As the government tries to ban salt from our schools, study shows eating salt promotes good health

    In the "why we need less federal government intrusion" department, a new study finds that reasonable or even slightly high levels of salt in the diet do no harm. In fact, the most dangerous sodium intake level is the very-low-salt diet, such as the one the government is forcing on our school children.
    Schools across the nation have been scrambling in an effort to meet federal demands that school lunches have ultra-low-sodium. Aside from making food taste good, salt is an important ingredient that improves both texture and shelf life of baked goods.
    School lunch prices for full-pay students have skyrocketed this year, pursuant to federal mandates that schools serve unhealthy meals low in sodium. We are -- as is always the case with the federal government -- paying more to get less.
    Some people, such as those with high blood pressure, should limit salt intake. But for the rest of us, salt is good food.

Feds force Oxford Schools to make students pay more for lunches that they like less

    The Oxford School District is raising the price of full-pay lunches from $2.25 to $2.75 for the next school year, according to a memo from Nutrition Director Richmond Smith to the school board.
    The memo states that the increase is being mandated by Section 205 of the Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. Essentially what the federal government has done is to force school districts to comply with all sorts of expensive federal directives in exchange for increased reimbursements for students on the free and reduced lunch program.
    Now the schools are being required by the federal government to raise prices on full-pay students to help pay for lunch changes that they did not want and do not like.
    Oxford is not alone in raising prices. Schools all over the country are increasing prices to comply with this new federal intrusion.  And some schools are just opting out of the federal school lunch program altogether. Almost 1,500 school have said "No thank you" to federal funding and regulation of school lunches since changes went into effect.
    Nationally about 1.6 million full-pay students have stopped buying their lunch at school since the federal government began micromanaging the program. That's about seven percent of the 25 million students who were buying their own lunch at school each day. With lunch prices increasing, expect this number to rise. Most people don't like to pay more and get less.
    I don't blame the Oxford School District for making these changes; it is just complying with federal law. But this is certainly an example of how an increase in federal spending can make the lives of the supposed beneficiaries worse instead of better.