Essay About School Lunches

Have you ever taken a bit in your school lunch and just want to spit it all back out? Or how about the little portions you get? These types of school lunches should not be allowed to be given to the students because there are many reasons why school lunches are bad for health reasons. Although the school lunches are supposed to be healthier and better for our well-being, school lunches should change because it’s not very appetizing, there are little portions, and there isn’t any difference in the health level before.

One of the most controversial issues today is the question of how to address childhood obesity. Because of the large proportion of meals that children, particularly low-income children, consume in schools, cafeteria food has been targeted by dietary reformers as in need of a major overhaul. However, while many different types of new school menus have been proposed, the extent to which healthier foods can be offered remains controversial. Opponents to reform state that children will not eat healthier lunches, and that changing the food that children eat will have minimal impact, since the children will either bring food from home or eat food at home that is more 'kid friendly.'

One in three Americans kids are obese or over weight which is a staggering and alarming rate at the same time. So looking 20 years into the future that number could double if nothing is said and done about what we are eating. The public school food in school lunches are unhealthy for many alarming reasons, but not much can be done immediately due to strict guidelines and budgets that schools must follow. A lot of it goes to kids not exercising, and more time watching TV, or playing on the computer. And now days more families have less time to make nutritious home made meals. So they tend to eat School cafeteria lunches that have minimal nutrition’s and harmful calories. To prevent your kid from being over weight mean adapting what you eat, and having to exercise at least 60 minutes a day. If the changes are made to change school lunches, it can help them from being obese, children can improve their lifestyle choices, and lastly it prevents them from getting harmful diseases.

Moreover, allowing students to eat healthy school lunches will be able to partially obtain their daily nutrition and reduce the risk of obesity. As a result, if schools continue to allow unhealthy foods to students, then the next generation of students will have a greater risk of obesity. It is often argued that allowing schools to serve healthier lunches will not be able to serve a variety of foods. The counter argument is incorrect because schools can serve a variety of healthy lunches to students. According to Corey Henry, vice president of communications of the American Frozen Food Institute states in New York Times article, “From our perspective, the new rules improve school nutrition, but at the same time give schools the flexibility to serve a variety of foods to meet the goals of everyone involved”(Par. 12). Giving students a variety of healthy school lunches will make more students interested in eating school meals. In the meantime, authorizing students to eat a variety of school lunches will also allow them to experience different types of food. Additionally, the new rules give schools a better nutrition guide to help students eat healthier. Therefore, students can reduce the risk of obesity and other health diseases.

The author’s intention is to inform the reader that the healthy lunch programs are failing. The author provides plentiful information and research on the failing school lunch programs in the U.S. “In the war to get America’s children to eat healthier, things are not going well.” Kids are not eating their vegetables. This has become a big problem in America and steps need to be taken to stop unhealthy eating. Like The Agriculture Department mandating that students in the federal lunch program choose a fruit or vegetable with their meals. This solution didn’t work and actually worsened the problem. “Their consumption of fruits and vegetables actually went down 13 percent after the mandate took effect.”

Ring. Ring. Ring. The twelve o’clock bell sounds for lunch. Hundreds of thousands of students around the United States of America rush from their classes to the school cafeteria. Children and teenagers ranging from grades K-12 grab a lunch tray and jump in line. The food that these students get to choose from has changed over the past years because of the new National School Lunch Program regulations, which limit the different foods that can be offered in schools. The passing of the National School Lunch Program has led to the implementation of new nutritional standards when deciding what foods can be served, changed the type of foods that are required to be served, established new rules on how the regulations are monitored, and

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP), originally initiated in 1946 under the name the National School Lunch Act, has served in excess of 224 billion school lunches to children throughout the United States since its inception (National School Lunch Program). The goals of the program include serving a school lunch that meets certain nutritional requirements and is available at low or no cost to eligible students (National School Lunch Program). While the program has undergone many changes over the decades, the core tenants of the program have remained intact. Changes should be made to the way the National School Lunch Program operates to ensure that all students have access to a lunch that is nutritious and affordable for all income levels, while accommodating the palate of each child.

Currently, school lunches must meet the applicable recommendations of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. According to these recommendations and based on individual meals, no more than 30 percent of calories can come from fat, and less than 10 percent from saturated fat. Regulations also establish a standard for school lunches to provide one‐third of the Recommended Dietary Allowances of protein, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, iron, calcium, and calories (National School Lunch Program, 2011). School lunches must meet Federal nutrition requirements, but decisions about what specific foods to serve and how they are prepared are made by local school food authorities.

Current school lunch policies ineffectively deliver nourishing lunches to students. As a result, a direct method of contact between the politicians and the future doctors, lawyers, and presidents should be established. To decrease food waste and to increase health should be the most significant goal of any lunch policies. The importance of lunches should be emphasised with a greater acknowledgement in Family and Consumer Science. While the meals consumed today seem insignificant, it affects the future cornerstone of American society and should be considered an essential

People who support Obama's food policy claim that parents need having their kids eat at school help because cannot ensure their kids are eating properly at school.of course parents can't know everything they eat at school.my second reason is even thinking that schools need to limit food choices this doesn’t make government control right.even though i think they don't have to do that but of course i know you have to watch your food limit but it doesn't have to be like that all the time.my third reason is ‘ The federal standards have faced criticism from nutrition officials as well as students. The independent Government

About one in three american students who eat school lunches daily are in some way obese or overweight as of 2015. People in general have been experiencing a new problem in the last decade; obesity rates have been drastically increasing. School lunches may be a big contributor to these increasing percentages in overweight and obesity. The percentages have increased about 18% from tests in 1973 to 1974, to tests in 2003 to 2004. Many schools in other countries have a lower obesity rate because they server non processed foods. If schools were to change their lunches to non

Nationally, about 17% of people under the age of 20, about 12.5 million are considered obese. School districts that serve students food that are high in calories and fat are to blame for the growing numbers of obese children. Although school lunches provide students food at minimal costs, the poor quality of food served delivers inadequate nutrition and is responsible for the rising numbers of obese minors in the United States. In order to combat this growing problem, school districts must limit student choices in the lunchroom and provide healthier food nationally. Although some school districts may argue this, it is necessary to do so as school districts in Pennsylvania and Mississippi and university studies support this claim.

In his article (Kids Give Healthy Foods an A+) the writer founds that there is schools are serving healthier foods, and most kids are eating them. So, that is means no more unhealthy foods in schools. Across the country, school lunchrooms are serving up healthier foods and the kids are not complaining. In fact, food service directors around the country say that many kids actually prefer healthy foods. In addition, this program targets schools that receive government money to pay for food. These schools must develop healthier menus and make it healthier to protect kid's health. In 2005, at least 17 states made laws to put healthy foods and drinks in school cafeterias. Moreover, one law says that by next fall, food items must contain no more

Federally-funded school meal programs, including the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the School Breakfast Program (SBP), serve an average of 31.3 million lunches and 11.1 million breakfasts per day at a cost to the country of $11.1 billion in 2011 (Food & Nutrition Services, 2012). These federally-funded meals are an excellent opportunity for regulation of nutrition as well as education regarding healthy choices. Obesity is clearly a great threat to the health of our nation, and the federal government must step in to defend its citizens against this growing threat. Children are at the mercy of their families, their social conditions, and their schools, predisposing them to obesity through poor nutritional options and a lack of education; the federal government must intervene through regulation of school meals and snacks to protect children from the abundance of unhealthy options while also educating them and reducing childhood obesity.

Our understanding of food has undergone many changes, but regulations governing what foods students eat have not. Many of the currently regulations that dictate what and how foods are prepared and served in schools were created in past years, sometimes up to ten years ago. Jennifer Kelleher, writing for Newsday, notes that the USDA has yet to update their school food standards “since the mid-1990s” (par. 7). With the rapid change in understanding of what makes something “healthy,” it is obvious that these regulations need to be updated to ensure that all children are provided with truly