Childhood Obesity In Schools

Making kids eat healthy food today is a really hard task, but if schools can start serving healthier foods, then kids will actually eat healthy. In today’s schools, most of the foods served contain unhealthy fats and sugars just to fit the student 's preferences. Due to the lack of healthy foods consumed by children, child obesity is the number one growing problem among youth. With the new unhealthy snacks today, it is becoming harder for parents to make their kids eat healthy foods. Schools should promote healthy food choices because childhood obesity is a growing problem, school lunches are lacking proper nutrients, and schools have the responsibility to educate students about healthy eating. The first reason schools should be serving healthy

According to Childhood Obesity, “Only 21% of youth age 6-19 eat the recommended five or more servings of fruits and vegetables each day” ("Unhealthy Food Should Not Be Marketed to Children"). With kids not eating the recommended amount of nutrients, their bodies can’t function properly. The lack of nutrients can also lead to obesity and other diseases. Like previously mentioned, advertisements also play in a role in this. Kids who see food commercials on tv consume 45 percent more food than kids who don’t, and they eats fewer vegetables and fruits ("Unhealthy Food Should Not Be Marketed to Children"). If kids don’t eat enough vegetables and fruits, then they won’t get enough nutrients. Some schools started promoting vegetables in schools, and “the study found that schools doing so at lunch boosted daily fruit consumption by 26 percent, vegetables by 14 percent, and whole grains by 30 percent”(“Introduction to Should Junk Food Be Sold in School?: At Issue”). By adding healthier meal options, some schools were able to make students eat more healthy nutrients. Proper nutrients should be offered to students, so they lead to a more healthy

For sodium, snack items must have 230 milligrams or less and entrée items 480 milligrams or less. For fats, total fat must be 35 percent of calories or less, saturated fat less than 10 percent of calories, and zero trans fats. And for sugar, the limit is 35 percent or less of weight from total sugars in food. ("Introduction to Should Junk Food Be Sold in School?: At Issue")
Due to new limits of certain ingredients in school lunches, schools are able to control how much each student eats. All schools should educate students about healthy choices and limit the unhealthy food offered.
Some people argue that if schools promote healthy foods, there would be too much waste from food that is not eaten. As stated by Baylen J. Linnekin, a lawyer and who argues against over regulation of food, there are too many “school food rules that have resulted in huge amounts of waste”(qtd. In Schachter). Although this may be true, there are many ways to prevent students from creating so much waste. Moreover, according to “Obesity,” it is actually the family 's fault for children not eating healthy food (“The Government Should Take Action Against Obesity”). If the family, especially the parents, can start feeding healthy to kids from childhood, then students will eat the healthy choices and not waste food. By giving children healthy food from the start of their childhood, it is