School Lunches Research Paper

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The most common misconception for school lunches is that the children won’t accept the healthier choices. The children prefer to eat junk food rather than healthy foods. The schools need to start serving something that the children will eat to keep them going throughout the school day. The schools today are working hard to implement these healthier standards but could really use some support. The kids need to eat healthy food to keep up their energy for the rest of the day so they can concentrate on their school work. One of the primary problems with the food offered in school is that it is high in fat and calories. In January, First Lady Michelle Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack revealed the new meal requirements. The new standards…show more content…
The USDA pays schools back about $2.93 per lunch served to children eligible for free lunches and the USDA gives an additional 6 cents per lunch to schools meeting these standards. “My understanding, from a few of the districts that have dropped off, is that their free and reduced percentage could be as low as 5% of the students, which means that all they are getting for the reimbursable meal is 30¢,” says Julia Bauscher, the president-elect of the School Nutrition Association and school-nutrition director at Jefferson County Public Schools in Louisville, Ky. “If they had previously not offered a lot of whole grains or fruits and vegetables, or their students didn’t choose them, there was a significant increase in cost of providing the meals.” (Julia Bauscher, president elect of the School Nutrition…show more content…
Major changes are needed to encourage the health of the nation’s youth and to reverse the growing trends of obesity, early-onset diabetes, and hypertension, among other chronic diseases, in children and teens. The Healthy School Lunch Campaign encourages schools to offer more healthy low-fat, cholesterol-free options, including reimbursable meals and beverages. Principles, teachers, school nutrition workers and parents can help make school lunches healthier by providing quality food and teaching children about the importance of nutrition and embracing a healthy active lifestyle. In one of the most overtly political speeches during her tenure as First Lady, Michelle Obama slammed Republicans for trying to weaken school nutritional standards, one of her key policy achievements. "This is unacceptable," Obama said at a White House meeting with school leaders and experts. "It's unacceptable to me not just as First Lady but also as a mother. The stakes couldn't be higher on this issue," she said, pointing to obesity statistics in both children and adults. "The last thing we can afford to do right now is play politics with our kids

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