"Diet related disease is the biggest killer in the United States, right now, here today"(Teach Every Child About Food).  While many people are aware of the obesity epidemic striking the country, not many are aware to what extent diet related diseases are impacting the health of our nation. Diabetes and heart disease are responsible for the greatest amount of deaths in the United States. Unfortunately, this number continues to grow and is beginning to impact younger generations. School age children are being exposed to unhealthy habits at young ages, with most of this exposure happening at schools, where children consume the largest portion of their daily dietary intake. With this in mind, schools are responsible not only for educating the youth in standard subjects, but also providing practical and health related information. The American school system should work to provide students with adequate nutrition as well as work to educate both students and faculty on the importance of healthy eating habits in relation to the potential for improved learning abilities as well as a decrease in risk to health related diseases, with a focus being placed on the iortance of early childhood intervention.

A healthy lifestyle is dependent on a balance of good nutrition and exercise. While this may seem like a well-known fact, America has the highest rate of obesity and health related diseases, with peoples under the age of 18 accounting for the largest portion of obese individuals. The CDC notes "for children and adolescents aged 2-19 years, the prevalence of obesity has remained fairly stable at about 17% and affects 12.7 million children and adolescents" (CDC.gov) The importance of this statistic is attributed to the risk factors associated with obesity, and a bad diet. "Obese youth are more likely to have risk factors for cardiovascular disease, such as high cholesterol or high blood pressure" and in a sample taken on teenage youth "70% of those whom were overweight had at least one risk factor for cardiovascular disease" (CDC.gov). While there are many factors that can contribute to obesity, such as lack of exercise and genetics, an unhealthy diet is the largest contributor. Furthermore, obesity statistics are moving in an upward direction with more and more people falling into the categories that are at risk of health related diseases. Type 2 diabetes once categorized as adult onset diabetes is now being found more often in children, even those as young as 4 years old. Parents, educators and leaders need to begin to take into consideration the long-term effects of a bad diet, and how it will not only effect their immediate students and children, but also the long-term and radiating effects of a lack of nutritional education in America's school system.

Well- balanced nutrition is a habit formed over a lifetime, instilled at a young age by parents and educators, and continued on through further education and healthy choices. While many would like to believe that a well-balanced diet is as easy as taxing soft drinks, nutritional education needs to begin at a young age. The long lasting effects of a bad diet are not only detrimental to loved ones but also the economy. The National Institute of Health "calculated that obesity may have been responsible for as much as $147 billion of health care spending in 2006" and if obesity trends continue unchecked, obesity-related medical costs alone could rise by $48 to $66 billion a year in the U.S"(NIH.gov). In a recent CBS report on the declining health of the younger generations the assistant of professor of pediatrics at UNC commented "I think the possibility that kids are becoming more severely obese when they are younger, they are going to become sicker as younger adults." (Firger). In a recent Ted Talk Ann Cooper a revolutionary in changing school lunches commented that if consumption trends continue "45 percent of all school age children could be insulin dependent within a decade"(Changing the Way We Feed Our Children). Adults need to practice early intervention in the case of childhood obesity, especially on the nutrition front if a change is to be made in the future. The best place to begin to make these changes is in the cafeterias of America's school system, where children can be not only fed nutritional ingredients, but also educated on the healthy choices available to them.

The average elementary through high school student spends about 8 hours of their day at school. Most students eat both breakfast and lunch in their school cafeterias, consuming what is available whether or not it be the most nutritious option. According to the CDC, "schools play a particularly critical role by establishing a supportive environment with policies and practices that support healthy behaviors". However, if this is true and schools are educating children on healthy behaviors there is an obvious gap in between information and application. This gap could be reasoned by arguing that what little information is being provided in schools is not being applied at home. Especially due to statistics such as only "7% of individuals in households with children ages 13 to 17 knew that skim milk and Coca Cola have the same amount of calories". However, it is schools jobs to educate children on the correct choices, so they can further inform their families. In a TED Talk by Jamie Oliver he talk about this "romantic idea" that if we teach out children one thing about nutrition and they teach three of their family members, and so on, and this repeats 25 times over, that would be the entire population of America. However, schools do not promote nutrition education. In  a recent study conducted by health researchers on the topic of nutrition in schools they found "the mean number of hours spent in a school year on education be elementary school teachers who taught nutrition was 13" which is far "below the minimum of 50 hours thought to be necessary for impact on behavior"(Saunders 1). So if there is this large connection between healthy eating habits and education why isn't more time spent educating the younger generations. In the same study when teachers were asked why they did not spend more time on food education most agreed that there should be a class dedicated to educating and helping students form lifelong habits. Furthermore, over half the teachers agreed that if there wasn't a separate class made available, that if the school district actually provided them with teaching materials they would be much more likely to spend time educating their students. Early education is such an easy solution, which would save the US billions in the long run by simply investing a little in the short term. 

After realizing how unhealthy America's youth is becoming, one may ask who is responsible for feeding students all across America. The USDA or United States Department of Agriculture is responsible for insuring the health of today's youth. However, the USDA is also responsible for the agricultural products of American including poultry, beef, corn, and various other products. The school lunch program was initially introduced as a way to prevent childhood malnutrition after World War II as many students were underfed due to low family income during the great depression. Currently the National School Lunch Program is available to all students, with those of low income receiving food for free. However, the USDA's main priority is to ensure food safety as well as the success of large farms. Therefore, while they do establish nutrition guidelines for schools, the USDA does not focus enough of its attention on the foods available in schools. Furthermore, the USDA being a government organization is susceptible to extrinsic influences. A large problem in this area is the use of commodity foods, meaning the USDA buys extra meat from USDA producers and sells it to the schools for the cost of shipping. Furthermore, the USDA allows the sale of competitive foods, which refer to the sale of food items in competition with the USDA guidelines. These foods include name brands such as Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, and as they are sold outside of the NSLP these competitive foods are unregulated by the USDA (Weber 162). While commodity foods may seem like a great idea due their low price, the commodity foods do not fall under the guidelines set forth for school nutrition. The USDA does provide an informational website "Choose My Plate" which is geared towards younger generations and informs them how to properly fill a plate in accordance to recommended daily intake values. They also have a super tracker, which is similar to a My Fitness Pal website, where students can track their food choices. (USDA.gov). However, these websites are not being used by schools to educate children and must be sought out by students if they wish to further their nutritional knowledge. Furthermore, these websites shouldn't be required if proper nutrition and health education were to be provided in a school setting. 

In 2012 Michelle Obama worked with the USDA to enforce new school lunch guidelines that reduced the amount of sodium in meals as well as replaced refine carbohydrates with more whole grains, and offered more fruits and vegetables as healthy side options (Evich 1). While the "Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act" did drastically change the very outdated health regulations, it failed to address many of the small issues accompanying such a change. While the government may be able to enforce new guidelines, the government must also support these guidelines, as the rules will not implement themselves. Just because more fruits and vegetables are available there is no guarantee that school age children will eat these healthier choices. In a news investigation done by ABC the network discovered that the USDA's new school lunch guidelines were not going down well with many children across the country. In accordance with the ABC investigation a school district employee commented "the bigger the difference between what the students were accustomed to seeing" ... "the more difficult it was for the school to address the needs and concerns of the students"(Sifferlin 1). This is a big issue as children need to learn how to enjoy healthy food, and not see it as a consequence or something to avoid. Children need to be educated on how choosing the healthier items now being made available to them will help them in the long run. 

In direct relation to the rejection of healthier food options is the increase in food waste across America. Food waste is growing faster than ever as children are throwing out the healthier options, which they view as being forced upon them. In a study on the increase in food waste in relation to the new USDA guidelines, vegetables and fruit were responsible for generating the largest amount of food waste. The food waste is not only a sign that the new guidelines are not being enforced, but is causing harmful repercussions to the success of the NSLP. The same study concluded that "high levels of food waste threaten the dietary goals of the program and result in added costs to the NSLP" in regards to disposal and over purchasing costs (Jyker). In response to the large increase of plate waste many schools have forgone utensils, resulting in students being forced to eat the "fast food" options, which are void of many essential nutrients (Changing The Way We Feed Our Children). These money saving maneuvers only reverse the positive influence being made by the new guidelines.  Affordability is large part of why the NSLP is taking so long to adapt across much of America. Many schools simply do not have enough in their budgets to afford pricier health foods and cope with food waste as well as children purchasing less of the healthier options.

The majority of America's school system participates in the NSLP; however, in a recent survey around 3% of schools were considering abandoning the new school lunch program. This drop in school participation is due to the inability of schools to afford the new foods. The USDA pays schools about "$2.93 per lunch served to a child eligible for free meals", and in areas where large amounts of children qualify for free meals schools are unable to cover the gap between the cost of food and the reimbursement money (Sifferlin 1). Furthermore, as healthier options cause an increase in price, low- medium income families who do not qualify for the free lunch program may have more difficulty paying for the healthier options. Consequently students begin to bring their own lunches, which are not only unregulated in regards to nutrition, but also cause the schools to lose even more money. Again if money was spent to better educate students and parents on nutrition, students bringing their own lunches may not be of such consequence. However, many teachers are reporting lunches filled with processed foods and sugary drinks in comparison to the fruits and vegetables required by the NSLP. 

Along with early intervention and nutrition education there have been many other solutions presented by those looking to ensure the health of America's younger generations. As a main complaint from students is the less than delicious taste of the foods, with a girl in an ABC interview stating the "food was just gross", many chefs have looked at ways in which they can inform schools on healthy and delicious alternatives. At the end of the "One Tray of a Time Video" the producers offer healthy and delicious options that can be made well within the caloric restrictions provided by the USDA. Chefs such as Jamie Oliver as well as the producers in "One Tray at a Time" believe that the school lunch program needs people dedicated to using their creativity to create healthy options students will truly enjoy. Jamie Oliver comments that he feels bad for the lunch ladies of America as many of them do not know how to create delicious meals on a large scale, and were forced to create meals with no prior knowledge in the culinary arts. Many of these chefs agree that schools should not only educate students from a book standpoint, but reintroduce home economics classes centered around preparing basic healthy meals. Therefore students are able to apply the information they learn in the classroom to real life, and see how easy it is to create nutritious meals. 

A more radical solution is the transition from using USDA farmers to local and organic farms. This would bring the entire farm to table concept to another level, and it would also support local organic farmers. According to the Texas department of agriculture, "Farm to school connects children to healthy, locally sourced food through education, hands-on activities, field trips and more" and "when children learn that the healthy food in the school cafeteria tastes better because it's fresh, they can learn to make healthier choices in and out of school"(Farm to School). However, this solution would only be applicable in smaller schools, as local farms would not be able to support the larger school districts. This idea is more popular among private schools as well as elementary schools where children would be able to go out to the farms and see where their food comes from. 

The school lunch program feeds over 73 million students, and is responsible for providing the young generations with the nutrients and information needed to succeed in life. However as of right now the NSLP is failing to do it's job, and while restricting caloric intake and requiring certain micronutrient goals be fulfilled the USDA is not working to ensure these rules are followed. It is not enough for the government to simply provide guidelines, but they need to work to ensure these guidelines are accepted by students and promoted by faculty and parents. If America as a society hopes to prevent the continual rise of obesity among the youth as well as the adult populations changes need to happen now, while there is still time for children to adapt and learn. 

