There has been much talk in recent months over what schools should have in their lunch menus. A recent study shows that about one third of America’s youth between the ages of 12-19 are obese. Childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years, which has motivated the government to make a serious change in what public schools are serving students for lunch.

First Lady Michelle Obama and the U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA) are making fresh fruits and vegetables the main focus of the major changes, but still keeping lunchroom staples such as potatoes and pizza. Other changes you might see in the lunchroom are less sodium in everyday meals and more whole grain breads and natural snacks. USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack said during a conference call that high school students would have 6.5 more cups of vegetables per week.

With an estimated 30 million children in the U.S. eating school lunch regularly, providing nutritious meals at school is vital. This is emphasized by the fact that a significant number of our nation’s children consume more than half of their daily calories at school.

Deephaven Elementary has been selected by the Life Time Foundation to partner up with it ‘Healthy Kids, Healthy Planet’ mission with a focus on a pilot experiment to design and launch a new lunch menu beginning this year. “Like many schools, we have made strides in our lunch program, but we saw an opportunity to partner with the Life Time Foundation to support our commitment to serve the healthiest food and ingredients possible, and Life Time’s support will allow us to initially test the impact of changes at our school, before making decisions about cost-effective changes for all Minnetonka Schools.” said Bryan McGinley, Principal at Deephaven Elementary. The Life Time Foundation’s main purpose is to improve children’s nutrition one school lunch program at a time, ensuring every child has the same opportunity to have a healthy start in life, beginning with proper nutrition and exercise.