Claim
The National School Lunch Program needs to standardize and regulate their set nutritional standards at all schools to help curb the growing prevalence of childhood obesity and other weight related diseases.
What is the National School Lunch Program?
“The National School Lunch Program, or NSLP, is a federally assisted meal program operating in over 101,000 public and non‐profit private schools and residential childcare institutions.” ("National school lunch," 2011) This government-run program is headed by the department of Food and Nutrition standards, a subgroup of the United States Department of Agriculture. “It provides nutritionally balanced, low‐cost or free lunches to more than 31 million children each school day in 2009.” ("National school lunch," 2011) According to government guidelines, as written by King 2011, set for the 2010/2011school year, a student is eligible for reduced lunch, which averages at 50 cents per meal, if the annual household income for a single person is $20,147 US dollars. For each person added to the household the annual household income increases by $7,067 US dollars. For free meals the annual household income for a single person is $14,157 US dollars. For each person added to the household the annual household income increases by $4,966 US dollars. (King, 2011) These lunches are vital to the student, as it may be their only access to a balanced meal each day.
Though the program is referred to as the national school lunch program, it is not isolated to lunch. “In 1998, Congress expanded the National School Lunch Program to include reimbursement for snacks served to children in afterschool educational and enrichment programs to include children through 18 years of age.” ("National school lu...
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Shahin, Jessica. US department of agriculture, Food and Nutrition Services. (2011). Implementation of the healthy, hunger-free kids act of 2010, snap education provision. Alexandria, VA : Government printing office.
Schools are spending too much money with this program that could be spent on other benefits for schools. Rather than using the money to get students new technology or property it 's wasted on a lunch program that students do not enjoy nor want to purchase. In the Article, “School Lunch Food is Not Fresh, Students Say” Journalist Audrey Levine interviews high school students about they feel about their school lunches. “It’s way too expensive now, but I’m still buying,” said senior Stephanie Huang. “And I don’t think more people are bringing lunch because
School lunches has become an important factor in changing childhood obesity. Taking high calorie foods out of lunches, changing their foods to whole grain, and changing food portions they give kids, schools across the country are trying to change kids’ lifestyle. Many have complained about the nutrition plan in schools and many have defended it. Childhood obesity may be a major problem but school’s healthy lunches are not helping.
U.S. Department of Agriculture. (2013, September ). Household food security in the united states in 2012. Retrieved from http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/err-economic-research-report/err155/report-summary.aspx
Gunderson, Gordon W. "National School Lunch Program (NSLP)." Food and Nutrition Service. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2014.
National School Lunch Program (NSLP). (n.d.). Food and Nutrition Service. Retrieved November 4, 2013, from http://www.fns.usda.gov/nslp/national-school-lunch-program
We all remember that day when President Obama took office, and our school lunches changed forever. First Lady Michelle Obama, felt that too many American kids are overweight, so she thought she needed to make our school lunches healthier, with more fruits and vegetables. One of the major changes she made was how many calories the school cooks were able to give the kids. The new requirements are as follows: up to 650 for children in kindergarten through fifth grade, 700 for sixth through eighth graders and 850 for high scholars. These numbers are consistent with the Mayo Clinic’s recommendations ( Kuczynski-Brown). The main goal of cutting calories and taking away junk food, was to insure that kids are getting served a healthy lunch. At each lunch, schools must still provide a cup of fruit, a cup of vegetables, two servings of grains, two ounces of dairy, and a cup of fluid milk, so that students can get their needed vitamins and nutrients (Anonymous) . They are also wanting more local farmers to be involved, and give more of the food they grow to the school. At the high school I went to, we built a green house, and planted a garden to give us some local grown food. It was part of our Ag Science class. More and more schools are starting to do the same thing. The stats of overweight kids is really high. The guidelines are as follows:
Food insecurity is an issue faced by millions of Americans every day, and the biggest group affected by this is working families with children. Food insecurity is so big that the United States government has now recognized it and provided a definition for it. The United States government has defined food insecurity as “a household level economic and social condition of limited or uncertain access to adequate food” (USDA.gov). Food banks and anti-hunger advocates agree that some of the causes of food insecurity are stagnant wages, increase in housing costs, unemployment, and inflation of the cost of food. These factors have caused food banks to see a change in the groups of people needing assistance. Doug O’Brien, director of public policy and research at Chicago-based Second Harvest says “’we’ve seen a real shift in who we serve. A decade ago, it was almost always homeless, single men and chronic substance abusers. Now we have children and working families at soup kitchens’” (Koch). These families that are feeling the effects of food insecurity will not be only ones affected by it, but all of America. Studies have shown that there is a link between food security, performance in the classroom, and obesity. If this issue is not faced head on, America will have a generation of children not fully prepared for the workforce and high health insurance rates due to obesity health issues.
Schools are meant to give our children a healthy and nurturing environment, and yet so much of the lunches in schools are fattening; does this stop schools from achieving the aforementioned goal? Childhood obesity in the United Sates continues to be a growing problem despite so any new programs to help combat it, and new research is showing how schools may be playing a large role in childhood obesity. School lunches are showing to be the problem, they encourage poor nutrition in our nation’s students, and simple reform is proving to not be enough to stop the rise in obesity rates.
According to Dolgoff and Feldstein (2003), “the needs and goals of the Food Stamp Program are to alleviate hunger and malnutrition by enabling low-income households to buy a nutritious adequate diet” (p. 132). The program also improved the market for local merchants to produce food for eligible low-income households and other agencies such as the School Lunch Program which safeguard the health and wel...
According to the USDA a typical school lunch exceeds the recommended 500 milligrams of sodium. To be exact most school lunches serve meals with more than 1000 milligrams of sodium. All across the United States students from elementary, middle, and high schools are being forced to eat what is being served instead of what they have brought from home. Even though the lunch meals provided by the school might be healthier than what the student has packed, they should not have to inhibit to these actions.
In 1946 President Harry Truman approved the National School Lunch Act. This law provides free or low-cost, nutritional meals in education or childcare areas. This law has helped many students eat during the school days Unfortunately sometimes there are mix-ups and paperwork gets lost, like Caitlin Dolan from Cannonsburg. Her lunch was thrown away in front of all of her friends and schoolmates in the cafeteria because of an unpaid lunch from the former year. Later when she went home to her mom they had figured out the paperwork for her reduced price-free lunches had gotten lost. Caitlin was humiliated obviously. She is a perfect example of lunch shaming. A very real problem in many schools by cafeteria workers and students when a child
Outside of school kids don’t get enough proper nutrition. Everyday in the United States there are approximately 12 million children who receive a free or reduced price lunch because their families may need government help. Besides the fact that many students rely on school lunches for their daily meals, the healthier school food that schools provide is a benefit for the children because it can prevent childhood obesity as well as improve the child's academic performance. There are many kids who rely on school lunches to provide them not only enough food but healthy and nutritious foods for their health. Underprivileged families can not afford food for every single meal at times so these school meals are important for them. There is nearly 4
Lunch is one of the most important meals of the day and is consumed mostly in school cafeterias for children and adolescence. Wholesome lunches are vital in maintaining a healthy metabolism and give children energy for the rest of the school day. Children are advised to eat healthily but do not always do so because the choices of tastier, fatty foods offered in school cafeterias. The National School Lunch Program, NSLP, which is a federally assisted meal program operating in public and nonprofit private schools set nutritious guidelines for lunches served in school cafeterias (USDA). However, school campuses still offer foods high in fat as well as selling candy, chips, and soda in their vending machines, as well as their school shops. In order
Institute of Medicine. (n.d.). Retrieved Jan 10, 2011, from Childhood Obesity Prevention Actions for Local Government: www.iom.edu/Activities/Childhood/LocalObesPrevention.asp
The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is used by students throughout the nation and is constantly under evaluation to give students a healthy and balanced meal. The program regulates and standardizes the lunch provided at all public schools, and even some private schools. Through the NSLP, it is ensured that school lunches are (generally) the same from school to school. The NSLP makes certain that a nutrient-rich lunch is available to all students that attend these NSLP using schools throughout the nation. Though it receives a great deal of controversy, this program is found efficient by parents and supplementary to children and adolescents alike.