A third grade boy practically skips into class. He can’t wait for after recess when they are going to have their long awaited Christmas party. His mouth waters at the thought of all the yummy candy and cookies to be had. Finally, the bell rings and all of the kids race each other inside, only to find bottled waters and an orange on their desks. This disappointing celebration is the result of the new school nutrition policy that dictates what can and cannot be offered in schools (Beard). With over one third of the nation’s children and adolescents obese or overweight in 2010, something must be done about the health of our kids (Childhood). But this new policy has gone too far and limits many aspects of school life. The policy is too severe …show more content…
Without Coffee House, we would not be able to print our Literary Magazine and lose our principle objective for the class.
In addition, the policy will not only limit school organizations, it will also limit the school board as well. A small drop in student participation in the school lunch program could cause a year end deficit in profit. Already, the USDA has reported a 3.2 percent decrease in the average participation in school lunches. There is also the added cost of retraining the employees to put a strain on the already tight budget for school lunches (SANDRA). In addition, by eliminating all of the à la carte items that don’t meet the absurd new standards would cause some districts to lose up to $100,000 a year (Sheehy). The school boards should advocate for the policy to lighten its restrictions to allow them to keep some of their more popular items and save their budget. The new policy not only calls for restrictions on fat and calories, grains and proteins have also been given weekly limits. Schools will no longer be allowed to serve sandwiches with two slices of whole grain bread every day of the week because it would exceed the weekly grain limit. Also, salads topped with grilled chicken and low fat cheese will be no more since they exceed the daily protein limit (SANDRA). As a result of these outrageous regulations, many students are left feeling hungry and apathetic later in the day (Sheehy). Schools should encourage kids to eat a minimum of grains,
Not one parent wants to see their child go hungry. Several students do not eat during their lunch period because they cannot afford it, or unable to bring food from home for many reasons. Most schools offer free and reduced lunch programs. Not every family may be eligible for these programs. In today’s economy, even middle-class families sometimes cannot provide their children with money for school lunches. A child missing a meal, and going hungry is one too many. Funding to provide all students with two meals per day during school is imperative. Free lunch in public school should be available to all students, despite the level of income.
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.
For families less fortunate the new law allows kids to have a healthy lunch for a cheaper price! Parents who can't afford to buy healthy foods at home know their kids are eating/getting healthy foods at their school lunch. (A) The new law definitely is a great idea because it saves parents money and takes the stress off of parents’ backs. Another reason why this law is great for parents is because the parents don't have to worry about making their kids’ lunch in the morning. Instead the parents can go to work earlier because they don't have to have a concern on their kids diet or the day.(A) This determines that if a school does the healthy hunger free kids act parents can get to their job on time without a worry for their kids. The healthy hunger free kids act is a smart decision because it over all feeds more kids, and allows less fortunate kids to eat
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.'
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.
If school lunch prices do rise in cost, then one out of three people in Hebron would probably be struggling to provide food for their kids and family. While some people may be able to afford this change of cost for school lunches, many people who qualify for ALICE were already struggling and making the lunch prices go up by even as little as 10-20 cents could make things a lot worse for these people. Although the lunches are healthier, it’s not worth making them healthier if students can’t afford them and therefore bring unhealthy lunches. Aside from that, students could just buy the unhealthy option from, for example, vending machines opposed to the healthier school lunch just because it costs less which would make the whole change overall,
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
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
Many kids around the world often play outside with each other; whether that be at a playground or in a back yard. Though, in America, the majority of young people own some type of electronic. Instead of burning calories playing outside, kids decide waste their energy playing games on their devices. According to the USA Today, “One of every three children in the United States is overweight or obese”(USA Today). With the population constantly growing, and the kids getting lazier and lazier, the numbers of obese children is only going to increase. The government can help America by changing kid’s diets. The only way the government can manage what kids consume is through school. Changing school’s lunch menus will be a great start, since many schools in the United States do not provide nutritious meals, In fact, the University of Washington asked a handful of middle schools and high schools to participate in a study. The study compared the meal standards before and after menu changes. The professors then calculated the meal standards using the meals’ adequacy ratio (MAR) and concluded, “The nutritional quality increased by nearly 30%, from a MAR of 58.7 before the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act to 75.6 after implementation”(Chen). The scientists achieved this drastic increase to the meals’ adequacy ratio just by providing a healthy variety of foods and reducing portion sizes.
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.
Childhood obesity is one of the major public health challenges of the 21st century. The prevalence of obesity is increasing globally. In 2013, the number of overweight children under the age of five was estimated over 42 million. Childhood obesity can cause premature death and disability in adulthood. Overweight and obese children will grow up to become obese adults and are more likely to develop diseases like cardiovascular diseases and diabetes at a younger age. Many factors can contribute overweight and obesity in children, however a global shift in dietary habits and lack of physical activity play a crucial role. Overweight and obesity are preventable. Unlike adults, children cannot select the environment they live or the food they eat, they are unware about the long term health consequences of their behavior. Therefore, it is important to have strict policies for the prevention of obesity epidemic. School play an important role in fighting against the epidemic of childhood obesity (World Health Organization, 2016). Even after the legislature has enacted laws to support school nutrition and physical education, many states including, Texas has not yet adopted these policies. It is important to have these policies in practice to prevent childhood obesity (National Conference of State Legislatures, 2014). Government play an important role in making sustainable changes in public health. For that reason, the author is intended to
There needs to be some sort of regulation imposed on school lunches, in order to fight the growing obesity epidemic. Many people disagree with this statement, and have their own thoughts on the matter. The National School Lunch Act was passed in 1946 by President Harry Truman. All over the country, school districts joined lunch programs designed to feed children at free or reduced prices. In doing so, school districts had to follow specific guidelines that these programs required. Over the years, these standards have changed increasingly in order to provide children optimal nutrition. While many districts have fully taken advantage and successfully made the turn for the better, others struggle or are taking a little more time in
American public schools have poor nutrition, and it causes obesity in teenagers. As a former student of the American public school systems, the condition of the food has been a problem for years. Over the past two decades, obesity has been an issue in the U.S, and it is due to poor school nutrition. The public schools lack a variation in the healthy meals they contain. Inadequate nutrition can lead to an abundance of health problems. Although spending money on food can be expensive, the government needs to invest in the health of students, and a great start is to provide better nutrition. Even though it may cost a lot of funds to improve school food, U.S school food regulation for public schools should be changed because public school food is unhealthy and it causes health problems in America.
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.