...Nutrition and Health: The Recent Changes into the School Breakfast and Lunch Mercy Becky 11- 02-2013 Abstract The present and future wellbeing of children is affected by the type of food they eat. Since children get most of their calorie intake from school lunch and breakfast, schools contribute to their lifelong health and dietary patterns. Schools have to be models for healthy eating habits. Improving school meal program is very crucial in our children nutrition and health. Especially as childhood obesity is a big concern in our nation and it is a cause for many chronic illnesses like type 2 diabetes, blood pressure and high cholesterol. Different studies and researches have shown that school meals are risk factors for childhood obesity. In an effort to stop obesity and the associated health risks, the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act (HHFKA) was signed into law by President Barack Obama to change School Lunch Program (SLNP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP). The Law requires USDA to establish science based nutrition standards for all foods sold in schools during the school day. With the law signed there are different issues that come with it including the economic situation, the health of the population being served and the process and benefits of the program. Nutrition and Health: The Recent Changes into the School Lunch and Breakfast One of the issues related with the recent change in school lunch and breakfast is the economic situation. The government increased...
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...The Breakfast and Lunch Programs Jennifer Harvey-Mitchell Professor Storms Eng. 115: English Strayer University November 15, 2012 Overview Congress passed the National School Lunch Act in 1946 to support commodity prices after World War II by reducing farm surpluses while providing food to school children. By 1970, the program was providing 22 million lunches on an average day, about a fifth of them subsidized. Since then, the subsidized number of children has increased while paid lunches have declined, but not since 1972 have so many additional children become eligible for free lunches as in fiscal year 2010, 1.3 million. Today it is a $10.8 billion program providing 32 million lunches, 21 million of which are free or at reduced price. The number of students receiving subsidized lunches rose to 21 million last school year from 18 million in 2006-7, a 17 percent increase, according to an analysis by The New York Times of data from the Department of Agriculture (Dillion, 2011). The Palm Beach County School District has altered its breakfast and lunch programs to improve nutrition and health for all students. The new Federal Nutrition Standards require schools to offer students more fruit, vegetables, and whole grains and to limit the sodium, calories, saturated and trans fat in school meals according to the School Nutrition Association (SNA 2012). Most notably, cafeterias are serving fruits and vegetable in a variety of ways to appeal to students diverse...
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...National School Nutrition Program Eboli Knight George McGeehan English Composition 115 May 21, 2015 To be healthy or to not be healthy is the question? Today kids are not always eating a healthy meal and to make up for the loss the national school lunch and school breakfast program was established. I do believe that this is a good idea to keep our kids from being obese and teaching them healthier eating options. The National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs were established to align them with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Most schools are increasing the availability of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat free and low fat fluid milk in school meals; reduce the levels of sodium, saturated fat and trans fat in meals; and meet the nutrition needs of school children within their calorie requirements,” (Federal Register, 2012). Our kids will still be able to enjoy their breakfast and lunch, it’s just a little healthier than what it used to be. To improve lunches and breakfasts, schools are required to offer fruits and vegetables as two separate meal components. Fruit daily at breakfast and lunch, vegetable daily at lunch, including specific vegetable subgroups weekly. A daily meat/ meat alternate at breakfast, fluid milk that is fat free (unflavored and flavored) and low fat (unflavored only). Students are required to select a fruit or a vegetable as part of the reimbursable meal. “The National School Lunch Program supports student nutrition in...
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...2.1 Business 100 The School board changed the breakfast and lunch programs to help improve nutrition and health of our children. The changes so far seem to be for the best of all the children. There are four major issue dealing with the changes are, economic situations, Health of population being served, process, and the benefits of the program. One of the four major issues is economic situation. The federal government will add six more cents to each lunch to make it meet the new standards. New standards took effect in 2011 for schools breakfast and lunch programs. Also parents are in charge of what their children eat, but kids are in the care of the school a good portion of their life too. From my research on this program, children receive up to half there calories at school in form of school breakfast, lunches, and snacks.( Crawford, 2011) Also with the economic downturn we have been in advocates have proposed some changes, which makes more children eligible for free or assistants on meal prices. Meanwhile, meal providers are having issues with covering program costs. Improving the quality of meals for children is essential, but the hard part is getting the students on board with all the health good food and not all the greasy unhealthy foods. Second issue is the heath of the population being served. There are about 25 million kids that are obese and/or overweight. Obesity rates have skyrocketed by 300% over the last 30 years. (Crawford, 2011) An analysis in 2005 found...
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...Keeping the Kids Fed Children spend most of their day at school, and consume most of their daily calories at school. When sent to school, don’t we all want to know that our children are getting the most out of the food they are consuming? Of course we do! Well, with the help of our First Lady, and Programs like “Let’s Move,” and recent changes in breakfast and lunch programs, we may be finally getting somewhere. The recent changes in the breakfast and lunch programs to improve nutrition and health have had an economic impact on individuals, have served much of the population, and there are many benefits of the change. The recent changes in the breakfast and lunch programs to improve nutrition and health have had an economic impact on individuals. Economically, the United States has been through a recession, which has caused difficulties for a lot of families trying to keep up with life’s necessities, food being one of them. By making changes to the breakfast and lunch programs at schools, more children are afforded the opportunity of having meals at schools. This is an important aspect, considering children consume most of their daily calories at school. So, the changes to the menus have helped ensure that children are not only eating, but they are eating the right foods. Also, for some children, the meals they are given at school may be the only meals they have all day, so it is important to make sure that school meals are affordable for all families of every financial situation...
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...Assignment 2.2: The Public Needs to Know English 115 Professor Wylder The current status of school meals is that they are full of fat and do not contain enough nutritious value. There are changes that need to be made in order to preserve the health and wellbeing of the children in society. The changes to be made are in the school breakfast and lunch programs. In order to effectively change the program you have to understand the economic issues, the population that is being served and their needs, the process and the benefits of the program. One major economic issue is the rising ate of unemployment. This has forced society into a time filled with burden and stress. Unemployment forces struggling families to figure out how to feed their children with limited to no resources. This burden has caused a rise in the number of children participating in the breakfast and lunch program. The increase in participation has gone up by about 84% for free and reduced lunches alone. The participation is also rising because it is cheaper for a family to feed their child at school than it is to send their lunch (School Nutrition Association, 2008). The rising rate of participation shows that families are in dire need of assistance. The families are turning to the schools for assistance to ensure that their children have food to eat. Another economic issue that American families face today is being underemployed. Being underemployed is when you only a have part time job(s) or you take...
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...Changing the Way Children Eat For a Better Tomorrow Changing the Way Children Eat For a Better Tomorrow The most important meal of the day for anyone is breakfast. Break-Fast, we go to sleep putting our body into a fasting state, once we awake our body looks for a food substance to break that fast; breakfast. “The federal child nutrition program feeds over 50 million children a day, 31.6 million of whom receive free lunches.” Fig. A USDA (2011) Mortazavi (2011). Millions of children across the United States depend on a well balanced breakfast and lunch. Not only do these meals fuel the body, but it also fuels the minds to enhance comprehension and retaining what they learn. “For many, especially students from lower-income families enrolled in federally subsidized free and reduced-price lunch programs, these are the main meals of the day.” Grainger, Senauer, and Runge (2007). Revamping the National School Lunch program will help meet economic goal, provide healthier choices for pre-school, elementary and high school children across the nation. In 1966 the Child Nutrition Act (CNA) was passed to create a milk program, breakfast program, government funding to start the program and a preschool program (Mortazavi, 2011). Apart of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966, it had to be approved every five years, most recent being scheduled for 2009 but was passed for one year to introduce the current 2010 Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act and the Farm Bill which President Obama signed in...
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...Lunch school programs are trying to become healthier across our nation. This initiative is becoming more common at each school due to economic and student needs. In this paper, we will look at meeting the needs of the students with a planned process. There will be two charts to show progress of the effects the changes have done to the student’s food choices. These choices were derived from the guides given by the USDA (“National School Lunch Program”, 2013). Recent changes to the schools lunch and breakfast menus has helped in keeping students more healthy and driving school cost to more efficient levels (“National School Lunch Program”, 2013). Most schools give students choices to choose their lunch or breakfast choices. While this is a common practice in most schools, students do not always choose healthy meals. The goal is to give only healthy choices to students so that they may increase their nutrition level intake. The guidelines set forth by the USDA, on the student meal index, is what will be used to assess the changes in students nutrition levels (Kay & Condon, 2012 pg 9). The first major change that needs to be done is re-asses the snack machines in the schools. Each school more than likely has one or two snack machines that are accessed by the students. The contents of the snack machines need to be changed to more health conscious items. An example is replacing sodas, or high sugar drinks, with water and low sugar juices. Each school needs to replace candy...
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...Nancy Christine Foreman ENG 115-English Composition November 25, 2012 The current status of school meals is that they are full of fat and do not contain enough nutritious value, so in order to preserve the health and well being of the children in our society, there needs to be changes in the school breakfast and lunch programs. The first section of the paper will discuss the economic issues. The middle portions will examine the needs of the population being served along with the process that is involved in implementing the program. The final part will elaborate on the benefits of the program. A major economic issue that the people of society face today is the rising rate of unemployment. The rising rate of unemployment has caused society into a time filled with burden. The burden occurs when the unemployed families have to figure out how to feed their children. This burden has caused a rise in the number of children participating in the breakfast and lunch program. The increase in participation has gone up by about 84 % for free and reduced lunches alone. The participation is also rising because it is cheaper for a family to feed their child at school than it is to send their lunch (School Nutrition Association, 2008). The rising rate of participation shows that families are in dire need of assistance. The families are turning to the schools for assistance to ensure that their children have food to eat. Another economic issue that ...
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...Promoting healthier eating habits in schools is a major issue across the United States. However, there have been major changes made to improve the nutrition and health of the students eating breakfast and lunch at school. Helping students develop healthier eating habits at school can be an important part of the struggle against childhood obesity and ultimately help improve the health of students in elementary, middle, and high school. A relationship between childhood obesity and school feeding programs has been prevalent when the availability of snack foods and beverages in schools began to increase (Grainger, Senauer, & Runge, 2007). Children may not realize all of the benefits they are receiving from eating a healthy lunch, but their bodies will certainly respond to the healthy food. These days, many schools are taking shortcuts and serving unhealthy foods to save time and money, which is at the expense of the children. Instead, we need to focus on these benefits of the effects on kids of eating healthy cafeteria lunches (Salisbury, C. G. 2004). The involvement that promotes healthy eating can work if the schools are willing to enforce healthy eating habits during breakfast and lunch. School food service directors often must focus on ease of preparation rather than healthy options because they lack both the skilled staff and facilities necessary to do more (Grainger, Senauer, & Runge, 2007). Since there are many schools that depend on major food service vendors to supply...
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...Improvements in School Nutrition David Johnson Strayer University ENG 115 November 7, 2012 Improvements in School Nutrition Childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years and has become a major issue in our nation. The obesity dilemma affects boys and girls of all ages, races, and ethnicities in the United States. Recent changes to school breakfast and lunch programs have been implemented to improve overall health and nutritional value. These changes are designed to incorporate healthier eating habits, accommodate more participants in a more cost effective way, and provide easier accessibility to the program. Nutrition experts agree that if the nation wants to make progress on the obesity crisis among children, what they eat in school for breakfast and lunch has to be addressed. The percentage of obese children aged 6 to 11 years in the U.S. increased from 7 percent to 20 percent from 1980-2008. In 2011 that number increased to 33 percent. These facts indicate a strong need to make changes to the school lunch program. Studies show that more than half of the calories students eat in a day are consumed at school during breakfast and lunch periods. Affordability is just as important as nutritional value. When making changes to these programs, it is imperative that we take into consideration the number of students who receive free and reduced-price meals as well as students who do not. Children who receive free or reduced-price...
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...has been waiting for breakfast and lunch to be improved for many years in the school system. Breakfast and lunch has always been the number one subject in school when it comes to our children. These are the main meals of the day within these meals they help nourish the minds and bodies and souls of our children. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day for our children this meal is always great before a exam/test. “In the end, as First Lady, this isn’t just a policy issue for me. This is a passion. This is my mission. I am determined to work with folks across this country to change the way a generation of kids thinks about food and nutrition."- First Lady Michelle Obama The way I look at this meal plans that I want to say for the young children and school is first going to the school and see what the children would like for their meals. I would also teach them what is the health benefits and what meals best fit their needs in school. I know a lot pf children don’t understand a food pyramid chart. The food pyramid chart will be given to the children for them to look at what healthy for a well balance breakfast and lunch. The children will also be given choose of many different sides to go along with these main choice in the breakfast and lunch. Instead of the cafeteria workers making a prefix meals the children will have a choice on a pick their breakfast each morning the day before. The children will also have a chance to pick out their lunch for the day each morning...
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...recommendations for fruits, vegetables or whole grains, yet they exceed the recommended maximum daily intake of sodium” (“Adolescent and School,” n.d.). Without action, “up to a third of all children born in 2000 or later will suffer from diabetes, and many others will face chronic obesity-related health problems like heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer, and asthma” (“Let’s Move,” n.d.). Recent changes to the national breakfast and lunch program increase the availability of healthy food options and help school children meet nutrition needs within their calorie requirements (“Adolescent and School,” n.d.). Since most children consume at least a third of their meals at school these changes are vital to the health of our children. There are important decisions to be made about how to satisfy our children’s nutritional needs. We need to create new breakfast and lunch menus and decide how to obtain the necessary ingredients. There are many resources available at the United States Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service’s webpage that will help make this transition a smooth one. The reference materials available on this site will help administrators and food preparers comply with new regulations and can also help parents understand the impacts of recent changes. It may be helpful to begin with an understanding of recent changes to regulatory requirements, so check out the Comparison of Previous and Current Regulatory Requirements on the USDA’s Food and Nutrition...
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...Introduction The changes in the national breakfast and lunch programs have many benefits to children's health because they positively influence their diets by balancing some of their favorite foods with healthier alternatives. Throughout this paper, my intent is to describe to you in detail the benefits of these programs and the process that is involved in implementing them within the school district, as well as to talk about some of the challenges that may be faced with the adoption of such a program. The Process and Benefits The USDA describes the national breakfast and lunch programs as federally assisted meal programs which seek to provide low-cost or free lunches to public school children across the country every single day. For taking part in these programs, our school district would receive subsidies and also food provided to us for every meal by the US Department of Agriculture. These meals would need to meet certain health standards that are determined by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which currently seeks to increase the intake of items such as fruits and vegetables as well as whole grains within these school meals. Along with the inclusion of more healthy ingredients, there are also specific caloric and sodium intake standards that we would need to adhere to as well. These limits are determined by the age of the children who are being served and would be different for each age group. Although this may seem to limit the freedom that we have within the...
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...Know that there have been some dramatic changes for breakfast and lunch programs made by the government, to improve health and nutrition in our schools. After the Hunger-Free Kids Act had been signed by the First Lady and President Obama, USDA made the first major changes in school meals, to help us raise a healthier generation of children. Economically obesity has been a severe issue in children and adults in America but since childhood obesity rate has tripled, schools have a rich opportunity to improve youth health while at the ideal point in time, and making these changes before problems take hold. These Special needs in our schools make every difference when it comes to our children eating and drinking healthy, at lunch, schools must offer all required food components in at least the minimum required amounts as an example meat(s) alternate; fruit, grains, vegetables, and fluid milk. At breakfast, students are still offered all required food components which are; grains, meat(s)- optional, fruit, vegetables, juice, and milk. Having OVS (Offer versus Serve) which is a provision in our NSLP (National School Lunch Program) and gives students the right to decline some of the food being served to them, The purpose of OVS is to reduce food waste in schools and guidance is intended to clarify specifically to what students must take in to have a healthy meal. The benefits of changing the schools breakfast and lunch...
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