From low test scores and bad lunches national and local groups have set a new standard in the school cafeterias for the students to eat healthy foods and staying active to benefit their body throughout school and outside of school. With these goals set it will make a difference in the students and the school. Throughout my research I have found out how healthy lunches are very beneficial to our bodies and to our brains during a long school day and also outside of school.
I’ve learned that eating healthy will limit our hunger during the day and that it will also help your brain work faster during test causing school scores to rise. Also, these standards have lowered the percentage of child obesity. Kid’s at school don’t always get the food they
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“The school had never been able to make progress on end-of-year standardized tests for two consecutive years. However, in 2009 the school joined the Healthy Schools Program. In 2011 the school received the Bronze National Recognition Award from the Alliance for its efforts in creating a healthier campus. That year the school saw an increase in test scores.” (Gray) Bringing these programs in a schools will change it tremendously. These programs are persuading the kids to do their best and they are trying to explain to the kids that eating healthy is very beneficial to their lives. With the grades rising on the end of the year test it helps the school to know the difference they are doing. Each school is taking in the programs and scheduling different activities for all the kids on each different day. “ Here are some examples of changes that have occurred at Robert Gray since joining the Healthy Schools Program: three times a week the PE teacher gets on the school TV channel to lead the school in 10 minutes of physical activity, once a week there is a morning activity club for 4th-6th graders before school, the school has stopped selling food for fundraisers. Now it offers candles and other non-food items, the wellness council started a Zumba class for staff and plans to start a new employee exercise class in January, in order to earn the Silver National Recognition Award the school nurse had to buy salad dressings for the cafeteria that are compliant with the Alliance’s nutrition Guidelines, and the PE teacher teamed up with the music teacher to increase the number of PE minutes for all students by teaching
Government date shows that in the past thirty years, rate of being overweight in six to eleven year olds is up 19% and 6% in age 12 to 19. Without support, school lunches remain high in fat. (Finkelstien) According to the CDCP, obesity is double what it was in children and triple in adolescents since 1980. Many reforms were attempted to help this problem, but many inadvertently caused more problems. (Finkelstien) A 730 calorie lunch should have no more than 24 grams of fat and no more than 8 grams of it saturated yet the average USDA lunch has 31 grams of fat and 14 rams of it is saturated. (Yeoman) These very high levels of fat are why obesity is becoming worse in children. It can be concluded that school food is still extremely high in fat and this can be directly linked to the high rates of obesity in young children and
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:
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
“Our Schools need to start teaching kids how to be healthy.”- Unknown. School lunches have created a chronic problem in a school setting, and since it hasn't been fixed, 6-11 year olds have had a 17% increased chance of becoming obese (Centers for Disease control and Prevention). Most school districts don't even bother changing the food restrictions just so they can please their students. Unhealthy school lunches are a huge problem among children in the United States, it can cause obesity, stress, and many other problems.
Introduction: The children obesity epidemic is still present today, and the growing love of fast food is fueling it. Students are not being taught good nutrition and are paying the price. With fast food restaurants appearing in more areas, one place they have remained is on high schools campuses. Having fast food on campuses has its benefits such as fast and cheap food and it can be easily accessed. The negative aspect of having fast food on high school campuses is how much is being consumed. The students are not getting the right nutrition to fuel their minds for the school work. Students need to have proper nutrition to carry on throughout the day and preform to the best of their ability.
“More than a third of the county's children are overweight or obese.”(Gustin, 1). As shocking as this is, it's true. One of the big reasons that children and teens are overweight is because of the foods that they eat. They are fed these fattening and unhealthy foods by the school system. Their futures can be changed if we change our choices. Having more nutritious lunches can have a positive impact on the health of American teens.
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...
President Harry Truman initiated The School Lunch Program (NSLP) in 1946, it was established under the National School Lunch Act. The program provides nutritionally balanced, low‐cost lunches to more than 32 million boys and girls each school day.The NSLP ensures the nutrition,portion, and safety of our children food, over the years do to the rise of childhood obesity the The USDA School Lunch Program is constantly evolving to meet the needs of our youth. Many concerned citizens, such as Eric schlosser author of Fast Food Nation believes that the USDA is not providing our children with the right nourishment. Many parents are taking it into their own hand and creating and joining advocacy groups. It is crucial that our youth receive nutrient
The regulations passed by the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act make it harder than ever for schools to provide adequate nutrition to students by having such rigorous guidelines. While some schools have had no issue following guidelines, not every school is able to source viable food while staying in budget. It is vital that cafeterias are able to successfully meet guidelines, but it is also important that they provide food that students will eagerly consume as well as help them become better students.
The lack of health standards for lunches and other foods in schools are a leading cause of obesity in children. According to studies, children who eat school lunches consume forty more calories each day compared to those who bring their own lunches (Schanzenbach 703). Elizabeth Jackson, a medical doctor at the University of Michigan Health System, reported that children who eat school lunches are over two times more likely to eat fattier foods and more sugary drinks (“Children”). In the past decades, the government has attempted to develop effective lunch programs that limit the intake of unhealthy foods that children eat. The 1995 policy, “School Meals Initiative for Healthy Children,” required school lunches to meet one-third of the recommended number of calories, protein, and certain vitamins and minerals (Schanzenbach 686). Although this policy has been put into place, the government has not enforced it well enough. According to a recent study, only six percent of U.S. schoo...
To begin, school meals do not set a solid foundation for children regarding the diet habits they will have for the rest of their lives. For example, they are teaching kids that greasy pizza and corn dogs are a part of a healthy, nutritious diet. One student says, “We think school lunches are healthy because they have all these posters in the cafeteria telling us to eat healthy food and be active; we think the school is doing their part by serving us healthy food too, but they are not” (Jimenez). Not only do children think that this cheap food is a good choice, but schools also think they are benefiting because of how much money they conserve.
By eating foods that are not good for you will hurt your body by gaining extra weight, being lazy, always wanting to eat unhealthy all the time. Then you would be out of shape. Each school could try this program for a month to see if it changes kids behavior, health, and getting better grades. This program will help lots of kids to stay healthy and to keep eating healthy.
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...
Imagine being in the lunch line at school, your stomach is grumbling, your mouth is dry, and you can not wait to get something to eat. Then when you get up into the serving area, slap a piece of thin and dry turkey on your tray. Immediately, your excitement is non-existent, and you leave lunch still hungry. School lunches tend to be very bland and plain in the sense that they serve many of the same things over and over again. Many of the foods are often burnt, not cooked enough, or simply just do not taste good because they are pre-frozen and just heated up.
Have you ever tasted school cafeteria food? I don’t think you would want to. In school story books, do you have characters saying that the food tasted good at school cafeterias? Nope. Why is this? Cafeteria food is often cheap, bought in bulk, high in calories, malnutritious, and microwaved. Student polls and opinions prove this. Therefore, this leads to a suggestion: Healthier, tastier foods and a better, advanced lunch system should be implemented.