School lunches (PS)

I would like to bring some attention to the state of school lunches. This subject is definitely one that needs to be addressed with more consideration in our country, and every other place where nutrition is tossed to the wayside. Honestly, I think a person’s nutrition should be one of their top priorities, and as should follow their child’s. Really, I believe everyone knows that eating healthy is what they should do, but that is the problem. Instead of putting nutrition into practice it is just taught out of a book. I would say most if not all bad eating habits are learned, and in like manner so are good ones. I am bringing this up because I ran into an article on Yahoo about a teacher who is anonymously posting a blog about her endeavor to eat the lunches served at her elementary school. She herself states that outside of work she eats healthy, and started the blog out of concern for the children’s health. While admittedly she is not an expert on nutrition she comments about how the food looks and tastes, as well as details about any negative effects that occur after eating lunch. Also, along with her posts there are installments by guest bloggers with their take on the subject.

Initially, the original story I ran into on Yahoo was talked about from the perspective of a person who makes lunches for their children, and stated how the blog on school lunches had increased her motivation to continue the act. Personally, I think homemade lunches are a good way to select healthy food for children. However, this only works well if one can afford buying the food. Honestly, I think it is a shame that people even have to consider this option. Why should people have to buy healthy food for their kids’ lunch when we pay for the food distributed by the schools with taxes? Should not the money spent in tax dollars be used in such a way to provide food that is already nutritious? I do not know how this tax money is allotted to the schools and who is making the decisions on what to spend it on, but I think some priorities should be reexamined. I looked up a site after seeing a link in a similar article on school lunches that mentioned the Child Nutrition Act. This site had some information on how this topic is being addressed at the government level.

In the end, I think this is an important issue to consider. Children need to be taught by experience not just through head knowledge. Personally, I think as one grows up a person tends to favor foods they are familiar with, and because of this children should be given food that is nutritious so that they will tend to have healthy eating habits as they get older. Thus, kids need to have nutrient filled lunches at school. Obviously, the school is not the only place, but unfortunately some kids only get a decent meal when they are at school, and if high-calorie-low-nutrient items are the only thing served, there is a problem. Lastly, I think a majority of all of the health problems seen today have a link to what people eat. So, developing good eating habits would help prevent sickeness.