Bringing vs. Buying School Lunches
By: Brendan McIrney

    School lunches are supposed to safeguard the health of the Nation’s children which was declared by Congress in the National School Lunch Act. The School Lunch Program makes it possible for schools to serve nutritious and cheaper lunches to students each day. However most schools do not have what a child wants to eat. In 2010 the first lady, Michelle Obama, said "The last thing we can afford to do right now is play politics with our kids' health." She and Congress helped pass a bill that served healthier foods including fruits, vegetables and other produce. Unfortunately from what I witnessed in schools including mine, a lot of students do not enjoy the new food. A few classmates of mine said it was gross and “tastes like cardboard.” Students are required to take a fruit or vegetable with their lunch when they buy, but studies show most kids throw it out. Now most students will bring a lunch from home and it can contain whatever they want in it. This can lead to child obesity and also can hurt a schools profit from not selling more food. Although school lunches may be easier to buy, the meals can lead to obesity and also most people do not eat their food and are even hungry after buying their lunch.

    School lunches can lead to obesity in certain ways because people will not buy the school food or bring their own unhealthy food to school. A recent study found that children who regularly eat school lunches are 29 percent more likely to be obese than their peers who brought lunch from home. According to New York Times, “In a typical week, elementary school menus include chicken tenders, cheeseburgers, and ‘Pizza Fridays,’ with sides of cheesy rotini, mozzarella sticks or French fries. A healthy meal can be hard for students to come by in a public school cafeteria, and is especially challenging for school systems to provide.” Many schools are trying to change their foods to make it healthier but it is a challenge because most school lunches are not prepared from scratch and the schools do not use fresh fruits and vegetables. The food is frozen, then heated, then served. ‘Readers Digest’ states, “Though giving your child lunch money may be easier than preparing a lunch, if you plan ahead and take the time to make lunch, you may be helping your child battle future weight issues.”

    New school lunch standards were put into effect and as a result of First Lady Michelle Obama’s anti-obesity campaign have led to more than 1 million children leaving the lunch line. 48 out of 50 states faced challenges obeying Mrs. Obama’s Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act. The National School Lunch Program saw abrupt decline in participation once the healthy standards went into effect during the 2012-2013 school year. A total of 1,086,000 students stopped buying school lunch due to the new changes. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) conducted a survey of 17 in 8 school districts and in each district students “students expressed dislike for certain foods that were served to comply with the new requirements, such as whole grain-rich products and vegetables in the beans and peas and red-orange sub-groups, and this may have affected participation.” Serving white bread was eliminated from almost all schools because only whole grain rich items are allowed. A lot of students are hungry after buying a school lunch because the schools also minimized their serving portions. The school systems hope their participation in buying lunches will increase because they figure that the students will learn to adapt with the changes. Bringing food from home however does fill a student because they choose how much food they want.

    Some students also have excuses why they do not bring their own lunch. Most students say that it is easier to buy or that they do not have time to pack their own lunch. Others say their parents want them to buy food at school. But a lot of students will not buy the school food because it is not “real” food. Some students choose to buy food at school because they do not have enough time to pack their own lunch. They might play sports, participate in clubs, or are just lazy. However, buying a lunch at school for most people is not pleasurable. In a poll I calculated during school, 13 people stated that they bought school food and the other 12 brought their own food from home. The most popular reasons for buying food at school were because it was “easier to buy” and “not enough time to pack my own lunch”. After interviewing some students I discovered that most of them were not pleased with the lunches. Sabrina Doyle was not impressed with the lunches, “The lunches taste like cardboard. I only buy lunch because I don’t have the time to pack my own lunch. I am still hungry afterwards too because the servings are too small. I don’t find it worth it to buy my own lunch.” Ivan states, “I don’t mind ordering a salad but I don’t like to order hot lunches. I am full after eating a salad because I usually go to Munchie Mania afterwards. I think it is worth buying lunch but it depends on the choices.” Christina Wright was a student I interviewed for people who bring their lunch. “I think the school lunches are gross and I like the food at my house. I am not hungry after eating my lunch and it is worth it bringing my own lunch to school.” Most students enjoy their own lunches rather than the schools.

        Although school lunches may be easier to buy, the meals can lead to obesity and also most people do not eat their food and are even hungry after buying their lunch. School lunches are proven to cause obesity in our nation because the government tried to eliminate obesity by changing the school food into “cardboard” food. Students would rather bring their own food from home because they can choose what to bring. Most students who bring their own food will make it unhealthy because they will put cookies and chips in a bag instead of fruits and vegetables. The percentage of school lunch sales decreased while the obesity of children increased. The plan was to reduce childhood obesity but it did not stop the spread of obesity. Students chose to eat unhealthy because even when they buy their own lunch, they will throw away the fruits or vegetables they were ordered to grab. The school lunch plan to reduce childhood obesity failed.

Sources:

First Lady: Our Kids Deserve Better. May 27th, 2014 

Readers Digest Editors

Environment and Human Health Inc. 
USDA Food And Nutrition Service