Junk Food Should Be Banned In Schools

Over the past three decades, childhood obesity rates in America have tripled, and today, nearly one in three children in America are overweight or obese. (“Data & Statistics.” Childhood Obesity in America, childhoodobesityinusa.weebly.com/data--statistics.html). The reasons why the numbers are increasing are because children are eating more empty calories than ever before. Instead of healthy fruits, veggies and nutritious snacks and lunches, parents are packing and serving processed snacks that contains high fructose corn syrup. If this problem is not solved, one third of all children born in 2000 or later will suffer from diabetes at some time in their lives. (National Archives and Records Administration, National Archives and Records Administration, letsmove.obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/learn-facts/epidemic-childhood-obesity). Childhood obesity should be prevented because it is a risk to kids' health, low self-esteem, and they can be bullied because of it.

Childhood obesity is a source of great debate in the United States. Many studies have shown the problem has become epidemic. Adults in the United States are increasing in weight and so are children and teenagers. Many factors are contributing to this growing problem. The influence parents have on their children can affect them negatively. Children of overweight parents are more likely to be overweight themselves. Another issue adding to the childhood obesity problem is the fact that children and teens have more options when it comes to food choices. School lunches, vending machines, and cheap calorie-packed snacks all contribute to this issue. Healthy foods are also more expensive and not as readily available as

A problem that is plaguing America and needs to be addressed with a policy change in school systems across the country is obesity. Obesity in America has been declared an epidemic, and the most alarming rates of obesity exist in younger demographics, which generally dictate that these children will continue into adulthood as obese adults (Jacobson, Kim, & Tortolero, 2009). This will add to the massive costs to society that obesity contributes from loss of employee hours to hospital care from the many diseases that are developed as a result of obesity. Therefore, this issue needs to be addressed early in life with school-aged children as it is far more difficult to stop obese adults from engaging in negative behavior that facilitates or worsens their obesity while legislative action can be taken to develop rules and regulations that can be implemented in school districts across the country.

Childhood obesity is a rather new reality in the United States due to intake of sugary snacks and beverages, childhood obesity is the result of a sustained energy imbalance. Most youth never eat the required daily servings of fruits and vegetables; its noted only one in five eat the required servings (21%) (Moore, Wilke, & Desrochers, 2017). The availability of sugary snacks and beverages in schools are what one would call “junk food”. According to a study conducted by Ashlesha Datar and Nancy Nicosia (2012) students could purchase more than one single food and beverage items either

The organization of Debatewise stated that controlling the foods that students consume is important in combating obesity, as the dieting habits that most people form originate from when they were young. This is why it’s so crucial for schools to introduce healthier options in schools. If these unhealthy habits are developed, the students are “at higher risk for having other chronic health conditions and diseases that impact physical health..”, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These conditions can affect them emotionally and physically, including depression and obesity, which are important health issues both linked with the consumption of junk foods. The selling of junk food in schools is not a small problem either, as it concludes from a study by the Institute of Medicine in 2003 that elementary schools earn approximately $442 million annually from junk food sales. The importance of changing the school lunch programs to implement healthier options is high when there is so much money being spent by the students. Although obesity is a real problem due to the selling of junk food, it can lead to other problems that leading a healthier way of living could fix. For instance, the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension states junk foods, due to processing that removes vitamins, minerals, and fiber from the product, are empty calories that are ultimately worthless to the body. This alone contributes to unneeded weight gain and provides no additional sustenances that help the body grow. The Harvard Health Publications describes this to be a serious problem, and acknowledge not only this to be a complication, but mentions the unnecessarily high amounts of sodium levels in the foods, stating that “...the average

Today one in five school-aged children (ages 6-19) have obesity and people debate over how to decrease this number and prevent it from being more of an issue in the future. School lunches are often brought up in this discussion, some say that by getting rid of all junk food in schools would help decrease the number of obese students and prevent them in future by providing only healthy food options. On the other hand, they say that it's not that simple, the problems are at home and that getting rid of these items could decrease revenues for school activities from those products. Many people believe that junk food should be banned from schools across the nation.

Many schools around the nation are feeding unhealthy food products to children, such as fries, sodas, sweets from vending machines. It is shown that, “an estimated 17% of children and adolescents ages 2-19 years are obese according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention”

What is this food doing to our children? The childhood obesity epidemic has increased because of the contribution of junk food that is being served in public schools. It has been found that children who eat fatty school foods are more likely to become obese than those who brought lunch from home. Why is this we may ask has a lot to do with the above student that I stated brought their lunch from home daily. You can count the intake of calories that is in your lunchbox but you have no idea what is in the food from you school, half of the time you will not even know what the food is. Also, the specials that are provided for students on special food days increases their calorie intake as well such as; pizza day or wing day. On these days children have shown to intake more food because these are the days that they provide greasy foods that taste swell and the children like them so they will gravitate to them because they do not have the proper knowledge to know what this food can do to your body.

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.

Obesity is Children in neighborhoods with no affordable healthy foods and safe parks to walk, bike and play are usually more affected with this pandemic. The children in these neighborhoods are generally provided with affordable fast foods at home and in school. These foods and drinks are usually more affordable and readily available. According to Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (2015), these foods are “in schools across the country, junk food and sugary drinks are widely available, while physical education has been squeezed out of the curriculum.” Obesity is implicated as a leading cause of diseases such as diabetes type 2, hypertension, asthma, and heart disease (Quelly, S. B.

Obesity rates in America continue to rise and be at an all-time high. Unfortunately, children are included in these numbers, seeing increased obesity along with adults. Negative effects of obesity are genuine and real problems, including medial and economic problems. The time has come for American and America to make changes, for example, taking away soda and snack vending machines from within schools.

Many people in today 's generation are constantly are craving junk food. It is patently evident junk food plays a major role in the cause of obesity. According to a study called "Psychological science", Obesity leads to numerous health issues including heart disease, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes. The treatment of these health issues cost billions of tax health dollars (Physiological science, 2014). Permitting junk food in schools will cause greater chances of obesity. Students will be heading on a venture. Furthermore, obesity is a continuous major problem since the past several years. In 2010, a 4 year old girl named

In the first place, an incorrect caloric balance is the obvious reason for obesity, but a conclusion can be made that this is tied in with terrible school nutrition. “In most cases (95%-99%), childhood obesity is caused by caloric imbalance, meaning more calories are consumed than are expended”, it is evident that children eat a portion of their meal at their school, and moreover resulting in bad nutrition choices(Faguy,2016,p.283). With the abundant amount of junk food in vending machines ranging from chips to sodas it is nearly impossible to eat healthy. The repetitive and fattening school lunch becomes a routine meal for the students, resulting in little to no real choice to eat healthy and pleasing.

Junk food does not give a student a legitimate meal for the day. Many students can not focus in tests and are tired when they participate in extracurricular activities such as football. In the U.S. the number of obese kids has tripled over 38 years. Also, at this age many kids are still growing and need healthy and nutritious food to support their growing bodies and cannot just eat french fries, a hamburger and a coke for lunch. Not only do kids have weight problems they can have other permanent damage to their body.

Junk food, junk food, junk food is around all corners of schools. Chocolate, cookies, soda, potato chips, and Sour Strings may sound delectable to some people, but are they nutritious? Some people wonder if there should be a change. Encouraging exceptional nutrition in schools is essential by reasons of students will consume foods that are better for them, schools will pay less for meals, and fewer students would go hungry.