. For various reasons other than making you sleepy such as that if you are sedentary at school/work, your metabolism will be lower. So, having a high caloric lunch will “go straight to the hips”. And, you’d probably never satisfy the hunger of a growing adolescent anyways. I was always hungry until like 20. I have a health issue that my daughter seems to have inherited, that prevents us from eating breakfast before school. I only made it through high school because I didn’t eat lunch either. My middle-school son will eat all day and night, but good luck getting him up early enough to eat anything before school and not throw it up. I usually take him out to eat when I pick him up because he’s starving. He has a whole “period” to each lunch (approx 48 mins). In elementary lunch is 15 minutes. I don’t even know how kids who buy have time to eat anything. I guess they don’t. I think if school banned homework and started much later it would be healthier. I’m the biggest “breakfast foods” eater in the world but my health improved dramatically from morning fasting. Not saying my kids should do the same, but I think the pro-breakfast, lunch-goes to the hips thing is bunk. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2015, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-michelle-obamas-role-in-the-school-lunch-program/720520/48 "2015-05-22T04:59:19Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > School lunches that only met USDA standards before 2012 did have a connection to overweight kids, and that applies in rich Michigan schools as well as in the inner city. Fat kids just happen to eat school lunch. So what? So do skinny kids. I don’t buy their cause and effect solution. And if Scott Walker or Jeb Bush had pushed this I’m willing to guess neither would you. This is just defending a form of social engineering and collectivism the left adores. 1 meal per day that a kid only eats 5 times a week if that is not going to be the sole cause of obesity. And changing everything so it taste like broc\* is not going to be the answer. All that is going to happen is kids are going to dump this food and eat more junk when they get a chance. If school lunch is such a problem why weren’t there changes 30 years ago? Or 40? Or 50? \*I can’t stand broccoli. So anything that is disgusting I call “broc”. It’s my term, I coined it. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2015, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-michelle-obamas-role-in-the-school-lunch-program/720520/49 "2015-05-22T12:32:24Z")
Why was interracial marriage illegal 50 years ago? Why was slavery legal 200 years ago? Do you really want to offer up that poor an argument for your side? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2015, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-michelle-obamas-role-in-the-school-lunch-program/720520/50 "2015-05-22T12:58:28Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Fat kids just happen to eat school lunch. So what? So do skinny kids. I don’t buy their cause and effect solution. Ok, since you need the help and you’re _thisclose_, I’ll hand it to you. The proper refutation of my citations is that no causation has been demonstrated. There is a correlation, but no causation either claimed or proved. Then again, I’m not sure it needs to. Whether the meals are correlated with overweight/obesity because the meal itself is crap or by teaching them that pizza and chicken nuggets and soda are something you should be consuming daily or weekly, or some other dependent variable, there’s still a connection to school lunches. > [@](#): > > And if Scott Walker or Jeb Bush had pushed this I’m willing to guess neither would you. This is just defending a form of social engineering and collectivism the left adores. I’ve been an advocate for healthier school lunches for 20 years, since my son entered daycare, long before this became a political issue. Not out of liberal ideals, but because I don’t think we should be paying our schools to make our kids sick. > [@](#): > > If school lunch is such a problem why weren’t there changes 30 years ago? Or 40? Or 50? Because school lunches 30-50 years ago were neither as ubiquitous or as bad. School lunches in my mother’s day were more often brought from home, and institutional meals were cooked on site and included fruits and vegetables, that while no one’s favorite foods, were what you ate because it was there. This is a relatively new phenomenon that started with my generation, when they decided to load us up on white carbs, sugar, salt and fat in more appetizing forms. > [@](#): > > \*I can’t stand broccoli. So anything that is disgusting I call “broc”. It’s my term, I coined it. Ok. It’s cute. I don’t mind you coining your own words. I mind you coining your own reality. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2015, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-michelle-obamas-role-in-the-school-lunch-program/720520/51 "2015-05-22T13:00:49Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > \*I can’t stand broccoli. So anything that is disgusting I call “broc”. It’s my term, I coined it. And it’s a good thing, too: If you liked it, you’d eat it, and you can’t stand it! ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2015, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-michelle-obamas-role-in-the-school-lunch-program/720520/52 "2015-05-22T14:08:09Z")
Somehow, the thread has gone off topic. I asked if the wife of the POTUS had any direct input into the school lunch program. Since she is not a nutritionist, and had no background in diet or health, I submit that she is like any other amateur. Maybe well-meaning , but not somebody with any real capability of making relevant decisions. I can understand the need to instill good eating habits in kids-I just don’t see school lunches as the way to do this. Given the amount of Federal money involved (the school lunch program is huge), i would think that having people who know what they are doing (to manage it) would be the first priority. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2015, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-michelle-obamas-role-in-the-school-lunch-program/720520/53 "2015-05-22T14:12:51Z")
You got an answer: no. She promoted the underlying legislation and that’s pretty much it. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2015, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-michelle-obamas-role-in-the-school-lunch-program/720520/54 "2015-05-22T14:35:18Z")
Wasn’t the _very first_ reply to your OP enough of an answer? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2015, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-michelle-obamas-role-in-the-school-lunch-program/720520/55 "2015-05-22T14:39:42Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Somehow, the thread has gone off topic. I asked if the wife of the POTUS had any direct input into the school lunch program. Since she is not a nutritionist, and had no background in diet or health, I submit that she is like any other amateur. Maybe well-meaning , but not somebody with any real capability of making relevant decisions. I can understand the need to instill good eating habits in kids-I just don’t see school lunches as the way to do this. Given the amount of Federal money involved (the school lunch program is huge), i would think that having people who know what they are doing (to manage it) would be the first priority. Did you miss the part where she is an advocate and spokesperson? This is someone who has access to the best advisers in the country, access to the media to promote the programs, and the ear of the President. Working on worthwhile causes is what First Ladies do, so a better question would be ‘why would she NOT involve herself?’ Far from huge, the school lunch subsidy is about $12B (about .4% of the $3T federal budget), providing low-cost or free meals to some 30M kids, or about $400 per child per year (2012 numbers from the USDA site). Children still go hungry, particularly on weekends, so clearly it’s not enough, but at some point government abdicated its responsibility to care for the most vulnerable. Most communities rely on volunteer groups to solicit food and money in order to provide meals for those gaps. Try to imagine having chronic malnutrition for two or three days every week of the year and then trying to do your job properly. If proper nutrition is not provided for a school lunch, then when and where are these kids supposed to get it? ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2015, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-michelle-obamas-role-in-the-school-lunch-program/720520/56 "2015-05-22T16:00:46Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Because school lunches 30-50 years ago were neither as ubiquitous or as bad. I went to public schools and started kindergarten in 1966 and graduated high school in '79. School lunch always had a side of vegetable or fruit. But there was also always a dessert of a big cookie or a bowl of pudding. The main courses included baked chicken with an ice cream scoop of potatoes covered in gravy, hamburger on a bun, macaroni & cheese, a fishwhich similar to a Mcdonalds filet-o-fish, a big slab of pizza, beef ravioli, bratwurst on a bun, etc… (alright, this is Wisconsin. I’m thinking maybe we were the only ones to get a brat for school lunch. I couldn’t eat it anyway). This was 40-50 years ago. This was the same stuff a kid would get for dinner at home. Nobody was whining about the school lunch then that I recall. But there also wasn’t Nintendo, Play Station and Xbox for a kid to sit his fat ass in front of. We actually were in the park playing on a nice day. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-michelle-obamas-role-in-the-school-lunch-program/720520/57 "2015-05-23T12:36:06Z")
The first school lunch program in the US began as a way to try to teach nutrition and good eating habits…in the 19th century. This is not new. The only thing that changes is what our nutritional goals are, the latest fads on nutrition and the level of enforcement vs the allowable amount of loopholing. [The Food Timeline: school lunch history](http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodschools.html) When you were a kid, the lunches were focused on giving you calories and the meals chosen accordingly. Now, if your own hypothesis is correct, kids don’t need as many calories as you did, so we need to change the meals. They need more fiber than most of them are getting. They need less salt. So these are the things the school lunch program focuses on today. (Theoretically. I think they’re doing a crap job at it, but I get why they’re trying.) ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-michelle-obamas-role-in-the-school-lunch-program/720520/58 "2015-05-23T13:37:47Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Somehow, the thread has gone off topic. I asked if the wife of the POTUS had any direct input into the school lunch program. Since she is not a nutritionist, and had no background in diet or health, I submit that she is like any other amateur. Maybe well-meaning , but not somebody with any real capability of making relevant decisions. I can understand the need to instill good eating habits in kids-I just don’t see school lunches as the way to do this. Given the amount of Federal money involved (the school lunch program is huge), i would think that having people who know what they are doing (to manage it) would be the first priority. And you were told that she wasn’t even _pretending_ to be any sort of manager or decision-maker. What exactly are you criticizing her for, again-Promoting good eating habits for our nation’s children? ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-michelle-obamas-role-in-the-school-lunch-program/720520/59 "2015-05-23T20:06:22Z")
“Come the revolution, we will all have strawberries and cream!” “But I don’t _like_ strawberries and cream!” “Come the revolution, you _will_ like strawberries and cream!” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-michelle-obamas-role-in-the-school-lunch-program/720520.md?page=2)