Nutrition and Children

There is an great post with ideas for the Child Nutrition Reauthorization bill (up this year) from Jill Richardson at La Vida Locavore. A lot of the suggestions are pretty obvious (more funding, buy local, expanding the fresh fruit and vegetable program, etc.) but there are some really other less-discussed issues mentioned as well, such as getting foods with artificial dyes linked to hyperactivity out of schools and building kitchens in schools.  This post is  also quoted in another nice article from Christy Hardin Smith at firedoglake.

One suggestion I would add is: make it policy that junk food cannot be used as an incentive. At our local school, kids are given Doritos and M&Ms during their Honor Roll ceremony. Using food (especially this kind) as an incentive gives all kinds of unpleasant messages.