Running head: HEALTHY EATING FOR OUR YOUTH 1

Healthy Eating for Our Youth

Name

Kaplan University
HEALTHY EATING FOR OUR YOUTH 2

Healthy Eating for Our Youth

Introduction

The food environment in schools has significant potential impacts on the dietary intake of

adolescents and children because at last two snacks and meals are taken at school every day. In

public schools, including those in Atlanta, foods are often available as federally reimbursed

school meals and competitive foods, which compete with meals programs offered by a school

(Story, Kaphingst, Robinson-O'Brien, & Glanz, 2008). Responding to the growing concerns

regarding obesity, attention has shifted to the need to establish standards for school nutrition.

According to Schilling (2016), an argument is made that schools do not contribute to the

occurrence of childhood obesity since the condition was noted to significantly increase among

children during summer months when few of them were engaged in summer meal programs and

most of them were out of school. This argument is flawed in that it disregards the possibility that

about half of the food that school-going children take every day is taken in school during school

days and if the eating programs in schools are not healthy, they contribute to the development of

childhood obesity (Schanzenbach, 2009). These developments prompt the need for relevant

stakeholders to develop and implement interventions to ensure that our youth engage in healthy

eating habits. Local and Federal government agencies should work together to require public

schools in and around the Atlanta Metropolitan area to adhere to set healthy food standards for

children K-12 in order to allow children to form good eating habits and reduce health conditions

that can arise from obesity.

Evidence from research studies indicates that indeed school lunches contribute

significantly to the labeling of children as either obese or overweight. In a study by Commented [G1]: Inserted: s
Commented [G2]: Deleted:l
Schanzenbach (2009), students who took school lunches gained more weight than their
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counterpart who brown bagged their lunches. This means that children who eat school lunches

are more likely to be obese than those who bring their lunch from home. This points to the fact

that school lunches should be put through a health makeover. Typically, school menus in Atlanta

include cheeseburgers, chicken tenders, French fries, Pizza and mozzarella sticks and it can be

difficult for students to have access to healthy meals in public schools cafeterias (Readers’

Digest, n.d). This is because it is also challenging for the school systems themselves to provide

healthy meals without losing money. This calls for the involvement of both federal and local

governments to develop policy approaches that can push for healthier foods for children and

facilitate better health.

The combined rate of childhood and obesity in Georgia stood at 32.2% as of 2016 for

children between 10 and 17 years. This was a higher number compared to adults whose rate

stood at 31.4%. Considering that most school lunches do not use vegetables and fresh fruits and

are rarely made from scratch, this rate of childhood obesity is bound to rise if nothing is done

about it in as far as policy improvement is concerned. School lunches served across Atlanta are

made up of foods containing high amounts of fats and carbohydrates as opposed to servings

containing essential nutrients. This trend puts innocent children at risk of obesity and developing

potential diseases such as heart disease and diabetes. The unhealthy trend is even more common

among older adolescents since as they climb the grade levels, the environments of school foods

become even less healthy. This is because as they grow up, they tend to shift from carrying lunch

from home prepared by parents to carrying lunch money to purchase food at school.

On the flip side, school lunches may not be the sole cause of childhood obesity and

developing restrictions and policies to control school food programs does little to combat the

problem that is childhood overweight and obesity. Considering that the population of Atlanta,
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and by extension that of the United States, is largely diverse and bears no resemblance to a

homogenous map, no one food program can meet the needs of every school-going child. This is

because there are children who depend much on getting nutrition from school food programs

while are others are fine without them (Scutti, 2017). This argument, however, fails to consider

the fact that by offering healthy food programs, all the nutritional needs of the children will be

addressed and offering unhealthy food options only goes to fuel the childhood obesity problem to

those who are dependent on the school for nutrition. Policies meant to create a healthy food

environment should thus be developed to at least benefit those that school food programs seem to Commented [G3]: Deleted:n

affect negatively.

It may also be argued that obesity is a very complex health issue that cannot be blamed

on a single factor – the dietary composition of school lunches. Ideally, obesity is partly caused by Commented [G4]: Inserted: l

maternal patterns of eating during the development of the fetus and embryo. It is also caused by

the amount of food an individual eats and how much exercise they get on a regular basis (Scutti, Commented [G5]: Inserted: o
Commented [G6]: Deleted:i
2017). In addition, there are homes where unhealthy food is served to the children and

considering that children have at least two meals every day at home, poor parental choices of

foods served at home may be the major culprit for causing childhood obesity. For these reasons,

it is illogical to claim that food offered at school are a determinant of obesity especially keeping

in mind that it is in school where most children expel their energy. This argument tries to remove

the blame of bad eating habits from school food programs by citing other causes of childhood

obesity. While the assertions are true, they ignore the fact that school food programs affect the

dietary intake of children. The best shot public has at ensuring healthy eating habits among

school children is by developing and implementing policies that regulate the dietary composition

of school lunches. This stands as the best option since the freedom of choice makes it impossible
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to control maternal eating patterns for private individuals as well as the foods offered to children

at home to cater to the best interests of the young people in as far as their health is concerned.

In summary, there is a need for governmental agencies to combine efforts to influence the Commented [G7]: Inserted: a

being of healthy food standards in public schools for children across all grades to facilitate the

formation of healthy eating habits and, as a result, reduce the likelihood of developing health

complications arising from obesity. More than adults, children are at risk of being overweight or

obese since they cannot necessarily control the kind of nutrition to which they are subjected both

at home and at school. While it may not be fair to blame school food programs for the rates of

childhood obesity, the fact remains that food served at school contribute significantly to poor

diets and thus unhealthy eating habits. Granted that it may be difficult to monitor and control

other causes of obesity and unhealthy eating habits developed in private space, the surest way of

managing the menace that is poor eating habits is by developing and implementing policies

through the local and federal governments to regulate the food offerings in public schools

(Jaime, & Lock, 2009).

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References

Schilling, B. (2016). 5 things: Schools not the problem with child obesity, study finds. Retrieved

February 1, 2018, from http://www.food-management.com/news-trends/5-things-schools-

not-problem-child-obesity-study-finds

Story, M., Kaphingst, K. M., Robinson-O'Brien, R., & Glanz, K. (2008). Creating healthy food

and eating environments: policy and environmental approaches. Annu. Rev. Public

Health, 29, 253-272.

Scutti, S. (2017). How does nutrition affect children's school performance? Retrieved 3 February

2018 from https://edition.cnn.com/2017/03/21/health/school-nutrition-program- Commented [G8]: Deleted:,

benefits/index.html

Schanzenbach, D. W. (2009). Do school lunches contribute to childhood obesity?. Journal of

Human Resources, 44(3), 684-709.

Readers’ Digest. (n.d). Can School Lunches Cause Obesity? Retrieved 3 February 2018 from Commented [G9]: Deleted:,

https://www.rd.com/health/healthy-eating/can-school-lunches-cause-obesity/

Jaime, P. C., & Lock, K. (2009). Do school based food and nutrition policies improve diet and

reduce obesity?. Preventive medicine, 48(1), 45-53.