Is it time we make healthy lunches mandatory for overweight children?

[LongTimeCreeper]

Hmmmm, Jaylock thread. I should know better, but...

Mandatory? No. But the school lunches that are offered should be healthy. I'm fine with them not offering pizza or other unhealthy options.
I don't remember the movie, so not sure what they did as far as regulations. If the kid brings his/her own lunch, so be it.

[Underverse]

Lunches served by schools should only be healthy. Kids should be allowed to bring their own lunch, but the cafeteria should not be serving pizza, ice cream, and lowfat chocolate milk on a daily basis.

[Zandro]

It shouldn't be mandatory for obese and overweight children - it should be mandatory for ALL children. All school lunches provided should be healthy and give some sort of nutritional benefit to every kid that eats them.

If the kids want to eat bad, it should be the choice of the parent to have the child bring their own lunch, that way they have nobody to blame for the child's shortcomings other than themselves. Have read quite a bit about parents complaining about their children's weight issues because of the poor quality of food provided by the school.

[hulkgor]

Or you know ....

.... make healthy lunches mandatory for ALL children?

[Jaylock]

Or you know ....

.... make healthy lunches mandatory for ALL children?

Already healthy children should be able to eat pizza if they want. It is the obese children and people who pose very serious economic risks to society (because of increased doctor / hospital / medication costs to keep these people alive longer)

[Korlok]

To be honest, schools should have healthy lunches period.

By healthy, I mean actually healthy food...fruits, vegetables, meats, cheeses, limited breads.

Schools should not, however, be in the calorie counting business as they suck at this. My daughter was an athlete in high school and was provided far too little food for what she actually needed forcing her to bring food...and most food that sits in a bag well for 8 hours is typically not the best food.

This, more than anything. Especially the first part.
If all food served in schools were of a higher caliber, this wouldn't be an issue.
Fat kids will still bring their lunches, but then you wouldn't be able to blame the schools.

[Acidbaron]

Yes, we should ban all unhealthy food for every child on the school. Not just those with obesity.

It is sickening to read that some schools in the US have replaced their food program with new food programs sponsored by their local fast food suppliers. Education comes at making them do things, showing them the right way, merely talking about it in a class room does not work, if kids from young age get familiar with the right taste and texture of such foods chances are they will continue to eat so, they will always be tempted outside of the class room and homes but we have to start somewhere.

Parents need to be re-educated to but it is easier to start with the current generation and make them pass it on. Big food lobby is a major risk for our future, obese people are unhealthy get sick more work less, with a population ever aging and dependent on future generations to ensure the social safety net they need to become healthier.

Fun fact: Did you know that the reason we banned food commercials during cartoons is since we have shown that children that see commercials about food are more likely to stuff their face. This was done with keeping food in the vicinity. There are a lot of subconscious triggers around us that we are unaware of but those selling us their products are, that's the reason the big food lobby wants to stop any negative labeling on their products or even moving them to other shelves.

- - - Updated - - -

I remember all that stuff with Jamie Oliver. He was even on Ted Talks and gave a great speech. I don't think it had much impact though; we're years on and still we have the same health problems with the kids in school.

There's no solution apart from everyone realising that health is important.

Especially for children.

We need to do what we did with smoking: go after the advertising, make it socially unacceptable, etc

I don't think we should outlaw unhealthy food, or force kids/people to eat healthy. You can still buy cigarettes.

It's just that everyone knows cigarettes will kill you and your kids. And so will unhealthy food.

The whole awarded TED speech is on Youtube also, it is shocking that despite us all being aware our politicians and everyone involved. We still let the food lobby get away with way too much.

It is while some find it extreme i do not, child abuse. We are allowing our kids to become addicts, not on coke but the other unhealthy and addictive white good, sugar.

[Crissi]

Eating a healthy lunch wont help all that much if they're eating a shitton at dinner / breakfast. So really, unless parents continue the work at home its an excersie in futility and not worth it.

[Rumfoord]

Make all public schools follow a mandatory guideline for what they provide in their lunches. Simple as that.

On top of that, P.E. twice a day!

Yes, we should ban all unhealthy food for every child on the school. Not just those with obesity.
while some find it extreme i do not. We are allowing our kids to become addicts, not on coke but the other unhealthy and addictive white good, sugar.

Exactly. Over use of sugar is pretty much the biggest culprit. The substitutes are no better.

[Acidbaron]

Eating a healthy lunch wont help all that much if they're eating a shitton at dinner / breakfast. So really, unless parents continue the work at home its an excersie in futility and not worth it.

It has to start somewhere and it won't start in peoples homes. People also greatly underestimate the positive effect a child can have on their parent decision making.

I agree that even in supermarkets the same techniques used to promote sugar rich and unhealthy foods should be used to promote the healthy ones. It's sad that even in the EU we didn't get to pass a law that would label every product with a three color coded label, green,orange and red to point out how much fat and sugar is in something. The food lobby spend over a billion euros to prevent this and won.

[the game]

Why should healthy lunches only be for the overweight kids?

[Brianjosel]

Already healthy children should be able to eat pizza if they want. It is the obese children and people who pose very serious economic risks to society (because of increased doctor / hospital / medication costs to keep these people alive longer)

I lived in a big neighborhood with a lot of kids. I also attended a very large school district. I knew plenty of skinny children who were weak, unconditioned, and constantly getting sick. My school served plenty of healthy food, but they also served plenty of crap, and easily 80% of the kids chose crap, fat or not.

You don't have to be fat to be unhealthy. With the number of kids out there with some kind of neurological disfunction, and with how closely diets is being shown to affect mental health, among other things, I think ALL kids should have a healthy lunch served to them. If they want to eat crap they can bring it from home.

[the game]

Already healthy children should be able to eat pizza if they want. It is the obese children and people who pose very serious economic risks to society (because of increased doctor / hospital / medication costs to keep these people alive longer)

We should take cigarettes from the goth and emo kids too.

[Mystrome]

no.

Schools should educate children, not raise them.

Fully agree about the educate part, but in my opninion that includes educating children about food.

If anything way too much paternal responsibility is being shifted towards the school already.

Definately true. Pretty much every adult in my family is a teacher, one way or another, and could tell tons of stories about how lots of parents expect schools to do their work for them. Sadly, that never is about diet. It's usually about stuff like the kids being rude, not doing their homework, not picking up after themselves, not opening a book when class is starting without having to tell them to, etc. etc.

Another thing you should try: walk trough a school with 500+ teens where the doors in the halls close automatically and see how often the one in front of you will hold it open if you're close behind.

However, on the subject of food in regard to health, I'd say it's perfectly fine for schools to ban anything unhealthy from their building and grounds. If schools interfering with health is such an issue to quite a few of you, I imagine you'd all be perfectly fine with a sigaret vending machine next to the candy ones? After all, it's the parents job to tell them not to spend their money on those, right?

Then agian, school lunches arent common here in europe(or atleast in holland) as it is in the US

And yet, most (if not all) highschools have banned vending machines selling candy and soda drinks, simply because their registrations (partly forced) have realized that schools, by their very definition, are also setting the example for their children when it comes to healthy behaviour. The primary schools where children stay over for lunch here in the Netherlands are following health guidelines too.

Off topic: Also, have a look at this.

[TirielWoW]

It shouldn't be mandatory for obese and overweight children - it should be mandatory for ALL children. All school lunches provided should be healthy and give some sort of nutritional benefit to every kid that eats them.

If the kids want to eat bad, it should be the choice of the parent to have the child bring their own lunch, that way they have nobody to blame for the child's shortcomings other than themselves. Have read quite a bit about parents complaining about their children's weight issues because of the poor quality of food provided by the school.

I agree with this.

Statistically, if you present a child with a choice of food that's bad for them (high in sugars, saturated fats, etc) vs. one that's good for them, they'll choose bad almost every time - whether they're fat or thin. There are kids in school right now who are currently thin who will become morbidly obese later in life because of the habits they're picking up in school right now. So just make all the food healthy.

Edited to Add: I highly recommend that you watch the movie "Fed Up" if you want to see the kind of shenanigans that big food is pulling in our schools and in our stores.

[DocHibb]

Not just for overweight children. That'll make them feel excluded and give a negative attitude about healthy eating. School lunches, though, should be much more wholesome. The food we used to have when I was in school was sad.

[rayvio]

forcing something upon people, especially children, is never an effective solution even if it's with the best of intentions. healthy options should be offered and encouraged and they should be educated about why they are healthy and how to have a healthy diet without having to completely sacrifice unhealthy foods

making healthy food mandatory is a great way to guarantee that even fewer will want any and forbidding junk food will only make it more appealing

[Zantos]

One step in the right direction to curb obesity is a step in the right direction. Should public schools make healthy lunches mandatory for obese children?

Heck no. Are you Trying to get them singled out and made fun of even more than they probably already are at times? You don't ever single out a child in a school. That is practically putting a target on their back. Like someone else said, they need to educate them. Even then though, the problem is the parents, not the school. Even with a healthy lunch, the parents will still feed their kids junk food and unhealthy dinners / breakfasts. Itd be a useless attempt on the schools part to even try.

[angelsdeath]

Why not just make all school lunches healthy?

[TirielWoW]

Why not just make all school lunches healthy?

Because the OP apparently doesn't think thin children need to eat healthy, too.