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Causes of obesity essay
Causes of obesity essay
Junk food in schools
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The cause of obesity is now solved or is it !!!!. There are many questions to answer about school vending machines and how kids obesity has grown lately. Young teenagers need to watch their eating habits because it has gotten out hand. Schools should keep and allow snacks because they are a valuable at certain times during the day. schools should keep vending machines because there would be an opportunity to make extra money. The real cause of obesity has nothing to do with the school vender it is about working out and staying healthy.
The choices one makes leads to obesity through individual desires to eat or lack of exercise. The food is not the cause of obesity it is the lack of exercising part. Many people blame their eating habits but don't recognize they're not working out. The author Benjamin Radford in Why Junk Food
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There are many schools who make plenty of money off of kids buying snacks. Selling snacks is a good way to make extra money through the school system. This is a valuable way to help provide for school programs and get better equipment. The author Ashlesha Datar and Nancy Nicosia
States in Junk Food in Schools and Childhood Obesity that a “third of high schools make a lot of money from vending machines they have earned between $1,000-$9,999 from vending.”(7) Many believe money is the ultimate factor in why junk food should stay in schools. Food in school period is talked about daily everywhere.
Is school food really good? Many people agree that school food does not taste good. This can be the reason why kids go to the vending machine so often to find them a snack. School food is basically the same meal over and over again. This is why author Ashlesha Datar and Nancy Nicosia states in Junk Food in Schools and Childhood Obesity that “The city of Seattle has earned $214,000 in profits from vending”(3). Schools make so much from vending because of the food being served at
Furthermore, schools have become a paradise for fast-food franchises . Vending machines stocked with candy and soft drinks are unacceptable: nearly 19 out of 20 high schools in the U.S. have vending machines that sell pop, while almost 60 percent of elementary schools do. More than 70 percent of high schools sell can...
Vending machines should be allowed is because it provides snacks , candy , and drinks . I think vending machines should be allowed in school is because if you are hungry you can go up and by one . Also if you didn’t have breakfast you could get something to eat from there. Last it could help the students in school .
Unhealthy foods are what make the money for schools and that is why they serve them for students. (Schlafy) Schools feel like they need the extra money in the budget, even though it is at the student’s expense. Data shows that nearly 60% of all middle schools in the US serve soda from vending machines. (Schlafy) Soda is very high in sugar and is not at all good for children, but it is still sold in school vending machines. The ways food in schools is now are way too high in fats and sugars. This is not good for the children and very bad in the long run. Elementary schoolchildren have an estimated $15 billion of their own money that they can use to buy whatever they want in schools, and parents have almost another $160 billion to give students for food money. (Schlafy) Big businesses see this as a big source of profit and therefore encourage children to buy their products, and want them to be offered in school because of th4e likelihood of children buying the business’s product. All in all, obesity in the US is greatly influenced by the foods offered in schools
Ballaro, Beverly and Ann Griswold. "Junk Food In Schools: An Overview." Points Of View: Junk
Since the beginning of time, schools were always a place we could trust. A place where we could send our kid(s) off to without worry of what they may be learning, doing, or eating, but perhaps we should be. As the craving of fast food is growing, so is the demand for it. Some schools have taken advantage of this and brought fast food into their schools, providing it for lunch. A high school in California serves McDonald’s, Subway, and even Quiznos to their students for lunch (Lehmann). The school claims the kids are more likely to buy school food when they see brand foods (n.p.). Schools get money from the National School Lunch Program for every meal they serve, but that money from the government only covers so much (n.p.). To pay the rest of the lunch staff, facilities costs, and food, schools turn to the money they make by selling lunches and breakfast to their students (n.p.). Another school in California has even tried to mimic Round Table, a brand name pizza in their area, with healthier ingredients, but was only able to sell 250-300; when they sold Round T...
To begin with, vending machines and school stores attract students more than other school fundraisers. Students tend to be more likely to spend five dollars buying food than to buy tickets to the dance. Every school day, at least twenty students buy something from vending machines and school stores. At Saginaw Arts and Sciences Academy, there is a store called Feldmart. This store sells various types of inexpensive junk food. This store gets at least two hundred dollars per day. Other fundraisers for schools are things like buying a ticket to the dance, buying something for a drawing, or donating money so a class can get the most money and win something. None of these things beat the self-satisfaction of getting an inexpensive treat. These other fundraisers aren’t as easy and as inexpensive to run as a vending machine or a school store is. Vending machines and schools stores are the most successful fundraisers for schools, and shouldn’t be banned.
In order to impede the epidemic of childhood obesity, the actual causes of the problem need to be evaluated and dissected. Obesity in children is becoming a huge problem in American society. In the past three decades, the rate of overweight children has increased by 300%. This is an alarming rate that is only climbing higher. Every member in society should take steps to becoming healthier. This would help the present generations as well as future generations to come. The lifestyle of Americans keeps us too busy to be a healthy society.
According to the Journal of Law and Health schools that have not banned junk food have had an increase in students more excited to learn because of the sugar count unhealthy foods. Looking at the evidence regarding school lunches from the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture), students need equal grain and protein proportions to have a healthy daily diet, and over the course of 5 years schools that don't have a healthy lunch program have had their students overall GPA almost completely equivalent to the schools that have had the healthy lunch program. Although having tremendously unhealthy school lunches may not harm your GPA it can immensely harm your health. Lots of average students health are in danger just because of unhealthy school lunches, it is very necessary that schools realize that a healthy lunch program is always a beneficial option. Scientists have found that children who have healthier breakfast and lunch get better grades and have increased brain power. Some evidence points to unhealthy food but healthy food is always the answer in an effective school community. Sometimes unhealthy food is cheaper and tastes better but it can be very costly to your health especially as a
“More than 76 percent of schools sell soft drinks and sweetened fruit drinks, but fewer than half offered bottles water. Fewer than 15 percent sell low-fat or nonfat yogurt, and fewer than one third order skim milk. Only 25 percent of schools say they've reduced fats and oils in recipes.”(Spake, 2). Choices at lunch range from greasy to unidentifiable. Most students eat school lunches five days a week. So most of the food they eat throughout the week comes from the school cafeteria. Although, the schools do tend to offer healthy choices such as salads, subs, skim milk, and unlimited fruits and vegetables. “Each week Phoenix students are served a variety of fruits and vegetables from guava to grapes and jicima to red peppers. School officials hope that by exposing children to fruits and vegetable they may develop a taste for them and request their parents to buy them.”(Bailey, 1). Real meat is becoming an issue in schools. “According to reports issued by the Physicians Committee for responsible Medicine (PCRM) the USDA dumps hundreds of millions of pounds of surplus beef, chicken, cheese, and pork on the National School lunch Program.”(Lord, 42). Chicken isn't whole white meat; some of it doesn't even taste like meat! Let’s move on to unhealthy foods. There are unlimited amounts of un...
For instance, if a school makes $20,000 a year out of these vending machines, they have to spend 25,000 to hire janitors and custodians for the extra load of work. Also, the school administrators are encouraging these vending machines just to earn the profit for the schools, but the real question is are they really earning profit? No. “The schools sell junk food so they can finance the purchase of such things as computers, teacher training, and other educational supplies” (par.8). I can understand that schools often need extra budget to manage their expenses, but they can do other things like organizing concerts, plays etc to earn the money, rather than relying on these vending machines. I also believe that parents are equally responsible for their child’s poor nutrition and health, because they give money to their children for buying the junk food. However, some parents do care about their children’s health “Parents group in Philadelphia have successfully blocked a 43-million dollar contract with Coca-Cola, and others have forced schools to sell only nutritious snacks during lunch” (par.18). These kind of actions should be taken on an emergency basis nationwide, because this is the matter for our future, which relies on the well-being of the
Before pointing fingers at any one reason, one must consider the causes of obesity. The sources are varied. These causes include: environmental factors, social factors and medication. Environmental factors including of overeating, lack of physical activity, eating out too often and school lunches (Schoenstadt). “The top two causes of obesity in children are the unhealthy diets and physical inactivity. A sedentary life along with a fat rich diet will also result in obesity” (Schoenstadt). Social factors may consist of not having enough money or even low levels of education. Medication is also a contributor because these drugs may cause weight gain (Schoenstadt).
What is the cause of obesity? Dctionary.com states that “Obesity is a medical condition in which a person has excess body fat or is overweight; obese therefore puts themselves at risk for major health problems.” The movie Super-Size Me, directed and written by Morgan Spurlock, sheds light on the fast food market and the obesity crisis in the United States. His compelling experiment brings to light the physical and emotional impact of consuming three square meals per day at McDonalds for thirty days. Several lawsuits have been filed against McDonald’s restaurants for knowingly selling food that is very unhealthy.
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.
The vending machines which have mostly sodas and chips are also convenient for kids, but they are consuming tremendous amount of sugars that are so unhealthy for their diets. In high schools, their hormones are changing and when they eat or drink foods that are not healthy, their hormones respond to those, by making them hyper, unable to learn and to comprehend subjects better in schools.
Obesity is a huge problem in the United States. Many people argue that it is not the government’s responsibility. But, since the government regulates most schools there are things that they should be doing to prevent childhood obesity. Children need to get the proper amount of physical exercise daily. They need to be provided with the healthy nutrients, and need to have knowledge about healthy foods. If children do not receive these necessities then obesity will have a negative impact on America. If they do receive these tools then the percentage of obese children in the United States will decrease significantly. In conclusion, the percentage of children that are obese in the United States will lower if children are taught about what they are eating, vending machines are abolished, and physical education classes are required at schools.