Reform School Lunches

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Reform in school lunch is needed because it contributes to childhood obesity. Students in the United States have the choice to bring their own lunch to school or buy lunch from the school cafeteria. The lunch served in schools mostly varies between different unhealthy options, such as pizza, hamburgers, and fries. While fruits and vegetables are mostly limited, there are a few options. Since the majority of students have to pay for their lunch, they want to get their money's worth of food, thus leading to big portions of unhealthy food. Resulting in obesity among minors. American economist and researcher Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach used data from a federal study that tracked 15,000 elementary-aged students' school lunch habits, “Obesity rates …show more content…

Results of the analysis varied between numerous high schools. School staff mostly considered obesity to be a problem among high schoolers. Yet believe that the problem occurred in their school, regardless of 25% of students having higher than average BMI, due to school lunches (Nollen et al, 2007). The reform of school lunch has to start from the school, more specifically from the staff itself. Children spending most of their day in school should provide nutritious and healthy lunches to keep the balance between school and home diet. However, if the school staff such as principals and food service personnel do not see a problem in the health of school food, it is hard to change the surfacing problem. If one fourth of the students has a higher BMI than recommended, it is clear that the obesity issue lies in school lunch. On the other hand, even though schools play a substantial part in children's lives, it is not schools responsibility to limit what students eat. Most dietary habits emerge from outside of …show more content…

Research conducted in 2003 shows how a la carte type of lunch contains twice the amount of fat per one item compared to home packed lunch, meaning that if more than one item is consumed from a la carte school lunch it is much unhealthier than a packed lunch all together (St-Onge, 2003). It is proven that packed lunch from home is healthier, meaning children who take lunch from home daily consume less school-served food. If a packed lunch from home is a reflection of a home diet, it also must include fast food. Meaning that even though children who do not eat school lunch may from time to time still consume more than recommended amounts of unhealthy nutrients. However, if school lunch is added to the amount of food consumed, the daily recommended intake is exceeded more times than those who bring their food from home. School bought lunch contains twice the amount of fat per one item compared to store bought lunch, thus meaning that if students eat more than one item from school provided lunch, the amount of fat increases to unhealthy

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