Pizza's a Vegetable?

Yes, according to Congress, pizza counts as a vegetable serving in our nation's school lunch program -- thanks to the sauce.

Frankly, that's a stretch. I don't recall ever seeing a vegetable-laden pizza at any school my children attended. But I will remain hopeful that with Congress' encouragement, school food service directors and school administrators might get the idea that pizza could look more like a vegetable serving beyond the sauce, and maybe even muster up some PTA support to plant a school vegetable garden, with herbs and veggies to dress up the bland and boring commodity fare.

To help improve child nutrition (and improve test scores, physical and mental development), I'd also add a salad bar at every school to accompany the pizza slice. But the greens wouldn't come in bags shipped half-way cross country. Rather, they'd come from on-site greenhouses.

Does all this sound expensive and time consuming? Not in the long run when you consider the national cost of obesity ($147 billion/yr.). In my experience, prevention is always cheaper than treatment.

If Congress wants to call pizza a vegetable, let's see them ante up the funds to beef up school lunch to make real food an option for all kids. Let's show children we love them by investing in their healthy future by feeding their nutritional needs.

After all, if we don't model what we teach, we're teaching something else.

Think critically and eat well!

Melinda