Does society know that the government can impose restrictions what students are eating for lunch? What foods do students enjoy eating for lunch? The foods that they enjoy the most might not be allowed to be served in their school cafeteria. The government is finding ways to change cafeteria food to be improved and healthier for the consumers. This will result in improved, healthier lunches and breakfasts around the country.
We have a crisis on our hands with childhood obesity on the rise. Two main causes for the fattening of our children are junk food and sugary sodas. Junk food and soda often take the place of healthy foods in our kids’ diets, something that most school systems should be ashamed of. School lunches are a cause of childhood obesity in America, at least in U-46 schools. In order to put an end to childhood obesity, the schools needs to prepare a healthy yet balanced diet for all kids, by serving them with good food that is full of nutrition.
Lunch is an important meal of the day and many children eat it at school. It helps our bodies and brains grow and develop into the way that they are supposed to by boosting our metabolism and giving us energy for the rest of the day. But it's probably one of the biggest problems in schools throughout America. We are told to eat healthy and good but we cannot always do that with the choices we have at the school. Students are being fed unhealthy lunches at school cafeterias simply because it is cheaper to produce unhealthy processed foods so alternatives and healthier food go away.
We need to stand up for them and get the schools to provide healthy foods. Parents need to be more of a role model to our children and teach them what is healthy and what is not. Two out of three children consume about one-third of their total calories from eating school meals. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 17% of children, ages 2-19 are obese. Ann Cooper says, “40 – 45% of people will be insulin dependent within a decade.
Parents usually seek the easier route by picking up dinners which are super high in carbs and sodium, or rent movies to pacify the kids after school. These are horrible habits that unfortunately will continue to affect society. Being that we are role models to our kids we should implement better habits like healthy snacks, keep healthy foods in the fridge and pantry, always start the day with a healthy breakfast, meals with the family, chew slowly and enjoy the food. In conclusion, parents have the upper hand in shaping their children eating habits and exercise for a longer brighter future. We are role models, something that people seem to forget so let’s act like it and prevent cardiovascular diseases in children.
“Poor School Lunches.” AlignLife N.p. n.d. Web. 01 Nov. 2009 This article covers the poor nutrition in school lunches. It explains that we as parents not only have to fight against the media advertising the junk food commercials, but now we must fight against the public school system serving the poor choices in the school lunches.
Children who live in a low income home are at a higher risk of obesity. The shortage of money that these families experience pushes them to engage activities like buying convenience foods, which usually contain high amount of sugar (AOC). Children with low income families do not have the money to play sports at schools, which is a problem because school sports have an enrollment fee. Another way the family’s economic status can affect childhood obesity is that parents with low incomes usually do not have much education; this makes them less likely to know about childhood obesity and so they ignore
If the kid has no medical reason for gaining weight then it seems acceptable to blame the parents. In the first place, the parents are the ones who buy the fast food for their children; parents are the ones who provide them with the money to buy unhealthy snacks. According to Weintraub, "it's the fault of the parents who let their kids eat unhealthy food and sit in front of the television of computer for hours at a time". Weintraub's point is that children are influenced specially by their parents because they are ones kids live almost all their life with. In consequence, kids are influenced in good ways but mostly on bad habits that their parents teach them.
According to Pierce Hollingsworth (2004), the parents and school should not blame the food marketing for being the main cause of obesity rather than teaching and helping the kids to have good habit of eating. He thought that the responsibilities of the parents and schools were important for educating childhood obesity. However, there are so many problems with his arguments. He did not think about the bad effects of advertising on kids. For example, the food marketing companies usually uses the attractive poster about fast food to get the attention of the kids.
Obesity’s in School lunches “More than a third of the county's children are overweight or obese. As shocking as it may seem, 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 and everyone else’s is at risk but we can change that if we change our choices.