Candy bars, doughnuts, potato chips and soft drinks are everywhere, just to name a few. In fact, it’s quite difficult to find food that is healthy. Fast food restaurants also don’t have many healthy options. Some cereals advertise that they are “healthy”, but have a ton of sugar and salt in them. A lot of food in grocery stores and even schools also contain a lot of preservatives. Reading labels can help you decide choosing healthy options.
Getting fresh fruits and vegetables onto lunch trays in public schools is only half the battle, because most kids don’t always eat them. Six out of ten kids won’t even touch a healthy food option on their plate. In most U.S. schools, pizza, fries, ketchup and macaroni & cheese are on monthly menus.
The harsh stereotypes of cafeteria food and negative connotations of assumedly horrible lunch ladies are as old and traditional as the American school system itself. Interestingly, the concept of the school lunch is one that has been revolutionized over and over to fit the needs of American youth. The overarching program that oversees and occasionally refurbishes the American schooltime meal is the National School Lunch Program, put on through the United States Department of Agriculture. In 2012 this program provided over 30 million children meals that were nutritionally sensible as well as fiscally responsible (United States Department of Agriculture, 2013), frequently offering these meals at reduced or no cost to children otherwise unable to afford them. In addition to keeping costs low to accommodate low-income students, the National School Lunch program has found that it must also balance an increase in highly-nutritious foods to battle childhood obesity, with the task of appeasing the increasingly picky eaters that comprise American youth. It is within the realm of trying to strike this precarious and delicate balance that the National School Lunch Program has created the problem of children refusing the nutrients they are being provided, therefore wasting insurmountable amounts of food and learning incredibly unhealthy nutritional habits along the way.
Students have become more restricted than ever when it comes to picking the food they want to eat in the cafeteria, most of the food is healthy and has the essential vitamins and calories a student would need. The healthy hunger free kids act was implemented in 2012 and took away the use of grease, high sodium products and more. This aimed to yes take away all the tastier foods but also to try to opt for a more balanced and healthy lunch. When a student purchases a lunch, they are encouraged to take at least one fruit or vegetable and a low-fat milk. However, most of these “required foods” end up in the trash. Most of the time it’s a hit or miss with school lunches because not all school operate the same.
68 percent of students say they buy food from the cafeteria every day. Proper nutrition is tied to better academic performance. This means that kids will not do their best in school if they are fed unhealthy lunches (Black). The unhealthy lunches kids are given at school are the main contribution to childhood obesity. According to scientists, children who eat too much fat, sugar, sodium or processed food and too few vitamins and minerals are likely to develop a higher risk over time for several chronic health problems (Angela). These health problems include heart disease, and diabetes. At this time, more than ever, 55 percent of Americans are obese and 20 percent of Americans are overweight (Three Facts About School Lunches). Many schools offer healthy choices, but they did not decrease the calories in them, and they typically still offer unhealthy snack items (Three Facts About School Lunches). In a school cafeteria with both healthy and unhealthy choices offered to kids, most kids are not willing to choose the healthier choices over the unhealthy ones. So where an apple is avoided and a bag of potato chips is selected as a child’s first choice for a snack
School Lunches Must be Improved Are you tired of seeing pizza, chicken sandwiches, and juice on the school lunch menus that causes children to be obese? Here is a way that school lunches can be improved. Schools should provide a more healthier lunch by serving fresh fruits and food. A school lunch contains a ready-made-frozen entree, fruit in bags or containers, chips, and milk and juice; consequently, causing our children to pick up weight and become obese. Let's improve the school lunches by having freshly cooked meals, fruits, and items with nutritional value.
Do you ever receive a school lunch and are disgusted by the quality of it, wish you could have the power to change the school’s lunch schedules, or want to stop eating lunch all together? Well, you are not alone, because most students feel the same way! Seventy-seven percent out of 1,300 high school students surveyed, say that they do not like school lunches, and half of students reported that they ate school lunch two days a week or less. However, this could be changed by providing students with a wide range of foods, including those being high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and beneficial vitamins that students need to grow and develop. So, should schools be forced to serve students healthy lunches?
Elementary through high school students complain about how poorly made the food is and how they are still hungry after lunch. “Kids get seconds if they are still hungry, but they choose unhealthy selections”(citation) Schools are basically starving students by not giving them enough protein and nutrition. Schools in America need to step up their game. They all need more fruits and vegetables in their school lunch lines. They should gradually add more and more healthy foods, so the
Lunch is one of the most anticipated thirty minutes of most students day. They get to converse with their friends and finish neglected homework, but what the students look forward to is the food they get to eat. In special classes(Health, Nutrition) we learn about healthy eating and dieting; unless you pack your own lunch, we must suffer and endure the unhealthy and sometimes disgusting school lunches. Schools should improve the nutritional value in our foods for many reasons; mainly for the fact that childhood obesity is a rising problem in the U.S.
Obesity is crucial in this country, in order for there to be a change we need to start serving healthy foods at schools. The First Lady Michelle Obama brought this healthy lunch concern to the educational system. California’s Department of Education Nutrition Services provides fresh fruit and vegetables to students as a supplement throughout the day. California’s schools have moved ahead to support Hunger-Free Kids policy. The local government regulates school districts including Los Angeles Unified School District to serve whole grains, fruits and vegetables versus foods high in calories. The Hunger-Free Kids policy allowed public schools to serve healthy lunches preventing obesity.
The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which took effect in 2012, are supposed to make sure that school lunches are healthier. Greasy pizza and salty French fries are supposed to be things of the past. But are kids eating what’s being served? Can school lunch both taste very well and be healthy. More than 30 million children form through school cafeteria lines every day in the U.S and thanks to the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, there no greasy food or salty french fries. Some food must be low calorie, fruits, veggies, and whole grains.
With obesity, especially among children, increasing in America, the topic of healthier school lunches is a big controversy. Schools all across the country are being forced to choose between healthy lunches and the students’ favorite lunches. Changing school menus is a bad idea. For some students, this could be the only meal he or she receives each day. This may also cause students to bring unhealthier food or skip lunch all together and substitute it with fast food.
School lunches, the fight to provide healthy food for kids at school, is a battle that has been going on for years with little progress. Here at SVMS, precautions have been made to help kids make healthy choices, sugary sodas aren’t sold, candy isn’t available for kids to purchase, and there is a health program that teaches kids about nutrition, but kids can still be found with lunches made completely up of chips and other unnatural food products. I think there is a different approach to helping kids get the proper nutrition, by focusing not so much on the calories and percent of sugar in each food item, but the context of where the food came from, and how the kids attain it.
However, parents are not the only ones to blame. One of the primary culprits of feeding our children junk is the common school cafeteria. School lunches have become one of the most prominent political debates. Nicholas Confessore in The NY Times, shows the problems of school lunches that contain “exceeding amounts of fat and salt in their products” and even count pizza as a vegetable
To children, juicy burgers and salty French fries are much more appetizing than dry chicken sandwiches and baked sweet potato fries. However, due to the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, the diets of children are being filled with the latter as a way to implement a healthier diet into their lives. Many students in public schools across the United States are unhappy with the many changes such as this. Is implementing a healthier school lunch program a lost cause? We need to find a better way to improve students’ diets, rather than forcing this unbeneficial program on them.
When you look at school lunches, do you see amazingly tasty food, carefully cooked and treated with care and delicacy? No, instead you typically see frozen patties that looks and tastes like they were thrown into a microwave, with whole grain bread and disgusting. low-fat milk for a drink. For a long time, school lunches have not met students’ expectations, and there are very easy ways to make school lunches a lot more enjoyable while maintaining a low school budget. School lunches need to have some major improvement with how they prepare their food, and bring a satisfyingly nutritious and delicious meal to the lunch tables.
Don’t you want your children to be provided with a great meal? School lunches should be able to supply a healthy, balanced meal for students for feeding their young bodies and minds with only the best foods for fuel. Catering to their growing bodies and brains will improve academic performance, increase attendance, and help fight childhood obesity. We need to change the program all together by giving children the choice to select items of what they put on their lunch plate, as well as teach students what a healthy lifestyle is.