School Lunch Action Plan

School Lunch Action Plan

In today’s society, everyone is concerned about obesity and healthier lifestyles. We hear about it every day on television and in every store you go in, you see diet pills and diet food & drinks. Not to mention all the fitness infomercials on TV.  The Board of Education has come a long way in nutrition in schools for the youth of today.  Many states try to get their produce and food from local farmers, to ensure a healthier choice.  The USDA often helps set guidelines to what is healthy for the children.

The USDA has made a final rule which updates the meal patterns and nutrition standards for the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs to align them with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. This rule requires most schools to increase the availability of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat free and low-fat fluid milk in school meals; reduce the levels of sodium, saturated fat and Trans fat in meals; and meet the nutrition needs of school children within their calorie requirements. These improvements to the school meal programs, largely based on recommendations made by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, are expected to enhance the diet and health of school children, and help mitigate the childhood obesity. (The Montana Office of Public Instruction, 2013)

So with that said managers and owners of organizations should plan meals they serve within the dietary guidelines for Americans. Meals should be appropriate in size, and contains the right proportions from the food groups. When possible get produce and grains from local farms to have fresh meals prepared.

The cost of foods can vary from companies and vendors. Price inflation of food can be cause by many different issues such as cost of fuel, drought, flooding of crops, sickness among animals and just bad harvest.   The economy also pays a large part on what people eat because healthier food can be more expensive. It’s cheaper to go grab a dollar burger from McDonalds then to cook food at home. People often go for what’s inexpensive and convenient to them.

The relationship between low socio-economic status and poor health is complicated and is influenced by gender, age, culture, environment, social and Community networks, individual lifestyle factors and health behaviors. Population studies show there are clear differences in social classes with regard to food and nutrient intakes. Low-income groups in particular, have a greater tendency to consume unbalanced diets and have low intakes of fruit and vegetables.

This leads to both under-nutrition (micronutrients deficiency) and over-nutrition (energy overconsumption resulting in overweight and obesity) within the members of a community, depending on the age group, gender and level of deprivation. The disadvantaged also develop chronic diseases at an earlier age compared with higher socio-economic groups; usually identified by educational and occupational levels. ("Why we eat what we eat: social and economic determinants of food choice (EUFIC)",

So the plan for managers and owners would to be up to date on what the Dietary Guidelines of America suggest to serve people, keep a daily update on prices from different local vendors, farmers and other resources; that way they can get not just the best price, but the best food for their customers. Also look into what they can do to provide healthier choices for all the

different diets people have to eat. Some of those diets include gluten free, no lactose, vegetarian, vegan, and kosher. (Jaccobberger, 2011). Also need to keep in mind that the lower class, and or less fortunate don’t often get the nutrition they need at home, so when they do eat out, they should always get a good healthy meal at a price that they can afford.

References

Jaccobberger, T. J. (2011, June 10). Inside Scoop SF » Dietary Choices and Restrictions in Restaurants: A Directory. Retrieved April 9, 2013, from http://insidescoopsf.sfgate.com/blog/2011/06/10/dietary-choices-and-restrictions-in-restaurants-a-directory/

The Montana Office of Public Instruction (2013, March 27). School Nutrition Programs. Retrieved April 8, 2013, from Http://opi.mt.gov/Programs/SchoolPrograms/School_Nutrition/index.html

Why we eat what we eat: social and economic determinants of food choice (EUFIC). (2004, October). Retrieved April 7, 2013, from http://www.eufic.org/article/en/health-and-lifestyle/food-choice/artid/social-economic-determinants-food-choice/