There's about 5.6 million things I didn't know before I started working in a school cafeteria.  For example, did you know that school nutrition employees use the words Meat/Meat Alternate frequently?

Did you know Mac & Cheese is a meat alternate?

Did you know that a chicken patty sandwich, one of the most coveted of all cafeteria meals, qualifies as a meat and three grains?  Each part of the bun is considered one grain and the breading on the chicken another.

New USDA regulations require us to limit grains to 8-10 servings a week.  I just used up three on that chicken patty sandwich.

You are going to see a lot more beans this year and a lot more leafy greens.  What you won't see is cheese on the broccoli, or rice krispy treats, or low fat smores.

The likelihood that we will have crackers for soup = slim.

My hope is that kids will still buy.  That kids will try the asparagus and maybe a small few of them will like it.  I am hoping that by offering the kids a heaping cup of fresh strawberries and blueberries top with a fat free dollop of whipped topping they will forget that we no longer have pudding.

If you want to know the truth, I'm still trying to get my brain around all the changes. 

Many of them are for the positive.

That being said, I must conclude with a small soap box moment. 

STUDENTS ARE NOT OBESE BECAUSE THEY ARE EATING SCHOOL LUNCH.

Students are obese because they are continuously drinking soda.  How much sugar is in your kids Mt. Dew?  Answer: 21 teaspoons

Students are obese because they think potato chips and fruit snacks are veggies and fruit.  Many of them can't tell the difference between a pea and a green bean.  They think pears are rotten apples.  They think blueberries are baby grapes.  They are obese because they are unaware that bananas come in peels.

We, as a whole, are addicted to our computers, our phones, our laptops, our ipads, our ipods. 

We eat more and more and move less and less.

While I realize that eating healthy is difficult, it is not impossible.  We are raising the first generation of children not predicted to outlive the generation before.

AND IT HAS LITTLE TO NOTHING TO DO WITH SCHOOL LUNCH.