Could cutting out junk food in schools make it unhealthier for students? By cutting out junk food in schools, could you actually be making it more unhealthy for students than it would be to keep them? What does this mean? How does that even work, I mean, is it even true? Obesity rates of children in America have increased majorly since the 1980s, and this is a problem. Schools have been blamed for this, and because of it, they are getting rid of any unhealthy foods the schools are selling to students… fundraisers and all. Even though cutting out junk food in schools is the healthier choice, schools should keep them on sale because it helps kids learn responsibility of making healthy choices, it can be used as a treat or reward, and it can also …show more content…
By buying junk food you are giving back to the school and giving back to yourself. You can watch your budget by spending more money on junk food so you can keep your account balanced; and yourself out of debt, which is an important life skill. Some kids don't have enough money to buy groceries and pack a lunch everyday or to buy one from the school's cafeteria, so they talk to the NSLP. “The National School Lunch Program (NLSP) is a federally assisted meal program operating in public and nonprofit private schools and residential child care institutions. It provides nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free lunches to children each school day. The program was established under the National School Lunch Act, signed by President Harry Truman in 1946.” Many schools use the NSLP system, and by doing so families can provide for their children and still save money. But schools need money too, and they get more when students buy junk food from the school. ”Many schools have school stores, snack carts, and vending machines. These places often sell candy, chips, soda, and other junk food. Schools make money from these junk food sales. Snack food companies pay for the right to sell their snacks. School stores and snack carts raise money. Some people say this makes sense. Schools …show more content…
Although it can provoke bad habits and be an unhealthy reward, it will get kids striving to do better. With junk food in schools, kids can treat themselves however they like, but with this comes responsibility and knowing when too much is just too much “If schools don’t sell junk food, kids can buy it somewhere else. Other people say that if schools ban junk food, kids won’t learn to make good choices. After all, kids don’t need to abstain from eating these foods. They just shouldn’t eat them very often.” Says Kelly Brownell, director of Yale’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity. When a kid gets an A on a test or does good on a project they reward themselves with a soda after school or maybe a bag of chips or candy bar during lunch. This is part of what junk food in schools is great for, but you just have to know when it's too much and that is critical to having responsibility. With junk food in schools kids can treat themselves however they like, but with this comes responsibility and knowing when too much is just too much. John Metallo, a retired principal of Albany High School and a former adjunct instructor at the University at Albany and SUNY Plattsburgh, states that, “Kids aren't getting fat because of what they eat in school, they consume most of the food they consume at home or someplace else, like restaurants for example. Based upon a 180-day school year and three meals
Obesity can often be the consequence of living in a household that instill unhealthy eating habits. Schools can be a positive influence on teens early in life so that obese teens can lead into their adult lives with healthier habits. With these healthier habits, they may likely have more energy to become positive influences in others lives to be healthy and be able to do more. If schools can make such an impact on students’ lives, they should try, even if they needed to sacrifice extra money or instructional time. In 2007, there was a study that only one fifth of high school students had eaten fruits and vegetables at least five times a day in a week (Wexler, 2010). While it is unreasonable to force someone to eat these foods, if they are regularly offered as part of school lunches, students may eat them if they have finished the rest of their lunch and are hungry. Schools should be encouraged to even add fruits and vegetables to vending machines for healthier options.
“Studies have shown school organic gardens,salad bars and healthy lunches improve the health and academic performance of young people.”,stated cummins in his text. Andrew P p. Morris, in his article “ Bad-food taxes will clog our economic arteries beyond repair”, states that “ it is no ones business but yours what you eat.” There might be some truth to this but it is shocking on how many people overeat junk food. When advertisements promote healthy food like vegetables and fruits instead of greasy hamburgers and flimsy fries people want to eat healthy . We have let junk food brainwash youths and even adults into thinking that it's okay to eat outside of their home
Children in America are faced with different choices every day. Some of these choices can be either good or bad for them. But these children don't really know the consequences of their actions, but the school does. Schools are serving unhealthy and un properly cooked meals to children every single day. These food companies make big money from these schools because the schools just buy the lunches so the kids will eat something. The schools don't really care what goes into the students stomachs, but as long as the school meets the requirements it's okay. Then the students just eat it because it looks and taste good, but they don't have an idea of what their eating is made out of or where it has been before. The government needs to start making school lunches more healthy for these students, if not then then unfortunately the number of obese children will rise.
One perspective is that schools should keep junk food. First, junk food is a waste of produce. About $3.8 million dollars worth of produce is thrown away every day in schools. According to the article schools say, “Asking for a few small changes to the rules to help schools serve healthy meals that keep hungry students nourished and happy.” Another perspective is that food costs have also gone up.
This results in tiredness and crabbiness. Healthy and tasty food selections should be given during lunch time and are given. Most schools sell food that are popular and interest the students to eat (@Aschenbrenner). Even doctors have agreed that junk foods affect the body in negative ways. So why take the risk and sell them to students? Because the kids want to eat stuff like that. Also, schools’ have budgets. These budgets are to help the whole school get what they need. They have enough money to buy certain amounts of food. The other money goes to the school faculty, maintenance, and campus structure. The school does not have money to serve the entire world or anything. Parents at home do all they can to serve the most nutritious and healthiest food to their kids. The school’s job isn’t to feed the kids but to teach them math, science, ELA, history, etc. All in all, schools and school boards are trying really hard to give students the
Junk food is becoming a problem in many countries in the world, specifically one of them being the United States, in which the health of children doesn’t exactly seem like top priority. While it is true that banning junk food in schools limits the children’s choices in what they buy, this decision can remove a substantial factor to childhood obesity, provide a healthier lifestyle, and reduces the spending of the student. If these snacks are removed from schools and/or banned, it would decrease school spending, lessen the calories the children would intake, and make it easier for children to lead robust lives without snacks. Not only could there be a more efficient way to make money through the use of healthier, alternative options, but
68 percent of students say they buy food from the cafeteria every day. Proper nutrition is tied to better academic performance. This means that kids will not do their best in school if they are fed unhealthy lunches (Black). The unhealthy lunches kids are given at school are the main contribution to childhood obesity. According to scientists, children who eat too much fat, sugar, sodium or processed food and too few vitamins and minerals are likely to develop a higher risk over time for several chronic health problems (Angela). These health problems include heart disease, and diabetes. At this time, more than ever, 55 percent of Americans are obese and 20 percent of Americans are overweight (Three Facts About School Lunches). Many schools offer healthy choices, but they did not decrease the calories in them, and they typically still offer unhealthy snack items (Three Facts About School Lunches). In a school cafeteria with both healthy and unhealthy choices offered to kids, most kids are not willing to choose the healthier choices over the unhealthy ones. So where an apple is avoided and a bag of potato chips is selected as a child’s first choice for a snack
If students ate healthier school lunches, it would result in healthier food choices at home. Children who are provided with sugary, fatty foods at school can develop poor eating habits at home. School lunches that provide more calories than a child needs to maintain their body weight can lead to weight gain and obesity. Overeating can not only compromise the child's health, but lead to health problems in the future. Children who are overweight have increased risks of developing health problems and become obese adults. Healthy lunches with appropriate portions can help support a healthy
There is no denying that this is true, but a school lunch is just one of 3 meals a child will eat during the day, not to mention any snacks that take place in between. The point is that a school lunch might be healthy, but that doesn’t mean the child will automatically become healthier. With lunch being the only meal that can be controlled by the government, it is being taken advantage of. Making 1 meal healthier won’t solve much. Another argument for healthy school lunches is that it promotes academic achievement. Sara Ipatenco of Livestrong.com says that “Some of the choices in the school cafeteria, including cheeseburgers and chicken nuggets, are high in saturated fat and sodium, which can leave your child feeling tired and uncomfortable after eating. This can lead to distraction and an inability to focus in the classroom” which is also a true statement. Even though these lunches might make children tired and uncomfortable, an argument can be made that leaving children hungry and not feeling good after eating something they don’t enjoy could have a similar effect. Being hungry in the classroom can cause a child to lose attention just as much as being tired would be. In neither option can the student properly focus in a controlled learning environment. Teaching nutrition is also a factor involved in a healthy school lunch. But this point isn’t
What is this food doing to our children? The childhood obesity epidemic has increased because of the contribution of junk food that is being served in public schools. It has been found that children who eat fatty school foods are more likely to become obese than those who brought lunch from home. Why is this we may ask has a lot to do with the above student that I stated brought their lunch from home daily. You can count the intake of calories that is in your lunchbox but you have no idea what is in the food from you school, half of the time you will not even know what the food is. Also, the specials that are provided for students on special food days increases their calorie intake as well such as; pizza day or wing day. On these days children have shown to intake more food because these are the days that they provide greasy foods that taste swell and the children like them so they will gravitate to them because they do not have the proper knowledge to know what this food can do to your body.
Schools lunches are not healthy as it causes childhood obesity. Obesity is an unrelenting health problem nationally. Obesity is a problem among adults and children. Research shows that 30 percent of adults are obese and 16 percent of children ages 6-19 years old are obese. One contributing factor to childhood obesity is that children spend majority of the day at school and consume more than half of their daily calorie intake there. All public schools are funded by the National School Lunch Program which annually provides $6.1 billion in total cash payments to local schools^ and an additional $4.7 billion in in-kind surplus food commodities Such as fruit juices and peanut butter(Schanzenbach 685). Obesity can lead to diabetes cancer and other health problems. Schools don’t want to make changes by replacing the bad food with healthier options because they will lose revenue and they don’t want that.
Montgomery County Public Schools have always tried to make students eat healthier. My solution is, instead of laying out sandwiches and fries, perhaps they can put out fruit salad, a meal that contains fresh veggies. The healthier and fresh food the student sees, hey will be more tempted to try it. How can we expect students to eat healthy when we put greasy foods right in front of them? Or foods that don’t really have much flavor because of all the passed changes. Middle School and High School already have installed vending machines, having junk food in the kitchen is just hurting more the
Many people in today 's generation are constantly are craving junk food. It is patently evident junk food plays a major role in the cause of obesity. According to a study called "Psychological science", Obesity leads to numerous health issues including heart disease, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes. The treatment of these health issues cost billions of tax health dollars (Physiological science, 2014). Permitting junk food in schools will cause greater chances of obesity. Students will be heading on a venture. Furthermore, obesity is a continuous major problem since the past several years. In 2010, a 4 year old girl named
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.
Junk food is not good alternative for a meal because it doesn’t give you the nutrients needed and can give you problems with your health.As you can see junk food in school needs to be restricted to decrease the rate of obesity and diabetes.