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Master the Five-Paragraph Essay

The five-paragraph essay is one of the most common composition assignments out there, whether for high school or college students. It is a classic assignment because it presents an arena in which writers can demonstrate their command of language and punctuation, as well as their logic and rhetorical skills. These skills are useful not only for classroom assignments and college application essays, but even in the business world, as employees have to write memorandums and reports, which draw on the same skills.

Mastering the five-paragraph essay is doable, and here are some tips.

Components of a Good Essay

The five-paragraph essay lives up to its name, because is has five paragraphs, as follows: an introductory paragraph that includes a thesis, three body paragraphs, each which includes support and development, and one concluding paragraph.

Its structure sometimes generates other names for the same essay, including three-tier essay, one-three-one, or a hamburger essay. Whether you are writing a cause-and-effect essay, a persuasive essay, an argumentative essay or a compare-and-contrast essay, you should use this same structure and the following specifics.

Keys to Introductory Paragraphs

Any introductory paragraph contains from three to five sentences and sets up the tone and structure for the whole essay. The first sentence should be a so-called hook sentence and grabs the reader. Examples of hook sentences include a quote, a joke, a rhetorical question or a shocking fact. This is the sentence that will keep your readers reading. Draw them in.

What Makes a Thesis Statement

The last sentence should be your thesis statement, which is the argument you are going to make in the essay. It is the sentence that contains the main point of the essay, or what you are trying to prove. It should be your strongest claim in the whole essay, telling the reader what the paper is about. You should be able to look back at it to keep your argument focused. The other sentences in this paragraph should be general information that links the first sentence and the thesis.

Content of Supporting Paragraphs

Each of the next three paragraphs follows the same general structure of the introductory paragraph. That is, they have one introduction sentence, evidence and arguments in three to five sentences, and a conclusion. Each one of them should define and defend your thesis sentence in the introduction.

The first body paragraph should be dedicated to proving your most powerful point. The second body paragraph can contain your weakest point, because the third body paragraph can, and should, support another strong argument.

Concluding Paragraph Tips

Your concluding paragraph is important, and can be difficult. Ideally, you can begin by restating your thesis. Then you can recall or restate all three to five of your supporting arguments. You should summarize each main point. If you have made similar arguments multiple times, join those together in one sentence.

Essentially, in the concluding or fifth paragraph, you should restate what your preceding paragraphs were about and draw a conclusion. It should answer the question: So what? Even if the answer seems obvious to you, write it down so that your reader can continue to easily follow your thinking process, and hopefully, agree with you.

A Note on Compare and Contrast

Let’s look a little more closely at the compare-and-contrast essay, which is a very common assignment. It can be a confusing one due to the terms used. Comparing two items is to show how they are alike. Contrasting two items is to show how they are different. One way to approach this essay is to make a grid for yourself that compares or contrasts two items before you start writing. Then, write about those characteristics. Do not try to write about both. The name of the essay is actually misleading.

Keep these pointers in mind when you need to write a five-paragraph essay, and your end result will be clear in its argument, leading your reader to the right conclusion. Often, that conclusion is to agree with you, and who doesn’t like to be right?

Essay On School Lunches

Show More The lunches served at schools across the country are terrible. They lack the nutrition needed to sustain a student and they are not very good looking or tasting. The lunches are a main reason why students in America are unhealthy. If the lunches do not taste good or do not make them full, students are going to resort to eating more junk food throughout the day. The foods used are always frozen and prepared. They are never fresh and prepared in the school 's kitchen. If the food was fresh it would taste so much better. School lunches in other countries are years ahead of the one here in America. Lunches in other countries usually consist of fresh local meat, fresh fruits and vegetables, fresh bread roll, and sometimes a little dessert popular …show more content… According to Elizabeth in her article 10 reasons to avoid school lunches like the plague, a burger served at one school had twenty six ingredients. Some of those ingredients lead to an increase incidence of cancer in animal testing. A lot of the meat served at schools would be rejected by fast food restaurants. One Chicago school hand silicon dioxide in a chicken sandwich. For those who do not know what that is, sand, it is sand. Sand does not belong in chicken. School lunches are also jam packed with GMOs. GMO stands for Genetically Modified Organisms. One good example is the corn served. The corn is the only food registered as a pesticide. It is modified to kill the bugs that eat it by making their stomachs blowout (10 reasons to avoid school lunches like the plague). These chemicals can affect children whose bodies and hormones are still developing. The fruits and vegetables served are sprayed with pesticides. Some of these GMOs are linked to obesity and asthma in adults. A lot of the ingredients used can make students ADD or ADHD worse. In an attempt to lower the amount of calories and fat in lunches, schools have made the portions smaller. Being hungry can lead to students not paying attention is class and having behavior outbursts. When students are starving during the day, they resort to bringing junk food from home or buying it in vending

Healthier Lunches In Schools

When picturing school lunches, many people may think of greasy and oily food that is unappealing and unhealthy. Is this a reality, or just a fiction? There is large controversy over whether this view should be altered or not. About 19,000 schools in the United States currently serve fast food in their cafeteria. Since this food is cheaper to make, many schools may find it a better option than healthier lunches.…

Unhealthy School Lunches Research Paper

Everyone has experienced a bad lunch. Lunches can be unhealthy, but that is a person’s decision. Students in public schools are sometimes forced to eat the lunch in the school cafeteria due to financial reasons, but public school lunches aren’t considered the healthiest. Arkansas has been known to serve unhealthy school lunches. Arkansas public school students aren’t receiving healthy lunches because public schools don’t follow the federal guidelines; therefore, it is important that these institutions provide healthier lunches to promote health and wellness for this population.…

School Lunches: An Persuasive Essay On School Lunches

after breakfast comes lunch there a difference between the food that we students eat for breakfast than what we eat for lunch. there is a lot of frozen food that goes on with school for example we eat pizza with alot of grease and theres not a good taste to the pizza. is that pizza healthy for us students I say thats unhealthy. there is much better food to eat that is healthy good food does not have to be pizza chicken and other greasy food.…

School Lunches Analysis

School lunches is a major problem in today’s world. Unfortunately, school lunches has a big issue with health problems such as obesity. All around the world, people are struggling with obesity. It is the national health problem and can kill quite many of people. Obesity is growing and affecting over thirty five percent in the United States, and nearly thirty two percent for children.…

Should School Lunches Be Allowed In Schools Essay

For students who go to college whether they live on campus or they travel from home to school, most of the time they are in a tight budget where they cannot afford to be buying meals every day. They only can eat what is there in their school. Some campuses do not have lunches and only have vending machines. So what good does that food do to them? Others have only one meal a day which involves eating from the vending machines.…

School Lunch In America

School lunch programs claim to have their focus on student health, when really, they are more concerned with cost and convince. To ensure that kids grow up healthy and reduce America’s obesity rate school lunch programs need to provide nutrition education and healthy foods to students. The Article posted on Time “An Abbreviated History of School Lunch in America” by Emelyn Rude this past September shows the way school lunches have been in America since they first became a part of the student’s life. This is interesting because it shows how school lunches started up and how they were originally planned to be, the article says, “These programs were shown to be not only providing growing bodies with nutritious foods, but they were also teaching…

Restrictions On School Lunches Essay

You would think that students would leave lunch with full stomachs and empty trays, but that is not the case anymore. The government has now imposed restrictions on school lunches that has made the food served unappetizing to many students. These restrictions require limited calories, fats, sugars and sodium while emphasizing fruits, vegetables, whole grains, dairy and proteins. This causes there to be very limited tasty options for school cafeterias to serve. Because of this it has resulted in negative responses from students and school districts.…

Turlock High School

The lunch is gross, processed, and full of unnecessary additives and preservatives. The food in school should not be full of ingredients that people can hardly pronounce. Teens need good wholesome food, that makes them feel good, not feeling sick. Teens learn more when they have a good lunch. “If you’re feeling sluggish, eating even a small lunch can renew your energy and help you feel refreshed and ready to take on the next several hours.…

School Lunch Research Paper

Today schools offer school lunches to all students attending public school. Many students can decide whether or not to eat it, but many decide not to eat at all during lunch. They wait until they get home to eat whatever they want. There are many ways to encourage students to eat a good lunch at school. One way that can really help change this issue of students not eating at school is to remove the price of buying lunch at school.…

School Lunches Research Paper

Students come to school to learn, but have you noticed that they have been complaining about their lunches lately? School lunches are all processed meat. Not to mention that they are disgusting. Why do we make our kids eat these disgusting meals? Because some of the food is not well cooked, the food is unhealthy, or the food is just plain out nasty and not enough.…

Argument Essay On Healthy School Lunches

Certain kids have different experiences with their school’s lunches, but it’s safe to assume that the majority of children do not enjoy them one bit. At a school in LA, one child says “The healthier it gets the more disgusting it is” which is just another reason why healthy school lunches are not a good idea. Some children at the school can barely describe what “it” is. Kids want to eat what tastes good, not what tastes like garbage, no matter how good it is for them. It’s not just the taste though; it’s the serving size as well.…

Persuasive Essay On School Lunches

The food that teens and children are served every day is bought from a factory and shipped to the school. What goes on in that factory is a mystery to most. How the food is made and breaded is a good question but all the cafeteria workers know is that it is easy to put in the oven. More information should be provided on where the food that students eat at school comes from. Another problem for teens and kids is the time crunch.…

Argumentative Essay On School Lunch

The term “school lunch,” has had a negative connotation ever since I can remember. There’s much more to school lunch than gourmet salads or mystery meat. All over the United States schools serve lunch to a variety of different students, with different backgrounds, age groups and income. Just in one school the systematic arrangement of the lunch ladies and the policies set in place are just tiny specs of a much larger picture. The fact of the matter is, as children are developing they are being programmed and prepped for the rest of their lives.…

Persuasive Speech On Unhealthy School Lunches

The first point is why there is unhealthy food in school lunches. a) The main reason for this is because unhealthy foods are a huge source of revenue to schools. b) The amount of money a school makes from federal reimbursements and fundraising isn’t enough to suffice their financial costs. Therefore they must rely on competitive foods, which are foods that are sold outside of school lunches.…

School Lunch Essay

School lunches are bad for health reasons essay.

Have you ever taken a bit in your school lunch and just want to spit it all back out? Or how about the little portions you get? These types of school lunches should not be allowed to be given to the students because there are many reasons why school lunches are bad for health reasons. Although the school lunches are supposed to be healthier and better for our well-being, school lunches should change because it’s not very appetizing, there are little portions, and there isn’t any difference in the health level before.

Persuasive Essay On School Lunches

Have you ever thought why you’re school lunch looks so disgusting? Have you ever thought what it’s actually made of? Or why doesn’t this look like the way I ate it at home? For some schools, lunches lack in many different categories from visual pleasure to taste. If the school lunches taste so bad, why don’t we try another way to make them better. For a school in Greeley, Colorado, they’re doing just that. They’re firing up their stoves and are ready to get the ball rolling. There are many reasons on why the school is taking such a huge step backwards. Like, the routine of buying reheated foods and serving them without hesitation. The schools budget cuts or the kitchen being too old and small for the process of preparing such foods. As well as, the list of ingredients that do not need to be in the foods and the risks of diseases/bacteria in the reheated lunches.

An Open Campus Lunch Program Essay

The lunches served in Frederick County Schools, and Urbana High School in particular lack nutritional value and are unappetizing. When interviewing Casey Ballow (a student who buys lunch everyday) about whether the school lunches are nutrional she said “The majority of students walk out [of the lunch line] without the most nutritional part of their lunch”. FCPS has made snacks whole grain, which usually makes them less tasty. Packing a lunch is a hassle because it is both time consuming and expensive, not to mention you cannot bring any warm foods. When asked why Casey chooses to buy a lunch, despite getting “soggy chicken patties and burnt french fries” she said “Buying a lunch saves me time in morning”. There is not a wide enough selection of lunch foods for students.

Fremont High School

With “rat droppings being recorded in the bins and drawers of the high school’s kitchen,” I think it’s safe to say that my high school has never had this bad of a problem in the school’s cafeteria. With that being said, we have had some negative situations with our lunchroom. The biggest problem we had was in my 10th grade year when we had our modified block schedule and some of the lunch classes fit in the time frame of our school’s bell schedule. This caused for some kids not getting to eat or being tardy for their next class.

How Have School Lunches Changed

How many people here sometimes look at the school lunch and say to yourselves, "What is it?" Most of us would agree or that if not most of us would. After getting lunch, do you just throw the food away after getting the lunch right away? You might just bring your own lunch because the school lunches have changed? Also you might have a problem with the lunch menu being messed up? The cooks with the lunch should be able to make better food than what is currently being served.

Crownover Middle School Executive Summary

Nurse Munsey indicated that the two main nutrition-related concerns for the Middle School as a whole were proper hydration and eating breakfast. She noted that it was common for students to come to her office feeling sick or having headaches due to dehydration or not eating breakfast. She estimated that around half of the students probably did not eat breakfast on a regular basis. Additionally, she suggested that information about a well-balanced meal that provides variety and proper portion sizes would be beneficial to all students.

No School Lunches

Students are posting their anger over the program using Twitter at “#ThanksMichelle.” this shows that half of the people think we would keep the lunch and it's delicious , but half think that is awful , nasty,and not healthy for us.

School Lunches Research Paper

According to Dr. Tatia Prieto “school lunch is like taxes no one ever likes it”. Of those students who did eat the food “only 13% said that the food taste good, compared to the 54% of school staff and 47% of parents”. This quote states that mostly everybody thinks that the school lunches aren’t good and only a little percent of students think it is. Some students need the school food to give them energy and get them through the rest of the day. But if the school food doesn’t taste good then the students aren’t going to want to eat it.

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

Change School Lunch

Next is it being a waste of time fixing the food. It is a waste of time because it is not getting eaten by the students. The reason why it is getting wasted and thrown away is because they do not like the food you switched it to. Some people may believe that it is a good idea to change school lunch because it would be better for everyone. However, it is not a good

Why Students Should Go Back To School Lunches

Kids don’t like school lunch. It tastes bad and we don’t get the “at home feel” when we eat it. Kids should be allowed to leave school as long as they are back on time. School lunches are proven to be unhealthy. Students aren’t as active if they eat school lunch.

Should Schools Be Forced To Have School Lunches

Do you ever receive a school lunch and are disgusted by the quality of it, wish you could have the power to change the school’s lunch schedules, or want to stop eating lunch all together? Well, you are not alone, because most students feel the same way! Seventy-seven percent out of 1,300 high school students surveyed, say that they do not like school lunches, and half of students reported that they ate school lunch two days a week or less. However, this could be changed by providing students with a wide range of foods, including those being high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and beneficial vitamins that students need to grow and develop. So, should schools be forced to serve students healthy lunches?

The Change Of School Lunches And Open Campus

Personally, I have talked to several different people and all of them agreed that our lunches could be so much better. One preventions for this problem, would be to have a bigger selection of food and better quality. To have a better selection and better quality of food, the school could consider getting a different food supplier for our whole school. Another prevention for this problem would be to have an open campus. Open campus

Personal Narrative: Why Schools Need A Better Eating System

I believe that this school needs a better eating system. There have been multiple times I have seen raw, pink chicken. Along with those greasy, canned vegetables! It will not help us grow.

Lunch Time Essay

To unwind from tests, teachers, school work, and learning. All those subjects are very stressful in a young teenager’s life. Our lunch hour is the only hour from 8:00 a.m. to 2:50 p.m. that we have that we can just get away from school, and relax and have fun.

Why Do Students Should Have More Time to Eat Food?

In school did you ever have the feeling that you had to quickly eat your food and then feel hungry only a few hours later? This is happening to many students across the nation. Students have to hurry to eat their food, which then causes their hunger to arise towards the end of the day, and sometimes distracts them from their work. Many schools are looking to change their lunch periods, and for the better. School lunches need to be on average longer across the nation, allowing students to socialize and take a break, eat healthier meals, and ultimately improve test scores.

One might object that a longer lunch period just means more time to socialize for students, they will be unproductive with their time. This is an understandable concern, however, at my high school we had an hour long lunch period, which we ironically called NEST because we were the Seahawks. An hour for a student means they can do various tasks, and for us students we had our lunch periods planned to a T. During this time, teachers would have the first (blue block) or second half (silver block) open for students to get help, makeup work, or redo work. Clubs had meetings, instead of after school because many students could not find rides. We even had detention during NEST. A student could earn a NEST detention because they are late to 3rd period. Since we have so much time to get to our 3rd period which was after lunch. Anyone could catch up on their homework and get help from their peers, all while eating their lunch. There were shows, assemblies, and various sources of entertainment that took place during our lunch period. Our hour long period not only allowed us to relax from classes, but also seek out help without worrying if someone could pick us up or sports interfering after school.

With a long lunch all students eat lunch at once, meaning that a student could socialize with anyone. People can find new friends or do not have to worry about if their friend has the same lunch as them, because everyone is together at once. Students also have time to meet to do projects together instead of meeting after school. In his article ‘Longer Lunch Periods Help One School Get Ahead', former high school principal Kenneth P. Nye wrote, "not only would students have time during the long lunch to meet together, but also, so would we (teachers)" (2001). This time is beneficial for teachers as well because they have a longer break to eat and catch up, along with having meetings with other teachers or administrators during the allotted time. A longer lunch supports everyone to accomplish something other than sit and learn or stand and teach for seven hours, five days a week.

Short lunches for students who do not pack lunches have a short amount of time to wait in a long line to get their lunch and then sit down and eat all their food. This process has to be done on an average of 25 minutes for high schoolers. During this small amount of time, students are not eating healthy food. In her article ‘School Lunches are Too Short. And That's a Problem', Holly Korbey explains, "A 2015 study conducted by Harvard School of Public Health found that students who had less than 20 minutes to eat ate significantly less of the healthy food on their plates" (2017). Eating a fresh salad would take more time than to eat a microwaved pizza or chicken nugget. Eating a whole apple would take longer than to eat applesauce. There is more chewing involved with nutritious food, taking someone longer to eat than the average, unhealthy school lunches.

Not only does a longer lunch promote healthier eating, it also improves test scores. In his article ‘Does Eating a Good School Lunch Make You Smarter?', Adam Voiland says, "showing that improving the nutritional quality of school meals bolstered the academic performance of students over a two-year period" (2008). With regular school lunches, which contain extreme amounts of sugar. A lot of sugar means that students become hyper and then crash, becoming, tired and do not pay attention in class. In the article ‘Do Healthy Lunches Improve Student Test Scores?', Melinda D. Anderson quotes Professor Sean Patrick Corcoran, "Students who eat regular, healthy meals are less likely to be tired, are more attentive in class, and retain more information" (2017). As before, without the unnatural sugars in their meals students perform better. Even eating a healthy lunch would encourage a student to eat a healthy dinner or snacks as well. The healthier options allow a student to sleep well at night, and makes a student feel overall better about their body and mind.

Lunches need to be longer for every student, but especially high schoolers. Creating a longer lunch has many positives that encourage students to be at their best during the day while they learn and take tests. With a longer lunch, students no longer have to worry about being hungry after eating or in some cases, worry about having to stay after school.

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The School Lunches: Main Challenges

Introduction.

Proper nutrition is an essential element of the correct development in children, and since they spend a considerable portion of their days at school, meals there must be well-balanced. In other words, school students must have access to quality food while in school to ensure that all of their nutritional needs are met. Nevertheless, school lunches are often criticized for failing to comply with the existing dietary requirements intended for children. For instance, research demonstrates that school lunches of middle-school students did not meet the criteria established by the Institute of Medicine (Cullen et al., 2011). It is clear that such news must raise the concern among all stakeholders of the education system, especially parents and agencies tasked with overseeing the school menus. As a result, a comprehensive program has to be introduced to reform the current approach to school lunches. The central element of the proposal to change school lunches should include the introduction of mandatory schools compliant with the recommendations of the National School Lunch Program.

Discussion Section

Background information of the topic.

The problem of the nutritional value of school lunches has always been a topical one, but in the last two decades, it became particularly prominent. Today, there are multiple alternatives to healthy meals which provide the same amount of calories. Moreover, occasionally, foods consumed by students exceed their caloric needs by a considerable margin, especially in the case of burgers, potato chips, and chocolate bars. Such high-calorie meals, despite providing students with more than enough energy, do not satisfy their nutritional needs. For example, in 2008, researchers assessed the content of school lunches in the United States and discovered that children did not eat enough fruits and vegetables and consumed more saturated fat than recommended (Woo Baidal & Taveras, 2014). Such evidence shows that students do not have access to foods which would be both nutrient-packed and healthy.

Since the problem of poor quality of school lunches has been in existence for several decades, the government has introduced several regulations in this sphere. For instance, the government subsidizes the National School Lunch Program, which provides free meals to students from low-income families, and in 2010 it was revised to ensure that it met the national dietary guidelines (Woo Baidal & Taveras, 2014). Yet, the problem is that despite all of its advantages, the program does not cover all schools in the country, which leads to thousands of students being unable to eat properly.

The Problem/Need

The current challenge concerning school lunches is the necessity to ensure that every student eats healthy meals and does not consume goods which have low nutritional value. Essentially, each serving for students must contain fruits, vegetables, whole grains, milk, and meat since these foods have a proper balance of nutrients. Additionally, currently, even if students receive healthy lunches, they still have access to products which have high caloric content but do not provide value, such as potato chips and sugary drinks. Such a situation is possible because schools often give contracts to companies which manage vending machines. As a result, students can buy themselves any product they want using these machines, and they often contain unhealthy food options.

Schools also hire contractors to deliver lunches to students, and as a result, the power to create menus belongs to the external companies. In other words, schools often cannot influence or in any way correct the food options presented to their students. In 2017, the USDA published a report which showed that all school children’s nutrition was not consistent with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The average Healthy Eating Index score among school students was only fifty-eight out of a hundred (Vernarelli & O’Brien, 2017). Thus, the problem exists with the lack of healthy food options for school children, which negatively affects their well-being and leads to obesity.

The Proposal Topic

Thus, the aforementioned problem can be solved with a comprehensive approach which must involve the mandatory adoption of standards outlined in the National School Lunch Program by all schools in the country. In other words, every school must ensure that the menus available to students at the cafeteria comply with the recommendations developed by the Institute of Medicine. Schools must track all the changes in the dietary guidelines for school children provided by the Institute to be able to update the menus. As mentioned earlier, currently, students do not receive enough nutrients in their lunches and consume unhealthy foods, which eventually contributes to the growing childhood obesity (Woo Baidal & Taveras, 2014). Thus, to resolve the problem, schools must introduce the National School Lunch Program, which has to become the only option for students.

Additionally, the government must increase its funding for the National School Lunch Program to cover as many students from low-income families as possible. The authorities also can provide additional subsidies to reduce the average prices of meals under the National School Lunch Program. Moreover, schools have to remove any vending machines from their premises and exercise full control over the menus offered by the contractors in order to correct them and introduce necessary changes.

Benefits of the Proposal

The National School Lunch Program has already proved its effectiveness in different schools across the country, and there are numerous studies which measured the effects of its adoption. One research showed that children eligible for low-cost who did not participate in the National School Lunch Program consumed more saturated fat, energy, sodium, and added sugars than those who did (Vernarelli & O’Brien, 2017). Such evidence indicates that the issue of poor quality of school lunches is not based on the lack of funding since the national program proves that healthy meals can also be low-cost. School lunches constitute a proper alternative to meals obtained from other sources and can ultimately contribute to the effort of reduction of childhood obesity.

Moreover, there are studies which assessed the effectiveness of mandatory standards for school lunches which demonstrated positive results in favor of the aforementioned proposal. In the United Kingdom, the results showed that children who ate school lunches had a higher intake of vitamin C, protein, energy, Zn and Fe, and folate (Pearce et al., 2013). The experiment proved that it is reasonable to introduce mandatory standards for schools in terms of the food they offer. Overall, such requirements will help to ensure that children do not consume any food detrimental to their health.

Steps to Make it Happen

The introduction of a mandatory program in all schools in the country requires active participation on the part of both the federal and local governments as well as schools. The first step necessary for implementing the proposal is the passing of the act by Congress, which would provide the legal framework for the national mandatory school lunch program. Essentially, the government must adopt a law which would force public schools to implement food-based standards for meals in their cafeteria. The government must also allocate substantial funding for the program to make school lunches affordable and even free for children from low-income families.

The next step is the enforcement of the act’s provisions by the state and local governments which have to ensure that the schools comply with the law. Local agencies have to monitor whether the schools offer menus which meet the criteria of the national program. Finally, schools themselves have to hire contractors capable of delivering lunches which have the required nutrient content. It is clear that offering one type of lunch for all students is not the right strategy; therefore, schools have to maintain a variety of foods and let children choose their favorite meals.

Conclusion/Recommendations

The problem of poor quality of nutrition among school children can be resolved with the help of the mandatory requirements for school lunches. Currently, a substantial number of students in the United States do not consume meals which could meet all their dietary needs. Existing research showed that the students enrolled in the National School Lunch Program had better diets and extracted more value from their food. Essentially, the government must pass laws which would make the National School Lunch Program and its recommendations applicable to all schools in the country. As a result, schools will have to provide meals to their students compliant with certain dietary requirements ensuring high nutritional value. Additionally, schools must remove all vending machines from their premises and allow students to choose from a variety of foods. Local governments must establish control and task certain agencies with monitoring the menus at schools to enforce the law effectively.

Cullen, K. W., Watson, K. B., & Dave, J. M. (2011). Middle-school students’ school lunch consumption does not meet the new Institute of Medicine’s national school lunch program recommendations. Public Health Nutrition, 14 (10), 1876-1881. doi:10.1017/S1368980011000656

Pearce, J., Wood, L., & Nelson, M. (2013). Lunchtime food and nutrient intakes of secondary-school pupils; A comparison of school lunches and packed lunches following the introduction of mandatory food-based standards for school lunch. Public Health Nutrition, 16 (6), 1126-31. doi:10.1017/S1368980012003928

Vernarelli, J. A., & O’Brien, B. (2017). A vote for school lunches: School lunches provide superior nutrient quality than lunches obtained from other sources in a nationally representative sample of US children. Nutrients, 9 (9), 924. doi:10.3390/nu9090924

Woo Baidal, J, A., & Taveras, E. M. (2014). Protecting progress against childhood obesity — the national school lunch program. The New England Journal of Medicine, 371 (20), 1862-1865. doi:10.1056/NEJMp1409353

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School Lunch Essay

No lunch left behind: a theoretical analysis.

Fast food chains tend to always make their prices cheap and try to give the customers more bank for their buck, yet those calories aren’t helping one bit. People would think it’d be healthier to eat at school, though many students don’t like the school food and choose not to eat, therefore being hungry all day, disturbing the ability to pay attention in class. A student is expected to put their 100% in doing their best in school, with that said, if one does not have meals that energize them to keep going, how do teachers expect

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When the school had change the cafeteria menu to a healthier menu I was mad because the healthier food taste nasty ,and I barley ate which mean I was getting dizzy at practice because I didn't eat a lot in school. Schools shouldn't change the cafeteria menu because kids will bring their own lunch to school instead of buying it, some kids will protest on the change of the school menu, they will be very cranky if they don't eat and might pass out. The fist reason why schools shouldn't change the cafeteria menu is because kids will start bringing their own lunch to school. If the kids start bringing their own lunch, the school will have less money to do stuff.

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Determining the healthiness of food being served to students during school lunches is a very important subject. Although eating healthy is important it should not be the only factor contributing to whether or not taking away students favorite school lunches is beneficial. I don't believe that it is a good idea to take away students favorite school lunches and replacing them with all healthy foods is a good idea because of these three reasons. One, the cost of the healthier food, two, the student environment and mood of the school, and three, the fairness to the students whose only meal is the lunch they receive at school.

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ROUGH DRAFT For the past few years in the United States school lunches did not have healthy programs that could help kids with their nutritional balance, now in days the government create a new program that can help school to have a better nutrition. School lunch’s in the United States need to be healthier, they are critical for the wellbeing of the majority of people from 6 to 18, and also set the pattern for a healthy life style throughout adulthood. First, in the United States most of the children’s need to be healthier because the food they consume is the energy they need for the rest of the day “when children’s don’t eat healthy lunch, it is harder for them to concentrate at school and to master the energy for after school activities

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The school lunches impacting more than just the schools money, it’s impacting the students education and after school activities just like sports teams. First of all ,students are getting bad grades because they aren’t eating anything at school because the school lunches are disgusting. For an example, in a Perspective Flip Book called “School Lunches: Healthy Choices VS. Crowd Pleasers” it states:“The new dietary guidelines left

Changing School Lunches Research Paper

Every day students enjoy their lunches at school. They always enjoy eating their delicious meals where they have the option to chose what they want. If their lunch is changed then their options will be limited. Changing the lunch to be healthier will not be something that will be very great for our school. If the school lunch is changed then some of the students that are larger could not get the nutrition they need and hurt the ones that really need those extra calories.

Changing School Lunches

Although you may think that junk food is good for your body and doing you justice, but it's really not. It's the healthy foods that are doing it such as; vegetables, fruits, and milk. Fruits and vegetables when eaten, give kids the right nourishment

Change School Lunches

I believe that the lunch menu at schools should not change to a more healthier lunch. In fact, it would most likely cause a lot of issues between parents and the school board. Students would not like the fact that all their favorite foods are gone. Also, students would start packing their own lunches at home and bringing their packed lunch to school. Some kids might just go without eating all together.

Persuasive Essay: Should School Lunches Change

In conclusion schools should not change the lunches because they don't have the power to tell students can or can't eat, they don't have the time and money, and finally because they are not allowed to put a limit on how much a student can eat due to the “No Kid Hungry

Research Paper On School Lunches

Not necessarily things to make you want to eat school lunch, but could possibly change your opinions on it. Schools cannot put more nutrients than required, therefore if they do they could get in trouble because it is a required law to be followed. “These federal rules say that a school lunch can 't provide more than 30% of a child 's daily requirement of fat or 10% of saturated fat. Further, the lunch must provide at least one-third of the child 's daily requirements of protein and vitamins." (Healthy Lunches) "Researchers have found that students are better able to concentrate during the afternoon if they have eaten a well-balanced lunch that provides sustainable energy (unlike quick fix snacks such as candy bars or soft drinks, which lead to a rapid rise and fall in blood sugar levels).

Changing The School Lunch Menu Analysis

Changing the school lunch menu might eliminate some favorite lunch items but it would increase health in students. A new lunch menu is a good idea because it offers healthy and new choices for students and teachers. Changing the school lunch menu will have a good effect on students who are vegetarians. Some students are vegetarians and they don't have a lot to choose from at school. With a new menu Vegetarians or even students who cant eat some things due to religious values will feel more comfortable going to lunch.

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However, the provision commodity foods may have unintended financial consequences for schools that ultimately have an impact on school lunch nutrition,” was said in, “A Comparative Cost Analysis of commodity foods from the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the National School Lunch Program,” by Cora Peterson. The food schools get from other places cause financial problems. If the students could go to town to buy their own lunch from places they would prefer to eat, this should not be a

Healthier School Lunches Essay

Yes we most definitely have healthier school lunches there would be no more bullying,active kids, and no obese kids. It would be amazing if the school lunches could be healthy. It would also be a life changing thing for all of the obese kids in the world. There are many kids in the world that are obese. We don’t need school lunches making them obese to.

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Imagine a school that has multiple healthy school food options, that is worth standing in line for. I think that all schools should have a healthy school lunch. It's very important to have nutritious school lunches so that we can be healthy and have energy during the school day. I think we should have better and healthier school menus. Our school menus are very high in cholesterol and saturated fat.

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What are our kids eating while at school? This topic is important to me due to my kids starting kindergarten this year. After my daughter came home from school and informed me that her lunch served to her in the cafeteria made her “tummy” hurt, I decided to ask around about the food they serve. After talking to a few moms, who by the way are on the school board insisted that I pack her lunch every day because the food is absolutely disgusting and far from healthy. One mom told me she refuses to allow

School Lunch Research Paper

Finally, after such a long morning it’s lunch time. I can’t wait to sit down to a meal with my friends, I'm starving. You walk into the lunch line and see that the lunch is nasty. You are so bummed that it was finally lunch. This wouldn’t happen if students were given more lunch choices. So much food is wasted because most students don’t like the school lunches. According to town times, 24 to 35 percent of the food that the cooks make is thrown away everyday. That is a huge waste of money.

There was a time when school lunch to be amazing and they would give students things like cookies and cupcakes. We even got ice cream sometimes, but now all of that has changed. Over the years, school lunch has gotten healthier and since then, students haven’t been buying lunch as much. From what my surroundings majority of the students don’t eat school lunch, so by making school lunch healthier, they won’t buy lunch as much. The school cafeteria shouldn’t change the lunch menu because more students

School Lunch

The students of our school should rally together and hang the cooks in the Cafeteria. Well, maybe that is a little too dramatic, but something has to be done about the school lunch. The stuff that they serve the students is truly awful. Students should not be forced to eat in the cafeteria because the meals are not prepared well, there are foreign objects in the deserts, and many kids have gotten ill after eating certain items. Initially, sometimes the lunch is left over. To know if it is left over

The National School Lunch Program

The National School Lunch Program serves over 30,000,000 children across the nation, in comparison to the School Breakfast Program which serves around 11 million kids each day.1 For many, these two meals may be the only healthy meals they eat all day. Proper nutrition has the power to make or break a child’s development. Often, children who lack proper nutrition have trouble focusing in school. Research shows that children who eat a nutritious meal everyday tend to excel more in school than their counterparts

School Lunch Program Analysis

Since 1943, The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) has offered school age students in public education, access to nutritious breakfast and lunch meals every school day in an effort to decrease food insecurity among children in the United States (US). (Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (79 P.L. 396, 60 Stat. 230), (Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act (2010). The United States Department of Education (USDA) oversees all federally-funded meal programs, then, each state is responsible for overseeing

School Lunch Shaming Is Wrong

“A school lunch costs around $2.35. When a kid doesn’t have enough money, many schools require cafeteria workers to take a kid’s tray of hot food away and throw it in the trash. Children are then handed a cold cheese sandwich- or they are forced to go hungry with no food at all” (Heather Long. “No one believes we do this to kids: Will Congress end school lunch shaming? CNNMoney, 2017). No one believed this was happening to the kids in the cafeteria. “After CNNMoney published a story on school lunch

National School Lunch Program

and availability, it is hard for schools to provide fresh fruits and vegetables to the children. The Fruit and Vegetable Access for Children Act proposes federally funded programs to allow fresh fruit and vegetables be substituted with canned, frozen, or pureed versions. This substitution is supposed to decrease food waste, hardship of administration, and budget costs while still having the minerals needed.19 Schools that participate in the National School Lunch Program, spend 82% of entitlement

Persuasive Essay On School Lunch

The most common problem in today’s world in the schools is the lunch program that they now have. Students in which are currently complaining they are not receiving enough to eat at school. Kids do not like the fact that there is no other food choices to pick from anymore. These students are hardly feeling full from these meals. These young age children, and teenagers are required to be receiving the right amount of food. So that children, and teenagers are acquiring the required amount of nutrients

Essay On School Lunch Plan

During the years that I have been at Corcoran High School , I have noticed that the food the District has been serving us is not really good. The food at CHS and the rest of the district is bad and not just in taste, but also in nutrition and appearance. I have also noticed that the portions of foo d are also not satisfying to some students making some of the students go to class still hungry. The District needs to realize that the food that they are serving their students is not good and they need

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government and the National School Lunch Program should change the school's breakfast and lunch suggestions. Our school's are being fed processed food, bad vegetables, and fruit that tastes like alcohol. School breakfast and lunch are no where near to being considered as healthy and take part in bad health issues. The government and the National School Lunch Program need to take responsibility in these problems and needs to work towards promoting , not only a healthy breakfast and lunch for the students, but

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mainly caused by the schools providing junk food as options to eat at lunch. The school should still be able to provide junk food for the students to eat at lunch.Yes the food may cause health problems, but removing the junk food could also cause other problems. Like how the students may not want to eat the healthier food which would cause more problems to the students and their parents, that the school may not provide what the kids need to eat at lunch, and that the school could lose money if it

buy lunch. The lunch is burnt and cold. You see the kids who bought lunch sit down and start asking people for food, they say no. At the end of the lunch period the kids lunch trays still have all the food on them. The children are starving and a lot of food was wasted. You don’t want that right? I believe that our school should get a new lunch menu because many students do not like the food served, there are not many options, and there are many problems with the food. One reason our school should

School Lunch-Shaming Argument Analysis

When elementary school lunch room staffer Stacy Koltiska was forced to throw away a young boy’s lunch because he had a negative balance, she said she would never forget the look in the little boy’s eyes, and resigned from her job out of a moral obligation. Koltiska commented: ““There’s enough wealth in this world that no child should go hungry, especially in school. To me this is just wrong.” While many of us in this classroom may never have experienced being denied a school lunch, less fortunate

High School Lunch

last lunch of the day, and therefore the least amount of food to choose from, my tablemates established an informal, unspoken rule where we could leave at 12:23 as long as we had no reason to be in class. Also, we were on the other side of the school and would, therefore, lose out on getting a seat at the table. That day, I decided to wait until the regular 12:28. I lost the pizza and the seat. Of course, there were more profound incidents of lunchroom diplomacy. In fourth grade, hating school was

The Benefits Of School Lunch

the Menu Lunch is ordinarily the favorite part of a person’s day, especially during school. Lunch is mainly spent with friends socializing with one another while eating. Several of lunch table conversations include discussions about the food one is eating and how delicious or horrible the lunch is. The school lunches in Terre Haute high schools and at Indiana State University are either very unhealthy or undesirable for students to eat. While in high school in Terre Haute eating at school is a choice

National School Lunch Act Case Study

In 1946 President Harry Truman approved the National School Lunch Act. This law provides free or low-cost, nutritional meals in education or childcare areas. This law has helped many students eat during the school days Unfortunately sometimes there are mix-ups and paperwork gets lost, like Caitlin Dolan from Cannonsburg. Her lunch was thrown away in front of all of her friends and schoolmates in the cafeteria because of an unpaid lunch from the former year. Later when she went home to her mom

Persuasive Essay On School Lunch Programs

Do you remember your favorite “School Lunch”? I do, I essentially had two favorites; pizza and hamburgers with fries. Think back, wasn’t there at least one school lunch that the lunch ladies made that everyone was so excited to eat. Kids that habitually brought their super hero lunch box with thermos would leave it at home and be in line for pizza or burgers and fries. We could also go back for “seconds”, it was the best meal of the week including what was served at home. The federal government

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School Lunch Should Be Free and More Healthy

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Works Cited

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2018). Childhood Obesity Facts.
Food Research & Action Center. (2022). National School Lunch Program. Retrieved from https://www.frac.org/programs/national-school-lunch-program
Gatto, N. M., Ventura, E. E., Cook, L. T., & Gyllenhammer, L. E. (2012). Davis SPAN Program: A Nutrition Intervention Program for Children with Special Needs. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 112(2), 231–237.
Government Accountability Office. (2011). National School Lunch Program: Improving Nutrition and Resource Management Could Further Enhance Program’s Effectiveness.
Honigman, J. (2019). Students protest after Pennsylvania school district threatens to put kids in foster care over unpaid lunch debt.
Hsin, A., & Muth, M. K. (2008). Effect of Excess Adiposity on Arterial Elasticity in Children. Annals of Pediatric Endocrinology & Metabolism, 13(1), 23–28.
Neumark-Sztainer, D., Story, M., Hannan, P. J., Perry, C. L., & Irving, L. M. (2004). Weight-Related Concerns and Behaviors Among Overweight and Nonoverweight Adolescents: Implications for Preventing Weight-Related Disorders. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 158(2), 185–193.
School Nutrition Association. (2022). 2022 Position Paper: School Meal Programs. Retrieved from https://schoolnutrition.org/advocacy/policy-priorities/position-papers/
The State of Obesity. (2022). Adult Obesity in the United States.
United States Department of Agriculture. (2022). National School Lunch Program: Participation and Lunches Served. Retrieved from https://www.fns.usda.gov/nslp/national-school-lunch-program-nslp

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A visit to a school lunchroom at noon would quickly dispel any preconceived view of how lunch goes down in children. Most youngsters will dive for the cookies first eat a bite or two out of the sandwich and the apple, throw away the rest, and turn to the serious business of snack foods. There are approximately 25 million children in 93,000 schools who receive breakfast and lunch through the school cafeteria. Although research has shown that eating healthy at an early age helps youngsters develop good eating habits, these lunches and breakfasts are loaded with fat, sodium, sugar and are low in fiber. ?A nutritious diet will positively affect the performance of a student work? (Sherman 18).

Nutrition is the process by which a living being takes food and supplies it as nourishment to live and grow properly. The government needs to realize that good nutrition and nutrition education are two essential ingredients in a school health program and in education. Beatrice Trum Hunter in her article ?Upgrading School Lunches’says that the Federal government set up the National School Lunch Program in 1946 and later the school breakfast program. ?The reasons for this is, there was a growing surplus of certain subsidized agricultural products and many children in the country were going through theentire day without sufficient nutrition? (Hunter 146-147). According to Barbara Meeks dietitian at Warren Local Schools, during War World II soldiers were so malnourished the National Government decided that children were not being properly educated and nourished. The government started the commodities service so that young soldiers would be in better health to fight in wars (Meeks).

The programs were administered by the U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). While the National Institute of Health, tells people to avoid fats and cholesterol, the U.

S. Department of Agriculture feeds kids eggs, cheese and fatty sausages for breakfast. Through this program, the government bought a surplus of meat, cheese, milk, and butter from farmers (McCarty 22). They provided these products free to school districts. However, even in its founding, these programs offered children foods that were high in fat and cholesterol (McCarty 22). These commodities are not necessarily based on children’s nutritional needs.

?The fact is, school lunches are more a matter of politics than of commonsense? (Krizmanic 98). The school lunch and breakfast program supplies sufficient nutrients to children who might otherwise not getting enough food at home. The program menu reads like a fast-food restaurant containing such things as cheeseburgers, pizza, hot dogs, and Whole milk, which are all high in cholesterol and fat (Pratt 3). A non-nutritious diet has fostered a multitude of health problems in school age children. ?The obesity rate among school age children has doubled in the last 10 years? (Sherman 18). ?In a recent USDA report it reveals that school meals have 85 percent more sodium, 50 percent more saturated fat and 25 percent more fat in all, based on the departments recommendation for a healthy diet? (?Why? 28).

?Of 545 schools surveyed only one meets the government’s guideline for keeping saturated fat under 10 percent? (Bricklin 48). ?A typical school lunch contains about 35-40 percent of calories from fat, relying to much on meat and animal based foods (Cornell). ?The school menu is a management tool which has a major role in controlling the compliance the compliance of federal regulations, nutrient content, meal acceptability, food and labor cost, food purchasing, food production, equipment use and needs, and the employee training needs? (Menu 12). Planning a successful menu requires several areas of knowledge such as the goals, requirements and recommendations of the breakfast and lunch programs, food costs, what foods are available, students’ food preferences, food preparation and a meal that will be well accepted by the school-age customer being served (?Menu? 5). It is required that students be offered all five food items of the meal.

When approved by the local school food authority students are allowed to choose three to four food items within the lunch pattern. Because school food service plays such an important role in the health and nutrition education of children, cafeteria’s are encouraged to reduce fat, sugar, and salt in school meals to the extent that is acceptable (?Menu? 4). However, cholesterol and fat are essential for a healthy body metabolism, particularly during periods of active growth and development, when energy needs are high (Kowalski 29). Cholesterol, a waxy chemical that is manufactured in the liver, is essential for the body’s proper functioning (Kowalski 29). It helps build new cells and repair old ones. It acts as a building block for the brain, nerves, internal organs, and several hormones found naturally in the human body (Kowalski 30).

Fat, is used by the body as a concentrated source of energy. This permits relatively small amounts of food to be eaten while obtaining the calories necessary to maintain daily activities. ?In reasonable amounts, fat helps a child grow to his or her full potential (Kowalski 31). Food containing large amounts of saturated fat, discourage the body from clearing away excess cholesterol. When cholesterol builds up in the arteries, it can block the supply of blood to the heart (Kowalski 32).

Based on rules from the USDA, meals each day need to provide at least 2 ounces of protein, three-fourths cup of fruit and vegetables, 8 ounces of milk, as well as 8 servings of bread a week. Each meal totals about 750 calories with 28 percent to 38 percent of calories from fat. For many children, lunch or breakfast at school is their first exposure to making their own food choices. ?Guidelines from the National School Lunch Act (1994) and the Child Nutrition Act (1994) will go into effect during the 1996-1997 School year? (Hunter 8-9). Exceptions to these requirements would be special medical and dietary needs such as substituting juice for milk with a child that is lactose intolerant.

Even more exceptions would include ethnic, religious, economic or physical needs (Hunter). School food should be modified so it contains less fat and more grains, fruits, and vegetables. Heidi Sherman in her article ?Healthy School Lunches. . .

Finally?, states the foodsin total, should contain no more than 30 percent calories from fat, or 10 percent calories from saturated fat (18). Also, the guidelines recommend reductions in cholesterol, sodium, and sugar and to add one-third of the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) per meal. This would provide protein, Vitamin A and C, calcium and iron. It is not expected that each meal each day will provide one-third of the RDA of all nutrients, but that when averaged over a period of time, in which a wide variety of foods are served, the guidelines well be met (?Menu? 13).

Many school age children pass the regular school lunch provided for them and eat even less nutritional foods from vending machines. Under current law, food containing less than 5 percent of the Recommended Daily Allowance of the eight basic nutrients, such as gum, hard candy, and soda pop, cannot be sold in school cafeteria’s during lunch hours (?The? 56). However, they can be sold in school during the rest of the day. Some schools as an alternative to vending machines offer ala carte consisting of potato chips, low fat and regular ice cream, snack cakes, granola bars, cookies, pretzels, hi-c drinks, and flavored waters (?The? 57). These are only offered after children have been given an adequate time to eat the regular school lunch provided for them (Williams). Schools make money on the sale of candy and other foods sold in the machines and during ala carte.

This money then supports school programs (McCarty 4). There are better ways for schools to fund extra programs. Unhealthy food choices could be replaced by healthy choices. This could include items such as yogurt, fruit, apple sauce, and other healthy foods (Hunter 8). This is more important to the children’s health then for the profit of junk food companies. ?The Fairfax County, Virginia School district, takes in more than $3,000 a week from vending machines stocked with healthy choices and fruit juices? (?Why? 28).

?National School Lunch Program requires school food authorities to promote activities to involve students and parents in the school lunch program. Such activities may include menu planning, enhancement of the eating environment, program promotion, and related student community support activities? (?Menu? 8). There is a whole body of research that has determined that giving a child a ?good breakfast? provides one-third of the energy requirements for the day and has beneficial effects on intellectual performance, social interactions, and energy levels at schools. ?Breakfast is an excellent opportunity for children to eat a significant portion of their daily nutritional requirements, and youngsters who eat breakfast tend to have a better nutritional intake over the course of the day (?Feeding? 156-157). Children whose lives are impeded by hunger and poor nutrition are not ready to learn. Schools need to provide quality nutritional content in school menus through the food service program (Sherman 18).

They also need properly staffed personnel that are trained in the current body of nutritional knowledge (Florida). All foods that are available to students should be consistent with recommended dietary allowances and dietary guidelines. When consumed, they contribute to the development of lifelong, healthy eating habits (?Menu?). School nutrition is also an essential portion of health education and should be connected into other health related curriculum in schools. Dynamic classroom presentations and curriculum teach children that the same foods that are best for their bodies, are also best for the planet (Bricklin 47). Nutritional education includes a minimum knowledge on dietary guidelines, the food pyramid, and an understanding of product labeling.

Although many children will continue choosing old favorites, increased choices will afford them a better chance to achieve a healthier diet. The U. S. Department of Agriculture has issued a new food pyramid to guide school classrooms and cafeterias to nutritional daily food choices.

?Starting with plenty of breads, cereals, rice, and pasta, vegetables, fruits, two to three servings from the dairy group and meat group provides some, but not all of the nutrients you need (?Menu? 9). No one food group is more important than another. Good health requires them all. Nutritional education also develops critical thinking skills. This skill provides support for all nutritional information and assists individuals in making appropriate food choices. Good nutrition is a critical component of overall wellness(?Center?).

It improves children’s nutritional status and helps to increase their overall physical, mental, and developmental health. It will improve school performance and overall cognitive development. Eating healthy early on, helps children develop good habits that will stick with them and undoubtedly lower their risk of heart disease in the long run(Kowalski 29). In the short run, a nutritious diet will positively affect performance in school work. To meet the requirements of the National School Lunch Program, a school lunch must contain a specified quantity of each of the food components such as meat or meat alternate, vegetable or fruit, bread or grain, and milk (?Menu? 12). The current pattern of food based menus for school lunches has changed from the past.

The meat requirement was three ounces, but now is two. Fruit and vegetable requirements have raised from ? cups to one cup, the bread and grain requirements changed from eight servings per week to 12 to 15 servings per week and a minimum of one serving per day (?Menu? 14). Students claim that school lunches are lukewarm, tasteless, and soggy (Sherman 18). The government needs to recognize the importance of providing high quality foods that promotes health in both the short and long term.

?Today the National School Lunch Program is an atherogenic atrocity, contributing to future heart disease? (?Menu? 6). The educational system needs to modify fat, sodium, cholesterol, and sugar levels in the commodities donated to the schools for lunches and to teach students good nutrition in the classroom. The menu is the focal point of the school lunch and breakfast programs. It is the basis to have ultimate satisfaction of students’ appetites. AbstractSchool lunches and breakfasts have been in schools since 1946 when the National School Lunch Act was established. The program was started to ensure the safeguard of the health and well being of children.

It was designed for the means of three things: to provide nutritious and reasonably priced lunches to school children, contributes to a better understanding of good nutrition, and teaches good food habits. The school food service has become a basic part of the nation’s schools. The national government needs to realize the importance of school meals and what they contribute to children. BibliographyWorks CitedBricklin, Mark. ?Fixing the School Lunch Crisis.

? Prevention (April 1994): 47-48. Brus, Brian. ?Free Lunches Offer Chance for Problems. ? The Daily Oklahoma July 5, 1995: 1. Cornell University.

?New School Lunches. ? Healthwise September 14, 1996. Florida Center for Technology in Physical Activity. ?School Nutrition Coalition.

? Internet. ?Healthier School Lunches. ? Parents Magazine. August 1994: 24.

Hunter, Beatrice Trum. ?Upgrading School Lunches. ?Consumers? Research? October 1996. ?Is School Nutrition Out to Lunch?? Education Digest.

November 1993: 54-56. Kowalski, Robert E. Cholesterol and Children. New York 1988: 27-32Krizmanic, Judy. Going Vegetarian.

New York 1994: 13-42. Meek, Barbara. Personal Interview. 4 March 1997?Menu Planning Guide for School food Service?, Program Aid No. 1260: 4-16McCarty, Colman.

?The School Lunch Program. ‘surviving at School: 22; 44-46 Pratt, Steve. ?Ready or Not, Schools Have to Adapt to New Lunch Guidelines. ? Chicago Tribune August 23, 1995: 3. Sherman, Heidi.

?Healthy School Lunches. ‘sassy November 1996: 18. ?The struggle to Make School Lunches Nutritious. ? Education Digest October 1988: 55-58. Thompson, Courtenay.

?Cafeteria Cuisine. ? The Oregonian November 1995: BO2. ?Why is Everyone Griping About School Lunches?? Current Health 2 January 1995: 27-29. Williams, Debbie. Personal Interview. 1 March 1997.Education Essays

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