Fast food restaurants have existed ever since the early 1900s. America’s love for fast food has made the fast-food industry one of the most successful industries in the world. However, many people are aware of the processed and genetically-modified ingredients in fast food that lead to detrimental effects such as disease and death. These kinds of foods have become a commodity of daily life, even in schools. The obesity epidemic has extended to even children because schools are giving students processed lunches that have little nutritional value. Nevertheless, students have fought for their right to eat what they desire even if it could harm their health or possibly kill them. Whether students agree or not; schools must take action in substituting and funding healthy lunches and snacks at school in order to fix the obesity epidemic once and for all. The school system should begin to decrease the number of processed foods served and sold at schools because processed lunches have allowed obesity rates to continue skyrocketing, harming the health of our future generation. Based on a survey administered to 100 students at Rosemead High, 71% of students said they do not eat the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables a day, which is 5-13 servings. This suggests that Bittman’s claim to subsidize vegetables could possibly contribute to a healthier society. Healthier snacks and lunches should be prioritized to keep students energetic, productive, and healthy. Many will argue
The obesity epidemic in America is getting worse to the point that it spread into our children’s school lunches. In Alice Waters’ and Katrina Heron’s article “No Lunch Left Behind” explains that the government is investing a lot of funds into the schools lunches and it is being wasted to buy unhealthy junk foods. Even though with just a little more money, the food can be of better quality, healthier, and safer for the students. Waters and Heron back up their explanation by describing some of the aggravations that some Americans have for this issue through ethos, adding reliable sources to strengthen the piece, and using an informative and serious tone in attempts to be heard and understood by the government and Americans who care about the health and safety of the student.
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.'
Brand name fast-food items now account for almost 50% of schools sales (Brockett). As one can see, the financial benefits of the brand names in lunches can help boost a school’s declining profit. If fast-food was taken away from menus, many schools would fail to break even and have to cut their staff (Brockett). “Financially, it’s better for us if we go up to 400 meals” said Amy Hedrick, a food service supervisor in California (Lehmann). If she tries to sell off brand pizzas, her profit declines dramatically as she only sells 250 to 300 pizzas. If kids are being forced to eat healthy through their school lunch, they will leave the school over their lunch hour and go find a fast food restaurant. Even if they don’t leave, will taking away their brand name foods really solve the problem? The solution is not to frighten kids away with putting bans on school lunches. Rather, teach them about nutritional values of the healthier options and leaving them the choice, as it talks about in “The State Has No Place In The Lunch Bags Of A Nation”. If students know the benefits of eating healthy, they will start to turn away from fast
Did you know that in the 1990s, many school struck deals with fast food companies, including McDonald’s and Taco Bell, allowing them to sell their products in the cafeterias? In the article “Cafeteria Wars,” written by Rebecca Zissou, there are 2 perspectives on whether or not school lunches should be healthy.
Calories, obesity, epidemic―these words flash through daily conversion like wildfire. The American public today is severely concerned with the nation’s growing health problem, as they should be. Recently, the nation’s school lunches have had major renovations due to the alarming increase in childhood obesity. The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) has set out to fix the problems concerning nutrition in school lunches. Because the National School Lunch Program is required to follow the most current version of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA), school lunches are undergoing massive reform at the cost of students.
America’s lunch program has been established ever since President Harry S. Truman signed the National School Lunch Act on June 4, 1946 in order to ensure the health of children. (Rafidi 1) Providing lunches for students is essential in order for them to receive the nutrition they need but if one think deeper about this, is the current lunch program really beneficial towards the youth that will soon shape the future? Just recently in 2010, First Lady Michelle Obama stepped up hoping to maintain the growing problem of childhood obesity by inspecting the food that was sold in schools. In a 60 years time frame, school lunch has become an issue that was once thought to help reduce malnutrition to food that may be harmful to teens’ body. This should
School lunches are important because it affects the health, lifestyle, and education of kids. Kids need nutrients in school lunches because then they can become healthy and grow up to be strong and healthy adults. School lunches are also important because by eating healthy, it will give kids energy throughout the rest of their day. Kids will also be able to focus in school because healthy lunches will help kids stay alert and their grades will improve. If kids are eating unhealthy school lunches, they will not be able to focus in school because they are not getting the nutrients they need. Healthy school lunches will prevent kids from becoming obese and healthy school lunches will improve the health of kids. The medical cost would also be
Do you think that school lunch are not that good or maybe the school charges to much for not enough food. School lunches should be gone and we should get to go home for lunch or get to go to some restaurants with are friends. Most people want to go home for lunch because the schools food taste weird. When people eat the schools food they're afraid of the fact that the food has no color and the food is not cooked all the way sometimes. Also the food has no good feel or taste in it because they are not allowed to put seasoning in the food at school. The schools food is also boiled not fried.
According to National Heart Lung and Blood institute, in America, 1 in 6 kids are obese. Although obesity might not seem that much of a big deal, it is. Childhood obesity can lead to much worse health problems later in adulthood, such as higher risk of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, hypertension, and even cancer, among many chronic health issues all caused by obesity. Many kids get about half of their daily calories at school, and for some, school is where they get all of their daily calories. Since school plays such a big part in affecting the lives of many kids across America, special attention should be shown to nutrition. This can help kids with obesity, as well as kids that don’t have much food at home to eat and only rely on school food. For many poor kids, they don’t have a lot of healthy foods at home, because they can’t afford it. So, they rely on cheap school food for their vitamins and nutrients. Because cafeteria foods, like hamburgers or beef and cheese nachos, are highly processed and filled with unnecessary fat ,those kids that rely on school for food won’t get the nutrients and vitamins they need and will go home hungry. Since kids are growing up, it is especially important for them to get the right food they need to grow up healthy and strong, and in a place full of kids that are growing up, it is only right to provide them with good and healthy food that will allow the kids to grow up into healthy adults without obesity, malnourishment, or any kind of health
Childhood obesity is a serious health issue currently affecting America’s population. School lunches have gained a spotlight in the search for prevention of child obesity because the majority of America’s youth eat two school meals a day during most of the year. Although the nutritional standards of school meals have been changed over the years, there is still room for improvement. With additions such as a la cart and vending machines, school meals quickly fall from the federal nutrition standards. As children grow they spend an average of 7 hours a day at school over half of the year. With almost 95% of America’s children attending school, it is one of the most stable and influential aspects of their life. With so much of a child’s time spent
About one in three american students who eat school lunches daily are in some way obese or overweight as of 2015. People in general have been experiencing a new problem in the last decade; obesity rates have been drastically increasing. School lunches may be a big contributor to these increasing percentages in overweight and obesity. The percentages have increased about 18% from tests in 1973 to 1974, to tests in 2003 to 2004. Many schools in other countries have a lower obesity rate because they server non processed foods. If schools were to change their lunches to non
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.
There have been on occasion when I was at grade school that I have seen at least one of the teachers giving a student money for the student’s lunch. Another close encounter that I can recall is when one of my close friends couldn’t afford a school lunch and I told her I would share my free lunch with her, and that we could just split the whole thing, thus she wouldn’t go famished through the rest of the school day. There has to be way more incidences such as these in Americas public schools because these public schools are reporting that they lose an estimate of about $350,000.00 dollars in school funds annually in unpaid debts , and one of those reasons is teacher giving students money when the students need it. If we could provide free lunches
School cafeterias have been notoriously known for having unhealthy, unappealing food. Students at schools are being forced to eat these foods, when parents cannot provide regular lunches for their children. These lunches usually include the following: pizza, soda, cheeseburgers, chicken sandwiches, and others, all filled with artificial ingredients and preservatives. To address this problem, there should be a switch between the foods and drinks being served, and I have just the ideas that will be delicious and healthy. Authors Alice Waters, Katrina Heron, and Mark Bittman all agree that some initiative needs to be taken to fix this unhealthy food problem, and so do I. Together, the student body and parents will address the school board with healthier food options that are better tasting and better for the body.
You must of heard education is the key to success. Well, that’s very true, but how will kids achieve that education when they are receiving poor lunches at school? If there could could be one significant change in the public education system, it should be the lunch students receive. Students receive poor lunches at school. When students receive these poor lunches they end up not eating, causing them to starve the rest of the school day. This takes their minds off in class because they are just so hungry, causing them not to do work, and falling behind. Also, when students don’t eat, their health gets bad, causing them to lose weight, get dizzy, etc. When Kids have these poor health's they tend to miss school,