According to Bill Tomson, a Wall Street Journal writer, new rules for federally subsidized meals are to set limits on calories and saturated fat for the school lunches.

First lady Michelle Obama unveiled new nutrition rules for school meals on January 25,2012, in an effort to combat the nation's high rate of childhood obesity.

Schools will have to offer students more fruits, vegetables and whole grains—a shift they worry will raise meal costs. And for the first time, the Department of Agriculture is setting calorie limits on school-cafeteria meals.

A lunch for students in kindergarten through fifth grade must contain no more than 650 calories on average. The limit goes up to 700 calories for grades six through eight, and 850 calories for grades nine through 12. That requirement begins next school year.
Federal officials had initially sought to reduce the amount pizza counts toward students' vegetable allotment and to put limits on french fries and other forms of white potatoes. But those changes were abandoned after drawing criticism from lawmakers and the food industry.

Michelle Obama, joined by celebrity chef Rachael Ray, has lunch Wednesday with children at Parklawn Elementary School in Alexandria, Va. Schools that participate in the government-subsidized lunch and breakfast programs next school year won't be able to serve whole milk and must offer nonfat milk. Flavored milk will only be allowed if it is nonfat. That change is aimed at reducing the amount of saturated fat consumed by children, according to the Agriculture Department. The new rules require that less than 10% of the calories students consume in a meal come from saturated fat.

"When we send our kids to school, we have a right to expect that they won't be eating the kind of fatty, salty, sugary foods that we're trying to keep from them when they're at home," Mrs. Obama said Wednesday at Parklawn Elementary School in Alexandria, Va. About 17% of children between the ages of two and 19 are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Schools will be required to offer students ¾ to one cup of vegetables, plus ½ to one cup of fruit, a day. That is about double the amount they have been required to offer. However, students will only be required to put about half that amount on their trays. School districts, food-service companies and nutrition professionals worried students wouldn't eat the full amount, and the agency said it eased the requirement out of concern students would simply throw away unwanted fruit and vegetables. That rule starts next school year.

The rules require that, over the next two school years, whole-grain products must account for half of the grain products served in school lunches. By the 2014-15 school year, all grain products must be whole-grain, the agency said.

The agency first calculated the changes would cost schools $6.8 billion over five years, but it cut that to $3.2 billion Wednesday. The cost estimate fell in part because the agency cut a proposed requirement for schools to provide meat or a meat substitute in the government-subsidized breakfast program, according to agency Undersecretary Kevin Concannon.
Schools across the country are "definitely going to be challenged" by the additional costs of meeting the new rules, said Diane Pratt-Heavner, a spokeswoman at the School Nutrition Association, which represents people who run cafeterias.

Mrs. Obama joined students at the cafeteria.

The federal government will reimburse schools that follow the new rules six cents a meal, but Ms. Pratt-Heavner said that likely won't cover all of the additional expenses. About 32 million children are served every school day in the federal school lunch or breakfast programs, according to the Agriculture Department.

One source of saturated fat the agency wasn't able to cut down on is the french fry. The agency initially proposed to sharply limit starchy vegetables like potatoes on school menus, but lawmakers and farm lobbyists killed the effort last year.
Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine) took credit for helping thwart the agency's efforts to reduce the amount of potato-based foods served in schools. Maine is the fifth-largest potato-producing state in the U.S., and farmers there were quick to contact Ms. Collins when they realized the agency was trying to squeeze spuds, said Tim Hobbs, a director at the Maine Potato Board.
The agency also had tried to diminish the amount that tomato sauce in pizza counts toward vegetable requirements. Congress blocked that effort in November after the food industry complained.

Link to article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203718504577182821311576652.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

The U.S. has become one of the unhealthiest nations in the world. Obesity-related illnesses are steadily increasing as the cause of chronic disease, disability, and even death, and efforts are increasing to combat our nation's high rate of childhood obesity.

With the number of children across the nation attending schools, their school lunches are one thing to blame for the over-estimated intake of calories, fat, carbohydrates, and protein with limited nutrient-density.

Afterall, healthy eating is essential and the benefits extend far beyond the size of the clothes our children wear. Healthy eating begins with the decision to make choices with  health and well-being in mind.

In this blog you can read about the positive impact that knowing more about proper nutrition, as well as physical activity, at a young age can help shape our nation into a more healthy one. With an intiative to make school lunches across the nation even more healthy, the road of childhood obesity can potentially come to a road block.