Introduction-Thesis Draft Childhood obesity epidemic, one of the most detrimental disorders, has maximized social and economical challenges faced by Americans in the 21st century. The United States of America has been always placed in the top-10 most obese countries, a list not be so proud about. Poor dietary habits at school due to consumption of competitive, unhealthy foods have resulted in escalating obesity thereby influencing a student’s performance in and outside school. As a major problem’s solution lies within finding its root, schools with the aid of governmental organizations, non-profit organizations, and institutions, have started to provide valid solutions in an attempt to reverse this epidemic. For instance one major attempt, by the Center of Disease Control (CDC) and the State Board of Education, to alleviate this problem in schools was the introduction of ‘sin-tax’. Schools’ taxed students on purchasing sugar-sweetened beverages but that was not quite successful, as it did not stop the affluent students to purchase high calorific beverages and only targeted students with a low socio-economic background. Thus, the most influential solution implemented by these governmental organizations’ that is responsible for decreasing childhood obesity by quite a large factor is improving school meals by increasing the nutrition standard. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has taken mandatory mediation steps that involve eliminating the sales of competitive fast food and increasing the supply of high organic nutritious food that meets the USDA requirement thereby improving the nutrition standard. I believe schools, with the intervention of governmental agencies like the School Nutrition Dietary Assessment (SND... ... middle of paper ... ...on: Creating School Environments And Policies To Promote Healthy Eating And Physical Activity." Milbank Quarterly 87.1 (2009): 71-100. Academic Search Complete. Web. 14 Feb. 2014 Townsend, Nick, Simon Murphy, and Laurence Moore. "The More Schools Do To Promote Healthy Eating, The Healthier The Dietary Choices By Students." Journal Of Epidemiology & Community Health 65.10 (2011): 889-895. Academic Search Complete. Web. 14 Feb. 2014. Wharton, Christopher M., Michael Long, and Marlene B. Schwartz. "Changing Nutrition Standards In Schools: The Emerging Impact On School Revenue." Journal Of School Health 78.5 (2008): 245-251. Academic Search Complete. Web. 14 Feb. 2014. Wilde, Parke, and Mary Kennedy. "The Economics Of A Healthy School Meal." Choices: The Magazine Of Food, Farm & Resource Issues 24.3 (2009): 25-29. Academic Search Complete. Web. 14 Feb. 2014.
Food To Students." Points Of View: Junk Food In Schools (2013): 2. Points of View
Schools are meant to give our children a healthy and nurturing environment, and yet so much of the lunches in schools are fattening; does this stop schools from achieving the aforementioned goal? Childhood obesity in the United Sates continues to be a growing problem despite so any new programs to help combat it, and new research is showing how schools may be playing a large role in childhood obesity. School lunches are showing to be the problem, they encourage poor nutrition in our nation’s students, and simple reform is proving to not be enough to stop the rise in obesity rates.
"School Meals Need to Get Healthier: Report." Healthday. 29 OCT 2009: n. page. Web. 14 Dec. 2011.
First of all, an increasing amount of kids are becoming overweight because their schools pressure them to eat sugary, fatty, and high-calorie foods. Not only do many schools promote consumption of harmful foods, many schools also actively serve them in school lunches. In 1963, 4% of kids were obese; currently, approximately 17% of kids are obese. Some might argue that kids themselves are the reason for the increase, because school lunches also provide healthier foods. Unfortunately, most kids do not have much of a choice - healthier foods are priced much higher than their unhealthy counterpart, consequently many parents do not want their kids to buy the more expensive, yet healthier product. In my 3½ years ...
Unfortunately, in today’s society, school administrators focus heavily on standardized test scores and school rankings thus adding more pressure on students and teachers. This being said, schools have begun to focus on providing healthy foods because they help increase a person’s cognitive and critical thinking ability. It is seen that nutrition plays a great role in students’ performance on exams and physical activity due to the correlation between school provided meals and low student
To start off, many school’s consider healthier foods to cost more. In the book, School Lunches: Healthy Choices vs. Crowd Pleasers, Amanda Lanser shows why it is worth the cost. “When the new dietary guidelines went into effect in 2012, that money did not stretch as far as it had in the past.” Healthier food is more costly, but it is better to consume healthy foods than junk food. Many schools consider the money that they get from kids buying unhealthy items instead of the outcomes of the kids' weight. Schools could have fundraisers or events that they can get money from to pay for the costly food. Because of schools some kids aren’t learning how to have a healthy lifestyle. Also some kids who are healthy and are starting to follow the ways of unhealthy
Taber DR, Chriqui JF, Powell L, & Chaloupka FJ. (2013). Association between state laws governing school meal nutrition content and student weight status: Implications for new usda school meal standards. JAMA Pediatrics, 167(6), 513–519. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2013.399
Low-cost meals are not worth the price of the medical bills that are promised to come and it is still very possible for schools to distribute nutritional lunches for an affordable price. It is necessary for legislation to make the change. Furthermore, it is ridiculous that emotional disorder numbers among adolescents have skyrocketed due to the lack body image, which is highly influenced by the way the eat. Therefore, it should be encouraged for schools to improve their meals, but that is only going to be achieved if a series are strict laws are placed, limiting calorie, sugar, fat, carbohydrate, pesticide, and other chemical intake. Lastly, Americans have always focused on exams and performance in a classroom environment, but they ignore the fact that what students eat, highly influence their performance. Ergo, increased meal funds would only benefit different school systems, through increased academic accomplishment rates. Although it is a grueling process to pass new regulations, it is vital for all students that school meals be improved in order to protect their physical and mental
Moreover, the controversy over cafeteria food is whether or not it is healthy for all students from elementary schools to colleges. Numerous factors lead to unhealthy eating in schools and on campuses. Sometimes options with better nutrition are offered, but when there are, they tend to be less appealing than the unhealthy foods which turns to obesity. Many schools are undergoing budget cuts and changes, and healthy food tends to take a back burner when deciding where the limited amounts of money should go (Gupta). Unfortunately, when schools do have healthy ingredients, the food is usually prep...
Also, according to “Healthy Day Consumer News,” schools and parents should be working together to improve the school nutrition, In other words, the teachers and parents should teach the kids about living a healthy lifestyle. Many parents and faculty members believe that schools should have improvements in the systems for healthy food. According to the article, “Why are schools selling junk foods to kids” it states American students suffering over obesity in schools. In other words, reasons for the obesities is because of vending machines and junk food on campuses. Having junk food is a win-win situation because we, the students get to eat the junk food, and the school is getting money to fund the school. According to “Prevention Institute,” kids get up to 50% of their total caloric intake at school, making the school environment a critical venue for promoting and supporting healthy eating. In other words, having the sugary snacks and unhealthy beverages around students at schools, encourages students to eat it often. Although junk food is available at most schools, one should not take advantage of it and eat it on a daily
The situation of child obesity has been brought up on many occasions .Obesity is a very serious issue in America and it could all start from school..In many school’s around America they serve chips,juice, and candy which is also known as junk food.The food that is served in the cafeteria can be nasty , therefore students tend to buy junk food and it’s not the healthiest choice.The schools should make their lunch food better so it won’t be a major problem with the government taking junk food out of school.It would be nice if they gave students the chance to have junk food once a week but not five days of the week.Parents can also help by changing their way of eating so the child wont feel like he/she is the only person that has to deal with this.Junk food should be banned from school because it can cause obesity and cause major health problems in your adulthood.
“New School lunch standards implemented as a result of First Lady Michelle Obama’s anti-obesity campaign have led to more than 1 million children leaving the lunch line, according to a new report.” (Elizabeth Harrington 3). Because of The Healthy and Hunger-Free Kids Act “ New meals are required to offer a whole grain,protein,fat free or low fat milk, fruits and vegetables”(Arit John 10). Even if the government regulates school lunches to prevent obesity and diabetes, the government should not be able to regulate them because students are not happy with the new school nutrition requirements, schools should be responsible for providing a nutritious lunch children will eat.
¨A report shows that fast food restaurants have stricter food standards then the school lunch programs¨(Peter Eisler). Everyday students go to lunch not knowing what the consequences are from eating the food provided for them. Schools have the obligation to provide a healthy lunch for students, they will see the academics improve, it is better for the students health, and the growth of obesity is increasing.
Childhood Obesity is on the rise in the United States. According to the Center of Disease Control and Prevention, “childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years. The prevalence of obesity among children aged 6 to 11 years increased from 6.5% in 1980 to 19.6% in 2008[…] adolescents aged 12 to 19 years increased from 5.0% to 18.1%.” (CDC 2010) Parents have started to file complaints with school districts and state representatives about the lack of attention this issue is receiving. There have been several references to the school lunch program and the lack of physical activity that children are provided during the school day. On the other side, some parents believe that the government should not be involved and does not have the right to tell the students what they should or should not eat. These parents argue that it should be left in the hands of the school board to determine the nutritional guidelines for their school lunch program and the amount of daily physical activity that children are given. Parents should not be opposed to tighter government restrictions on what can and cannot be served to students in schools, or mandates of increased physical activity, because these reforms will help decrease the strain on the health care system that the childhood obesity epidemic is starting to create.
The obesity epidemic is a major problem in today’s society. It ranges for children to teens, all the way to adult that are affected. The problem needs to addressed and it starts with the basics of eating healthy. In many school today, the food served is processed and it offers little benefit to student, especially if they are not exercising and practicing healthy habits. One way to help stop the obesity epidemic in our community is start in the schools, and improve students eating habits. If the food was less processed, made at the cafeteria, and something that students would look forward to eating, rather than skipping lunch then the increase in obesity may be stopped.