School lunch food and nutrition is casually talked about, yet it seems the calories or carbs never are. As school lunch cafeterias throughout the country give out healthy food, the calories are frequently disregarded. At Mission Hills High School, the cafeteria serves many different foods, yet none are seen as low-calorie. Additionally, they don’t provide the nutrition facts online or in person. Students trying to eat fewer calories or lose weight may find this to be a problem.
“I feel like they should just have the calories on the side of the menu,” said junior Oscar Esparza.
As one can see, the school should provide the students with the calories of what they are eating. Nonetheless, changing the food to something more appealing and more satisfying to eat would be beneficial. Some might feel unincluded, because the school isn’t considering the people who are trying to lose weight or just trying to count their calories. This may not even be for weight loss but for people who are trying to keep track of their blood sugar.
“It makes me feel unproductive with my daily counting calories because I never know how many calories the food has, especially when the food looks healthy but you can only assume the calories along with it,” said Esparza.
Esparza presented this information to show that counting calories can be ruined by not knowing how much one is really eating. Some students may not eat or eat very little because they aren’t informed on how many calories, let alone the nutrition value, that comes along with each item. Many schools promise healthy foods like fruits, vegetables and carbs, but never provide students with the calorie count. This may confuse students on their goals for their bodies and how many calories they would like to consume.
“I think they should just put the calories on the side instead of actually changing their food because most of the food is high in protein but we don’t know the calories or carbs,” Esparza said.
School lunch succeeds in having good portions and balancing each of the nutrition factors we each need for our body, but it is only lacking in calorie counting and carb percentages. Something as small as putting the nutrition labels on the side of the menu could be a fix to many students’ problems.