 Show A young girl holding a lunch tray of food at school. Image Credit: XiXinXing/XiXinXing/Getty Images The nutrition of school lunches — or lack thereof — is a hotly contested debate as childhood obesity rates have risen in the United States. A part of this debate focuses on the length of school lunch times, whether school lunch times should be extended to give students more time to eat — and eat healthily. Both pros and cons exist in the debate over longer school lunches.
Pro: Healthier FoodTossing some pizza in the oven and tater tots in the deep fryer doesn't take long. However, making healthy lunches is more time consuming for cafeteria staff and students. For example, Greenville, S.C., schools installed salad bars in their cafeterias, a healthy option, but one that takes longer since students have to make their salads and then eat them, as reported by North Carolina's WSPA 7. A longer school lunch time allows students to enjoy these healthier menu items. Con: Longer DayAdding to the school lunch time can add to the school day if administrators are not willing to cut time in other ways. A longer school day leaves students less time after school for physical activity, which is another important component in keeping students at a healthy weight. In addition, a longer school day might lead to burnout among students and, ultimately, make that extra lunch time simply not worth it. Pro: Less RushThe Journal of Child Nutrition and Management, in a spring 2002 article by Martha T. Conklin and other researchers, reported that kindergartners through 12th-grade students took seven to 10 minutes to eat their lunches — not much time. With a longer lunch day, students can have more time to eat slowly and recognize signs of fullness, which do not develop until 20 minutes after eating. Students can also take advantage of important socialization time with a longer lunch break. Con: Missed Class TimeExtending the school lunch time, without extending the school day, means that academics will take a hit. Students will spend more time in the cafeteria and less time in the classroom. While this might be beneficial for their social skills, it will not help them in their academics. Teachers will have to fit their current lesson plans into shorter classes, which can be challenging and make covering material difficult. Other DebatesOther pros and cons exist in the school lunch debate. If a longer lunch allows high school students to leave campus, they might opt for unhealthy fast-food options; on the other hand, this extended time might allow them to seek out healthier dishes than those available in the cafeteria. Those against extended lunches might argue that budget cuts make an extended lunch requiring more skilled cooks and more expensive menu items unrealistic. Proponents might cite the benefit of an extended break for students from the rigors of schoolwork. Giving are students more time to eat, What’s the true crime? Imagine a longer lunch at school! Would you like more time to eat more time with friends? I believe if we were to have longer lunches, more students would thrive and be happier to be in the classroom. Additionally, once the body digests food it becomes relaxed, which helps the teachers have calm and more productive students! When I was a young boy in elementary school, all I wanted was a long lunch so I could have more time to wind down. I was a really energetic kid and I never got a long enough lunch so I couldn’t ever really focus in class. Longer seated lunches have been proven to result in less food wastage, improved student performance, cognitive function, physical health, and social/emotional health. Seated time is different than the total time of lunch. The time spent waiting in line, finding what to eat, paying for it, and finding a place to sit down, takes up at least half of the students’ eating time. I believe that schools don’t understand the concept that we need longer lunches. 20 minutes to eat is good, but that doesn’t account for the time it takes to stand in line with 300 other students and then to find a seat. I believe that longer lunches can be a huge asset to schools achieving their best potential. The students would be happier to have a longer lunch. Schools can also make sure students’ scores thrive by setting rules that the students must score higher and have more adequate work for the reward of a longer lunch. Students are more likely to waste more food given that they don’t have enough time to eat. According to the CDC, longer lunches have been proven to increase students’ consumption of food. With longer lunches comes a high increase in the selection of fruit from the students, as well as vegetables and dairy products. All around decreased plate waste. A study by Harvard called Starved by the Bell, establishes that having an inadequate amount of time for lunch can make it difficult for students to enjoy the nutritious food that schools serve. The human body needs time to take food and to process it and digest it, if rushed it can be hard on the students’ stomachs. This evidence shows that students need a more blanched time to eat to help their bodies function better, and it helps them to act more mature and more attuned in the classroom! Helping both the administration and the teachers with better attendance and higher testing and more students being interactive with what they are learning! If schools want a better image with a more respectable past and future, then they should start to care more about their students education more than just seizing a paycheck. Such a short time calls for not enough time to eat a full course lunch meal having the food plate with grains, fruits, proteins, and vagtables, and dairy. However, if you give as little as 20 minutes, how could you expect a student to eat everything in that little of time? That’s when the unfinished food just goes in the garbage never to be seen again, and causing millions of dollars to just go to nothing! www.centerforecotechnology.org states that 12% of kids ate less of their entree and 13% less of their vegetables when they had less than 20 mins to eat. The evidence shows that there are still percentages and problems with having short lunches that cause issues such as the debt schools are getting by feeding students free lunch even if they can afford lunches. MORE TIME for lunch, people need to understand the benefits and how it can be good for the students to have time to eat the good healthy foods they need to grow! Works Cited- brennancenter.org, deptswashington.edu, kingcounty.gov Why longer lunches are better?Longer school lunch periods, especially longer seated lunch times, result in less food waste as well as improved student performance, cognitive function, physical health, and social/emotional health.
Why is lunch time important?The Benefits
Eating lunch raises your blood sugar level in the middle of the day, which gives you the energy you need for the rest of the day. It also enables you to focus and concentrate on the rest of the afternoon.
Why school lunches should be bigger?One of the worst things about school lunch is the proportions. An abundant amount of kids rely on one meal a day, which is at school. There should be larger portions, because when kids don't have proper nutrition, they lack focus. All schools should also have resources to supply breakfast to students.
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What are the pros of having a longer lunch?
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