School Lunches
Many children look forward to attending lunch with their friends and consuming a delicious meal. However, many new standards by the government have stopped children from eating at their schools anymore. School lunches are regulated and planned by the government, causing the school lunches to have inadequate guidelines, which caused Congress to roll back to healthier standards of nutrition in schools.
The government has been involved with the planning and expansion of school lunches since the 1930’s and continues to regulate them today. Most school meals were only funded by the government; however, “most expertise in nutrition and meal planning was nurtured by government research and training,” through nutrition guidelines (Levine …show more content…
Texas City High School is a prime example of the switch of food from the 2013-2014 school year to the 2014-2015 school year. Many students agree that the lunches are not appetizing because they, “lack flavor and substance,” from the following year (Kimling-Charalambous 1, 3, 1-2). One of the more noticeable changes was that the food is, “unflavored, like the mash potatoes, due to the school making or trying to make food more healthy,” but driving more students away from purchasing lunches (Kimling- Charalambous 1, 1, 5-6). Some students and teachers additionally wonder why they can not seem to find nutrition facts on the school’s food. One student noted that there are nutrition facts, “on very few things like labeled and packaged items like milk,” but otherwise, many students do not know what they are consuming (Kimling- Charalambous 1, 6, 1-4). Another change from the following year was the switch to healthier options in the vending machines. Many students disagreed with this change because, “children should have the choice to choose their variety of snacks and food,” and not be limited to granola bars and fruit snacks (Kimling-Charalambous 1, 8, 1-6). Many athletes purchased a delicious variety of snacks before their practices, but this year, they, “took away chips, pop tarts, etc,” causing athletes to walk to the gas station on the corner instead (Kimling-Charalambous 1, 1, 4-5). One superintendent recognized this task and told TIME Magazine that, “school couldn’t be left alone to force students to eat fruits and vegetables, while nothing is done about unhealthy options at McDonald’s or gas stations,” or even in the students own homes (Caffrey 1, 15, 5-8). The changes did not have all negative effects though. One study done at Harvard showed that, “kids are now eating 16% more vegetables and 23% more fruit at lunch,” since they are being
Many children look forward to attending lunch with their friends and consuming a delicious meal. However, many new standards by the government have stopped children from eating at their schools anymore. School lunches are regulated and planned by the government, causing the school lunches to have inadequate guidelines, which caused Congress to roll back to healthier standards of nutrition in schools.
The government has been involved with the planning and expansion of school lunches since the 1930’s and continues to regulate them today. Most school meals were only funded by the government; however, “most expertise in nutrition and meal planning was nurtured by government research and training,” through nutrition guidelines (Levine …show more content…
Texas City High School is a prime example of the switch of food from the 2013-2014 school year to the 2014-2015 school year. Many students agree that the lunches are not appetizing because they, “lack flavor and substance,” from the following year (Kimling-Charalambous 1, 3, 1-2). One of the more noticeable changes was that the food is, “unflavored, like the mash potatoes, due to the school making or trying to make food more healthy,” but driving more students away from purchasing lunches (Kimling- Charalambous 1, 1, 5-6). Some students and teachers additionally wonder why they can not seem to find nutrition facts on the school’s food. One student noted that there are nutrition facts, “on very few things like labeled and packaged items like milk,” but otherwise, many students do not know what they are consuming (Kimling- Charalambous 1, 6, 1-4). Another change from the following year was the switch to healthier options in the vending machines. Many students disagreed with this change because, “children should have the choice to choose their variety of snacks and food,” and not be limited to granola bars and fruit snacks (Kimling-Charalambous 1, 8, 1-6). Many athletes purchased a delicious variety of snacks before their practices, but this year, they, “took away chips, pop tarts, etc,” causing athletes to walk to the gas station on the corner instead (Kimling-Charalambous 1, 1, 4-5). One superintendent recognized this task and told TIME Magazine that, “school couldn’t be left alone to force students to eat fruits and vegetables, while nothing is done about unhealthy options at McDonald’s or gas stations,” or even in the students own homes (Caffrey 1, 15, 5-8). The changes did not have all negative effects though. One study done at Harvard showed that, “kids are now eating 16% more vegetables and 23% more fruit at lunch,” since they are being