As I reach lunch I let out a groan; the portion sizes look as if they are meant for a kindergartener and honestly, don’t taste very good. After lunch, I feel unsatisfied and ultimately, still hungry. To get the right amount of food for my body I have to spend more money on frozen, processed foods that cost the school much less than what I buy it for. During the seventh period every day, my stomach begins to growl, and I feel tired and depleted by the end of the day. During school my energy is always so much lower compared to when I do not have school, I constantly feel exhausted towards the end of my school day despite being there for just seven hours.

Around the United States kids are fed processed foods that are high in carbohydrates with little nutritional value. At Mount Vernon High School several lunches have almost no nutritional value. For example, once in a while, the school will serve two French toast sticks for a main dish. To accompany the French toast sticks are other frozen items, such as two sausage links and a cheese omelet. The omelet isn’t your typical idea of an omelet though, it is made using artificial eggs with no ingredients other than melted cheese. There are other lunches with small portions and little nutritional value such as chicken nuggets and pizza pasta. The school even limited our ability to get macronutrients during our lunch periods. Recently, the school removed the chicken, hard-boiled eggs, and cottage cheese as well as restricting the number of peanut butter cups we can get. All of these items are great for our bodies and brain, these items contain critical nutrients that humans need to function to the best of their ability. These foods can also cause health effects later in students’ lives as well. Consuming too much-processed food leads to health complications such as diabetes and increases the likelihood of cancer.

Especially when you consider that many students enrolled at Mount Vernon participate in extracurricular activities, it is easy to find problems with smaller portions that contain high numbers of carbohydrates. Some students have to wait till seven o’clock to get home from practice or rehearsal. The majority of students that I play sports with have to get two lunches and bring a snack on top of that to perform at practice. If the school were to provide better food they would certainly not have to do all of this. Many students also do not get adequate breakfast at home, and it would help tremendously with their energy levels to get a better lunch.

School lunch is also very overpriced. Understandably, they do need money, however, through fundraising and taxation schools make plenty of money to keep the school running. A 4.5-pound bag of chicken nuggets is just over twelve dollars, while it costs $3.50 for four chicken nuggets and a limited amount of canned fruit and sides. For big families, this adds up. 

The government establishes a lot of regulations on food items, which hinders the schools’ ability to provide better lunch choices. If the community decides what types of food the school should serve everyone would be happy. People are built differently, a serving size doesn’t apply to everyone. The government should cut back on regulations for school lunches to help all children get the amount of food they need in a day.