I am writing to you on behalf of me and my fellow grade nine students at Tiller Junior High School who help operate the canteen. It has been brought to my attention that there is a vast selection of unhealthy snacks. I would like to help everyone stay healthy and fit. I have done some research and gathered information for you on healthy eating in school, as well as a program to introduce to help kids stay physically and mentally healthy. It is ironic how our technology has gotten a lot better; you would think the foods produced these days would be healthier! Not so much. The fact is that our technology has allowed us to produce food quickly, taste well, but in most cases be lacking of the vital nutrients our bodies need. Millions of adults strive each day to eat healthier and stay active, but children between the ages of 6-to-16-years old aren 't as concerned about their health. I understand that team sports are available We call it the “Happy Healthy Canteen Program” or HHCP. It will be funded by school activities such as a Bike-a-thon and money raised by the school council. We want to start running sessions about how to choose the healthy option and how it will have positive long-term effects on us. We also would like pupils who are choosing snacks from the canteen to start changing to the healthier options. Healthy decisions can be influenced by putting up posters around the school, glamorizing healthy foods making them more appealing to the students rather than junk foods and also show some harsh realities caused by over consumption of junk foods. We encourage canteen vendors to cut down fat, sugar and salt and serve whole-grains, fruit and vegetables in the meals; and serve healthy set meals. I think it 's important for schools to provide the nutritional information for foods that are served. These healthy snack options should incorporate at least one food from the main food
Introduction: The children obesity epidemic is still present today, and the growing love of fast food is fueling it. Students are not being taught good nutrition and are paying the price. With fast food restaurants appearing in more areas, one place they have remained is on high schools campuses. Having fast food on campuses has its benefits such as fast and cheap food and it can be easily accessed. The negative aspect of having fast food on high school campuses is how much is being consumed. The students are not getting the right nutrition to fuel their minds for the school work. Students need to have proper nutrition to carry on throughout the day and preform to the best of their ability.
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.
“More than a third of the county's children are overweight or obese.”(Gustin, 1). As shocking as this is, it's true. One of the big reasons that children and teens are overweight is because of the foods that they eat. They are fed these fattening and unhealthy foods by the school system. Their futures can be changed if we change our choices. Having more nutritious lunches can have a positive impact on the health of American teens.
High levels of trans fat, sugar, and salt have become prominent in many processed and fast foods, causing Americans to become addicted to these unhealthy preserving additives. In many school settings, students only have access to junk food when searching for something to eat in either the cafeteria or school vending machines. Many high school students consume three hundred and thirty-six calories a day purely on school vending machine snacks. (Koebler) Possible solutions to the growing childhood obesity problem are to provide healthier options, such as fruit...
There is still a troubling growing paradox in hungry children and childhood obesity. Children are either getting too many or too little calories. NSLP is still criticized to this day, nonetheless they made a tremendous improvement to the program since publication of Fast Food Nation in 2001. The NSLP only provides student with 1 to 2 meals out of the day. It is up to the parents to teach and provide their children with nutritional food,“HEALTHY eating and physical activity habits are key to your child 's well-being. Eating too much and exercising too little can lead to overweight and related health problems that can follow children into their adult years. You can take an active role in helping your child--and your whole family--learn healthy eating and physical activity habits that can last for a lifetime.”(National Institute of Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney Diseases). By teaching and encouraging healthy eating habits, Offer healthy food options at home and Limiting fast food and junk food. It is also important to Limit your child’s time using a TV, computer, cell phone, or game station and encourage them to participate in physical activity. A great way to do this is to sign your children up for sports. Fast Food Nation started the discussion of America’s Food epidemic, yet sadly fifteen years has later
Fewer and fewer children are playing outside regularly, choosing instead to be inside on the computer, in front of the television, and playing video games. Many children do not get enough physical activity in their daily routine. Many schools physical education programs cut back on the time actually spent doing vigorous activities. "One study showed that gym classes offered third-graders just twenty-five minutes of vigorous activity each week" ("Overweight and obesity,"2009). Guidelines show that children over two years old should at least get sixty minutes of vigorous activity a day ("Overweight and obesity,"2009). The average family is busier today than ever, which causes parents to rush meals and not take the time to plan nutritious hom...
Why is this a problem? You may want to think that there is a simple, clear-cut line between junk food and healthy food, but as schools work to keep costs down, many corners are cut and it becomes hard to decipher what really is healthy. Confusing elements like transfat, carbohydrates, preservatives, daily percentages, and other factors only provide complications in defining healthy food. Furthermore, even if you explicitly label foods as healthy or unhealthy, hungry students are not going to consider their health as their first priority when making a quick decision of what to eat. School cafeterias, through the support of legislation, school administration, and parents, should be providing students with healthy, natural food options in contrast to the very unhealthy, processed foods that many schools currently provide.
First of all, an increasing amount of kids are becoming overweight because their schools pressure them to eat sugary, fatty, and high-calorie foods. Not only do many schools promote consumption of harmful foods, many schools also actively serve them in school lunches. In 1963, 4% of kids were obese; currently, approximately 17% of kids are obese. Some might argue that kids themselves are the reason for the increase, because school lunches also provide healthier foods. Unfortunately, most kids do not have much of a choice - healthier foods are priced much higher than their unhealthy counterpart, consequently many parents do not want their kids to buy the more expensive, yet healthier product. In my 3½ years ...
To conclude, unhealthy foods in the cafeteria and the vending machines are the worst examples for the kids to maintain the healthy eating habits. Us Parents have to step in to make changes for our kids because in doing so would determine what kind of foods our kids are consuming. We do know for facts they are not getting the proper nutrients while in school, although they do spend in average of eight to 12 hours in schools. We, the parents, can start to make a difference, by attending the school meetings and being active in our kids functions in schools.
We have all heard the saying, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”. This saying appears to be nothing more than a silly children’s rhyme. However, if we think about it, we still remember it and this silly little rhyme encouraged us to eat fruit. As we reflect back on our childhood many of us can recall our parents encouraging us to eat our vegetables and to go outside and play. Why did they do this? Because it was and is an essential part of our healthy growth. In present day, where technology and fast food are far more prevalent, children are receiving far less encouragement to be healthy. In order to live a healthy lifestyle children and adolescents need to spend, “60 minutes or more being physically active ("Physical Activity Guidelines
Although there is a risk of upsetting people who are not worried about the health and wellbeing of today’s youth with selfish reasoning for wanting to keep junk food, ridding schools of junk foods will prove itself to be very beneficial. Children can choose healthier options without being ridiculed by others, wondering if what they are eating is good for them, and/or worrying about negative effects. One’s health cannot be overlooked as it is the livelihood of that person and much more. It is not a subject that can be taken lightly. Action to change the current conditions of America’s population’s
"School Meals Need to Get Healthier: Report." Healthday. 29 OCT 2009: n. page. Web. 14 Dec. 2011.
Why is this a problem? Cafeteria food is often cheap, bought in bulk, high in calories, malnutritious, and microwaved. Student polls and opinions prove this. Therefore, this leads to a suggestion: Healthier, tastier foods and a better, more advanced lunch system should be implemented. First of all, students aren’t motivated to eat unhealthy, not-tasty food.
Educational institutions have the potential to, first and foremost, educate and assist the young people of today with making the positive, healthful choices necessary to maintain good health. Over 4,500 students have been followed in recent research studies and these “thousands of sixth graders who participated in a school-based health program were less obese by eighth grade than a group of similar children who did not, according to a new study done for the National Institutes of Health” (Rabin). Schools need to create health programs focused on assisting all children suffering from being overweight or obese. Policies such as fitness programs, nutrition classes, and healthful meals can even impact every student by creating a strong foundation and awareness of the negative, long term effects associated with practicing unhealthy habits. Although the financial expenses would be necessary, the adaption of scho...
The ‘Hungry for Success’ (2002) initiative was implemented in all schools in Scotland in 2003, with an aim to improve school meals. As children “become more independent they are increasingly responsible for making their own food choices as parental influence decreases” (Wardley et al., 1997:75). The objective of the initiative was to ensure that all pupils were encouraged to make informed decisions when eating within school. Healthier food choices were readily available to all children, therefore allowing children to choose healthier options. School menus were reviewed in order to provide better nutrition and children were offered salads and free fruit was available to all infants (Scottish Executive, 2005). In addition to this initiative, ‘Towards a Healthy Weight Action Plan for Scotland’ (2006) proposed to develop programmes to support healthy eating in the primary school and in addition, introduced a ban on junk food in schools and in lunch boxes. This ensured that all pupils did not have the opportunity to make poor choices and instead, pupils opted for healthier foods (NHS,