Obesity And School Lunch Analysis

a) The motivation is to convince the readers that school lunches have become healthier as to erase the perception that cafeteria food is terrible. As well, these statistics are being used to determine if healthier school lunches "will help ease the obesity epidemic among the nation's children." This study was done as to determine the influence of school lunches on the obesity epidemic and to show whether the government has taken the right approach to lower obesity rates or need to take a different approach.

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School lunch programs need to change, and in order to implement this, “In 2004, Congress required every single school in the district to develop local wellness policies regarding food available in school, nutrition programs, and physical activity programs”(Haugen & Musser,2012). The government was trying to put in place programs to help children be healthy in their food choices as well as ways to get healthy if they were already overweight by incorporating physical healthy programs. Schools need to limit the amount of fatty choices and put more healthy products in their school cafeterias. Nutrition education programs can help students to learn the dangers of obesity and show them that their health is something that needs to be taken seriously

Today one in five school-aged children (ages 6-19) have obesity and people debate over how to decrease this number and prevent it from being more of an issue in the future. School lunches are often brought up in this discussion, some say that by getting rid of all junk food in schools would help decrease the number of obese students and prevent them in future by providing only healthy food options. On the other hand, they say that it's not that simple, the problems are at home and that getting rid of these items could decrease revenues for school activities from those products. Many people believe that junk food should be banned from schools across the nation.

Food and drinks located at school are healthy and state approved. If these students don’t eat our food they’ll eat greasy and fatty food sure to give them health issues. These young teens idea of food is a burger with friends and a large soda; this is sure to get the overweight.

However, despite the successes, the NSLP is also known for inducing blame and stigmatization to its students. According to the SNDA, only 35% of schools meet with the SMI recommended calories. However, the NSLP instead of recognizing that schools are not meeting with the recommended intake because of its overconsumption of commodities, they blame the students and the schools for the lack of healthful practices. For example, Allen and Guttmann (2002) in Neoliberalization from the ground up states how the introduction of the wellness policy under the NSLP recognizes that schools are faulty for nutritional goals and that it should be their role to prevent childhood obesity and other health problems (Allen& Guttmann, 2002) Finally, in his article Competitive Foods, Discrimination and Participating in the National School Lunch Program, Rajiv Bhatia(2011) mentions how the NSLP fails to provide neutral quality services by making the program inaccessible to low income students. According to a 2009 national survey, despite that many schools are eligible for free lunches, only 30% of US schools had participation rates under 25% and only 10% have participates rates of 14% (Bhatia, 2011). In other words, according to Bhatia (2011), despite that many students are eligible for free meals, many are refusing to eat because of their fear of being stigmatized. Having said this, the NSLP fails to meet with the goals of the welfare state. Even though, the NSLP meets with certain goals such as

Over the years, school lunches have become a very large issue in our country. Not only are they disgusting, they are unhealthy and should not be served to anybody let alone kids. In the video, “What’s wrong with school lunches,” led by Ann Cooper, she held several very strong arguments regarding school lunches. Ann cooper made several important points on what is wrong with school lunches. She mainly spoke about how it is very necessary to expose kids to healthy foods, and that we have to teach them why it is so important to consume healthy foods rather than foods that are processed. She explained that the way that all of these unhealthy/processed foods are advertised, play a very large role on not only children’s lives, but also everybody’s

Observational studies were done on school children in kindergarten through third grade. The article explains that the children’s BMIs (body mass index) were measured at the beginning of the school year, end of the school year, and then again at the beginning of the following school year. It was seen that the BMI increase of the children increased twice as much during the three summer months than during the nine-month school frame. This infers that children gain more weight and are more incline to become overweight in their own home environment than their school environment. Sloviter makes a point that this increase in BMI at such a young age will lead to an increased risk for adult obesity. She concludes the article by briefly reminding the reader to remember that there are other factors that contribute to childhood obesity and the largest factor may not be the school lunch environment after all.

In light of the concerns for the future of health in the United States, there have been movements, which in turn ignited sparks to jumpstart campaigns to fight against junk food and obesity. Michelle Obama, the First Lady of the United States, kickstarted a campaign called “Let’s Move” which is dedicated to help solve and reverse the rising childhood obesity rates (Learnthefacts). This movement is all about preserving the health for the future generations. The main goals for this movement is to give parents helpful information and fostering environments that support healthy choices, provide healthier food choices in schools, and to make sure healthy food alternatives are affordable for any family(Learnthefacts). In my junior year of high school,

Nationally, about 17% of people under the age of 20, about 12.5 million are considered obese. School districts that serve students food that are high in calories and fat are to blame for the growing numbers of obese children. Although school lunches provide students food at minimal costs, the poor quality of food served delivers inadequate nutrition and is responsible for the rising numbers of obese minors in the United States. In order to combat this growing problem, school districts must limit student choices in the lunchroom and provide healthier food nationally. Although some school districts may argue this, it is necessary to do so as school districts in Pennsylvania and Mississippi and university studies support this claim.

Today I am here to talk to you about how unhealthy school lunches are. School food is putting a toll on students’ health. The USDA stands for “United States Department of Agriculture“ and reported in 2009, that 94% of school lunches were not USDA approved.” (Wilkins, para 1). Every, two out of three students who eat lunch daily, become obese or overweight. Statistics show that most of these students have higher cholesterol levels than the students who bring their lunch. I first started eating school lunch after my first semester in high school. I used to pack my lunch because I had more time, and it was much better for my health. However, once I got to high school I had a lot of after school activities and homework. Therefore, I did not have a lot of time to pack my lunch. I noticed that I was always feeling stressed and exhausted. I have researched other opinions on how unhealthy school lunch is, and how bad it makes you feel. I wanted to talk to you about the unhealthy diet that the high school serves in the cafeteria because students’ are becoming obese. I know personally I do not want to become obese, and if the school keeps serving unhealthy foods, you will become obese. I hope that you will remember these harmful substances in school food, and choose to take the healthier pathway.( INSERT THESIS)

Teenagers are getting ready for adulthood. As we grow up, we want more and more control over our lives, however we can get it. If we can help plan or prepare meals with youth, we can teach them skills they can take throughout their life. In order for teens to get interested and involved in good eating standards we have to implement some form of course or study. Kids are learning about eating healthy, and then it’s not being shown in lunches. “It didn’t make sense. I was hearing about my health in health class, and then in the cafeteria we would get ice cream and cookies.” (Lunch Hour, 2011) This cycle of hearing about it, and it not being shown will just make it easier for kids to order a pizza instead of making a home cooked meal.

In the United States the increase of child obesity is getting larger each year. Child obesity has more than doubled in children in the past 30 years (Childhood). If this continues this may lead to too many overweight and child obesity problems in the future and the world's population could lead to many overweight problems. Today, about one in five school-aged children (ages 6–19) has obesity. (Childhood) Schools could be part of the reason for this but for now schools should make sure of what they are feeding the students. School is where students spend a lot of the time during these ages and in most schools junk food is easily available to the students. This show what is happening in the students life time and that schools are not there to

In terms, Unhealthy cafeteria food is a problem for countless reasons. Eating unhealthy foods at school at an early age can lead to bad eating habits for the rest of their lives. This leads to obesity in children, and continuing to adults. Researchers have shown currently, over two thirds of states in America have obesity rates for adults over twenty percent and nearly 1 in 3 children are overweight or obese due to an increase in fat intake. The feared “freshman 15” is often discussed among students; however it is not just a weight issue that needs to be worried about (Obesity). As I mention previously, Several dangers are associated with eating fatty foods that do not have nutritional value. It leads to obesity, and the consequences for that besides psychological repercussions can be heart attack, stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes, knee and joint problems, various types of cancer and finally, death (Obesity). Every year in the United States three hundred thousand deaths occur that are associated with obesity (Obesity). This problem that begins with young children eating unhealthy foods in cafeterias needs to be stopped. Ardis, 2011

Junk food, junk food, junk food is around all corners of schools. Chocolate, cookies, soda, potato chips, and Sour Strings may sound delectable to some people, but are they nutritious? Some people wonder if there should be a change. Encouraging exceptional nutrition in schools is essential by reasons of students will consume foods that are better for them, schools will pay less for meals, and fewer students would go hungry.