Calories in School Lunches
Was it a good idea for Michelle Obama to change the school lunches? And, is it succeeding? Some students in New Mexico throw their whole-wheat tortillas right into the garbage can. Kids in Georgia won’t accept losing their precious fried chicken. Parents in the Chickasha school system, near Oklahoma City, are shocked and outraged about the food their schools are giving their kids. Students aren’t eating their fruits or vegetables either.
They aren’t getting the nutrients they need. This outrage began when Michelle Obama changed the school lunches into being healthier. Is this what Mrs. Obama wanted, for kids not to eat their lunches? The new school lunches are 600 calories. According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, ages between 11-13 need 1,800 to 2,600 calories per day.
Boys ages 14-18 need 2,200- 3,200 calories per day, and the girls ages 11-13 need 1,800 to 2,200 calories per day. On the other hand, the girls ages 14-18 need 1,800 to 2,400 calories per day. Boys that play sports like soccer, football, or basketball, burn up to 3,500 calories, and athletic girls burn the average of 2,400 calories. A juice box, and some Goldfish won’t give the athletes enough calories to play their best. Should schools bring back their old lunch menus? Kids would actually eat their lunch if their old lunch menu was back.
Pizza, hamburgers, cheese fries are some of the foods kids actually enjoy eating. Instead of having an all healthy meal every day with some food that goes straight into the garbage can, schools could serve their old school lunches, and add some vegetables kids actually like. Not all kids enjoy eating healthy things, but if schools were to bring back their old lunches, kids would start eating again. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 32% of the kids in America are overweight or obese.
That might be one of the reasons Michelle Obama changed the school lunches. What Michelle Obama didn’t think of were the athletic students. Athletic students need more calories than other school children. Athletic teen athletes generally have more muscle mass. They even burn calories just by resting.
According to Teenshealth, teen athletes require 2,000-5,000 calories per day to meet the daily energy needs. Shouldn’t parents be in charge of what their kids eat in their lunches? Did Michelle Obama really need to step in and change the lunches? Michelle Obama announced the campaign, Let’s Move!, on February 9, 2010. Is Let’s Move! working? A lot of people don’t even know about the campaign, or what its purpose is. The point of the program is to encourage kids to have a healthy life and reduce obesity. From 30 years ago, childhood obesity in America has tripled.
Let’s Move! is a program to reduce the percentage of kids with obesity. African American and Hispanic community, have the highest percentage where nearly 40% of the children are overweight or have obesity. How did this happen? When did the number triple? Let’s Move! isn’t making as big as an impact as it should be, or was predicted to. Students don’t even give their meal a taste. Some of the lunch rooms are full of the aruma of cat food. The lunch meals don’t look appetizing at all.
Kids spread rumors spread that their hamburgers contain horse meat. Students find hairs, bugs, and other unsatisfying items in their foods. No wonder kids won’t eat their lunches. Even with the program, Mrs. Obama’s plan isn’t working out the way it was planned to.
