Nutritious Children 's Meals : Description Of Current Issue

Hunger has been a prevalent issue in both established communities and struggling nations around the globe. It seems that there has never been a time when every person on the planet was food secure, and while it is typically assumed that hunger is an issue only in developing nations, malnutrition and hunger are concerns even in the United States. Millions of children across the country live in homes where food is scarce and meals are skipped on a regular basis. Because research supports the connection between nutrition, good health, and cognitive ability, it is critical that methods of addressing food shortages for minor children be found. One solution, the School Breakfast Program, seeks to provide healthy breakfast meals for children

Childhood obesity is a growing problem in America. "the percentage of obese children doubling from 6.5% in 1980, to 17.0% in 2006. Weight, nutrition, and physical activity are the main components to a child’s overall health.”(1) “When parents become too busy to cook meals in their homes, children learn poor eating habits and develop into unhealthy eaters.”(1) They will take what they learned at home and apply it to anywhere else that they eat. For example a child that drinks milk at dinner and sits with their family at dinner when asked what they want to drink when they are at a friend’s home will ask for milk because the child would associate milk with dinner. Children cannot make healthy choices of their own they need to be guided so

As adults, they are also at an increased risk for coronary heart disease and atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) compared with those not overweight as adolescents.” It is important to help reduce the growing trend of obesity in children and young adults, as it has been documented in recent studies that children who are overweight tend to carry this problem with them into adulthood. Revitalizing the school lunch program would be an incremental place for the government to start revamping the obesity problems that they have caused in children. David Satcher stated in HEALTHY and Ready to Learn that, “Well-nourished students tend to be better students, whereas poorly nourished students tend to demonstrate weaker academic performance and score lower on standardized achievement tests. The majority of U.S. children are not eating a balanced, nutrient-rich diet. Inadequate consumption of key food groups deprives children of essential vitamins, minerals, fats, and proteins necessary for optimum cognitive function (Tufts University School of Nutrition, 1995). Children who suffer from poor nutrition during the brains most formative years score much lower on tests of vocabulary, reading comprehension, arithmetic, and general knowledge (Brown & Pollitt, 1996). In a 1989 study, 4th graders with the lowest amount

Many Americans are suffering from nutrition issues. There are approximately 12.5 million children and adolescents aged 2-19 years that are obese (CDC). The proper health and nutrition for children is very critical to their growth and development. The media and its promotion of junk food is one way that affects obese children. Within this paper, I will discuss the long and short term impacts of obesity on children, their growth and development, describe a specific child who is affected by obesity, and give three ways to combat obesity that involves collaboration among schools, families, and communities.

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

Childhood obesity has expanded tremendously within the past thirty years (CDC, 2015). It is not only a state, but also a nationwide issue. For many children, they depend on their school lunches to provide them the nutritious meals they cannot afford to have at home. As a community, we need to get our children into better shape. Not only will they become more astute, but they will also live healthier lifestyles, and have less health complications as they age. When you are overweight or obese, you are much more likely to develop health problems like heart disease, diabetes, or even a stroke. It is our responsibility as a community, state, and nation to offer nutritious meals and activities for our youth and future.

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.

Despite recent declines in the prevalence among preschool-aged children, obesity among children is still too high. For children and adolescents aged 2-19 years, the prevalence of obesity has remained fairly stable at about 17% and affects about 12.7 million children and adolescents for the past decade (CDC). Childhood obesity does not only affect children, but also has many long term health effects on our children as they get older, including, an increased risk of type 2 diabetes in both childhood and adulthood. (2). Researchers estimate that if obesity trends continue, obesity related medical costs, alone, could rise by $43 to $66 billion each year in the United States by 2030. (1) A major factor in childhood obesity is the inadequate amount of physical activity children are getting, as well as the school lunches that are being provided to the kids. The accessibility of competitive foods which includes things like vending machines, student stores and items a la carte in schools has been linked with negative dietary behaviors, including higher saturated fat intake, higher sweetened beverage intake, and less fruit and vegetable intake,(3) thus resulting in obesity among our children and adolescents. Research suggests that by making sure children are getting healthy school meals and getting enough physical activity in their day it will decrease their chances of having childhood obesity (3). The purpose of this review was to determine the role, school lunches and physical

America is a wealthy nation, yet 10.6% of households with children (4.2 million) suffer from food insecurity [1]. Low-income households are also much more likely than others to suffer from childhood hunger, caused by a recurrent or involuntary lack of food. The USDA defines food insecurity as “limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways” [2]. Yet, obesity of children in America has become a crosscutting demographic epidemic. While most Americans are affected by the social and environmental causes of energy intake exceeding energy expenditure, research has also linked poverty

Background Info/Link to Thesis: School lunches have been a majorly debated cause of the tragic rate of obesity in kids and teens in America as 31 million children obtain lunch, and often breakfast and dinner, from their school cafeteria (“Child Nutrition”). Rules and regulations have been set by the National School Lunch Program, supported by Michelle Obama’s “Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act,” in attempt to provide children, especially those in poverty, with healthy meals and to decrease the amount of overweight American children (“Child Nutrition”).

The rates of child obesity have been increasing in America, and there are more than nine million children between the ages of six to nine years old that are considered overweight (“Obesity Statistics”). A large percentage of these children are likely to be obese as adults. Lack of diet, exercise, and psychosocial environments are the main risk factors for child obesity. Our First Lady’s platform on child obesity has helped educate children and adults to become more aware of the importance of being healthy starting at an early age. She has continued to work with the FDA to improve the standards of school lunches and has started a website called Let’s Move. Despite all that is trying to be done to reduce the rates of child obesity, most of it falls on the parents. A parent’s responsibility is to try and be a proper role model and instill in their children healthy eating habits and the importance of physical activity.

In 2012, one third of adolescents were either overweight or obese and 18% of 6-11 year olds were obese; that is a staggering statistic (CDC). This can cause life long problems for these children. In this essay, I will show you that unhealthy food choices, lack of parental guidance, and a sedentary lifestyle are some of the leading causes of obesity in our children. For instance, these days with most parents having to work outside the home, there is not much time spent cooking healthy meals. Most children come home to an empty house and many do not know how to cook, so unless there is something prepared for them ahead of time, they head straight for the junk food. Plus, with all the inexpensive convenience foods that are on the shelves these days it makes it too easy for one to whip up a “family meal” or snack in just minutes in the microwave. The problem with these convenience foods is that they are usually high in fat, sugar, and calories (Sorte, Daeschel, Amador 5). Not only are convenience foods bad for you, but also too are the so-called “fast foods.”

In modern-day America, there are few subjects that are more important than childhood obesity. The increasing number of cases involving childhood obesity is on the rise. According to research conducted by the National Collaborative on Childhood Research, one out of three children are obese or overweight before their fifth birthday (National Collaborative on Childhood research, 2017). Childhood obesity leads to elevated health risks, such as but not limited to, diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, and even an elevated risk factor for cardiovascular-related illness. There are effective ways to combat the health crisis like taking walking breaks, standing up more, sitting less, and setting aside time for daily physical activity. Nevertheless, arguably the most important aspect of unraveling childhood obesity is a healthy, balanced diet. Fortunately, there is hope when utilizing the appropriate nutritional choices such as reducing consumption of processed foods, lowering the amount of refined carbohydrates a child eats and adding more vegetables to children’s diets.

While many parents are depending on school systems to supply their children with a healthy balanced meal every day, they aren’t getting what they hoped for. School systems throughout not only the United States but the world have inadequate meal plans in place to feed their growing students. A school cafeteria is somewhere a student should have easy access to fresh, healthy, and balanced meals but it currently isn’t, and that needs to change if not only for the good of the younger generations but the communitive health of the populous.

The paradox in the United States is that our children are being overfed and undernourished at the same time. Proper nutrition is essential to children’s health. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2012 more than one-third of children and adolescents aged 6 to 19 were considered overweight or obese (1).