The relationship between the American students' school
meals and their health.
Overweight in the United States is a well-known health
problem among schoolchildren.
Many people probably think that students over the years
could take more responsibility and make more independent choices about their
eating habits.
But this pattern is often very difficult to break when most
schools are serving unhealthy food and students may even be served the same
kind of food at home.
If both factors exist in the student's everyday life, the
pupil usually has no better alternative at all, regarding their eating habits.
Already in elementary school the food is often very unhealthy and the menu
often consist of things that we don’t eat very often called ’’fast food’’.
Many things are much more expensive in the US than it is in
Sweden and leisure sports can often cost a lot of money.
Insurance, injury, disease and unemployment can be a few
different reasons why you do not have that much money.
If you, for example, would be injured or seriously sick, you
have to bear the cost all by yourself if you do not have an insurance, which is
very costly. While in Sweden we pay taxes and do not have to account for a very
large part of the cost ourselves.
If you lose your job, you get almost no support, except for
food stamps.
The social safety net is very different in Sweden than in
the US.
My own theory is that some of the reasons for the big
differences between countries may be the number of inhabitants, which results
that the country has little money, because of the lack of taxincome.
I think it may be a big reason why both school meals, as
well as other food consists largely of fast food and processed foods. The schools
do not simply have enough money to get
good and healthy meals for the students.
The high cost of living often leads to that there is not enough
money for leisure activities - especially for children and adolescents.
While leisure activities and what we commonly call a
"normal life" is often expensive, fast food is very cheap. That worsens
the US wellbeing incredibly much, not
only physically but mostly mentally.
As most people probably already realize, the habits of
unhealthy eating even affects those who are physically active. According to
studies they feel better just physically, but can still feel bad mentally.
Here in the West we have food in abundance and often too
much pressure regarding appearance and training. Therefore, it becomes
increasingly common with eating disorders and psychological problems.
All the social media that exist in today's society is no
advantage in this matter, rather the contrary. The unreasonable ideals
increases significantly and the world's population becomes ever more fixated on
appearance. The self confidence drops very easily.
The average age of mental and physical problems falls more
and more while social media is increasing.
Sources: http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org (information
about school lunches in different ages)
