For Rep. Jared Polis, vegetarian meals would be healthy alternative to fatty school lunches

The Healthy School Meals Act (Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo.): a bill that would create incentives and a pilot program for children to receive a vegetarian meal option at school. 

Status: Introduced Wednesday

Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) has always tried to eat healthfully. Now he would like to see schoolchildren offered that same opportunity.

Before coming to Congress, Polis served for six years on the Colorado Board of Education. During that time, he visited dozens of schools to meet with hundreds of teachers and faculty members. And on those visits, he ate his fair share of the corndogs, tater tots, corn syrup-soaked fruit cups and other items that are staples in school lunches. 

“I have been in many lunchrooms during lunch period and can attest to the food that is frequently lacking from a nutritional perspective and very high in saturated fats,” he says.

Polis adopted a new eating philosophy when he met his partner, Marlon Reis, six years ago. Though Polis isn’t a strict vegan like Reis, he now limits his red meat intake to once a week and eats more vegetables and drinks more non-dairy beverages than he used to. He says he is now more aware of what he is eating. 

Polis is such a big believer in vegetarian eating that he would like schoolchildren to have the same options he has. On Wednesday, he introduced a bill that would give students a plant-based, vegetarian option for school lunches.

As childhood obesity rises and the number of children diagnosed with type-2 diabetes increases, he says, it’s imperative that the government provide vegetarian and vegan options for them to start trying to form longstanding healthy habits. 

“For a lot of kids, a lot of their meals come from schools, and many schools are really struggling to meet the USDA guidelines in terms of maximum saturated fat requirements,” he says. “What our bill will do is provide some lower-fat and lower-cholesterol ways for kids to get the nutrition that they need to be healthy.”

Polis’s legislation would create a $4 million pilot program run by the USDA to test the introduction of plant-based and non-dairy foods and beverages into selected school districts over the course of two years. 

If the program is successful, the government would begin to reimburse schools that offer at least two-thirds of their students a vegetarian option. It would also reimburse schools that offer students a milk substitute that meets nutritional standards established by USDA for calcium, vitamin D and other nutrients. 

By working on this issue, Polis sees himself on the right side of a trend. He cites first lady Michelle Obama’s work on childhood obesity and wellness as evidence that the issue is gaining attention. (Polis also jokingly notes that actress Scarlett Johansson endorsed his bill.) He says more than 30 of his colleagues have co-sponsored the legislation.

As for what happens in Polis’s immediate surroundings, he’s quick to clear up a rumor: He does not force his staff to adhere to a vegetarian diet. 

“I think that would be overreaching of the boss,” he says. But he does encourage them to eat healthful foods, he adds.