RESEARCH PAPER ‘There is such a thing as too healthy!’ The impact of minimum nutritional guidelines on school food practices in secondary schools S. Addis & S. Murphy DECIPHer, School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK Keywords school meals, minimum nutritional guidelines, appetite for life, collective lifestyles. Correspondence S. Addis, CASCADE, School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, 1–3 Museum Place, Cardiff CF10 3BD, UK. Tel.: +44 (0)29 20687134 E-mail: addiss1@cardiff.ac.uk How to cite this article S. Addis & S. Murphy (2018) ‘There is such a thing as too healthy!’ The impact of minimum nutritional guidelines on school food practices in secondary schools. J Hum Nutr Diet. https://doi.org/10.1111/jhn.12598 Abstract Background: Pressure to improve school meals has resulted in stringent nutritional guidelines across the UK. In Wales, the ‘Appetite for Life’ guide- lines of 2008 resulted in significant changes to the provision of food in Welsh schools. Although evaluation of these changes has focussed on nutri- tional quality, there is little evidence of how pupils perceive these changes and their impact on school food practices. Using a Collective Lifestyles approach, the present study reports how secondary school pupils perceive and negotiate menu changes and the implications for lunchtime practices. Methods: Seven focus groups (52 pupils) were undertaken in four sec- ondary schools within one local authority in Wales. Participatory techniques were used to facilitate discussion, and the focus groups were recorded, tran- scribed and analysed using a framework approach. Analysis was under- pinned by a Collective Lifestyles approach, which provides a framework to understand behaviour in context using three domains: (i) patterns of con- sumption; (ii) the construction and maintenance of identity; and (iii) power relationships. Results: Pupils reported that the new menus were unpopular in terms of content and meal type; the preference was for portable and snack style foods. In terms of power relationships, pupils’ ability to negotiate within the school setting was constrained by the institutional nature of school din- ing. As a result, pupils tended to opt out of school food provision, accessing alternatives where possible. Conclusions: The development of the healthy eating agenda within the school setting needs to consider the complexities of adolescent consumption preferences, identities and social networks if they are to be successful. Introduction In the UK, school food provision has undergone many changes over the years, reflecting shifting political, social and economic contexts (1,2) . Originally introduced because of concerns about poor children’s capacity to benefit from education, the emphasis was originally on reducing the impact of poverty on diet (3,4) . More recently, the broader contribution that school food makes in terms of health and development, learning, concentra- tion and behaviour has been acknowledged (5) . The provision of food in school is used by most coun- tries around the world to ensure and promote adequate nutrition in childhood. In many developed countries, the focus is on promoting healthy eating within the school setting to tackle rising levels of childhood obesity. In the UK, a programme of initiatives that aim to reverse increasing rates of overweight and obesity have focused on the school setting (6–9) . Within this context, concern over the quality of the food served in school has resulted in the reintroduction of food-based standards across the UK territories in 2001 (10–12) . However, for many critics, 1 ª 2018 The British Dietetic Association Ltd. Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics