Thesis Statement For Food Pyramid

Offering sufficient amounts of nutritious food in schools is more significant than many comprehend. Students who consume full, nourishing meals for breakfast and lunch benefit

In the United States many citizens face hunger, starvation and malnutrition on a daily basis. This food insecurity affects millions of Americans. Food insecurity is caused when Americans don’t have enough money to purchase food for themselves and their family. When children experience hunger if affects them both physically and psychologically. “Children who are denied an adequate diet are at a greater risk of not reaching their full potential as individuals. Undernourished youngsters have trouble concentrating and bonding with other children and are more likely to suffer illnesses resulting in school absences.” (Karger, p 371) It is important for children to meet their full potential in order for society to continue thriving into the future. If children are not receiving an adequate education because they have an empty stomach, then they will not continue to higher education or they will do poorly. In order to combat hunger in children the federal government responded with several major programs. Two of the programs the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the School Breakfast Program (SBP) are targeted towards school age children. These programs provide students with breakfast and lunch while they are at school.

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

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

The “Cooking Matter” program will be responsible for three interventions to help alleviate child hunger by recruiting college student participants. (See appendix J for group work VII on intervention development). The first intervention was “Read It before You Eat It!” this intervention will demonstrate the correct way to read nutrition and food labels. Each participant will examine the actual food packaging labels of different food items such as whole wheat pasta, regular pasta, bread, cheese, and

People live in a complex world where things are never as simple as they seem. Officials agree that in order for students to perform well in school, their basic needs have to be met (in conjunction with the ideas of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs). While schools may not be able to provide a safe place to sleep or warm clothing during the winter, they can provide a healthy, nutritious meal. According to the National Center for Children in Poverty, the number of children under 18 years of age living below the federal poverty level of $23,550 for a family of four represent 21.1% of the population (“Child Poverty,” n.d.). The National Lunch Act and its subsequent revisions have sought to mitigate the effects of hunger. Unfortunately, there are other circumstances that affect the desired outcomes of serving a balanced meal to students in need.

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

in the United States, the National School Program helps children get into a healthy eating habit.

Nutrition plays an important role in the school environment. Unfortunately, proper nutrition has made its way in to the lunch room, yet has not had the impact that was originally projected. In the video, “Uproar Over School Lunches”, children’s protest to the lunch menu leads to a huge waste concern (ABC News, 2012). The video states that schools have reported a 50% increase in lunch waste (ABC News, 2012). This is huge! It begs to question, if the food is not being consumed, how effective is the nutrisous menu?

To touch on poor nutrition, research shows that almost one-third of U.S. children between the ages of four and nineteen eat fast food every day; this results in weight gain of approximately 6 extra pounds on a growing child each year (NACHRI, 2007). Fast food consumption has increased fivefold among children since 1970. Not only is fast food an issue, but when parents reward their children with sugary foods and/or use fruits and vegetables as a punishment, this may cause children’s views toward nutritious food to be negative. Some great educational tools that can be shared both in and out of the classroom are “The Food Guide Pyramid” and “My Plate.” Both show that appropriate number of serving of each food category. “My Plate” does a great job of even providing games, activity sheets, kid-friendly recipes, and physical activity tips to elementary aged children (My Plate, 2015). They also provide great resources for adults so parents and educators can practice what they preach and set good examples for children. Educating children on an what a healthy diet consists of and why it is important is probably the greatest preventative tool we can use to prevent obesity. As the famous saying goes, “knowledge is

A study by the USDA found that placing incentives on healthy purchases had a great effect on how much fruits and vegetables families purchased per month. For every $1.00 spent on fruits and vegetables families received $0.30, and after a year the USDA noticed these families were purchasing nutritious foods more often. The USDA has also updated the standards for meals prepared by schools, making serving nourishing foods a requirement. As a result of this update, the consumption of vegetables and fruits by students increased by 16% and 23%, respectively. The implantation of these programs did not a very long time and their cost was very affordable and reasonable. Food education is especially important when preventing obesity in food deserts because knowing is half the battle. Interventions such as school gardens allow kids to have a hands-on education while learning about nutrition. These garden are a cheap way to both feed and educate

Attempting to urge student involvement and the rising costs of providing meals is a constant issue with the companies which provides meals for the schools. In the meantime, the issue remains how to increase the nutritional values of the food provided and assisting the companies that provide the food to do so and to maintain a stable program and its honesty, especially in making sure that children who are not eligible do not receive these reduced cost or free meals (Ralston, Newman, Clauson, Guthrie, & Buzby, 2008, p. iii).

The goals,is to improve school food, teach nutrition, support sustainable food systems, and create an education program focused on understanding the relationships between food, culture, health, and the environment.By the time today’s kindergartner finishes high school, she may have eaten well over 4,000 school meals—4,000 opportunities to strengthen her body and mind, introduce food pleasures that will make her a lifelong healthy eater, and deepen her engagement with the natural world. The more than 5.5 billion lunches and nearly 2 billion breakfasts served yearly in school programs, along with complementary education programs, can have a profound effect on issues of public health, academic performance, economics, justice, national security,

A balanced nutrition for the first 3 years of a child’s life is extremely important to stabilize their mental and physical health in the future. Starvation is a common problem with poor families. It currently affects 49.1 million families in the United States. Undernutrition is the start to many diseases such as measles and malaria. If the children get these diseases, it is very likely that they don’t have health insurance to cover their illnesses and injuries. 15.8 million children have families who are not consistently stable to feed them. Food pantries are crowded and jam packed with people, that they don’t have enough food for all. The majority of canned foods and other donations are donated during Christmas or Thanksgiving when the food pantries need it the most. Nobody realizes that they need food all throughout the year. Food is the main component to fuel the body to grow and move. Poverty doesn’t just hurt a child physically through starvation, moreover mentally through learning

There are six different child nutrition programs in the United States. These programs monitor and serve children in schools with nutritious foods. The School Breakfast Program acts when schools serve breakfasts met to specific requirements, and the United States Department Of Agriculture