Summary Of The National School Lunch Program

Act of 1946 as part of a group of requirements to be met by states before they would be

Obesity is a condition characterized by the excessive accumulation and storage of fat in our bodies. This disease is increasing at an alarming rate in American children and adolescents, especially those within the ages 2 to 19. This essay examines the difference between school-based interventions (i.e., educate our children about obesity at an early age, serving right nutrition in schools) and community based interventions (i.e., parents help provide better nutrition for their children) to prevent obesity. Both interventions can help decrease obesity rates in children, but the point of this essay review is to point out which interventions will provide the better results to solve the childhood obesity epidemic in the United States.

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.'

Our bodies require fuel only obtainable from food, so it's vital to stay pay attention to the political aspects that affect how and where we get our food. It's important to note the youth in America have little say in how or where their school lunches come from and how it affects them. This is a contributing factor in the poor investment the current public school lunch program has become today.

Everyone loves the idea of a government that truly cares about him or her. Especially a government that would go so far as to layout a healthy diet plan to insure the health of your children and to battle childhood obesity. It is great that the government is concerned about adolescent obesity and the nutrition students receive at school. However, the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) Food and Nutrition Guidelines provide more problems for schools and they need to be eradicated, as well as repealing the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act.

Will The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act recently signed into law on December 13, 2010 by President Barack Obama be able to deliver healthier meals in the schools nutrition programs or will the bill overwhelm struggling school districts with additional unfunded mandates? Schools confront difficult issues on a daily basis that affect the learning ability of their students: struggling economic conditions, students from poor families, increased food insecurity across the country, and constant pressures to increase student performance. Providing healthy meals for children, who otherwise would eat poorly or not at all, is a necessity that our country has recognized and planned for many decades. Two measures authorized

Childhood obesity is a major cause for concern within the United States. This is mainly due to children not getting the require nutrition that they need. Although study show that there is a decrease in obesity in children, it still remains at an all-time high. Children are failing to eat as healthy as they should, and it has become an even bigger problem now that they aren’t getting the require amount of food in their diets. The USDA made a decision a couple of years ago to reduce the amount of food given to children while they are at school. This hurts them tremendously, because the majority of the food they eat comes from being at school all day. The other half lies on the parents when they go home and eat dinner. It is very important for children to eat healthy and eat the required amount of food according to various dietary guidelines. First Lady Michelle Obama has started a new campaign to help kids and parents combat obesity in children. One thing that the campaign has placed emphases on is getting healthier food within school. Although they are getting healthier foods in school they are beginning to change the proportion they are giving students. Through the First Lady’s Let’s Move campaign students should be giving healthier foods and also be allowed to have the correct proportion to help them maintain a healthy diet.

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

Childhood obesity is when a child is well overweight for his or her age. One of the main causes are dietary patterns. According to the Center of Disease and Control Prevention, almost half of the United States middle and high schools advertise foods with high sugars, fats and salts. In addition to that, they also have a high calorie count. This makes it very difficult for students to make healthy choices. The first large school lunch project began in Boston high schools in 1894. Ever since then the government has claimed that they have been providing nutritious lunches for students. Between 1894 and 1977….. but in 1977 according to food timeline, America’s school lunches are the reflection of student’s food habits. The general accounting officer argues that, “The government subsidized school lunch served to 25 million American School Students may be harmful to their health”. This means that the unhealthy meals that are served to our students are not nutritious. He also argues that it creates sustenance for some of our children but it may lead to obesity in others due to the large portion sizes and the decrease amount of supplemental nutrients. Because America has cut spending on school lunches, they have only been able to provide a limited amount of healthy options to schools. Over time the quality of nutrition has went down and now we are at the point where we have no choice but to take action on

Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 was signed into law by President Barak Obama on December 13, 2010. This act reauthorizes many child nutrition programs including the National School Lunch and Breakfast programs (NSLP), the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), the Summer Food Service Program, the Afterschool Meal Program and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed). NCSL,2011).

According to the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act, the goal of the National School Lunch Program is “to safeguard the health and well-being of the Nation’s children and to

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.

Childhood Obesity is on the rise in the United States. According to the Center of Disease Control and Prevention, “childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years. The prevalence of obesity among children aged 6 to 11 years increased from 6.5% in 1980 to 19.6% in 2008[…] adolescents aged 12 to 19 years increased from 5.0% to 18.1%.” (CDC 2010) Parents have started to file complaints with school districts and state representatives about the lack of attention this issue is receiving. There have been several references to the school lunch program and the lack of physical activity that children are provided during the school day. On the other side, some parents believe that the government should not be involved and does not have

School lunch programs are one of the leading causes for the health epidemic among children. Most parents do not realize that allowing their children to eat lunch at school is harmful to their health. Patricia Froberg is a nutritionist at a medical center for children. She says she cringes whenever one of her patients says that they get their lunch from school (Yeoman 1). This is due to the malnutrition of meals provided by the schools. The effects of eating at school can affect anyone, but studies have found that poor children are more greatly affected by the school’s lack of nutrition because they tend to eat both breakfast and lunch at the school, which is at least two-thirds of the calories that they will eat each day of the week (Yeoman 4). The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the School Breakfast Program (SBP) are two of the programs that provide meals to students everyday. They have certain federal requirements that they have to follow. These limits include the types of food included in each meal and the nutrients of these items (“School Lunch Programs Encourage Proper Nutrition” 1). Although the government says that school lunches meet federal nutrition standards, school lunch programs encourage poor nutrition because of high fat levels, the use of unsafe meat, and its contribution to obesity.

A person’s eating habits are set from school age and affect their health and development as an adult. The Nutrition standards in many schools are not up to par with current standards, resulting in children not being able to consume the amount of daily nutrition they need. This dilemma has led to an increase in school-age obesity. Due to the prevalence of obesity in school-age children in the United States, the federal government should increase its involvement in nutrition in schools and have better mandates.