With the school year approaching fast, the debacle of school lunches being healthy yet tasty will arise again. Just a couple years ago you could walk up in the lunch line to the counter to find, yummy greasy Pizza Hut pizza at least one day a week. The menu changed in 2012 when the nutritional guidelines refined. They required more fruit and vegetables to be served and a switch to more healthy items. The main focus of this change was to target childhood obesity. In order to solve this problem, school would have to switch their lunch programs to be healthier which doesn't come at a low cost if it isn't being used.
The author of this article tackles the controversy over the expenses for these healthier lunches. Some schools are saying that the program is too expensive to run on their own since kids are not buying, therefore they are not using the healthier program. Which at first was not an option, but recently the School Nutrition Association allowed for school to have the right to opt out of the program if they couldn't afford it. Some schools loved the idea of the program and used it as long as they could afford it. Kids on the other hand didn't like the idea so once they heard about the change, they took total advantage of their school's open campus option. Many schools lost money due to this and were forced to not use the healthy program anymore because of expenses. Other schools with lower incomes thrived with this program because they couldn't afford to drop out of the program and run on their own.
Personally, I think that the healthy lunch program is a great idea. Our generation has it too easy. We are beyond spoiled with everything in life. We need to be okay with change even if it doesn't sound good at first. Yes, everyone loves Subway and their grande java chip frappuccinos, but they are spending just as much on those items as they would be at school. We have to be open to new options and find the best in them. It's hard to eat healthy but once you start doing it daily it will become second nature. We won't even know the difference between white and whole wheat bread because we will have only been introduced to one. Even though the meals won't taste as delicious as a Big Mac they will benefit you in the end. You will actually save money from not eating out and reduce the risk of obesity. On an emotional level, this article angered me at points that students were that against eating healthy they were willing to go to crazy levels to find their way around the system. It makes me worried that people are so against eating healthy when it's a serious problem in the world today as child obesity increases.
Hey Gabbie! Great work on your summer blog. You have some really strong responses throughout. I'm glad you took this aspect of the summer work seriously. You're off to a great start-- see you Tuesday!
ReplyDeleteGood topic of choice! I also found it very unsettling, even in our own school, how upset teenagers get when they are provided with healthier options. Should the thought of being encouraged to eat your fruits and veggies really anger someone so much? Many kids believe this is infringing on their "personal rights" (or something) solely because their options are "limited" (which isn't so much true, look at all of the A-la-carte items!). It's saddening that some schools have to worry about the cost of providing a healthier lunch, and I hope there are programs out there that can help less fortunate schools give their students better options. But it's very true that the price of healthy food is a huge turn off to many Americans. To many, it's highly inconvenient to eat healthy (they don't call it fast food for nothing!), and I think that healthier school lunches would give better habits and opportunities to students-- especially those who are not very financially strong and can not afford to eat healthy at home.
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