The Pros And Cons Of School Lunches

Established in 2010, the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act revised the National School Lunch Program’s policies ensuring that children receive a nutritious lunch in school. These changes included offering fruits and vegetables, whole-grain foods, low-fat dairy products and limit calories, saturated fat and sodium (Fisk). Studies show that many children benefit greatly from well-balanced meals during the day.

The lunches consist of a national dietary guidelines, which includes the “plate model”, a meal that is presented to guide children’s self-service. While in America the lunches often cost for the students.

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.'

Since 2009 Schools have been improving there healthy choices of food like fresh fruits and salad bars,but those foods take longer to eat (Hellmich). Turning school lunches into an actual sit down meal rather than a feeding frenzy is a good way of improving health (Parker-Pope). Students usually have less than 20 minutes to eat lunch which makes it less likely for them to choose the healthy choice (Elsevier). Kids often like to eat there favorite foods first,not giving them enough time to eat the healthy food (Hellmich). An increase in school lunches could encourage students to eat the healthier choice(5 Elsevier). School nutritionist suggest that students need to have atlas 20 minutes to eat (Hellmich). Research shows that when people consume meals faster they take in more calories because they get hungry sooner (Chen). The shorter lunch periods are starting to lead to more and more obese and overweight kids ( Hellmich). Doctors are saying there are more and more kids getting diabetes and other illnesses due to the lunches and something needs to be done about it

In order to maximize our program’s ability to provide nutritious meals and snacks, we participate in the federal school nutrition programs, which includes the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. According to the Department of Agriculture, the National School Lunch Program is a federally assisted meal program for public and nonprofit private schools and residential child care institutions (2015). It provides nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free lunches to children each school day. On the same note, our program participates in School Breakfast Program. The department of Agriculture specifies that this program provides cash assistance to states to operate nonprofit breakfast programs in schools and residential childcare institutions. Both the National School Lunch Program, and the School Breakfast Program, ensures that the children receive the adequate nutrition while the our

The lunch provided to students who are eligible for reduced or free lunch is their only lunch option, since they cannot necessarily bring a packed lunch from home. Because of this the USDA and the FNS have created guidelines that each school must follow when creating these lunch programs. According to the USDA 2011, “School lunches must meet the applicable recommendations of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which recommend that no more than 30 percent of an individual's calories come from fat, and less than 10 percent from saturated fat.” (USDA "National school lunch," 2011) These guidelines directly follow the standards set by the USDA for everyday nutrition and must be followed by the school. The USDA has also created guidelines for other dietary allowances. The USDA in 2011 reported “Regulations also establish a standard

The National School Lunch Program is a federally assisted meal program that operates in over 100,000 schools and child care facilities. Those who participate in this program get cash subsidies as well as food from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Participants are also required to followed dietary guidelines. Meals provided to the students must meet certain nutritional standards and free and reduced priced lunches must be made available to those who need it. By regulating what the schools can serve and

Because of this change, the food that is placed on the plates of thousands of students has also changed. The goal of the new regulations and laws is to create a decrease in childhood obesity in schools, and to give students a chance at healthier food choices and lifestyles. According to the article “School Lunch Makeover” Becky Schilling states, “There is now a minimum and maximum caloric range for each age group. For lunch, grades K-5 has a range of 550-650, 6-8 has a range of 600-700, and 9-12 has a range of 750 to 850” (30). This is a decrease in max calories aloud from past years, in hopes to promote healthier lifestyles at school, and the age groups have been added, in hopes to allow for older groups to have a chance at eating more than younger groups. Schilling goes on to say, “Food products and ingredients used to prepare meals must contain zero grams of added trans fat per serving”, and “Lunch meals that, on average during the school week, have less than 10% of total calories from saturated fat” (30). These new restrictions, which were implemented during the 2012-2013 school year, created all new criteria when deciding what food can be served in cafeterias around the United

The National School Lunch Program is a federally funded meal program operating in over 100,000 public. It provides nutritionally balanced, low‐cost or free lunches to more than 31 million children each school day in 2012 based on the child's household income (USDA). The program is managed by the Food and Nutrition Service at the Federal level and by a State education agency at the state level. We will be looking at the statistics of the National Lunch Program for five local schools, and compare the number of students enrolled in the districts and the percentage that are receiving free or discounted meals at school. Additionally, the requirements to be eligible to participate in the program, as well as the reimbursement the school

Is school lunch actually feeding America’s children? (1. Rhetorical Question) Today, many students are reporting that they are unsatisfied with their school’s lunch. Strict guidelines set for America’s schools control what exactly is going through cafeterias in order to maintain healthy and happy students. However, students are disappointed in these guidelines and disagree that they are of any benefit. School lunches still lack nutrition, limit food choices and proportions, and neglect appeal. (2. Parallelism)

During an average school day, most schools will provide a lunch for their students. After concern that school lunches were helping contribute to the obesity epidemic, the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act (HHFKA) began to regulate school lunches. “The Obama administration’s new Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, signed into law last December, sets aside $4.5 billion over 10 years to fund school lunches and child nutrition programs; it requires school lunch programs to double the amount of fresh fruits and vegetables in each meal, reduce calories and expand access to drinking water during meal time. With 31 million children receiving school lunches and 20% of all U.S. children suffering from obesity, the measure should help to improve the food

The clock reads 11:39, in a few seconds the most important bell of the day will ring--the lunch bell. This bell sends students rushing to the cafeteria; some students will sit quietly at a table unpacking their lunch from home, others will wait in line to receive a lunch provided by the school. Everyday across America more than 31 million school lunches are served. The majority of these lunches fall under the regulations of the National School Lunch Program. The program, funded and regulated by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), has raised many questions among American citizens. One very important question is whether or not the government should be allowed to regulate/ban certain foods in the nation's school system. The government,

Obesity is crucial in this country, in order for there to be a change we need to start serving healthy foods at schools. The First Lady Michelle Obama brought this healthy lunch concern to the educational system. California’s Department of Education Nutrition Services provides fresh fruit and vegetables to students as a supplement throughout the day. California’s schools have moved ahead to support Hunger-Free Kids policy. The local government regulates school districts including Los Angeles Unified School District to serve whole grains, fruits and vegetables versus foods high in calories. The Hunger-Free Kids policy allowed public schools to serve healthy lunches preventing obesity.

In 2010, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), which works with Food & Nutrition Services to develop guidelines for the NSLP, proposed new regulations for school lunches in the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act (HHFKA). The rules included calorie guidelines according to age group and also outlined requirements for vegetable, fruit, protein, and starch components of the meals. While the USDA guidelines for meals were

State governments gives reward to schools that give free reduced lunch prices, for example one instance was in Wisconsin schools received $2,250 for each low-income child in kindergarten through 3rd grade using the NSLP. These schools are proof that this NSLP is cheaper and they get extra money for each meal.