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Healthy school lunches essay
Healthier school lunches
Nutritious school lunches essay
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The health of school lunches has been a very controversial topic among students, parents, schools, and the government. Parents want their children to be healthy, but at a low cost. It seems that the “healthier” the school lunches are, the more they cost and the less kids want to eat them. Also, the proportions of food may not be enough to fill the students’ stomachs. Many children also have food allergies and other medical conditions that may need to be accommodated. Many parents feel that the lunches being served to their children are unhealthy and overpriced. Although the government and schools seem to be trying to fix these problems, some parents say they are not making much progress. The health of school lunches is one of the biggest problems. …show more content…
Jeff Reiche, principal at Marathon Elementary School says, “I’ve seen a decrease in the number of kids eating hot lunch and I think it’s due to the serving size. I think for our middle school kids the serving size has really decreased to the point where kids are going home hungry” (Normand). Many students are hungry by the end of the day. Children who participate in extra-curricular activities after school may be even hungrier by the time they get to go home. It is important to keep kids’ stomachs full so they are focused in class and they do not pass out during …show more content…
The kids feel that they are not getting enough food, and the food they do get does not taste very good. Part of these issues are due to the changes being made by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Michelle Obama, etc. Parents, on the other hand, are more concerned with the price of the lunches. Parents want to see their children eating healthy lunches, but at a lower price. Many families cannot afford the rising costs of lunch. It seems that many schools are not exactly happy with the new regulations being made by the USDA because many kids are still hungry at the end of the day, and many of them have extra-curricular activities after school. Michelle Obama thinks that cutting portion size is a good way to help with childhood obesity, but by doing this children are just unhealthy and hungry. Many people believe that the U.S. Department of Agriculture is not making a lot of progress in making school lunches healthy and cost efficient. In order to solve these problems, many families choose to have their child bring their own lunch to school. It saves money, and children can be as healthy as they want to
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.
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.
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...
The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is used by students throughout the nation and is constantly under evaluation to give students a healthy and balanced meal. The program regulates and standardizes the lunch provided at all public schools, and even some private schools. Through the NSLP, it is ensured that school lunches are (generally) the same from school to school. The NSLP makes certain that a nutrient-rich lunch is available to all students that attend these NSLP using schools throughout the nation. Though it receives a great deal of controversy, this program is found efficient by parents and supplementary to children and adolescents alike.
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 on 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.
“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.
“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.
The shocking truth about our school lunches is that they are not health for young kids. The meat most schools use K.F.C and Campbell soup refuse to buy such meat. This shows that school lunch is not very health for kids if fast food won’t even use it. Schools are also
Soda’s are leaving vending machines and being be substituted with less-sugary drinks, bread is being substituted for whole wheat and milk is being substituted to fat free milk. First Lady Michelle Obama took it into her own hands to provide the United states children with food that meets nutritional standards. “Through the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act championed by the First Lady and signed by President Obama, USDA made the first major changes in school meals in 15 years, which will help us raise a healthier generation of children.” (Leonard). Healthy Hunger- Free Act went into effect in 2012 some of the changes were that meals needed 5 components: grain, meat, fruit, vegetable, and milk. Students MUST take at least 1/2 cup of fruit OR vegetable for a meal.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, “Childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years,” meaning that America’s children need to start eating healthier, including healthier school lunches. The National School Lunch Act is a fairly recent addition to American society. For, as the world waged war a second time, the United States began to worry about the strength and health of the country’s soldiers. However, in the beginning, selling excess agricultural goods was more important than building a healthy, well-balanced meal for students. Unfortunately, many children coming from poorer families could not afford well-balanced school lunches, so in order to compensate, the School Lunch Program changed its focus to help these students. This program, however, decreased schools’ lunch budgets, and schools had a hard time keeping up with the amount of free meals they had to provide, so they came up with some extra ways to increase revenue. However, in a small town in Massachusetts, one chef makes a difference in the health of the school lunch students eat each day, and proves that hiring a trained chef to cook real, healthy meals can increase profit. Unfortunately, that is not the case in most schools across the nation. The quality of health of the food being served in school lunches is extremely poor and was allowed to decline even more with a new set of rule changes. However, there are some improvements currently being made to increase the quality of health of the food being served to students, including teaching them all about food and its nutritional information, both good and bad. In order for students to eat healthier lunches at school, the USDA needs to implement healthier ...
Many parents of the students at these schools were outraged to find out that their healthy, homemade lunches were being replaced by the schools gluten-filled meals. According to James Joyner of Outside The Beltway a preschooler had gotten her bagged lunch taken away because an official at her school labeled it as “unhealthy”. The young girls lunch consisted of a turkey & cheese sandwich, a banana, chips, and an apple juice pouch. Her lunch was said to not have “met the USDA guidelines”. USDA guidelines state that lunches (whether they’re brought from home or supplied by the school) must include one serving of the following: grain, milk(dairy), meat(protein), and either a fruit or vegetable. Also, if the child is missing one of the food items a childcare provider is supposed to equip them with that missing item. Instead of providing her with the missing food item, the bagged lunch official took her whole lunchbox, and made the girl eat the school lunch (which was chicken nuggets). The reason for this action is still unclear to the child’s mother. The USDA reports that less than one-third of schools in the United States stay below the recommended standard for fat content in their meals. It seems as though multiple schools across th...
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
As well as socialization, many students simply do not like school lunches. This could be due to the fact that they are overcooked, undercooked, or it just does not taste good. A school newspaper did research and they concluded that, “School lunch is notoriously bad due to the fact that it doesn’t taste good, has a limited menu, and oftentimes consists of uncooked food,” (Yearwood). Therefore, students don’t want to eat school lunches because they are gross most of the time. Lastly, students want to leave school for lunch because they get to choose what they want to
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.
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.