Thursday, January 31, 2013

Improving Nutrition in Public Schools to Prevent Child Obesity


Future obesity problems are predicted to cost the state of Texas up to 8 and a half times more than what improving the nutrition in public school lunches will cost. Children are forming unhealthy food habits in school, where they are not under the eye of their parents. It wouldn’t be a problem if these unhealthy foods weren’t provided to the kids. These young children are not equipped with the knowledge they need to make healthy food choices. There shouldn’t be Honey Buns, chocolate chip cookies, etc. available to these children on an every day basis. Something needs to be implemented to train these kid’s minds differently. For example, having dessert on only Fridays would get them in the habit of thinking of the dessert as a “treat,” not an every day necessity.

The children’s bad food choices could lead to future health problems, one of the worst being diabetes. According to USA Today,(Source) obesity could affect 42% of Americans by 2030. Click on the link below to check out a video containing more information regarding today's obesity. 

The unhealthy food provided is not the only problem. People are complaining that there isn’t enough healthy foods offered to the children to “fill them up.”  After many complaints about public school’s “skimpy” lunch portions, USDA is working to increase the portion size for the upcoming year, adding larger portions of meat.  

For more information about the issue of child obesity, check out the following links: 




Shelby Knight
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