Preview

argumentative paper: school lunches

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1356 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
argumentative paper: school lunches
Disgusting Lunches
Everyday thirty-one million kids eat lunch provided by the national school lunch program. Those lunches often consist of canned vegetables, processed meats and sugary drinks. It’s not just in the school cafeteria but in their homes as well. Parents are tired and will feed their children processed food from the freezer or freeze dried out of a box because it is convenient and cheaper than cooking fresh healthy foods. School lunches might not be a serious issue if kids were eating healthier foods at home. Most of the time meals or snacks are full of unnecessary calories, salts, and sugars. Good nutrition and exercise are a crucial component to healthy physical and brain development. Children who exercise and eat healthy are more likely to not have health issues, have a better self esteem, and excel academically. One way to change the way our children eat is to educate our children about healthy eating and the effects of proper nutrition, which should start where our children learn every day.
The ultimate goal of most schools is to educate our children, but this becomes an issue if our children are not getting the proper nutrition. Several studies have shown students that have experienced malnutrition have compromised intelligence and academic performance. Other studies have shown students with low amounts of protein in their diet had the lowest achievement scores. If a child is suffering from anemia they can fall victim to poor concentration skills, irritability, fatigue and lack of attention span. The lack of fruits and vegetables along with shoving a ton of processed foods down our children’s throats for lunch, not only has a huge impact on children’s brain function, but on also on their health.
Education is a key component in preventing a number of health issues including obesity. Obesity is now the most widespread medical problem amongst children. Fifteen to thirty-three percent of children ages six to nineteen are obese. Since the



Cited: " USDA ERS -Child Nutrition Programs: National School Lunch Program." 6 June 2012. Web. 28 Oct. 2012. . Gunderson, Gordon W.. "National School Lunch Program." Food & Nutrition Service Home Page. 21 Feb. 2012. Web. 28 Oct. 2012. . "Obesity In Children And Teens | American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry." American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. Web. 29 Oct. 2012. . "The Massive Disgusting School Lunch Issue." Growing a Green Family“ Green Family Living Year Round. 15 Aug. 2010. Web. 19 Oct. 2012. .

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Fountation, W. K. (2011, August 27). School Lunch Success in Austin, Texas. Retrieved from Whole Kids Foundation by Whole Foods: www.wholefoods.com…

    • 1328 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Man students wish that they could get foods that are delicious and that it fill their stomachs. In the other side, the government wants lunches that are healthy for students. How can this problem be solved in reality? The answer is simple, schools should implement lunches that are delightful and healthy for them. As an example, they should put fruits and vegetables that students actually like. Potatoes, ranked as the most popular vegetable (Ranker, 3), are actually good for the student’s health and they are actually delicious when prepared in mashed potatoes. To add, schools should put salads as an option for the reason that many students prefer to eat salads when offered because they realize it is actually pretty good and, hence, healthy for them. The answer to the pandemic of obesity that is happening to the United States is to offer people a menu that they actually like and they know it is healthy for them. In conclusion, by simply offering students a menu that they will like, and meets with the standards of the government, they can actually learn to live a healthy life that they actually enjoy.…

    • 656 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Saved by the Lunch Bell: As Economy Sinks, School Nutrition Program Participation Rises., December 2008 by School Nutrition Association…

    • 792 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The state of school lunches has been a point of debate for many since Michelle Obama’s Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act signed into law December of 2010, giving full authority to the USDA in setting the nutritional standards for all foods regularly sold in school lunch lines, stores, and vending machines. The law was set to provide additional funding to meet the updated standards, however, the cost was severely underestimated. Using data provided by Medicaid, eligibility for the free or reduced school lunch programs has seen a definite increase, although participation has not (Lee, 2010). In a press release, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius was quoted saying “The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act is a significant step forward in our effort to help America's children thrive and grow to be healthy adults... By increasing the number of students eligible to enroll in school meal programs and improving the quality of food served, this legislation simultaneously tackles both hunger and the obesity levels currently affecting too many communities across this nation.” I would like to draw attention to her careful wording of “...step forward in our effort...” A subject as incredibly important as the nutrition of…

    • 1591 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Legislation authorized funding and set policies for USDA’s core child nutrition programs: the National School Lunch Program, the School Breakfast Program, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), the Summer Food Service Program, and the Child and Adult Care Food Program. For the first time in over 30 years, The Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act allows USDA the opportunity to make real reforms to the school breakfast and lunch programs by improving the critical nutrition and hunger safety net for millions of children.…

    • 799 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Childhood obesity has been called one of the most serious public health challenges of the 21st century. Childhood obesity is becoming a larger problem every year in the US. Nutritional education in schools needs to become more common so we can teach the new generations how to eat healthy to stay healthy. Childhood obesity is a problem not just in our country, but around the world. Detailed nutritional education in schools could help solve this problem by teaching kids how to stay healthy.…

    • 506 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    In today 's society it is so easy to get caught up in the day to day duties of life; people often forget that their eating habits could be the death of them. The children of today are the children of the future, therefore raising them to make healthy eating choices in their childhood could prevent them from becoming part of the 20 percent of children that are obese. Over the past 30 years childhood obesity has more than tripled in the United States. According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, obesity in children is one of the easiest medical conditions to recognize but most difficult to treat. Due to a poor diet and lack of exercise children can run the dangerous risk of heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes which go hand and hand with severely overweight children. Kids who are unhappy with their weight may also be more likely to develop eating disorders. Diagnosing and treating overweight and obesity in children as early as possible may reduce the risk of developing serious medical conditions. In the United States alone, over 300,000 deaths each year can be attributed to this disease (American Academy of Child, 2008). In 2005 a study found that children today may lead shorter lives by two to five years than their parents due to obesity (USA Today, 2011). Overweight children are much more likely to become overweight adults unless they adopt and maintain healthier patterns of eating and exercise both at home and in school. Schools are a major cause of child obesity becoming an epidemic and it is time to take a closer look at how childhood obesity and the school system can be directly related. Removing nutrition in school lunches, lack of education toward…

    • 2570 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Best Essays

    X. The Effects of the National School Lunch Program on Education and Health, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, By: Peter Hinrichs…

    • 4088 Words
    • 17 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Lotus Rental Car Cfo

    • 962 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Greves, H. M., & Rivara, F. P. (2006, January 3). Report card on school snack food policies among the United States ' largest school districts in 2004-2005: Room for improvement. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act, 3.…

    • 962 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    All this is a looming topic because the outcomes have turned out to be quite controversial with citizens, which is expressed in the article, “Parents, Principals Don 't Like School Lunch Rules”. Karen Ball addresses the complaints parents and principals have about the USDA’s decision to limit starch to one cup per week, lowering calorie limits and sodium levels, replacing whole milk with skim or one percent and mandating leafy greens and red and orange veggies. The rules will affect thirty million lunches served each school day in America. Though many support the USDA’s…

    • 1399 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the article “Lunch Lessons by Ann Cooper the author is discussing the rising problem in America with childhood obesity and the connection to the school lunch. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has put out a report stating if the problem with childhood obesity does not get under control by 2018, thirty to forty percent of the children in the United States will be obese. According to the author one major cause of this growing weight problem with today’s youth is the quality of lunch the youth are receiving while in school. Instead of supplying school age children with a healthy and nutritious lunch they instead receive foods that are less expensive and can be served in bulk.…

    • 936 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The biggest problem with school lunches is the meals being served aren’t always nutritious. Eating unhealthy lunches every so often isn’t a problem, but eating them every day for years can have a serious negative impact on kids both mental and physical health. A recent study released by the American College of Cardiology fund that students who ate lunch provided by the National School Lunch Program were likely to be overweight compared to other students who brought lunch from home. In addition kids who ate school provided lunches were more likely to eat fatty meals, drink sugary beverages, and eat fewer fruits and vegetables than their fellow students. Healthy school lunches are significant to children’s mental and…

    • 448 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    School Lunches

    • 848 Words
    • 4 Pages

    When students buy their lunch in a typical cafeteria, they expect decent, put together meals. Students usually see long lunch lines, hear loud talking, and eat fatty and disgusting food. In the lunch rooms I see unhealthy nasty food that everyone eats every single day. I have seen chili that smells like dog poop, nacho cheese that looks like barbeque sauce that got mixed in. Also the burritos tastes like vomit which was as hard as a rock. School cafeterias need to make more edible food and provide a healthier and more delicious variety of food.…

    • 848 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    School Lunches

    • 1372 Words
    • 6 Pages

    First, when parents make their children’s lunches many will have a sandwich which will contain the nutrients of carbohydrates in the bread and protein in the meat. Along with a healthy sandwich many will also pack a fruit as well as a simple desert, such as jello or pudding. This lunch for a child is a very healthy and satisfying one because it contains food from almost all of the food groups. However on the other hand a child that eats a lunch in the school cafeteria may not be getting the same variety in their meal. According to research most of the schools surpass the limit of total and saturated fat contents of meals set by the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the National School Breakfast Program (NSBP) (Carter). When I was a child I know that I did not want to bring my lunch to school because every day I saw the delicious looking food other kids were getting from the lunch lines. However, little did I know that all of the chicken nuggets, French fries, hamburgers, and chicken pot pies were so saturated with fat and grease that I was only possibly hurting myself in the long run. Nowadays more than 25 million students are on the NSLP and about 7 million are on the NSBP (Carter).…

    • 1372 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Childhood Obesity Causes

    • 953 Words
    • 4 Pages

    One of the biggest concerns among health care providers and parents in the last few decades has been childhood obesity. This has caused many problems; among the most concerning is a preventable health problem. Professionals have even considered it an epidemic, which raises even more concern about the future of our youth. It also opens our eyes to see that the problem is much bigger than we thought it to be. The major causes for obesity are the rise in fast food consumption, the popularity of soft drinks, and the lack of physical activity in young children.…

    • 953 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics