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argumentative paper: school lunches
Disgusting Lunches
Everyday thirty-one million kids eat lunch provided by the national school lunch program. Those lunches often consist of canned vegetables, processed meats and sugary drinks. It’s not just in the school cafeteria but in their homes as well. Parents are tired and will feed their children processed food from the freezer or freeze dried out of a box because it is convenient and cheaper than cooking fresh healthy foods. School lunches might not be a serious issue if kids were eating healthier foods at home. Most of the time meals or snacks are full of unnecessary calories, salts, and sugars. Good nutrition and exercise are a crucial component to healthy physical and brain development. Children who exercise and eat healthy are more likely to not have health issues, have a better self esteem, and excel academically. One way to change the way our children eat is to educate our children about healthy eating and the effects of proper nutrition, which should start where our children learn every day.
The ultimate goal of most schools is to educate our children, but this becomes an issue if our children are not getting the proper nutrition. Several studies have shown students that have experienced malnutrition have compromised intelligence and academic performance. Other studies have shown students with low amounts of protein in their diet had the lowest achievement scores. If a child is suffering from anemia they can fall victim to poor concentration skills, irritability, fatigue and lack of attention span. The lack of fruits and vegetables along with shoving a ton of processed foods down our children’s throats for lunch, not only has a huge impact on children’s brain function, but on also on their health.
Education is a key component in preventing a number of health issues including obesity. Obesity is now the most widespread medical problem amongst children. Fifteen to thirty-three percent of children ages six to nineteen are obese. Since the



Cited: " USDA ERS -Child Nutrition Programs: National School Lunch Program." 6 June 2012. Web. 28 Oct. 2012. . Gunderson, Gordon W.. "National School Lunch Program." Food & Nutrition Service Home Page. 21 Feb. 2012. Web. 28 Oct. 2012. . "Obesity In Children And Teens | American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry." American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. Web. 29 Oct. 2012. . "The Massive Disgusting School Lunch Issue." Growing a Green Family“ Green Family Living Year Round. 15 Aug. 2010. Web. 19 Oct. 2012. .

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