It’s a cold, rainy Wednesday, you’ve just finished a grueling bio test, and all you want to do is chow down on a nice, fatty hamburger, and some greasy fries along side. But is that really the right choice? As growing teenagers, we need to make sure we put the right things in our body. Every calorie, every nutrient, and every mineral goes towards the development of our muscles, bones, brain, and more.
I’m certainly not saying KO doesn’t offer healthy choices already. We have our salad and sandwich bar which can offer suitable alternatives. However, the problem is not that healthy choices are lacking, but I wonder about the hot lunches, the primary choices, that may be lacking in terms of nutritional value. To assist us to the best of its abilities, KO should begin to implement dietary reforms, specifically involving these hot lunches. While some of the offerings may be appropriately nutritious, I sometimes wonder about the sodium and fat content in the meals. Perhaps there’s nothing wrong with them, but we should have the nutritional content available to us and posted next to the offerings. Even on the website, it’s hard to find this info. We can see the ingredients, but not the nutritional breakdown without entering a special code, which can only be gained through requesting one from the Food Service Director. Parents can access it – but students need special permission, oddly enough. I don’t know any hungry student who would be willing to forego a burger in order to login to their computer to search for this data, but they might reconsider their choice if they could read the content while in the lunch line.
What’s the big deal? you say. Even if the choices happen to be unhealthy, we have our veggies, we have our fruits, our nut butter. It’s that when a student walks into a lunch room, they are drawn to the hot meal. Sure, students have the ability to, let’s say, use the salad bar, but it is far more convenient to select the already prepared hot meals, assembled and served by one of the cafeteria workers. Combined with the fact that we humans–particularly teenagers–are so susceptible to our urges and cravings, the typical student is most likely going to walk over and choose whatever the hot meal is, whether it be healthy or not. It is therefore prudent to understand their nutrients and, if necessary, adjust these hot meals.
Sweeping changes are likely not required to make either the info readily available or make the hot meals themselves more nutritious. The info could even be written on a white board to save paper. In terms of the food, benefits can stem from even small changes, such as reducing the amounts of sodium or oil in recipes. Such a shift would not be difficult to implement either. There would be no need for a budget increase. Rather, money could be redirected from our frequent ice cream bars and the like. And while some may be unreceptive of the concept of giving up our delectable dairy desserts, I am certainly willing to make changes if it’s for the greater good.
Furthermore, there could even be a budget surplus. For example, KO often times serves wraps alongside the primary meal of the day. If wraps were instead phased in as the primary meal, more money would be left over. These funds could be allotted for anything – facilities, grounds, salaries, student activities – and you might not even have to forgo your flavorsome frozen treats.
Previous campus renovations such as Chase-Tallwood and the new turf, have been both expensive and labor intensive but improve the KO physical plant. Our own physical health can be improved as well, without requiring much money or work. Greater nutritional transparency and potential dietary revisions can provide important benefits. Make the changes–it wouldn’t take much doing. Give our student body access to nutritional information, and improve our lunches if needed. Both our minds and stomachs will have much to be thankful for.
Even on the website, it’s hard to find this info. We can see the ingredients, but not the nutritional breakdown without entering a special code, which can only be gained through requesting one from the Food Service Director. Parents can access it – but students need special permission, oddly enough. I fail to see what purpose this serves, and how this could possibly help in any way.
I don’t know any hungry student who would be willing to forego a burger in order to login to their computer to search for this data, but they might reconsider their choice if they could read the content while in the lunch line.
What’s the big deal? you say. Even if the choices happen to be unhealthy, we have our veggies, we have our fruits, our nut butter. We have our skim milk and gluten free goods. It’s that when a student walks into a lunch room, they are drawn to the hot meal. Sure, students have the ability to, let’s say, use the salad bar, but it is far more convenient to select the already prepared hot meals, assembled and served by one of the cafeteria workers. Combined with the fact that we humans–particularly teenagers–are so susceptible to our urges and cravings, the typical student is most likely going to walk over and choose whatever the hot meal is, whether it be healthy or not. It is therefore prudent to understand their compositions – nutrients, fats, etc. – and, if necessary, adjust these hot meals.
Sweeping changes are likely not required to make either the info readily available or make the hot meals themselves more nutritious. The info could even be written on a white board to save paper. (Greta would approve.)
In terms of the food, benefits can stem from even small changes, such as reducing the amounts of sodium or oil in recipes. Such a shift would not be difficult to implement either. There would be no need for a budget increase. Rather, money could be redirected from our frequent ice cream bars and the like.
And while some may be unreceptive of the concept of giving up our delectable dairy desserts, I am certainly willing to make changes if it’s for the greater good.
Furthermore, there could even be a budget surplus. For example, KO often times serves wraps alongside the primary meal of the day. If wraps were instead phased in as the primary meal, more money would be left over. These funds could be allotted for anything – facilities, grounds, salaries, student activities – the list goes on and on. Plus, you might not even have to forgo your flavorsome frozen treats. Previous campus renovations such as Chase-Tallwood and the new turf, have been both expensive and labor intensive. This, as previously mentioned, would not be the case for these lunchroom reformations. Our own physical health could be improved, without requiring much money or work.
Greater nutritional transparency and potential dietary revisions can provide important benefits, after all. Make the changes–it wouldn’t take much. Give our student body access to nutritional information, and improve our lunches if needed. We deserve to be informed, we deserve to be healthy. Both our minds and stomachs will have much to be thankful for.
