Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids???

            “I’m hungry” has not been uncommon to hear in the afternoons around my school.  Changes in our school lunches have been obvious and greatly disliked among students, parents, teachers, and coaches.  Students are being left hungry following lunch and are being forced to eat snacks before and after lunch.  Parents have to dish out more for their students’ lunches that they get no say in.  Teachers are being forced to eat what the kids eat, even though they should be able to make their own decisions.  Coaches are making their athletes bring their own lunches to school.

            Under Michelle Obama’s Healthy, Hunger- Free Kids Act, a school lunch can only have eight-hundred and fifty calories to receive federal funding and replaces a lot of protein with fruits, vegetables, and carbohydrates.  Schools are also no longer able to provide dessert daily, but instead only once a week.

            Students are being left hungry following the new calorie restrictions.  As a student with braces, I am also many times unable to eat any of the vegetable and fruit options and therefore must throw it all away or give it to someone else.  The very low amount of protein in the meals also leave students feeling hungry faster, because protein is what makes you feel full longer.  Part of the act is “Hunger- Free” but I know I am getting left hungrier than I was before.  I eat lunch at 11:30 and by 1:30 I am usually forced to eat a snack.

            Parents are complaining about the new legislation, because even with the new rules, schools are receiving no more federal funding than they were before.  Fruits and vegetables are costing the schools more than they were before, and the food is also taking longer to prepare and therefore requiring longer work days for the cafeteria cooks.  The only way schools are able to afford to follow the new rules is by deferring the cost to the parents and raising the cost of lunches.

            Teachers are also being forced to eat meals under the same rules as students.  Many teachers are complaining that they are grown adults.  The teachers should be able to make their own choices, because face it, they are adults and should not be watched like a day care.  In the same way, high school students feel the same way.  We are old enough to make our own choices concerning our body and are not being given that freedom.

            Coaches are not happy with the new rules because they lessen the nutrition to their athletes.  Students in sports are not able to excel in their activities because they are simply not able to get enough to eat.  Many coaches are requiring their athletes take their own lunches to school to supplement what they can no longer get from the school.  The small amount of protein also makes it difficult for the athletes to make muscle.

            All- in- all, the new rules are hurting many students.  Not everyone is the same or has the same body as the rules would suggest.  Kids are being left hungry, something the new laws were supposed to be ending and are not able to be as active as they were.  We are supposed to be more active, but we are not being given the proper nutrition that is required to do that very thing.  We are hungry, and we want the rules changed.

567