NO HUNGRY KID ACT

Should there be calorie limits in the No Hungry Kid Act?



Table of Contents

Problem Statement3

Background4

Landscape7

Nutritional Needs for School-Age Kids11

The School Lunch Program13

Options14

Recommendation16

Should there be calorie limits in the No Hungry Kid Act?

Problem Statement

No Hungry Kids Act abolishes the law issued by the Department of Agriculture on January 26, 2012. No Hungry Kids Act establishes standards of nutrition for the school plans of meals. This Act is summed up as necessitating schools to boost the accessibility of vegetables, fruits, fat-free and low-fat fluid milk, and whole grains in school foods; decrease the stages of trans fat, saturated fat, and sodium in foods; and gather the needs of nutrition of kids within their calorie necessities. The act also adjusts the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to forbid the Secretary of Agriculture's least dietary obligations for school lunches from being interpreted as instituting a calorie limit for any school lunches or banning a school child from having a lunch offered by the legal guardian or parent of the child.

School lunches are meals provided to students while at school, often with some form of government assistance. The program also supplies reduced-cost or free meals to kids with financial need. As of 2010, approximately 62 percent of U.S. kids served by NSLP qualify for low-cost or free meals. This paper discusses if there should be calorie limits in the No Hungry Kid Act or not.

Discussion

Growing kids have extra nutritional needs. Food habits and preferences also become evident at this time and have an impact on kids' nutritional intake. Pre-schoolers also become attached to particular foods. All food groups should be included in their meals so that they become used to them. Vegetables and fruits, in particular, should be introduced at this stage.

Foods should also be easy to chew, and strongly flavored, although spicy foods should be avoided. Small, bite sized foods are also preferred, as are finger foods and crackers. As kids approach school age, they become ready to accept more varieties of food. Developing or providing good snack choices at this stage is important. Such snacks can include fresh fruits and vegetables, juices, breads, popcorn, muffins, biscuits, milk, yogurt, cheese, sliced meats and poultry, and eggs. All kids up to age ten need to eat small quantity of food often all through the day. Snacking may be necessary between meals. Snacks as well as meals should provide all nutrients, especially calcium, iron, and zinc. Fortified milk and dairy products can be added to kids' meals as good sources of calcium. This nutrient pattern should be continued until adolescence. (Winter, 2010)

Background

The provision of lunches for children traces its roots to the work of Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford (1753-1814), in Germany in the late eighteenth century. Rumford founded the Poor People's Institute in Munich, Germany, to provide meals to poor factory workers and children, who also worked in factories between lessons. Rumford established similar plans in England, Germany, France, and Switzerland. By the late nineteenth century, numerous charities provided ...