Parents are looking for ways to reduce another epidemic from affecting their children when they go back to school this fall: obesity. Plant-based options in school might be that solution.
Childhood obesity is a serious problem in the United States, according to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, putting children at risk for poor health making them vulnerable to COVID-19 and other diseases. According to the CDC, obesity now affects one in five children and adolescents nationwide.
“Right now, it’s like basically you’re telling that child well, ‘your choices aren’t that important,’” Heidi Cohen, a vegan mom in Farmingdale, New York, said. “How come so many districts will acknowledge kosher diets, nut-free, gluten-free, and various allergies? But then you talk about vegan or plant-based and all of a sudden people decide it’s radical, extreme, it’s not really important.”
“You’re very de-validated as your choices don’t matter but it’s just as important as it would be for someone that has a kosher lifestyle,” she continued.
Schools across New York have started offering plant-based options in cafeterias, including New York City adopting Meatless Mondays, according to Mayor Bill de Blasio, because of the benefits plant-based diets have on student health and the environment.
“Cutting back on meat a little will improve New Yorkers’ health and reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” Blasio said in a press conference last year. “We’re expanding Meatless Mondays to all public schools to keep our lunch and planet green for generations to come.”
Other cafeteria lunch menus on Long Island, though, remain stagnant but in compliance with federal laws to make sure the meals are healthy — enough.
In 2010, Congress passed the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act to ensure every child had access to the nutrition they need to grow into healthy adults. The goal of the law was to help reduce America’s childhood obesity epidemic and other health risks. This could be done by helping schools across the country — through the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other federal agencies — produce balanced meals so children had access to healthy foods during the school day.
“This includes following all federal regulations related to the daily fruit and vegetable meal components and weekly vegetable subgroup offerings,” Christine Kearney, business and operations administrator of the West Islip Union Free School District, said.
While schools have complied with USDA regulations, there have been updates to school food requirements. The USDA has approved plant protein products as meat alternatives, including nut and seed butter, cooked beans and peas, and soy protein foods that meet the federal requirements for alternative meals, like veggie burgers. Additionally, soy milk, soy yogurt, and commercially prepared tofu are now acceptable as long as the product is recognizable. Products made with tofu that are not easily recognized as meat substitutes would not contribute to any component of the reimbursable meal and do not meet the customary and usual function of the meat/meat alternate component. For example, you cannot blend soft tofu in a soup, making the tofu unrecognizable.
Sharon Palmer, a dietician who works with parents to plan plant-based meals for their children, said the diets of students today can lead to high cholesterol levels and blood glucose levels associated with heart disease and diabetes, respectively.
“So it’s not only protecting their health for the future, but it’s also protecting their health at this moment,” Palmer said. “They can also reduce their risks of childhood obesity, which has enormous impacts on children’s health, and also things like their emotional status as well.”
Although it is not a legal requirement for schools to implement vegan or plant-based meals, parents and children who are plant-based want this change.
Plant-based options provide nutrients that help protect children from developing diseases later on in life. A 2019 studypublished in the Journal of the American Heart Association found that a plant-based diet “significantly lower risk of incident cardiovascular disease, cardiovascular disease mortality, and all‐cause mortality” by 25%. Vegan diets, a diet based on plants and avoiding the consumption of animal products or bi-products, provide some added protection against obesity, high blood pressure, Type-2 diabetes, and cardiovascular mortality, according to the study.
Some school districts on Long Island have begun to introduce plant-based options to their elementary students. In the Three Village School District, legumes — beans, seeds, nuts, and some grains — are offered as a meat-alternative, as well as vegetarian burgers on “burger day,” said Jean Ecker, the schools’ director of child nutrition. Additionally, taste tests with plant-based options are being offered, serving items like mushroom burgers, eggplant nuggets, and kale chips.
“Taste tests with plant-based options are held in the cafeteria,” Ecker said. “We will continue to do so with new plant-based items to determine if students would enjoy eating these foods as part of their school meals. Plant-based options are of course healthy for students but are only nutritious if they eat them.”
According to a 2009 study published in Nutrition Journal, vegetarians — people who eat only plant-based foods — reported more positive moods than omnivores — meat and plant eaters. Plant foods are high in antioxidants and phytochemicals, which help repair cell damage and decrease inflammation, including in the brain. Following a plant-based diet can serve as a natural way to support mental health, according to the study.
Amie Hamlin, the executive director of Coalition for Healthy School Food, a statewide organization that introduces plant-based foods and nutrition education in New York schools, said lunchtime can play a large factor in what mood students are in. Meat-based diets with high fats that lead to obesity can make them more depressed and anxious, she said.
Although this organization helps develop and distribute plant-based options, Hamlin said they are not working with any schools on Long Island.
“I would love as a mom to be able to trust the school, that every once in a while I could take a break, and they would be able to feed my child,” Lorien Mahay, a vegan mom from Rocky Point, said. “My hope is really that we have a chance to partner you know as parents and as the schools and find a solution that helps move all of us forward.”
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