Improving School Lunches

Learning at a young age to make good choices in the food you eat is very important. Although kids do have many factors that influence what food they eat and school lunches can play a big part in those choices. The health article I found was about school lunches and the new efforts that have been put in place to help improve the food served to kids. In the article the author talked about how the school that her children attend is different because they are part of the Wellness in the Schools nonprofit program. This program brings in culinary school graduates to help create appealing healthful meals for the students. Another appealing factor to this is that school lunches tend to be priced from $1.25-$2.00. Since not every school is as much as this school in New York there can be down falls to school lunches as well. According to a School Nutrition Dietary Assessment study over 70% of schools meet the requirements for vitamins, minerals and protein; many continue to serve meals high in fat, sugar and salt. Many cafeterias do serve healthy options but along with that they serve items like chicken nuggets and fries and since the kids are making their own choices chances are the unhealthier options will be chosen over the healthy choices. One study even found that 23.5% of high schools offer fast food from places like Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. When I was in high school I do remembering knowing a few people that did have that option which at the time I thought was great but now looking at it from a health perspective I am glad that was not an option at my school because it would have led to unhealthy choices. The good news in this is that the first lady, Michelle Obama has made children’s nutrition a top priority. Currently a bill was passed into Congress called the Child Nutrition Act which if it is passed will give schools more money to spend on lunches making them healthier and banning junk food from vending machines in schools. School lunches can be inexpensive but if they are unhealthy it could lead to a life time of problems for kids when they get older. If you would like to read the whole article click here: school lunches.