Misguided School Lunch Guidelines

On 3/4/17 I sent a letter to the editor of the Toledo Blade, which has not appeared, so I’m posting it here. It was in response to this editorial:

http://www.toledoblade.com/Editorials/2017/03/04/Health-and-balance.html

Good for Rep. Steve King taking aim at the misguided school lunch guidelines.

Where is the evidence that the current low fat, low salt guidelines for school lunches has led to healthier students? The notion that limiting fat will help kids lose weight is based on a misunderstanding of how the body deals with real food. Research has shown that children who drink whole milk tend to be slimmer than children who drink low fat milk. The butterfat contains valuable nutrients, such as true vitamin A. The nutrients in vegetables are absorbed better when you butter those veggies. The idea that natural saturated fats are bad for you has been thoroughly debunked, though it has been dying a very slow death unfortunately.

Salt is an essential mineral in the blood stream. The notion that you can’t add enough salt to soup made from scratch to make it taste good is nonsense! They seem to be using the guidelines for elderly people with high blood pressure.

We are giving our children the awful message that healthy food doesn’t taste good, which is simply not true when real food is properly prepared. I speak as a slim, retired dietitian who uses plenty of butter and drinks [raw] whole milk.

Kris Johnson, MS Nutrition, retired dietitian

Williston, OH

www.MercyViewMeadow.org

419-320-2309

I would have liked to add more information supporting my position, but the length of letters to the editor is limited.

The Healthy Nation Coalition, consisting of many health and nutrition professionals, has a goal of changing the USDA Dietary Guidelines so they actually promote good health: http://forahealthynation.org/healthy-nation-coalition-letter/

The Weston A. Price Foundation has several article on this topic: https://www.westonaprice.org/dietary-guidelines-usda/

And, of course, on my website there are many links to healthy dietary guidance.

So learn to take with a grain of salt some of the advice that you so often see in the paper, such as this article that appeared in today’s paper, Bacon, soda & too few nuts tied to big portion of US deaths.

Kris

Whole Foods = Good Health!