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One thornier complaint is that the new lunches are too little for active teens now that the calorie range for high school lunches is 750 to 850. Rachelle Chinn, a freshman from Clarence, Mo., who plays softball, said school lunches are now so slight it once left her with a headache. "The fruits and vegetables are good at first but once they wear off, I get hungry," she said. "It's just not enough to get me through the day." Her mom, Chris Chinn, now packs her protein-heavy snacks like peanut butter crackers and granola bars. Chinn, a critic of what she calls the "one size fits all" standards, said many athletes aren't getting enough to eat. Similarly, Katie Pinke in Wishek, N.D., gave up on school lunches for her strapping freshman son Hunter and packs him meaty sandwiches. Hunter is a 6-foot-5-inch, 210-pound football player who, based on his size and active lifestyle, needs more than 4,700 calories daily to maintain his weight. He said lunches topping out at 850 calories aren't enough. "I think it's kind of ridiculous that people say how much we get to eat when there are a lot of kids that are big," Hunter said. "When we can't have our meat and bread, for a guy especially, it's not fun." Concannon noted the calorie ranges are adjusted for age, increasing as students move from elementary to middle to high school. If some children need more, Concannon said, schools have the option of offering an afternoon snack or parents can send snacks from home. "If you look at colleges in the United States, if you've ever looked at the tables where they're feeding just the football players. Good God ... If you emulated that, we'd all be wearing size 48 suits by our 20s," he said. "You have to use common sense." And just weeks into the school year, it's probably too early for final grades. In Mississippi, Keba Laird, child nutrition supervisor for the Clinton district, said she is phasing in the nutritional changes to help children grow accustomed to eating healthier. "We don't want a revolt on our hands," she said. "We want them to enjoy eating with us."
[Associated
Press;
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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