The Necessity of Nutritious School Lunches Mental and physical wellbeing are known to directly affect one another . Therefore, if a school’s obligation to its students is to provide a quality education for all, then it would naturally make sense to provide quality nutrition as well. This has led to a discussion on the necessity of nutritional lunches provided by schools. Many see the need for healthy nutrition throughout the school day. However, there is evidence that shows that school children often throw away nutritious food due to its unappealing nature. Despite this, it is the school’s responsibility to provide a nutritious lunch to school children. Providing a nutritious lunch is shown to improve students’ academic performance and to …show more content…
From the ages of five to eighteen years old, the school is the main environment that students are in. Especially throughout the adolescent years, a monumental time in growth and development of personal values, a student’s environment, in this case the school, is a large factor affecting the values and habits that student develops for the rest of his or her life. Another environment with significant causes to students’ mindset as a whole is the entertainment industry. Companies over-advertise greasy and unhealthy foods and school children are extremely susceptible to their influence. Schools need to step up as a positive example in the students’ lives because “Schools are a critical part of the social environment… and can therefore play a large role in helping improve [students’] diet” (Health Guidelines). It is unequivocally vital to understand that even though a child may not eat unhealthy school lunches, the fact that schools established a social norm for serving nutritionally insufficient meals is enough to negatively impact that student’s views on nutrition. Furthermore, the current state of nutrition that school students are getting provides irrefutable evidence that positive influence on students’ nutritional habits is critical. A study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that “Children and adolescents consume too much fat, saturated fat, and …show more content…
"Do Healthy Lunches Improve Student Test Scores?" The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 22 Mar. 2017. www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/03/do-healthy-lunches-improve-student-test-s cores/520272/. Date accessed 24 October 2017.
Baidal, Jennifer. “Protecting Progress against Childhood Obesity - The National School Lunch Program — NEJM.” New England Journal of Medicine, www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1409353. Date accessed 30 October 2017.
"Guidelines for School Health Programs to Promote Lifelong Healthy Eating." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/rr/rr4509.pdf. Date accessed 24 October 2017.
Marcus, Thomas. "School Lunch Programs Might Break Poverty Cycle." Reuters. Thomson Reuters, 23 Nov. 2010. www.reuters.com/article/us-school-lunch/school-lunch-programs-might-break-poverty-cycl e-idUSTRE6AM5PE20101123. Date accessed 25 October 2017.
Jalonick, Mary Clare. "Government Relaxes Nutrition Standards for School Lunches." PBS. Public Broadcasting Service, 01 May 2017. www.pbs.org/newshour/health/government-relaxes-nutrition-standards-school-lunches. Date accessed 25 October 2017.
Sifferlin, Alexandra. "School Lunch: More Schools Need to Use USDA Healthy Food Guidelines."
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.
middle of paper ... ... But after seeing the plight of the current free and reduced system, and looking at how much it would cost comparatively to other government ventures, I understood that universal free could definitely be a possibility and a welcomed change to the current system. Overall, this book was a very eye-opening read that I would suggest to everyone, especially those that want to see school lunches evolve into something awesome not only for children but also for agriculture. After reading this book, I am ready to get out there and try to pursue change in the school lunch system so that my children’s generation can go to school knowing that they will be fed right, responsibly, and without fear of being stigmatized.
Zhao, Emmeline. "School Lunch Rules For Healthier Meals Get Mixed Reviews From Students." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 14 Sept. 2012. Web. 26 Apr. 2014.
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.
“Hope for Childhood Obesity.” The New York Times. The New York Times Company, 6 Aug.
We cannot have a school lunch reform where the needs of all students are not met. If only some, or less than the majority, of students are receiving the nutritional values they need, we need to adapt the reform to further achieve better standards for school lunch programs. For example, after a student finishes their meal, schools could offer a second serving of protein to their students. In effect, this will add a higher amount of calories to the students’ daily diets.
Rhor, Monica. “Schools Programs Lead Fight Against Childhood Obesity”. Houston Chronicle. 21. May. 2012. 14. Oct. 2013. http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/School-programs-lead-fight-against-childhood-3575144.php
"National School Lunch Act." Poverty and the Government in America: A Historical Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2009. Credo Reference. Web. 21 January 2014.
The intake of proper nutrients helps balance the maintenance of bodily functions; supporting the longevity of a healthy lifestyle. (Denton, Carolyn. “How does food Impact Health?” www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu). With constant technological advance in the world, it is important to become aware of how frequent the world changes daily in preparation for self-maturity. What is a more effective way to approach the real world than to have a direct experience? The researcher will address the topic on why community high schools in America should allow its students off campus during lunch. Allowing children to have a better lunch option could help educational strength as well as attend to other essential needs. (Anderson, Melinda. “Do healthy lunches
Unfortunately, in today’s society, school administrators focus heavily on standardized test scores and school rankings thus adding more pressure on students and teachers. This being said, schools have begun to focus on providing healthy foods because they help increase a person’s cognitive and critical thinking ability. It is seen that nutrition plays a great role in students’ performance on exams and physical activity due to the correlation between school provided meals and low student
Some researchers claim that more than 300,000 Americans are dying due to obesity every year and the number is rising annually. That is a huge number and it can be fixed a number of ways but some individuals are lazy some can’t lose the weight because of medical reason. Obesity causes disease from diabetes to heart disease and in some cases death. Obesity in children is growing problems to children who are obese have a higher chance to get diabetes or heart failure. The school environment is one of several settings that can influence children’s food choices and eating habits. Schools can ensure that the available food and beverage options are healthy and help young people eat food that meets dietary recommendations for fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and nonfat or low-fat dairy products.
Childhood obesity is an increasing problem here in the United States. According to Schuab and Marian (2011) “Childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions” (P.553). The prevalence of child obesity and overweight has increased over the last 30 years all over the United States, becoming one of the biggest public health challenges (Moreno, Johnson-Shelton, & Boles, 2013). The purpose of this paper is to give a background of the obesity epidemic, a review of current policy, and make a policy recommendation.
With the implementation of the “Healthy Kids Hunger-Free Act” schools are not serving as many lunches and participation is decreasing. According to the Government Accountability Office (GOA), “Nationwide, student participation declined by 1.2 million students(or 3.7 percent) from school year 2010-2011 through school year 2012-2013, after having increased steadily for many years”(sec. 1). The school lunches became more distasteful and bland; the combinations of foods did not make sense, and the portion sizes decreased significantly. In order to support the cafeteria
One reason our school should get a new lunch menu is many students do not like the food served. For example, a survey was taken and of the 31 students 100% said they disliked the food. As student Bryan Huang said, “The lunches are horrible, they need better choices and more choices.” In other words, the food is not delicious and there are not many choices. Also, when children don’t get proper nutrition they have trouble focusing in school. Most students do not buy lunch because they feel it is unappealing and do not like the food served. Many students go to other kids and ask for food. In addition, many students do not eat breakfast so they rely on lunch to fuel them for the day. But, if they do not like the food served they won’t eat so they starve for the rest of the school day, which can
If changes are made to the school lunches for children, it can help prevent them