Are pizza and fries even the definition of a healthy lunch? I don’t think so.

That’s also what the country and first lady Michelle Obama think, too.

With new federal rules controlling what is served at school cafeterias during lunch time (and even breakfast at some schools), school districts all over the country have reworked their lunch and breakfast menus to accommodate the new rules.

“As parents, we try to prepare decent meals, limit how much junk food our kids eat, and ensure they have a reasonable balanced diet,” Obama said in a news release on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s website. “And when we’re putting in all that effort the last thing we want is for our hard work to be undone each day in the school cafeteria.

“When we send our kids to school, we expect that they won’t be eating the kind of fatty, salty, sugary foods we try to keep them from eating at home. We want the food they get at school to be the same kind of food we would serve at our own kitchen tables.”

Currently students all over the nation are not happy, boycotting their cafeterias. Right now only fat-free or low-fat milk varieties are being served.

The School Nutrition Program says it’s a benefit to teachers as it increases the student’s willingness and ability to learn.

I believe changes should keep coming, considering one in three students is overweight, but students need to have more input and maybe even more understanding as to what is healthy and what is not.

It’s very easy to eat healthy, and the county could easily ask students what they want that’s healthy, and if it fits the guidelines it should be allowed.

At least give us options before it gets put into the cafeteria.

SIERRA HANSON

Jonesborough