Essay on Implementing Healthy 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.

In the United States many citizens face hunger, starvation and malnutrition on a daily basis. This food insecurity affects millions of Americans. Food insecurity is caused when Americans don’t have enough money to purchase food for themselves and their family. When children experience hunger if affects them both physically and psychologically. “Children who are denied an adequate diet are at a greater risk of not reaching their full potential as individuals. Undernourished youngsters have trouble concentrating and bonding with other children and are more likely to suffer illnesses resulting in school absences.” (Karger, p 371) It is important for children to meet their full potential in order for society to continue thriving into the future. If children are not receiving an adequate education because they have an empty stomach, then they will not continue to higher education or they will do poorly. In order to combat hunger in children the federal government responded with several major programs. Two of the programs the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the School Breakfast Program (SBP) are targeted towards school age children. These programs provide students with breakfast and lunch while they are at school.

What is does every kid look forward to during their school day? Lunch and recess. What kids eat at lunch reflects on the rest of their day. That includes energy levels, academic performance, and how much they engage. Meaning a poor lunch that is high in fats and lacking nutrition results in a sluggish child and some claim is a factor of the childhood obesity epidemic. School lunches should be reevaluated to provide students with a nutrient balance diet to help supply children with healthy brain functions to increase productivity in school, promotes beneficial future eating habits which can prevent further obesity issues in children, and it promotes an increase of attendance. To change what the schools here in the United States serve children food we have to take a deeper look into who is in charge, analyze the current standards and policies, and compare it to what a proper diet should be for children.

To ensure the health of children in the United States, and to encourage school aged children to eat nutritious meals, President Harry S. Truman signed the National School Lunch Act in 1946. Today, the National School Lunch Program(NSLP) is a federally assisted program that provides children from low income families free lunches in public and private schools. The meals are nutritionally balanced, based on the latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans by the United States Department of Agriculture and the United States Department of Health and Human Services, and offered at a reduced rate or free to children whose families met the qualifications. (Dietary Guidelines for Americans )In 2012 the NSLP offered lunches to over 31 million children each school day. To qualify for the school lunch program, families must earn at or below $44,000 annually for a family of four, which was about 51% of school aged children in 2012. The poverty rate for a family of four in 2017 is $24,600. The NSLP will feed children whose families are almost twice the poverty rate (National School Lunch Program, 2017).

Nationwide students waist over 70% of fruits and vegetables,while others are sitting around without food at all in other places(Public brief). Some students only get the 2 meals they are provided with at school ,but they often are not provided with enough to eat. Its import for low income and less fortunate families to be provided enough time to eat to make sure they are receiving there energy and daily nutrients(Godoy& Allison). Increasing the school lunch time will also save the schools a great amount of money(Public brief). School lunch food wasted to cost $1.2 billion dollars each year,which is enough for a person to buy a new car everyday of there life(Public brief). A simple increase in time could save schools a bunch of money needed to improve the school building and faculty. Many cafeteria staff and teachers have reported complaints about how students aren't eating all their food and they have to throw it away(EHHI). Most of the time in high schools foods are sold à la carte instead of a full meal to avoid having to throw away or make more food(EHHI). As a result of the food waste cafeterias started using foods with more fats and less nutritious items to get students to eat( EHHI). Cafeteria are selling french fries and not the healthy food to make there money because students aren't eating enough of the

The National School Lunch Program needs to standardize and regulate their set nutritional standards at all schools to help curb the growing prevalence of childhood obesity and other weight related 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.”

Second, Direct Certification which means the children living in households that receive SNAP/Food Stamp benefits are automatically eligible for free lunches and no application is required. Third, Community eligibility is the newest option for allowing schools with high percentages of low-income children to provide free lunches to all students without requiring school meal applications. Schools can use this option if they have 40 percent or more students directly certified for free meals. This option will be available in New York school districts in the 2012-2013 school year (FRAC).

Many state public high schools in Michigan are progressing towards possibly allowing an open campus lunch policy for its students. The trend would allow students to depart from school to a distinct location of considerable distance by the school. Recent studies have shown that providing high school students the choice to a better quality of healthy food during lunch could lead to higher test scores. (Michael, Justin, & Elizabeth. “How the quality of school lunch affects students’ academic performance.” www. brookings.edu). Changing school meals to accommodate healthier options is a cost effective way to fix other issues like students who struggle with obesity. Revising eating habits could help fight high health risks in students to improve

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.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “About one in three U.S. kids are overweight or obese”. This shows that unhealthy lunches can lead to obesity because the food they are getting for lunch has too many calories. So if the students eat healthy the number of students overweight will go down. If kids eat unhealthy, they are most likely obese and that can lead to health problems, including heart disease.

One goal of school lunch is to moderate what students are consuming. In 2010, the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act went into effect, setting new standards for lunchrooms across America.

High School Students wait all day for lunch, not just to socialize but to actually eat. I know changing to a healthier lunch menu os a good idea because not only would make high school students happier but it would also make their parents happy, make students healthier, and get them through the rest of the school day energized. Unhealthy lunches can make students lazy throughout the rest of the school day, gain weight, and make kids sick. if students are coming to lunch and not putting the right type of foods in their body that's not good because that can translate to body composure in class and also make students lazy and not want to do anything because of all the grease, fat, etc that their lunch meal is giving off. say a student has PE

The food that is served at schools has too much fat. You don’t want to be fat do you? People bully others that are fat. This is why we need healthy lunch! If we don’t start getting healthy lunches, we are going to have to start packing our lunches. School lunch contains fat vitamins.

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.