Why School Lunches?

School lunches are one of the most important parts of a child's school day. It helps set the foundation for future food choices. Having unhealthy foods at school make it harder for kids to enjoy healthy foods. If children grow up eating healthy food then they will be more persuaded to choose, say an apple over potato chips. Healthy school lunches will also cause children to have a lower BMI and will help them avoid future health problems. Most teachers will even tell you that students that eat healthy and nutritious meals can focus and do better in school. This blog will cover statistics on the nutrition in most common school lunches, healthy choices for breakfast to help increase healthy choices throughout the day, how bad nutrition can effect you in the long run, and facts about school lunches and how to avoid eating unhealthy. We hope that this blog will help encourage you to eat healthier and find ways to eat healthy in school.

Nutrition Statistics

 After studying and reaserching about  nutrition, I was able to make a graph, showing the two types of foods, One labeled as the "  Good food" which consists of nutritious foods, compared to the "Bad food" group which consists of foods comely labeled as high in fats, like for an example a Big Mac. Why would nutrition be important for daily living? In daily living are bodies need to be energized, and well maintained in order to keep a healthy diet. When we fail to maintain are bodes we become obese, and can increase are risks of having Heart disease, Cancer,  a Stroke, or even Diabetes. 

So how can we stop and help prevent from becoming obese? Well thats were good nutrition comes in, with having a good diet, and eating healthy foods you can help to stop diabetes and becoming overweight.  As shown in this graph we can clearly see the differences between the Good an Bad foods, and we can see how the bad food group stands out in almost everything for being higher with calorie intake and so on, compared to the good food group. When looking for foods to eat you should look for foods that are high in nutrition, and not high in fats. This does prevent from becoming obese and can also help from a more serious cause such as death. In the United States thousands of people every year are dying from being overweight and physically inactive. According to the U.S Department of Health there is 310,000 - 580,000 deaths per year . This number of deaths is increasing every year, and is similar to those who die from tobacco each year. After viewing the graph, and reading this short article, you now know why it is important to have a healthy diet , and how you can prevent your self from becoming overweight through eating nutritious foods. 

       Work Cited

 www.nhmrc.gov.au. 15 February, 2013. Australian Government. 10 April, 2013

A Great Way To Start Off Your Day

   According to the Food Research and Action center in the US more than two thirds of school aged children overweight or obese.  Many people don't fully understand how being over weight not only affects your physical health but can take a huge toll on your mental mindset. While being healthy does require exercise among other things, it is mainly caused by eating healthy foods as regular diet. In today's society it seems to be harder and harder to find healthy, affordable food. Many children start the day off with no breakfast or an unhealthy cereal, muffin, doughnut, cinnamon roll, cereal bars etc. Most of the claimed to be healthy foods are packed with sodium, sugar, fats and artificial colorings. For example a common breakfast food is a pancake or perhaps two, although pancakes their selves do not contain any sugar it is the syrup and butter or margarine placed on it that makes it unhealthy. If one simply wakes up and eats a pancake with a serving of syrup and a serving of butter they will be lacking the necessary nutrients such as protein, and several vitamins. On the other hand you will have consumed nearly 32 grams of sugar and 52 carbohydrates (according to http://caloriecount.about.com/calories-pancakes-i21025). Children especially need to learn at a young age how to eat healthy and not only need to understand how to eat healthy but exercise the skill. 

   Many school breakfast options consist of muffins, pop tarts, cereal bars and chocolate milk. Some may argue about what is a healthy meal; however, many agree that schools don't supply healthy meals full of nutrients for children. Our children are the future of America and we need to teach them how to grow up being healthy and happy. In the morning the majority of children and teens either eat an unhealthy sugar packed breakfast or simply don't eat. According to the International Journal of Obesity, adolescents who ate a protein-rich breakfast had lower appetites and ate less during the day, where as a protein-neutral breakfast was no better than skipping breakfast. Some easy breakfast suggestions that I usually eat in the morning are yogurt with fruit, breakfast burritos, toast and an egg or a healthy cereal with lots of fiber and protein. But remember being healthy doesn't end at the dinner table; you also need to exercise regularly to truly be healthy.

The Effects of Nutrition

You need to watch your nutrition inside and outside of school. No matter where you are your nutrition will always affect you. Your body has certain requirements for it to function. If you don't follow these requirements you can end up hurting your body and causing problems like obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.

• Obesity

Obesity is a huge issue especially in America and in younger people. Obesity is caused from over eating, sedentary life styles, and too much fat intake. Colorado has the lowest percent of obese adults in America and mississippi has the highest percentage.

• Type 2 Diabetes

Diabetes is when your pancreas no longer produces insulin or has problems with producing insulin to break down sugars. Type 2 diabetes is when the pancreas doesn't produce enough insulin or the body is not using the insulin as it should. This, unlike type 1 diabetes, can be caused by obesity.

• Heart Disease

Heart disease is any disease that affects your heart such as coronary heart disease, heart attacks, congestive heart failure, and congenital heart disease. All of these can be caused by high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and obesity.

      Watching what you eat can help you avoid these health problems. This will help increase your life span, your self confidence, and your happiness.

Video showing school nutrition, and why it is important to have the proper nutrients.

Using the food pyramid as a guide to eating the correct amounts of food helps lead to a healthier lifestyle.

Bad example of school lunch.

Unhealthy school lunches may leave your child "disappointed" at the healthy dinner you've created.

School Lunches

It's lunch time you're starving and you really don't care what's for lunch, just as long as you get something in your stomach. You're not concerned with how much fat those tater tots contain or if this lunch is giving you your daily nutrients. Nutrition in schools have been a huge controversial issue, especially with parents. In most schools students are given a variety of choices for lunch. The most common choices are uncrustables, tater tots, pizza, pears, apples, and sometimes schools are lucky enough to have a salad bar. Even though some schools have healthy alternatives in their ala carte menu, most kids still prefer the fatty meals that are offered. If these fatty meals were to be removed from the menu kids would be more encouraged to eat healthier. Until this actually happens the best way to eat healthier in school is to pack a lunch. Sometimes schools lunches don't have all the required nutrients. Packing a lunch will let you know that you are hitting all the food groups. This also allows you more freedom to what you eat. Eating lunches at school means eating whatever the cafeteria has to offer. When you pack your lunch you can eat whatever you would normally eat at your own house, just make sure your careful not to pack fatty foods or too many sweets.

School lunch full of fat.