This is such a spot-on illustration of a nasty school lunch. Greasy pizza, dehydrated-rehydrated corn, canned fruit cocktail- the whole nine yards. The quality of school lunches at today's public schools is scary! So what is the course of action to get our hot lunches better and kids healthier?
Since obesity and the complications and diseases that come along with being overweight are sweeping across the country, a set plan to improve the food in cafeterias at public schools is imperitive. A recent report published by a research team at Johns Hopkins University predicts that if current trends continue, by the year 2015, 75 percent of all Americans, including almost 25 percent of all children and adolescents, will be overweight or obese (HealthySchoolLunches.com). These are horrifying numbers. The two main components school systems and programs are honing in on are (1) obesity and chronic disease prevention and (2) health promotion and adequate nutrition at lunch time. Ways to achieve this include having vegan, vegetarian, and dairy-free entree options on cafeteria menus or atleast available by request. Further, offering fruits, veggies, and whole grains as an option with every lunch.
If we keep striving to imporve the quality of lunch for kids in the public school cafeteria, then we are making a contribution to a healthy lifestyle for all of those kids. It's critical that we do everything we can to keep the future of this country healthy!
1 comment:
This was such a good topic to pick. I was a senior in high school just two years ago, and they were just starting to make changes then. We had so many more options for lunch choices than there used to be. I remember when I was in elementary school there was either Hot Lunch, Alternative which was usually pizza, or you could have peanut butter and jelly or a bagel. Luckily the options started changing; my senior year there was always a sandwich bar where you could make your own, a salad bar, pizze, some type of pasta, and some other hot lunch choice. The only thing is, even though there were healthier options, it doesn't mean that most of the kids still didn't choose the pizza everyday. You're deffinitly right something has to be done before the situation only gets worse. The bad choices need to be completely eliminated and much healthier options need to be offered. Great topic!
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