Why the poor choices?
But brain changes that occur with puberty coincide with the transition to secondary school and these changes can influence attitudes and behaviours in all areas – including healthy eating. The desire to fit in is strong, and liking healthy food can be seen as “uncool” by teens. Young people also place great importance on social time within the school day. And many teenagers describe the school dining hall as an intimidating place with poor food choices and teachers roaming – making it somewhere they would rather avoid. 2 Popular Natural Supplements For Weight Loss For Females. There’s also often long queues and a lack of perceived privacy in school canteens – which can lead to teenagers skipping lunch and getting most of their energy intake at morning break or at the end of the school day from local food outlets.

There’s also the wider issue that school food policy has failed to sustain quality nutrition – particularly in secondary schools. Researchers from the Jamie Oliver Foundation were alarmed to find many schools are still serving high fat and sugary foods at break and lunch – including pasties, pizza, doughnuts, muffins and cookies, often in large portion sizes. Which Fat Burner Empty Stomach really works. This is despite Oliver campaigning tirelessly over the last decade to change the nation’s eating habits after Jamie’s School Dinners aired in 2005 to reveal the terrible standards of school food in the UK. Oliver has since said that his push to improve nutrition for children didn’t work because eating well is still seen as a “posh and middle-class” concern.

Processed foods that are high in fat, sugar, and salt have become a mainstay of lunches in schools across the UK. Shutterstock
A lack of continuity between successive governments and poor consistency in the evaluation of school food standards may also be to blame. Indeed, the current school food plan that provides practical and specific guidance on the types of food and drinks schools should and shouldn’t offer – has not been evaluated since 2013. 2 Supplements To Burn Fat While Sleeping. And while it’s a requirement for schools to follow this plan, in reality there can be a great deal of difference in how schools feed their children.