Imagine that you are a gardener, and you want your sapling to grow into a big tree. You need to put efforts into it by providing sufficient nutrients and water on a regular basis. This is the same theory that applies to children in our nation. The school meal nutrition issue has caught the eye of the government, and it is well discussed in the nation. Although many people debate if the government should involve in the school lunch issues, the government has already made some regulations on the nutrition of public school meals and it should consider educating children about healthy diets as well.
It took a long time for the government to recognize that providing school meals is necessary, and this program significantly influences the life of students. In 1946, President Truman signed the National School Lunch Act to permit the National Lunch Program. Before this act was effective, many poor children suffered hunger in schools because they did not have money to buy lunches. The government notices the fact that children are nutritionally unbalanced has become apparent (Gunderson). This program is particularly created for children from low income families, in order to end hunger in school, so these children receive lunch for free. It was a benefit for many people throughout the country at the time, and it continues now.
People who think parents should prepare lunches for their children forget to regard the family condition in many cases. Julie Gunlock, who is the Director of the Culture of Alarmism project at the Independent Women’s Forum, argues that the government should not intervene in school lunch regulation because parents have responsibilities to feed their children. Although she consists of various research results in her ...
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Conklin, Martha T., PhD,RD, Laurel G. Lambert, PhD,RD,LD, and
Janet B. Anderson, MS, RD. "How Long Does it Take Students to Eat Lunch? A Summary of Three Studies." School Nutrition Association. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Nov. 2013.
Gunderson, Gordon W. "National School Lunch Program (NSLP)." USDA. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Nov. 2013.
Gunlock, Julie. "School Lunch: Should the Government Be Feeding Schoolchildren Lunch? (Debate)." Independent Women's Forum. N.p., 12 Dec. 2012. Web.
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Nixon, Ron. "New Rules for School Meals Aim at Reducing Obesity."
The New York Times. The New York Times, 25 Jan. 2012. Web. 13 Oct. 2013.
Thompson, Carolyn. "Some School Districts Quit Healthier Lunch Program." USA Today. Gannett, 28 Aug. 2013. Web. 31 Oct. 2013.
Zelman, Kathleen M., MPH, RD, LD. "Slow Down, You Eat Too Fast." WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2013.
Janet Poppendieck is a professor of sociology at Hunter College in New York, and additionally she is the author of several books including her most recent Free for All: Fixing School Food in America. This book centers on America’s recent interest in whether or not our school lunches are healthy. This issue has been put into the spotlight recently through shows such as Jamie Oliver’s School Food Revolution and in the news because recent changes in the Nation School Lunch Program’s dietary guidelines. Poppendieck’s book looks at the in depth reasons into why school lunches have turned into what they are today, what challenges need to be faced in order to fix school lunches, and ultimately how our the system should be fixed. She accomplishes this by interviewing her current college students about their previous school lunch experiences, working in a school cafeteria, interviewing current school employees, and looking at the history and policies of the National School Lunch Program.
As discussed throughout this paper there has been controversy about Michelle Obama’s school lunch guidelines. The reader has heard multiple arguments developed from this topic from each viewpoint expressed in this dispute. Now it is up to them to take a side.This paper is about Michelle Obama’s school lunch guidelines and how they are affecting schools and students across the nation. To help reduce the number of overweight children in America, Michelle Obama made lunch regulations schools had to follow and sparked a widespread conflict.
Allowing healthier school lunches will decrease obesity in children because it will give them the proper nutrition to reduce the risk of health issues. Since obesity causes many health issues, maintaining a proper nutrition will reduce the risk of health issues. According to Star- Telegram, a daily newspaper that serves Fort Worth and areas of North Texas states, “[School lunches that have] a meal of pizza sticks, a banana, raisins and whole milk has given way to whole wheat spaghetti with meat sauce, a whole wheat roll green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, kiwi and low-fat milk … This change will help more than 2.4 million Texas students who receive a free or reduced- price school lunch to lead healthier, more active lives—in and out of the classroom”(Par. 2 and 4). School lunches are supposed to guarantee students a well balance meal, so they can have the energy to proceed with their classes throughout the day. Meanwhile, students who receive a f...
We all remember that day when President Obama took office, and our school lunches changed forever. First Lady Michelle Obama, felt that too many American kids are overweight, so she thought she needed to make our school lunches healthier, with more fruits and vegetables. One of the major changes she made was how many calories the school cooks were able to give the kids. The new requirements are as follows: up to 650 for children in kindergarten through fifth grade, 700 for sixth through eighth graders and 850 for high scholars. These numbers are consistent with the Mayo Clinic’s recommendations ( Kuczynski-Brown). The main goal of cutting calories and taking away junk food, was to insure that kids are getting served a healthy lunch. At each lunch, schools must still provide a cup of fruit, a cup of vegetables, two servings of grains, two ounces of dairy, and a cup of fluid milk, so that students can get their needed vitamins and nutrients (Anonymous) . They are also wanting more local farmers to be involved, and give more of the food they grow to the school. At the high school I went to, we built a green house, and planted a garden to give us some local grown food. It was part of our Ag Science class. More and more schools are starting to do the same thing. The stats of overweight kids is really high. The guidelines are as follows:
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.
The average school lunch has about 900 calories, which is about half of the amount of total calories a child should consume daily. Many schools attempt to serve healthy lunches for students, but sometimes they are not aware of what "healthy" is. Other times they do not feel it necessary to spend a large amount of money on healthy food. If schools knew how healthier food would affect a child academically, they might be more inclined to pay. The American government must increase school funding, so that the schools can make this change for the students' benefit. School officials must also look at the percentage of children who are obese, and consider how providing a healthy school lunch will help to lower that number. Healthy school cafeteria food is essential for school aged children in the United States because it will help them pay attention in school, improve their learning capabilities, and minimize childhood obesity.
This is not the first time the U.S. has faced problems with the health of the nation. In 1946, President Harry S. Truman signed the National School Lunch Act. This legislation came in response to claims that many American men were rejected for military service due to diet related health issues. School lunch was established as “a measure of national security, to safeguard the health and well-being of the nation’s children and to encourage the domestic consumption of nutritious agricultural commodities and other food (Gunderson, 2013).”
The most recent, the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (Child Nutrition Reauthorization Bill) provides necessary guidelines for our government 's involvement in school lunches. The Kids Act improves the choice of foods the State distribution agencies purchase for their school districts and allows for stricter food choices; however, this act leaves the decision to the state government. Though the Kids Act has not ensured healthier food it is, as Rebecca Edwalds said, “ By becoming the first piece of legislation to impose a federal nutritional education requirement, the Kids Act is a big step in the right direction” (Edwalds 1061). Edwalds then proposes an amendment to the Kids Act, including substantial guidelines rather than broad, open-ended recommendations. “The proposed amendment seeks to strike a balance between the need for more concrete guidelines and the nuances of different school districts” (Edwalds
Kalafa, Amy. Lunch Wars: How to Start a School Food Revolution and Win the Battle for Our Children's Health. New York: Jeremy P. Tacher/Penguin, 2011. EBook Reader.
The founding of the National School Lunch Program in 1946, otherwise known as NSLP, was inspired by investigations placed on men who were rejected from draft during World War II, where a connection was found between their physical impairments as a result of poor nutritional diets in early childhood (National School Lunch Program). Their mission statement being, “ A measure of national security, to safeguard the health and well-being of the Nation’s children.” Later on effecting after school initiatives in which after school activities on school grounds, were required to provide snacks for the students, in 1998 (National School Lunch Program). Throughout the history of government involvement in school lunches, there have been changes made due to new findings. First the purpose of school lunches were to give students food in case they were not receiving any at now, slowly it began to evolve to a nutritional meal that covers the main food groups.
We have definitely improved school lunches in America, however they still leave something to be desired. This is something that seems so simple to fix, but why is this problem so prevalent in our society? Mark Bittman explores this issue in an article “Serving up School Lunches of Tomorrow.” Bittman builds credibility by “joining forces with researchers from the Department of Agriculture and the University of California, Berkley’s School of Public Health to evaluate a program to increase school lunch participation, improve nutrition, reduce waste, and ultimately counter tendencies towards obesity.”(Bittman par1) And what they are doing to improve school lunches for their students. This article makes the claim that America needs to make an effort to make school lunches healthier and a lot more accessible for all of its students.
With the implementation of the “Healthy Kids Hunger-Free Act” schools are not serving as many lunches and participation is decreasing. According to the Government Accountability Office (GOA), “Nationwide, student participation declined by 1.2 million students(or 3.7 percent) from school year 2010-2011 through school year 2012-2013, after having increased steadily for many years”(sec. 1). The school lunches became more distasteful and bland; the combinations of foods did not make sense, and the portion sizes decreased significantly. In order to support the cafeteria
One reason our school should get a new lunch menu is many students do not like the food served. For example, a survey was taken and of the 31 students 100% said they disliked the food. As student Bryan Huang said, “The lunches are horrible, they need better choices and more choices.” In other words, the food is not delicious and there are not many choices. Also, when children don’t get proper nutrition they have trouble focusing in school. Most students do not buy lunch because they feel it is unappealing and do not like the food served. Many students go to other kids and ask for food. In addition, many students do not eat breakfast so they rely on lunch to fuel them for the day. But, if they do not like the food served they won’t eat so they starve for the rest of the school day, which can
Obesity is the condition of being overweight, childhood obesity is now consider a major factor that leads to long and short term health effects. This disease is linked to many problems such as bone and joint problems, sleep apnea, and social and psychological problems such as poor self-esteem according to the Center of Disease Control Prevention. Obesity is more likely to happen because of a poor diet and little to no physical activity. Children from ages 5-18 cannot control what is being feed at home and school. Their food habits are based on what parents and schools can provide. According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, in the year 2010 nearly 15 percent of American households were unable to acquire adequate food to meet their health needs. Parents cannot afford to feed their families with healthy foods, if the school system would provide at least two healthy meals: breakfast and lunch, kids would be receiving about half of the nutrition required to live a healthy life. School systems have the power to invest in healthier lifestyle by simply changing the menu. The school...