Their futures and everyone else’s is at risk but we can change that if we change our choices. Having more nutritious lunches can have a positive impact on the health of American teens. “More than 76 percent of schools sell soft drinks and sweetened fruit drinks, but fewer than half offered bottles water. Fewer than 15 percent sell low-fat or nonfat yogurt, and less than one third order skim milk. Only 25 percent of schools say they've reduced fats and oils in recipes.” Majority of students eat school lunch 5 days a week.
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 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.
This is due to the fact some of the most delicious foods are the unhealthiest. Because, of a lot of the best foods being the fatty, fried foods that almost everybody loves. The meal programs in schools that are feeding around 32 million children countrywide are having trouble to incorporate the foods children need into good, plentiful meals (Vilslack). The Obama administration ruled fat, sugar, and sodium limits to the lunch line. Instead,
John Doe Beth Eyres Essay 3 – Persuasive 7/4/12 School Lunches Many of us rely on schools to provide healthy nutritious lunches for our children. However, where does the food come from? The food our children eat daily, nine months out of the year is not all that it is made out to be. One in three children are overweight or obese? (www.cnpp.usda.gov) Also, two out of three school children eat what the National School Lunch Programs (NSLP) provides.
(Moffitt, 1995). Being a Dietetics student, I am extremely aware of the importance of nutritious school meal programs because children spend most of their habit-forming years in school. Students need to develop positive breakfast and lunch choices in order to develop and maintain a healthy lifestyle in the future. As I briefly stated before, there have been studies done to compare the students who participate in school breakfast and lunch programs with the students who choose not to. The findings indicated that a surprising number of students do not participate in the programs altogether.
| Evidence | The government has given us the choice to eat what we want but we tend not to eat healthier but only junk food. The federal School was issued a new, healthier lunch dietary guideline. First lady Michelle Obama helps students from Washington with eating healthier in the schools. “Marion Nestle is the Paulette Goddard Professor in the in the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University. Billions of dollars in advertising messages, food sold everywhere-in gas stations, vending machines, libraries and stores that sell clothing, books, office supplies, cosmetics and drugs-and huge portions of food at bargain prices (Par 7).” | Explanation (how it supports your argument) | If they wouldn’t sell junk food everywhere people go.
By doing activities that the kids would enjoy rather than doing activities they don’t like and wouldn’t participate in. In order to slow down obesity in youths in the United States, PE should be mandatory in all schools. If the schools PE programs made the kids stay active they could help overweight kids or kids that want to be in shape lose some weight. Young people are in worse physical shape than earlier generations, according to the U.S. surgeon, only about one half of U.S. children get regular exercise and one fourth does not get any exercise at all. As a result obesity has risen substantially since the 1980’s.
The increase in participation has gone up by about 84% for free and reduced lunches alone. The participation is also rising because it is cheaper for a family to feed their child at school than it is to send their lunch (School Nutrition Association, 2008). The rising rate of participation shows that families are in dire need of assistance. The families are turning to the schools for assistance to ensure that their children have food to eat. Another economic issue that American families face today is being underemployed.
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