USDA school lunch officials started the new year on January 2 with welcome news: the permanent elimination of a maximum number of servings of whole grains. 

The daily and weekly maximum amounts – which were part of the new school food standards introduced in 2012 – started from a place of good intentions. Concerned with rising rates of obesity, officials decided that placing a cap on servings of grains and meats (or meat substitutes) would be one way to reduce calories being consumed by kids.

The limits were responsible for much of the bad publicity around the new school food rules, with some high schoolers creating social media campaigns to spread the word that they were facing starvation under the new regs. (In the end, according to USDA, just 524 schools out of more than 100,000 – about one half of one percent – decided to forego federal subsidies rather than go along with new rules for healthier foods.)

We weren’t alone in thinking that the grain limits defied common sense. As we wrote in an August 17, 2012 blog, the grain maximums had two main problems:

1. Limits were too stringent. Elementary schools were limited to 9 grain servings per week. Since a slice of bread is one serving, it wasn’t even possible to serve the kids a sandwich five days a week without going over the limits. Some schools that had been trailblazers in introducing new grain dishes took grain salads off the salad bar because of the maximums.

2. Very different kids had the same limits. I’m a mom, and I know that my kids didn’t have the same appetite and food needs in kindergarten as they did in 5th grade. As we wrote originally, five year olds average just under 47 pounds, while ten year olds weigh in at about 91 pounds. Even the dietary guidelines recognize this difference, and “prescribe” different amounts of foods. But the initial school rules didn’t.

While the high schools had higher maximums than the elementary schools, those rules still lumped the 115 pound female gymnast with the 185 pound male line-backer, whose caloric needs are very different.

Here at Oldways and the Whole Grains Council, we tend to believe that if you watch the quality of food, the quantity largely takes care of itself. Sure, go ahead and put limits on cookies and cakes; they should be occasional, special occasion treats (and even then, let’s make sure they’re made with whole grains, nuts, and other healthy ingredients). Good quality food tends to be inherently more satiating, and it helps our bodies learn to wisely sense when to say “enough.” Therefore, we were on board when USDA “temporarily” suspended the maximums last year, and again this month when the maximums were permanently eliminated.

So bring on top-quality whole grains, in all their creative forms, from whole grain pastas and pitas, to breads and buns, to cereals and salads. Want to know what a great job schools are doing? Check out this article at SchoolMealsThatRock.org . Or browse through the whole grain recipes school kids came up with themselves, at Recipes for Healthy Kids. (Cynthia)