How School Lunches Have Changed Over The Years-The School Lunch Reform

Through the years, the school lunch system in the United States has changed in lots of ways. In 1946, the Harry S. Truman administration began the school lunch program as a way to help all children obtain a nutritious lunch. The belief was that children would do better in their studies, if they had the fuel they needed to get them through the day. The pilot program, founded by President Lyndon Johnson in 1966, included breakfast.

To make sure that everyone had the ability to eat meals at school, poor and underprivileged children were provided with free or price reduced rates. During the 2005 school year, over 9 million children participated in both the lunch and breakfast programs and in 2010, nearly 30 million children participated in the school meal plan. The rise is significant in children who count on schools to serve daily meals, and serving healthier meals can help everybody involved.

The amount of fat in the school meals has been a big reason to be concerned through the years. Many children learn unhealthy eating habits with the high-fat pizzas, burgers, and French fries serves at school. Despite the efforts to lessen fat and increase the vegetables and fruit, the meals have still contributed to childhood obesity caused by a lot of fat.

President Obama has undertaken a school lunch reform in an effort to overhaul the foods which are served and supply healthier alternatives. This reform is attempting to reduce childhood obesity, which will reduce all of the health conditions that come with obesity. Those parents that rely on the school lunch program are often the exact children that have eaten high-fat foods which are less nutritious.

In a look at the number of calories children consume at school today, it is nearly half of their daily calories throughout the school. The school lunch reform is a means to give countless children tasty, yet healthy meals at school. Children might not do very well if served vegetables, fruits, and grains if they're used to eating burgers, pizza, and sweets. However, not making further changes to the school lunch program will only continue contributing to the obesity that's seen more in kids today than ever before.

President Barack Obama currently has created a Task Force on Childhood Obesity, which is the first of its kind. It is clear that the administration is taking the obesity issue serious since just twenty years ago, obese children was not an epidemic the way it is today with American children. Teaching children to eat healthier choices at school, where they spend most of their time, it will hopefully spill to life outside of school.

School lunches have certainly changed since Harry S. Truman passed the law that helped children have lunches while at school. The school lunch reform will inevitably keep changing as America attempts to stop obesity and poor eating habits among its youth.