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This shouldn't even be an issue — let alone a federal case: Colorado's Rep. Jared Polis, who succeeded now-Sen. Mark Udall as the congressman from Boulder, has introduced the Healthy School Meals Act.

He did so with good reason: Even though New Mexico and many local districts here and around the country have come to realize they've been serving borderline-junk food in school cafeterias as part of the federally subsidized national school lunch program, not enough has been done to remedy the problem.

There's plenty of fun food, to be sure: macaroni and cheese, "mystery meat" and pizza — but what those kids are getting, too often, are heavy doses of fat, about four times as much as the kids who bring home-packed lunches tend to ingest. And studies also show that the cafeteria kids take in more sugared drinks but fewer fruits and vegetables than the lunchbaggers do.

Those school-lunchers, then, are more likely to be fat — and loaded with the bad kind of cholesterol.

Acting on growing criticism of their fizz-water, and perhaps anticipating Polis' bill, the soda-pop companies have jointly declared an end to sugared beverages in their machines at school. Perhaps some of their cue comes from New Mexico, where elementary schools already got rid of sugar-pop in machines. But fatty meats and other not-so-great examples of nutrition continue to show up in the steam trays at too many schools.

Polis' bill would encourage schools to serve more fruits, vegetables, and plant-based vegetarian meal options. It would also offer financial incentives for schools that offer more low-fat, cholesterol-free entrees.

This is an overdue investment in combating higher health care costs down the road — and when Congress has just struggled to pass health care legislation, this would be the perfect complement. Heading off the ravages of diabetes and other nutrition-related diseases and disabilities would pay dividends.

Our country already spends an estimated $150 billion in obesity-related medical costs — an increasing amount of it on obese kids, who, in many states make up a third of the student body.

Thus this healthy-meals bill is gaining bipartisan support, not to mention backing from the American Medical Association and the American Public Health Association.

It's also picking up steam in the House; Northern New Mexico's Ben Ray Luján is on board.

A huge part of today's health care burden is yesterday's negligence on the nutrition front. No time like the present to break that cycle.