Healthier School Lunches: Problem or Solution? Nowadays, School lunch is anything but appetizing. After the introduction of Michelle Obama’s Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, school lunches are now smaller, healthier, and more expensive than ever before. Schools across the country have been forced to provide healthier lunches to their students, but it seems there are more disadvantages than advantages to this plan. The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act was first introduced in January of 2010, more than five years ago. Michelle Obama’s aim with this program was to provide a solution to end childhood obesity, and therefore, the act was born (Obama, letsmove.org). This act limits the amount of fat, sugar, and sodium in school lunches across the country,
…show more content…
Believe it or not, students have even resorted to starting food fights as an act of rebelling against the program. Not only that, but they have even began calling the act the “Hunger, Healthy-Free Kids Act.” The reason for this? Schools are being forced to serve 800 calorie lunches to high school students (Beisser, everydaynutritionalbalance.com). For a sedentary female student, the calories needed to function properly are between 1700 and 1800. For an active female student, the calorie need is from 2800 to 3000. And for male students, both active and sedentary, the calorie need is nearly twice the size. Middle school and elementary students are receiving 750 calorie lunches. That means they are receiving only 50 less calories than a grown teenager. Last time I checked, there was a huge difference between how much an elementary student should eat, and how much a high school student should eat. A 50 calorie difference just isn’t going to cut it. Let’s also not forget about the students whose only meal every day comes from the school cafeteria. Those students have pointed out that the lunch served by schools before the new act was introduced was big enough to fill up their little tummies, but now, those students are going home every day starving. Point is; none of the students are getting nearly the amount of calories they should
Believe it or not, students have even resorted to starting food fights as an act of rebelling against the program. Not only that, but they have even began calling the act the “Hunger, Healthy-Free Kids Act.” The reason for this? Schools are being forced to serve 800 calorie lunches to high school students (Beisser, everydaynutritionalbalance.com). For a sedentary female student, the calories needed to function properly are between 1700 and 1800. For an active female student, the calorie need is from 2800 to 3000. And for male students, both active and sedentary, the calorie need is nearly twice the size. Middle school and elementary students are receiving 750 calorie lunches. That means they are receiving only 50 less calories than a grown teenager. Last time I checked, there was a huge difference between how much an elementary student should eat, and how much a high school student should eat. A 50 calorie difference just isn’t going to cut it. Let’s also not forget about the students whose only meal every day comes from the school cafeteria. Those students have pointed out that the lunch served by schools before the new act was introduced was big enough to fill up their little tummies, but now, those students are going home every day starving. Point is; none of the students are getting nearly the amount of calories they should