Do you ever question what is in a child’s traditional school lunch on a day to day basis. I didn’t until Mr.Medina gave us the assignment on forbidden knowledge. The questions that popped into my head were. Is there anything in the food we should know about or shouldn’t? Why do our foods we eat always come frozen? Can the average nutritous lunch be affecting our health? I was overwhelmed and confused maybe just a little scared too. But, I had to overcome this so I decided to conquer this unspoken of, forbidden topic. Let us examine what a school thinks is a nutritious lunch. Most parents may think we are getting nutritious lunch when really they are feeding us overly processed sodium enriched garbage!
You must still be in aw that a child would concern t ime for the parents
to hear the truth. An unidentified teacher took on a challenge to eat her
school’s lunches for a year. Well after a while she wrote her blog that the school
lunches are basically , “ TV dinners gone bad”(Mrs.Q, 2013). Normally that wouldn’t be
something you would hear out of a teacher because you obviously are going to
want to make your school look good and try to cover it up by saying oh, it’s
not that bad, but no this teacher went gangster and spoke the truth. Our school
lunch is food that is majorly processed and has too much sodium and preservatives.
“ USDA… recommended 500 milligrams of sodium; some districts …serve lunches
with more…” Some of the food at MCLA also exceeds this recommendation because
11 out of 25 varieties of foods exceed these 500 milligrams. It is not only
MCLA eating this food 31 million other children are being affected by NSLP
food. I did not know what that company stood or and I was curious so I used the handy
internet and researched the NSLP. Well, what I learned is NSLP stands for National
School Lunch Program. In order for this company to disperse their products it
had to be signed by President Barach Obama and gain approval from Michelle
Obama. If Obama did care than he wouldn’t be signing off these chemical and
preserve enriched food that could be eaten why doesn’t he try eating this food
for a year see how much he will sign off it after. Themselves with such a topic
as this. Most children my age normally think hey it’s good it must not be that
bad for my body. You might not be that concerned if you are a kid because you
know you are going to end up eating again one day at school, and you will
forget every word I have written. But, it’s all good because you know that the
famous nutritious lunches are garbage, so I would understand you might hear the
same they should change the health policy and so on and so forth. Now it is time for parents to hear the ugly
truth we have been consuming.
Since they are supposedly serving us nutritious lunch that fulfills us and our health, well they are doing the exact opposite. A big factor is schools not paying attention to the USDA’s nutritional standards. This is affecting our health by slowing down our brainpower loss. They need to replace some of that sodium for more protein. It is proven by studies that have been done that, “high levels of saturated fats actually impair learning and memory” (Chen, 2008). These days there is always side affects and with these foods being on a student’s diet on a day to day basis it affects their learning , memory, and behavior. Most of these schools can't change this issue because of the school budget, but that is the part that ticks me off. Mueller produces $8 million dollars a year, takes us on college trip, has festivals, and start to develop a new high school, but they can’t even afford a decent school lunch for their students. They can make a difference, but they don’t pay attention to little issues students may have. If Mueller isn’t careful their students won’t be changing the world no more they will be changing Mueller’s reputation and doctor’s charts. But, I want to help students speak up and make those little problems in the background matter because something little can always go a long way.
The normal lunch menu for a day hamburger, orange chicken, and a sunbutter and jelly sandwich. Oh, wait I thought I heard a hamburger with 25 other ingredients than meat and orange chicken or is it chicken chunks with 30 ingredients other than chicken. Other days there is a choice called ribi-cue. Yum, rib sandwich when it’s really 660 mg. of sodium with "fake grill marks and a mystery pork-product." (parents.com,2012) All of these choices are only a few of the 25 variety pack that comes with this deal. They add yeast to give more flavor to the supposedly meat and they also put in artificial sweeteners to try and hide the added chemicals. Soon enough this should change, but soon would be too late. An epidemic with children’s health could happen. We can’t risk the next generation being 90% obese.
If our school lunch food was really nutritious, would it be taking a toll on our life. Would it affect our learning, health, and behavior. Or would or "chicken chunks list more than 30 other ingredients instead of just chicken."(parents.com,2012)Does Mueller even care because they are letting this happen to their students even though they have enough in their budget to do better for their students. I do agree that this is a small issue, but little things stretch a long way and can make a big difference. If the United State doesn’t want another generation of obese adults we should start acting now. Mueller already doesn’t think of it as a big deal obviously because they don’t have to eat this garbage. But, I hope we are able to learn how to take an approach on this situation and see wear us kids are coming from. Why wait and see the outcome and let it happen then in the future decide to act now is our time to shine.
"Work Cited"
"School Hamburgers Contain 25 Ingredients That Aren’t Meat." School Hamburgers Contain 25 Ingredients That Aren't Meat. N.p., n.d. Web 17 Dec. 2013.
News, COURTNEY HUTCHISONABC News Medical Unit via World. "School Lunches Are a Threat to National Security, Retired Officials Say." ABC News. ABC News Network, n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2013.
"The Problem with Your Child's School Lunch." Parents Magazine. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2013.
"School Hamburgers Contain 25 Ingredients That Aren’t Meat." School Hamburgers Contain 25 Ingredients That Aren't Meat. N.p., n.d. Web 17 Dec. 2013.
News, COURTNEY HUTCHISONABC News Medical Unit via World. "School Lunches Are a Threat to National Security, Retired Officials Say." ABC News. ABC News Network, n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2013.
"The Problem with Your Child's School Lunch." Parents Magazine. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2013.