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Eat Well To Live Well

Let's improve the nutrition of students to help them grow strong.
December 2021

Contributing Writers: Jessica Karels, Alyssa Pakin, and Samantha Calkins

I f you had the choice to walk into a cafeteria or restaurant, which would you choose? More than likely
one would rather eat in a restaurant because of not only its appearance but the food quality.

The food provided by the schools to their students has a lack of good nutrients, and – in general is not
beneficial. Instead of healthy foods that are positive towards the well being of students, they are fed foods with
a surplus of calories, fats, sodium, sugars, and high carbohydrates. Because of this, from an early age
adolescents won't understand the basic concepts of healthy habits. A majority of a person's basic knowledge is
consumed in their early years, so why not teach them a necessary habit? Why not teach habits that will follow
them for the rest of their life?

Nobody truly knows what goes on behind the lunch line but what if all these regulations that are supposed to be
operated aren't? Federal and local policies need to be uncompromising about the regulations and schools need to
take health more seriously.

Schools need to improve their efforts to provide nutritional lunches for students, as well as they need to
make an active effort to boost students' overall wellness.

The First Lady Michelle Obama created the Healthy Hunger Free Children Act of 2010. “This final rule updates
the meal patterns and nutrition standards for the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs to align
them with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. This rule requires most schools to increase 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” (“ Final Rule: Nutritional Standards”). This act was started so kids can have access to healthy,
balanced and nutritious school lunches. Michelle Obama hoped that it would lower the numbers of childhood
obesity because at schools, there are now healthy choices for students.

When looking through the past, the overall structure of a school has changed tremendously with not only the
food served but also education requirements. Schools have increased requirements for graduation and added
new learning techniques for example, Common Core ,which we have all heard about. Food has changed also
with the introduction of fast food to the world. Kids do not have the choice to pick which food they want to be
served so involving everyone will give a change. Regulations, requirements, and policies are what we hear
everyday but what are these?

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Presentation of Food
One of the major reasons why students don't eat well is because the cafeteria itself does not draw attention or
appetite to a student, a child consumer. How should a student be able to enjoy lunch if it is not presented well?
When thinking of cafeteria food, it presents differently from a restaurant.

What if the overall appearance and food in a cafeteria was like a restaurant would more people eat during
school? For example in a survey that was done about school lunches stated, “McElveen said. ‘The reason I
always brought lunch from home is that [the school lunch] wasn't appealing. It wasn't perceived as being
healthy. You saw people getting fries and pizza every day’” (Shapiro). This statement just shows that students
can tell that the food is not healthy nor presentable to even eat. Why would a student even want to eat at school
if better food can be brought from home? Even students who may not have a meal at home are shown to not eat
in the cafeteria. One should not have to pick between eating poorly or not at all. Despite the fries and pizza
every day this does not draw attention or appetite to one and eventually gets tiring. But having pasta or
sandwiches that were spread out weekly would not only be healthier but draw more attention to the cafeteria.

Another analysis was done with what is served in a traditional and non
traditional cafeteria. For example, “Schools with salad bars were much more
likely to serve lettuce, tomatoes, other raw vegetables, and fresh fruit than
were schools without salad bars. In addition, schools with salad bars were
more likely than their counterparts, to offer nutrient-dense vegetables (like
carrots and broccoli).” (Schmidt) Schools who offer a more modern way to get
food for example the salad bar eat more than a traditional one. Students enjoy
a restaurant type of feel when eating their food and given the resources it could
happen. Building a well-developed cafeteria that is modern and not only has
more nutritional food presented better will invite more children to make better
eating choices and actually eat the school lunch. Not only is a salad healthier
but so many things can be added to this salad. For example, students should
know to choose a protein and a vegetable. Giving a wide variety to students is
what draws the attention that the cafeteria needs which is being more visually
appealing and modernized.

Health Training Within

Within the school scene, there is a lack of health training among the staff as well as little to no health
professionals on the campus. As stated from Papa,``Although several foundation projects have focused on
training health care professionals and other service disciplines, there are relatively few reports of
interdisciplinary training of school health professionals.” (Papa). With this, it proves that there are few to zero
actions being taken to provide health training within the school systems. Even though the children in these
schools are the future, there are barely any active efforts to ensure the well being of these children.

As stated from the article, Redesigning a School Health Workforce for a New Health Care Environment:
Training School Nurses as Nurse Practitioners, “If appropriately prepared with advanced training, school nurses

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can play a more proactive role in the attempt to resolve common problems of reliable use of and access to
primary care, as well as in the early detection of potentially costly medical problems.” (Training School Nurses
as Nurse Practitioners). This highlights that with these positions it not only helps the students on the campus but
also offers job opportunities to those within this career force.

Schools need to provide nutritional lunches regarding the state and

local policies. Yes, there are some efforts being made but they are out
of date and need to be strictly enforced. For instance Wojcicki and
Heymanstate that “San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD)
addressed problems associated with childhood overweight and
responded to pressure from various parent groups by changing its
nutrition standards to eliminate the sale of unhealthy foods, snacks, and
beverages from all lunch line, snack bar, and vending machine locations
in all public elementary, middle, and high schools.” (Wojcicki,
Heyman). This provides that schools are trying to improve their nutritional value during lunch and snack time.
If they continue to enforce the change in what students consume they will all be healthier as a whole.

According to Shelly Conlon “The Kids Eat Local Act provides the purchasing flexibility that schools have been
asking for, and will allow more schools across the country to make fresh, local food on students' plates a reality.
It's a win for kids, farmers and communities," said Chloe Marshall, Policy Specialist at National Farm to School
Network.”(Conlon). Therefore If schools use fresh produce from farmers and fresh made meals it will improve
the nutrition of the students. It would make the students healthier and benefit their overall wellness.

What About the Regulations

Cafeteria workers may suggest that they have many regulations that they have to follow to keep the overall
wellness of students up. For example, “The nutrition staff will keep this pace for the next eight hours, just as
they do every school day. They will chop vegetables, take calls from
parents, count thousands of portions and greet hundreds of students by
name before going home to cook for their families, collapse on the couch or
work a shift at a second job. It's hectic, careful work. It's a normal day in
the life of a school nutrition worker.” As shown these workers work
extremely hard behind the lines but it goes to show that there is so much
going on that there is no time to even think of a meal that all students will
enjoy. Not only should the cafeteria notice but the whole staff of the school
in general should help out. Also as said by a congressman, "’Our children
should have greater access and more nutritious choices when it comes to
the foods they eat at their school cafeterias,’ said Congressman Poliquin.”
Not only are people in the schools seeing the issue but even highly ranked people. The health of a young adult
will not only develop the next years of their adulthood but teach them why it is important. Schools should
practice these and try to make a better effort of being pleasurable.

Some might bring up the strict regulations that the cafeteria has to abide by, however there is a relief to these
said rigid rules. The 2018 transcript by Vicky Hartzler indicates, “Hartzler's legislation would allow states to set
their own whole grain requirements, sodium and calorie limits, and provide flexibility on fruit and vegetable
requirements for high school grade levels… ‘This legislation provides flexibility to school administrators and

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gives students more options at lunch time'’” (Hartzler). This demonstrates that for the past three years there
have been lifted regulations that can help follow individual students' needs and yet there are no changes being
made. Within the same piece, Hartzler states, “Common-sense changes need to be made to the National School
Lunch Program to ensure all children have access to nutritious, affordable meals they will eat without putting
unnecessary burdens on our local school districts” (Hartzler). Because of the efforts made by the House of
Representatives, it is now recognized that these changes need to be made in order to ensure the well being of
each student on campus.

Do the Lunches Need Change

Schools do not need to improve their nutritional lunch options for students, as healthy ingredients are expensive
and kids generally avoid fruits and vegetables. “While the group is generally sympathetic to the goals, she said,
the organization's members have developed "serious concerns about the program, its increased cost and
increased food waste." (Kindy). For instance students don't eat the healthy lunches schools provide because they
don't like it. Why would schools provide nutritious lunches if students decide to waste it? It would just be a
waste of money for the school. Another example would be “DAN CHARLES: At Walker-Jones Educational
Campus in the heart of Washington, D.C., the lunches really are nutritious. On this day, first-grader Salem
Tesfaye got chicken in a whole-wheat wrap, chopped tomatoes and lettuce from local farms, a slice of
cantaloupe and milk. Did you throw any of that out? “SALEM: I threw all of it away.”(Carrots and Kids). For
Example a kid was interviewed about his opinion on healthy school lunches, he throws all of his lunch away
because he doesn't like it. If schools continue to serve nutrition filled lunches students won't eat lunch.

Even though topics such as change in meals and money can be thought of as miscellaneous and minor, there are
things that the school districts of America are hiding out on. According to the piece, Schools must use Relief
Money to Provide what Students Need, Not what Adults Want, it covers, “...schools would get $122 billion
under the American Rescue Plan Act. The money represents the largest single federal outlay on K-12 education
in the country's history and, as such, is an unprecedented opportunity to improve student learning. At the same
time, though, there is potential risk if the money is not used smartly…” (Schools must use Relief Money to
Provide what Students Need). With this, it illustrates that schools have a wide budget, however they are instead
spending on inconvenient things instead of investing in the health for our next generation. One of these changes
that could be affected drastically is the meals that are offered to students.

The Change
One solution is to change the nutritional value in students' lunches by making places for people to donate or
raise money so children can have nutrition-filled lunches at school. This represents the overall claim because if
teachers aren't willing to take a huge step to solve this issue someone else needs to.

Another way to help the children is to have a board meeting and begin to talk about investing in a health and
wellness center. A health and wellness facility on campus would be extremely beneficial to the students of
today. If schools teach kids how to behave within social settings then they should also teach them basic life
skills like finding some sort of physical activity that they enjoy.

Another possibility is to build a well developed cafeteria that is modern and not only has more nutritional food
but also presents better and will invite more people in. A cafeteria should not only have tables for someone to

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eat but study sections where one can change a device and sit in a comfy seat. This will invite more students in
and give a better vibe than your regular cafeteria.

In order to improve the wellness of students, the beginning of change starts in the cafeteria.

Why do we even care about the value of school lunches? It's simple. No one else is talking about it. This is a
monumental topic that affects the children of America at least 5 days and 10 meals each week. For some kids
these are the only nutritious meals they will eat. Schools teach students a lot, but they don’t teach enough about
their health.

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Work Cited:

Brindis, Claire D., et al. "Redesigning a School Health Workforce for a New Health Care Environment:
Training School Nurses as Nurse Practitioners." The Journal of School Health, vol. 68, no. 5, 1998, pp. 179-83.
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doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1746-1561.1998.tb01297.x.

Conlon, Shelly. "Do our Schools Get enough Money?" Argus Leader, 03 Mar 2020. eLibrary,
https://explore.proquest.com/elibrary/document/2369740586?accountid=143906

Eischens, Rilyn. "Behind the Lunch Lines." The News Leader, 05 Jan 2020. eLibrary,
https://explore.proquest.com/elibrary/document/2333238113?accountid=143906.

“Final Rule: Nutrition Standards in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs.” 20 December
2021. https://www.fns.usda.gov/cn/fr-012612

Hamburger, Tom, and Kimberly Kindy. "First Lady Vows to 'Fight' Healthy School-Lunch Rollback (Posted
2014-05-20 01:50:45)."eLibrary, 2014,
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Hartzler Moves to Provide Relief from School Lunch Regulations. Federal Information & News Dispatch, LLC,
Washington, 2018. eLibrary, https://explore.proquest.com/elibrary/document/2088265477?accountid=143906.

MORE HEALTHY OPTIONS IN SCHOOL CAFETERIAS: REP. POLIQUIN REINTRODUCES BIPARTISAN

LEGISLATION TO ALLOW GREATER ACCESS TO FRUITS & VEGETABLES FOR CHILDREN. Federal
Information & News Dispatch, LLC, Washington, 2017. eLibrary,
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Of Carrots and Kids: Healthy School Lunches that Don't Get Tossed. NPR, Washington, D.C., 2014. eLibrary,
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Papa, Patricia A., Cherie Rector, and Carol Stone. "Interdisciplinary Collaborative Training for School-Based
Health Professionals." The Journal of School Health, vol. 68, no. 10 1998, pp. 415-9. eLibrary,
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Schmidt, Stefanie R., and Patricia McKinney. "Fruits and Vegetables Offered in School Lunch Salad Bars
Versus Traditional School Lunches." Family Economics and Nutrition Review, vol. 16, no. 2, 2004, pp. 3-11.
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"Schools must use Relief Money to Provide what Students Need, Not what Adults Want."eLibrary, 19 May
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T, Rees S. "Survey: Fairfax Students Hate Lunch Food (Posted 2013-11-15 20:27:16)."eLibrary, 2013,
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Wojcicki, Janet M., and Melvin B. Heyman. "Healthier Choices and Increased Participation in a Middle School
Lunch Program: Effects of Nutrition Policy Changes in San Francisco." American Journal of Public Health,
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