One growing problem facing children today is obesity. When young people face weight problems it is often carried over into adolescence and adulthood. It is thought that if children are taught healthy eating habits from a young age then they will have more apt to eat healthy when they are an adult. There has been a greater focus on the nutritional of school lunches. Michelle Obama has joined the battle of obesity war in America by implementing stronger standards in school lunches. In 2010 the first lady introduced the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act. The purpose of this act is for schools to serve more nutritional lunches and snacks to students. When school districts opt to participate in the National School Lunch Program by agreeing to supply children with healthier meals and snacks. They also receive incentives from the federal government School districts are not required to participate in the program. Each district choose whether or not they wish to enroll or not. If they do agree to participate and do not see it to be beneficial they are allowed to opt out of the program. “Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act." Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.” Obesity is a major problem in our nation not only with young, school-aged children, …show more content…
Guidelines for meeting nutritional needs should be followed and a variety of foods, including fresh veggies and fruits, should be provided. Child caregivers can look at each area of menu planning and relate it to the entire day’s menu choices. They should use a checklist to examine if all criteria for food menu planning are met. A caregiver who understands the importance of breakfast, snacks, and lunch will plan more carefully to meet the needs of children in care.” Robertson, Catherine. Safety, Nutrition, and Health in Child Care. Albany: Delmar Thomson Learning, 2002. Print. Page
A national epidemic is occurring, the war between food and people. In the United States, about “32% of children (from 2 to 19 years old) are obese” (Bernadac 1). As the years continue to go on the rate of obese children are increasing as well. In the past the problem did not have much consideration due to a low rate of affected children. Now families are suffering the long-term consequences of having an obese child. Some of those health effects are “Heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, several types of cancer and osteoarthritis” (CDC 1). A problem with this type of drastic effects may have a solution; method prevention for the future generations and correct treatment for those who are already obese can lower the rate.
Below I have made a 5-day meal plan for a group of three-year-old children, I have made sure to include the foods and meals that fall into the CACFP meal patterns (U. S. Department of Agriculture. n.d.). During making this meal plan I had to keep in mind that three-year-old children have a better chance of choking on a food that is bigger than a pea. I made sure I added that there needed to be deiced fruit and soft, appealing foods. Also, being conscious of food allergies that may be present in this group of children. Being mindful of these allergies meant not including peanuts, shellfish, wheat and having dairy free and egg free options for those allergic and those who are vegan. Although a menu is important in a childcare setting it is also
It is apparent that living an unhealthy lifestyle, as well as eating poorly, negatively affects one’s health. From a young age it is quickly learned which foods are considered healthful as opposed to junk food. It is a parents responsibility to supervise the intake of their child's food, however there is a higher risk than ever before of childhood obesity.
Is obesity a disease? This is a question many people have asked. Yes, obesity is a disease; but one essential question many people tend to forget to ask is, “Can obesity be prevented,” or “how could obesity be prevented?” Prevention does not put an end to obesity, but in fact it can decrease a person 's risk of becoming obese. There are many challengers towards the decision to why obesity rates are increasing; many say it refers back to the person’s lifestyle, eating habits, and environment. Obesity should be prevented in a childhood versus being corrected later in life, but in order for obesity to be prevented people must first be aware of the causes then conclude by learning the fundamental factors that play into prevention.
Allowing healthier school lunches will decrease obesity in children because it will give them the proper nutrition to reduce the risk of health issues. Since obesity causes many health issues, maintaining a proper nutrition will reduce the risk of health issues. According to Star- Telegram, a daily newspaper that serves Fort Worth and areas of North Texas states, “[School lunches that have] a meal of pizza sticks, a banana, raisins and whole milk has given way to whole wheat spaghetti with meat sauce, a whole wheat roll green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, kiwi and low-fat milk … This change will help more than 2.4 million Texas students who receive a free or reduced- price school lunch to lead healthier, more active lives—in and out of the classroom”(Par. 2 and 4). School lunches are supposed to guarantee students a well balance meal, so they can have the energy to proceed with their classes throughout the day. Meanwhile, students who receive a f...
According to the Centers for Disease Control, “Childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years,” meaning that America’s children need to start eating healthier, including healthier school lunches. The National School Lunch Act is a fairly recent addition to American society. For, as the world waged war a second time, the United States began to worry about the strength and health of the country’s soldiers. However, in the beginning, selling excess agricultural goods was more important than building a healthy, well-balanced meal for students. Unfortunately, many children coming from poorer families could not afford well-balanced school lunches, so in order to compensate, the School Lunch Program changed its focus to help these students. This program, however, decreased schools’ lunch budgets, and schools had a hard time keeping up with the amount of free meals they had to provide, so they came up with some extra ways to increase revenue. However, in a small town in Massachusetts, one chef makes a difference in the health of the school lunch students eat each day, and proves that hiring a trained chef to cook real, healthy meals can increase profit. Unfortunately, that is not the case in most schools across the nation. The quality of health of the food being served in school lunches is extremely poor and was allowed to decline even more with a new set of rule changes. However, there are some improvements currently being made to increase the quality of health of the food being served to students, including teaching them all about food and its nutritional information, both good and bad. In order for students to eat healthier lunches at school, the USDA needs to implement healthier ...
If you're overweight at 191 pounds, weight loss can not only make you look better, it can also improve your health. Being overweight heightens your risk of various health conditions including heart disease, sleep apnea, certain types of cancer, and high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Whether you need to lose 10 pounds or 50 pounds, the way to go about it remains the same; you must burn more calories than your body uses every day.
School lunches use to be yummy, the favorite part of a child’s day, but now students moan and groan about going to lunch. Michelle Obama changed the guide lines for school lunches since her husband has been in office. She says that starting children out eating nutritious foods could longer there life, 1/3 kids in today’s society are obese or overweight. After Mrs. Obama changed the school lunches from good to healthy the percent in waste went up in schools. Since children aren’t eating, they aren’t getting the nutrients at all. Which is better? Having children eat food that is a little unhealthy or having children not eat at all and waste tons of food. Children around the United States aren’t eating lunch, they changed the standards, became stricter on snacks and now the food doesn’t taste as yummy.
As every U.S citizen knows every child must attend school and get their education. The government on their end must provide their students with a free lunch. Parents/guardians have fully committed themselves to leave their children under the schools protection believing that they will be educated and well taken care of that of course including providing all students with a healthy lunch. Now it has been proven that most if not all public schools across the United States are feeding their students unhealthy lunches that will ultimately lead to them becoming overweight.
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
45, is described as a focus on the well-being of the patient and involving a team of health professionals to provide education and health promotion to the patient and patient’s family and collaborate together to decide the best choices for the betterment of the patient. In our K12 child nutrition program, our patients are referred to as students. Our students range in age from three years old to 18 years old. The USDA federally-funded meals are not a patient-centered type of care as it is a blanket-mandate for all K12 students in the US. Even though this mandate is not patient-centered care, the reason for this mandate is to provide all school aged children access to healthy meals not only during the school year but, also during the summer months when school is not in
America is one of the most obese countries in the world, and the reasons are quite obvious. Take a look around. Fast food chains on every block, more and more technology to make our lives easier, and high amount of stress are just a few factors to weight gain in our country. There are many different views on obesity and how the people think it should be resolved, whether it's government making the change or the people taking care of themselves. Childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and tripled in adolescents in the past 30 years. Are we doing enough to bring these statistics down? No. In the last 40 years, there has been a growth to more than 160,000 fast food restaurants in America (“Adolescent and School Health”). Restaurants (such as Wendy's, McDonald's etc.) serve more than 50 million people per day, generating about 65 million in sales annually. Only since obesity has become a national epidemic have fast food restaurants changed their ways. But we need to do more than just change the kind of oil the french fries are fried in. Better yet, why don't we remove, or intensely decrease the number of the unhealthy fast food chains, and spread more healthy fast food chains, such as Subway? Is it something government could take act in? Should the United States government take measures to fight the rise of obesity in the country, or are choices concerning diet and nutrition better left to the individuals, free of government interference?
Parents are not teaching children how to eat healthy. They feed them cheeseburgers, chicken fingers, and fries. Kids are not being exposed to a regular diet of health fruits and vegetables. Now some people are just naturally overweight, but being “overweight” is not the same as being “obese.” Someone who is overweight has reached a maximum weight limit for their height. When someone goes beyond this maximum limit, then they are considered “obese” (Kiess 1). Research shows that “obesity is generally defined as the abnormal or excessive accumulation of fat in adipose tissue” (Kiess 1). The increase in childhood obesity today is mainly the fault of the parent because they are unable to tell their children “no” when it comes to junk food (Kiess 104). Parents are the one buying all the food that comes into the house. They are the ones buying the sugary drinks and chips. They are the ones allowing the children to “have what they want.” Because parents are not teaching their children how to eat healthy, we will continue to see childhood obesity increase. Unfortunately, overweight children will be the ones who suffer because statistics show children who are overweight are more likely to become obes...
Today I will be outlining my plan to help education parents and children alike on the dangers of childhood obesity. With this plan I hope to better education parents and children on how to prevent and fight this current health issue. As a parent myself I’m very interested in this topic and help solving this situation. This plan will discuss what childhood obesity how we can help solve this problem. With the proper education I feel we all can make better decisions in our children’s lives as well as our very own.
Childhood obesity is a health problem that is becoming increasingly prevalent in society’s youth. For a number of years, children across the nation have become accustomed to occasionally participating in physical activities and regularly snacking on sugary treats. In result of these tendencies, approximately one third of American children are currently overweight or obese (Goodwin). These grim statistics effectively represent all the lack of adult interference, in regards to health, has done to the youth of America. The habits of over consuming foods and under participating in physical activities are all too common in the children of today. Children cannot solve this issue alone, though. These young people need to essentially be given the opportunities to make positive health decisions and learn about good, nutritional values.