Why do schools have cafeterias

Parents often stop at the nearest fast food establishment, to order a meal for their child to eat, while taking them to their next activity. A majority of Americans want our children to eat healthier, but simply putting healthy food out for children is not the solution. Teaching students to make healthy food choices is no easy task. Unhealthy food and beverage choices are constantly marketed to students through various media outlets.

It is no wonder that students often make unhealthy food choices because of a recent media campaign that may have been viewed on television or the internet. Schools have tried with varying degrees of success to offer a la carte items, but the items that are offered are things like chips, cookies, or other items that are high in calorie intake but offer little nutritional value. Schools must get away from offering items like this to teach students to make the transition to healthier food choices.

Where should the campaign to promote healthier eating begin? As institutions of learning, schools are a natural place to teach and reinforce healthy habits. We should integrate healthy food habits into lessons when appropriate. We can no longer expect students to make healthy food selection without teaching them properly about what they are putting into their bodies.

This is simply not a task that should be left to the classroom teacher. Those that work in the cafeteria who make and prepare the food that our students eat on a daily basis should help. Keeping in mind that the purpose of this school project is to design a school for the 21 st century, we must remember to incorporate as much as the world is demanding in terms of skills needed to function in the 21 st century.

Schools should try to incorporate as much of an integrated approach as possible in their school system. The integrated approach incorporates all subjects around a common theme, such as healthy eating habits. A comprehensive food program of nutrition, gardening, and cooking will have a profound positive impact on the eating habits of students. This study proves that just offering healthier food choices is not enough; teaching good nutrition must be included in the school curriculum.

Many schools have gone away from a school garden or never had one in their school to begin with. It is very important that students and schools have a school garden to understand what it takes to grow healthy food. Allowing students to grow their own food begins with understanding the nutritional value of school meals.

This understanding will also lead to healthy food selection because students know what the benefits are of eating healthy. Schools should begin the process of educating students on the terms that many adults use when discussing nutrition. Simply telling students what a calorie is can make a huge difference in the selection of food that is eaten.

Another approach that physical education teachers can use is to inform students how many laps they will have to run in order to burn off a bag of Doritos chips. Again, as you can see, the integrated approach is being used to inform students on healthier eating choices.

CAFES can be used by researchers, design and public health practitioners, and school personnel to identify critical areas where environmental supports are both successful and needed, to prioritize the focus and scope of interventions, and develop low- or no-cost intervention strategies to overcome barriers to and promote healthy eating within school cafeterias.

Furthermore, intervention effectiveness can be assessed by using CAFES before and after interventions are implemented. Schools can also use CAFES when developing and implementing a student wellness policy that promotes healthy eating and adequate amounts of physical activity. Given that school officials and food service staff do influence the types of foods that are served and how they are presented, using CAFES to establish interventions as part of the wellness policy may assist in promotion health eating among students.

School cafeteria design can attract students and encourage healthy eating by becoming efficient and attractive spaces, promoting healthy eating and physical activity, and encouraging students to make healthier choices through interventions at various environmental scales [ 13 , 15 , 18 , 19 , 57 ].

Some schools have hired culinary experts to develop appealing, healthy meals and to transform cafeterias into welcoming, attractive spaces with natural lighting, artwork, and reduced noise to increase student participation in school meal programs [ 3 , 57 ]. CAFES results, however, allow school staff to leverage low- or no-cost strategies, which is especially critical when facing financial constraints.

CAFES proved to be a practical, easy-to-use, and inexpensive assessment tool for measuring environmental supports of and barriers to the selection and consumption of FV in elementary school cafeterias.

CAFES scores, when accompanied with future intervention suggestions, will be useful in guiding school staff, researchers, nutritionists, designers, and public health policy makers in creating cafeteria environments that facilitate healthy eating. CAFES can also contribute to the development of guidelines for cafeteria design, food layout, food presentation, and other intervention strategies aimed at increasing healthy food consumption among elementary school students.

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By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Google Search. Post Your Opinion. Create New Poll. Sign In Sign Up. Add a New Topic. Should schools have a cafeteria? We need fresh food Es we should Cafeterias are a good place to eat with your close friends, but at my school we still had to eat from our lunchboxes and we were fine!

Report Post. Like Reply. Maximum words. Cafeteria food is disgusting Posted by: awu Report Post. Like Reply Challenge. Posted by: bob Report Post. Load More Arguments. Comments 0. No comments yet. Sometimes we want our children to eat everything and eat healthily. However, we may not like vegetables or other foods. Therefore, we may not be the best example for them when it comes to eating healthy and having a balanced diet. However, school cafeterias are examples of good nutrition.

The first day of school is the beginning of a new chapter in your children's lives. And it can involve intense emotions, for both you and your chil The Advantages of School Cafeterias 3 minutes. Interesting Articles. Biographies Socrates, Biography of the Father of Philosophy.