Essay

When children do not eat a healthy meal, their concentration and energy become more difficult to manage. The “Journal of School Health” issued a study in 2008 about the eating behaviors of approximately 5,000 school children. The research showed that children who ate more fruits and vegetables, accomplished higher grades on tests compared with children who consumed a high-fat, high-salt diet

Obesity can often be the consequence of living in a household that instill unhealthy eating habits. Schools can be a positive influence on teens early in life so that obese teens can lead into their adult lives with healthier habits. With these healthier habits, they may likely have more energy to become positive influences in others lives to be healthy and be able to do more. If schools can make such an impact on students’ lives, they should try, even if they needed to sacrifice extra money or instructional time. In 2007, there was a study that only one fifth of high school students had eaten fruits and vegetables at least five times a day in a week (Wexler, 2010). While it is unreasonable to force someone to eat these foods, if they are regularly offered as part of school lunches, students may eat them if they have finished the rest of their lunch and are hungry. Schools should be encouraged to even add fruits and vegetables to vending machines for healthier options.

“Studies have shown school organic gardens,salad bars and healthy lunches improve the health and academic performance of young people.”,stated cummins in his text. Andrew P p. Morris, in his article “ Bad-food taxes will clog our economic arteries beyond repair”, states that “ it is no ones business but yours what you eat.” There might be some truth to this but it is shocking on how many people overeat junk food. When advertisements promote healthy food like vegetables and fruits instead of greasy hamburgers and flimsy fries people want to eat healthy . We have let junk food brainwash youths and even adults into thinking that it's okay to eat outside of their home

Childhood obesity is a major cause for concern within the United States. This is mainly due to children not getting the require nutrition that they need. Although study show that there is a decrease in obesity in children, it still remains at an all-time high. Children are failing to eat as healthy as they should, and it has become an even bigger problem now that they aren’t getting the require amount of food in their diets. The USDA made a decision a couple of years ago to reduce the amount of food given to children while they are at school. This hurts them tremendously, because the majority of the food they eat comes from being at school all day. The other half lies on the parents when they go home and eat dinner. It is very important for children to eat healthy and eat the required amount of food according to various dietary guidelines. First Lady Michelle Obama has started a new campaign to help kids and parents combat obesity in children. One thing that the campaign has placed emphases on is getting healthier food within school. Although they are getting healthier foods in school they are beginning to change the proportion they are giving students. Through the First Lady’s Let’s Move campaign students should be giving healthier foods and also be allowed to have the correct proportion to help them maintain a healthy diet.

The implementation of school gardens would not only foster several learning opportunities such as the teaching of biology, nutrition, economics of production, and sustainability, but it would allow schools to adopt a cost-effective method of providing nutritious, satiating lunches. The National School Lunch Program provides reimbursements to schools to ensure the continuous supply of lunches, but to make a complete meal with an average of $2.93 along with the expenses of labor, equipment, electricity, and maintenance is not unsustainable. Despite the low cost of maintenance and the fact that nothing is ever free, school gardens can produce an abundance of low-cost fruits and vegetables that can serve as the basis of every school breakfast and lunch, considerably reducing the costs of lunches and encouraging the betterment the overall nutrition and physical health of students. In addition, school compost systems could also be cost-beneficial as they cut spending on waste management fees; for instance, in a New York pilot program, one school saved over $6000 annually in fees. These savings could be reinvested in the school lunch program or into the advocating of health. Also, because up to eighty percent of typical school garbage is compostable material, the compost can be used to fertilize and maintain the school gardens, furthering the reduction of costs. The stated policies would not only lessen the gap between poverty and improved health, but would foster a new and innovative way to promote financial and physical health in

Initially, children were malnourished during the post-World War II era. Now children are stuck trying to wedge themselves in between the door to a long, healthy life, which may be brutally cut short simply due to the way they ate in school. Eating habits and diets aren’t questioned by the children until they are faced with the decision of choosing the best nutrient filled option. Multiple choices, abundant in carbohydrates, proteins and good, natural fats surround a child, yet the child is an environment laced with advertising, thus alluring a child into picking fries instead of the mixed steam vegetables. Soon, children realize the chocolate taste better than the fruit, yet no child knows at the age of five that fruit doesn’t give its victims

With the success of many farms to school programs across the nations, I believe this to be a sure way to get this nation back on the right track to healthy eating. It is important to begin teaching kids about the healthy option so they will know how and why

A study by the USDA found that placing incentives on healthy purchases had a great effect on how much fruits and vegetables families purchased per month. For every $1.00 spent on fruits and vegetables families received $0.30, and after a year the USDA noticed these families were purchasing nutritious foods more often. The USDA has also updated the standards for meals prepared by schools, making serving nourishing foods a requirement. As a result of this update, the consumption of vegetables and fruits by students increased by 16% and 23%, respectively. The implantation of these programs did not a very long time and their cost was very affordable and reasonable. Food education is especially important when preventing obesity in food deserts because knowing is half the battle. Interventions such as school gardens allow kids to have a hands-on education while learning about nutrition. These garden are a cheap way to both feed and educate

Children from low socio-economic status are eating high energy-dense, high-fat foods because their parents cannot afford to buy fresh fruit and vegetables, or, it is simply not practical, especially to families who do their shopping monthly, since they are highly

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years” (cdc.gov). One could assume that increasing physical activity would be the solution; however, the food that is available is not always the healthiest. The food that is being fed to children in K-12 institutions is high in sodium and sugars, and full of fats and preservatives. In order to combat the amount of unhealthy food being served to our children I propose that Moreno Valley Unified School District take part in the National Farm to School Program.

Of all of the problems that dishearten children today, the one that bothers them the most is being unhealthy. Five out of six students from the Manalapan Englishtown Middle School agree that there should be a change in the schools' cafeteria foods; they came up with a solution to help kids be healthy. Unhealthy foods should be eliminated in schools for many reasons. First of all, kids concentrate better when they are healthy. Being healthy helps children to concentrate better because if they are healthy in the inside and the outside, they will not have to worry about their health or how they look. Secondly, having only healthy foods in school help parents to take good care of their kids. For instance, imagine a mom that is a seventh

1. Kids will learn the importance of incorporating 5 servings of fruits and veggies daily; they will learn about the significance of “rainbow foods”

Upon reviewing the community vitality data I came to the conclusion that the health problem that a health education program would be most appropriate to address would be childhood nutritional health and fitness. I came to this conclusion after careful data analysis. Of the county’s adults (18+) 77% ate less than five servings of fruits and vegetables per day, this percentage is so high likely because of attitudes and habits these adults picked up when they were children. The second largest age demographic in the county is children aged 10 to 17 are overweight, six percent more than the state average, 88% of children age 10 to 17 are not meeting daily targets for fruit and vegetable consumption and 30% age 10 to 17 watch 3 or

While this initiative is for anyone, the specific target is for pre and school aged children. This initiative reaches into childcare centers, schools systems, as well as museums, gardens and faith communities across the country. In St

Our children’s nutritional education is almost nonexistent. Ask a fifth grader what the food pyramid is and you’re likely to receive the same blank stare as I did. Most children have no idea what a balanced meal is because they may have never received one. Schools provide nutritional meals at lunch, but there is no enforcement when it comes to eating your fruits and vegetables. Lets face it, children eat what’s familiar. If they haven’t had it at home they are probably not going to eat it at school. If there are no vegetables at home, they are not going to eat them at school. Home life definitely sets the tone for a child’s eating and exercise routines.