Although it’s never too late to adopt a healthy lifestyle, a lifetime of habits are formed when we are children. Kids learn about the importance (unimportance) of diet and exercise from their parents, teachers, and peers. It’s too bad the American government isn’t taking the importance of childhood nutrition seriously.

First Lady Michelle Obama is encouraging kids to get up and get moving, but her efforts will not help lower childhood obesity rates unless the United States Department of Agriculture stops feeding American kids food that no amount of exercise can counterbalance. A survey conducted last year reveals that school lunches are worse then prison lunches in America. An infographic based on this information shows that school lunches contain less servings of vegetables and a smaller serving of meat (which is already meager to begin with).

Check it out for yourself:

(click the image to enlarge)

In the infographic, you can see that the US government spends slightly more on school lunches per person per day ($2.62 for prisons vs. $2.68 for schools) even though the school lunch contains less food (in both volume and nutrition).

The survey found that the quality of the meat is tested less that the quality of the meat at fast food restaurants. McDonald’s and Burger King test their beef 5 – 10 times more often than the USDA tests the ground beef sent to schools.

It’s no wonder that childhood obesity rates in the US are rising. This map shows the percentage of obese children state by state:

Nutrition and exercises needs to be supported by parents, by teachers, and by the US government if we want to raise the next generation to be healthy adults.

What do you think about the state of school lunches?