Colleen Mansfield Mrs Stolz English 7AA 15 November 2009 Childhood Obesity Role of a School Cafeteria The current federal standards restricting what types of food can be served in school cafeterias are too lax and flawed The first shortcoming is that there is only a set minimum calorie value for a meal no maximum Quaid This is a problem because while students must intake at least some calories it is very possible for a student to overload on the calorie count in his food If a student eats more calories in one meal than he can burn off in a day it is extremely easy for fat to build up The federal standards also do not meet the government s own guidelines as seen in the updated food pyramid Quaid Proper serving sizes and number of servings are not enforced Currently nothing stands to stop a child from eating all grains There is a large funding gap in the free lunch program Each free lunch costs a school approximately 2 92 to make but only 2 68 is paid for by government Quaid This makes it difficult for schools to maintain their lunch programs and provide ample nutritious food for students Federal standards are not specific enough concerning what items find their end on a student s lunch tray In order to rectify the problems in federal standards a call for reform has sounded Part of the proposal would set caloric lows and highs for both breakfast and lunch Breakfast would have to contain 500 600 calories and lunch would have 650 850 calories Quaid This would prevent children from eating a whole day s worth of calories in one sitting The reform would also set nutritional standards for all food at all schools Millman Uniform servings of fruits vegetables and grains would be available at every school with a free lunch program Each week there would be 2 5 5 servings of fruit available at lunch and at least 5 servings for breakfast Quaid At lunch 1 25 2 5 servings of dark green or bright orange vegetables would be made available to students Quaid Every day 7 10 servings of grain would be served at breakfast and 9 13 at lunch Quaid Half of more of the servings would have to be whole grains Quaid With those standards implemented even if a child were to max out his calorie count a balanced meal would still be provided The last part of the reform would serve to rework free lunch program Most important is to get rid of funding gap Millman To do this it is suggested that meal prices are raised The price of breakfast would increase by 20 and lunch would be raised by 4 Quaid The prices would still be manageable and would enable cafeterias to spend more with a smaller deficit A reform of the federal standards for food served in school cafeterias is crucial to decrease the cafeteria s role in childhood obesity Preventing childhood obesity is very important It is a serious problem that leads to many other issues in physical and mental health Physically an obese child can develop serious dieases such as Type II diabetes heart disease kidney disease high cholesterol Kids They can also suffer abdominal problems iron deficiency hypertension and strokes Kids Scientists expect to see a 2 to 5 year drop in life expectancy for today s children Lesley Obviously none of these health issues are typically seen in small children nor are they problems doctors should be observing in young age groups Mental health problems arise from taunting by peers trouble fitting in feeling lonely Kids Many children develop food insecurities furthering their overeating problems and obesity Teachers and parents find that overweight and obese children lack an attention span and display difficulty learning Greene Cafeteria food s role in causing such mental and physical problems should be eliminated through reforming federal standards