Healthy Lunches: Myth vs Reality - Boston News, Weather, Sports | FOX 25 | MyFoxBoston

BOSTON (MyFoxBoston.com) - Boston Public Schools is taking a healthier approach to school meals this year, but are the foods kids traditionally love really that bad for them? 
Joan Salge Blake a nutritionist and clinical associate professor at Boston University debunks some of the myths between what is healthy food for kids and what is not.  

BALANCE IS KEY 
Pizza, tater tots, fruit juice, chocolate milk are all popular items in school cafeterias, but some say they should be gone and replaced with healthier options. Joan Salge Blake tells FOX25, "No food is bad. What you want do is make sure that the school lunches and hopefully the school breakfasts are well balanced and nourishing.  For some children this is going to be the best meal their going to get all day."  

Here's Joan's advice... 

CHOCOLATE MILK 
A source of Vitamin D and Calcium. For some kids this is the only kind of milk they are going to drink.  

FRUIT JUICE 
Whole fruit is better than juice because it has the fiber. There is nothing wrong with 100% juice, but we know with the whole fruit you get the fiber and most Americans, including children, are falling short on their fiber daily recommendations.  

CHICKEN NUGGETS 
Joan says recipes need to evolve in order to make the foods kids love healthier.  
Chicken nuggets should be baked not fried. Schools should consider baking them with a crust that has whole grains in it. 
Dipping sauces should not be that big of a concern.  

PIZZA 
Schools across the United States are making healthier forms of pizza, the key is a whole wheat crust.
Tomato sauce, vegetables, and part skim mozzarella cheese is perfect. 13 percent of Americans eat pizza everyday and most of them in school.    

MUFFINS 
Joan says muffins need to become like the muffin we grew up with rather than the muffin than we know now.  
Many of them fall into a recipe similar to cake. Whole grains, pieces of fruit in them. They can be a great morning starter.  

TATER TOTS.
You have to make sure its 100 percent potato. Roast them, don't fry them