Healthy eating habits start at home

You can lead a kid to healthy food, but you can't make him eat it.

Schools are experiencing the old "horse" adage as they attempt to comply with healthy lunch regulations championed by first lady Michelle Obama.

Starting next year, pasta and other grain products in schools will have to be whole-grain rich, or more than half whole grain -- that includes rolls, biscuits, pizza crust, tortillas and even grits.

Most school nutrition directors agree that healthy changes are needed in school lunches, which have included too many servings of greasy fries and pizza in recent years.

But they also note that whole-grain pasta is a hard sell; and when kids don't buy lunch, or throw away fruits and vegetables that are served to them, it wastes precious dollars.

School lunches are an easy place to start when it comes to the health-food drive, but kids who haven't developed a taste for healthy foods like whole-grains, fruits and vegetables at home, can't be expected to chow down on them at school.