The health of school lunches has been severely declining in the last forty years. In 1980 federal budget cuts reduced the school lunch budget by one billion dollars, causing schools to not be able to afford healthier food. Most school foods are high in sodium and calories. If you were to buy a corn dog meal here at FHS along with baked beans, milk, and a cookie, you would be consuming 812 calories and 1,429 milligrams of sodium which is more than half of the recommended sodium intake for a day. One slice of pizza here is 360 calories, and if you made that a meal with the included cookie, it would reach 715 calories.
For a lunch meal you should be consuming 500-700 calories, but with the food that our school is being provided with, this increases vastly. These meals are leaving students feeling unnourished and hungry. Both of those factors contribute to mental health as well. The healthier you eat, the better your gut will run. The microbiome in your gut is affected by processed foods. Those foods are laden with chemicals that make your gut microbiome bad and when your gut microbiome is bad it can lead to depression. The ENS (enteric nervous system) is made up of two thin layers of around 100 million nerve cells that line your gastrointestinal tract all the way from your esophagus to your rectum. The ENS acts as a communicator from your gut to your brain. It takes action in mood swings and anxiety.
If money is the reason why students are getting fed poorly, then we need a solution. Schools should hold an annual fundraiser to raise money for school lunches. This would mean that schools would be able to afford healthier lunch foods for students. It would be a fun interactive way for the community to be involved in helping students and supporting their needs. There are so many different ways to help not just our county but others in America see the needs that students have. School lunches need to be healthier so that students’ minds and bodies can be happier and healthier.
