Better Quality Lunch, Better Quality Life

Better Quality Lunch, Better Quality Life

The bell that rings to signal the start of the lunch period in high school also doubles as a signal of relief for many students. For students, with hungry stomachs and low energy levels after the long and stressful mornings that high schoolers endure by doing classwork and taking exams, the time that lunch allows to recharge by eating is a necessity. But, as is happening in too many school cafeterias today, students are not being given enough food - or enough food that is appealing - which overall causes losses in drive and energy to continue on with the second half of the day. Both physical and mental health are affected in negative ways with insufficient amounts of food: productivity is lost, stress levels increase, and healthy diets are impossible to obtain. Cafeterias, at the high school level especially, that lack quality meals when it comes to taste, nutritional value, and serving size, need reform in order to allow growing teenage students to reach their full potential in both school, and in life.

In today’s society and culture, the importance of fresh and healthy foods that have nutritional value is a value that is widespread and campaigned for. The benefits to healthy diets and lifestyles are taught to people starting as soon as they are toddlers and they continue to be reinforced throughout life. Students are being taught these values, yet are not being given the chance to exercise them during the school day. Eating 180 lunches in the school each year has a great impact on the wellbeing of students and their overall health. Schools need to begin serving more food that is fresh and has nutritional value. If cafeteria food becomes less processed and better quality overall, schools can play a large part in reducing both undernutrition and obesity, two main problems that America faces today.

A common saying is that school cafeterias serve “mystery meat” And while this is just a light hearted joke, it does bring light to a rather serious issue. Oftentimes, students are given foods that are so unappetizing and faux-looking that they are almost unidentifiable compared to the foods served at home or outside of school. These unappealing meals, which are often served as the only option for lunch, cause students to be wary of its taste, which leads to many meals going uneaten and simply thrown away, and therefore leads to students being left hungry. Food that students actually want to eat needs to be provided in order to ensure that students are getting the fuel that they need to succeed.

On top of food quality by taste and nutritional value, foods served in cafeterias also need to be given in larger portions, especially at the high school level, when students are growing young men and women, who literally need large amounts of food to get them through the day. The typical served meals of a single small sandwich, like an uncrustable, along with a small package of an unfresh vegetable will not suffice. Enough food needs to be given that allows stomachs to truly feel full, so that students are not left with grumbling stomachs that cause distractions and losses of productivity for the rest of the day, which then leads to increased stress levels.

Three meals a day is essential. Schools that do not provide quality food for teenagers end up damaging the growth of students by not providing resources that are key to success.