The other day a student at a public school told their teacher they were hungry.  They chose to skip the government provided breakfast.  You can throw money at a problem, but it doesn’t mean it will get fixed.  School kids are skipping meals and/or throwing their food into the trash.  Americans waste 40% of their food every year.  Globally, over 1 billion tons of food is wasted!  Visit any school campus at lunch and take a look in the trash can.  It will be filled with pears, apples, pizzas, fruit cups, carrots, salads, etc.  It is truly an appalling sight.  While I was teaching in the public school classroom, First Lady Laura Bush said, “Parents are their child’s first teacher.”  Parents model to their children eating habits, educational habits, and life habits.  If the parents don’t model healthy eating, then most likely, the child won’t either. As a popular idiom states,  “There is no such thing as a free lunch.”  The hard working citizens of America buy the food in those trash cans.  Instead, parents can prepare and pack a more nutritive lunch for their child that tastes good.  Their day can begin with a home made breakfast smoothie or an egg on toast with some cheese.  Back in my day, we brought our lunches to school in a trendy metal box with our favorite characters on the front.  In addition to the food waste, how nutrient dense is a school provided lunch?  It is mostly processed and nutrient depleted food.  No wonder it gets tossed into the trash can.