The Relationship Between School Canteens And Obesity Among Students
The Relationship Between School Canteens And Obesity Among Students
Introduction
Everybody loves good things regardless of the effects they might have on their overall well-being. Over the years, researchers have linked obesity to poor eating habits and carrying out les physical exercises such that our bodies do not get rid of excess energy, as well as excess foods hence resulting in obesity. Similarly, research has shown that young school going children in lower grades are at a higher risk of developing obesity than those who are in tertiary institutions. The reason why school canteens have been banned in schools is their contribution to unhealthy eating habits because they avail fatty snacks and sweetened drinks for school going children, in addition to making young adults addicts of these types of foods at the expense of exercise.
Discussion
Obesity is caused by excessive consumption of fatty snacks and foods which are often stocked in school canteens. These foods are often prepared using a lot of unsaturated fats and oils as the most popular method of cooking is deep frying or baking which involve a lot of oil. Consequently, these foods are made up of other oily components such as nuts and although not al nuts or fats are harmful to the health of human beings, consumption may yield detrimental results. Fats and oils makes food tastier, as well as, crispy such that the consumer will always seek for foods with that particular texture no matter how far they will seek it. However, with presence of such foods fully stocked in the school canteen, the learners will be obliged to consume plenty of the snacks without any regard of the long term effects. These fats and oils when they are consumed in excess are stored in the body accumulate thus resulting in increased body mass, as well as, weight a state known as obesity (Videon and Manning, 2003).
Obesity is also caused by excessive consumption of sweetened foods and drinks which are often stocked in school canteens. Children with a sweet tooth are at a higher risk of becoming obese than those who are not known to consume large amounts of sweetened foods. Companies which manufacture such sweet drinks and foods use natural sugar or artificial sugars while rarely using sweeteners. Among the most commonly used sweeteners are the nutritive sweeteners which are often used by diabetic individuals as they contain low calories and plenty of unrefined sugar hence less detrimental to health. The non-nutritive sweeteners are those which are artificially prepared and due to their refined nature they add a lot of calories to the consumer’s body. Consequently, most of the sweetened foods are prepared using wheat flour or are pasta in nature thus increasing the amount of calories in terms of refined sugar which is incorporated to make them more delicious. Continuous accumulation of these excess sugars in the body leads to increased adipose being deposited in the body and eventually obesity strikes the individual (Speiser, 2005).
Obesity is also brought about by addiction to sweetened and oily foods and drinks which are similarly starchy hence they possess plenty of energy giving components. Everyone likes indulging in sweet and oily foods due to the immediate satisfaction derived from them regardless of the long term effect presented by adoption of unhealthy behaviors. This addiction is intense such that the learners will consume snacks while at school and when they get back home, they are adamant to eat anything other than the snacks they are used to in school. The same children who are very much wiling to consume loads of snacks often present problems and are reluctant to consume anything such as greens and cereals as they do not contain sufficient sugars, as well as, oils hence lack the crispiness associated with the snacks consumed in school. Addictions are known to present short term relief and satisfaction such that to block subsequent want of the same object of addiction, more of it has to be consumed hence the cycle does not end. Therefore, even after acknowledging that a learner is obese, they will not terminate their consumption of snacks as the temporary satisfaction will result in increased consumption as a way of driving the urgency away (Kiess, 2004).
Obesity has also been linked to lack of physical exercises which is a tradition and practice that is observed among quite a number of school going children. Most of them will opt to hang around the canteen during recess and leisure time rather than engage in physical exercises which will create room loosing the excess calories. Similarly, physical exercises normally engage the children such that they rarely get a chance to explore and try out new foods due to physical, as well as, emotional fatigue. Consequently, presence of canteens within the school compound depicts the fact that the fatty foods and sweetened drinks are to the consumers such that they will not pose any excuse for failing to engage in one or two snacks, as well as, soft drinks. Generally, if the locality of the canteen is changed to an area outside the school compound, the learners will find it difficult or spending their pocket money to avail transportation to the site. This has been the strategy being used by the government where further away from the school compound vicinity to discourage addiction and excessive consumption of snacks (Bellows-Riecken and Rhodes, 2008).
Most people argue that obesity among school-going children is not necessarily caused by presence of canteens in the vicinity of the school compound. This argument proceeds to state that parents and home backgrounds play a vital role in determining the well-being of their children as some of them give them a lot of pocket money to spend and at the same time fail to provide sufficient details as to why balanced diets are healthy. However, people only argue that way to shift their blame on learning institutions and canteen operators rather than the balanced meals tradition established at home (Institute of Medicine 2005).
Conclusion
According to the facts presented above, school canteens are overly responsible for the increased rate of obesity among school going children. This is due to the fact that sweet things with equally attractive appearances such as being crispy are quite addictive and the fact that they are present within a walking distance makes it even more convenient to access them rather often. Similarly, poor physical exercising habits aggravate the problem thus making obesity quite rampant in that age group which is driven by temporary satisfaction.
Works cited
Bellows-Riecken KH, and Rhodes RE. “A birth of inactivity? A review of physical activity and parenthood”. Prev Med 46 (2): 99–110(2008). proQuest web August 12, 2010
Kiess, Wieland, Marcus Claude and Wabitsch Martin. “Obesity in childhood and adolescence.” Karger Publishers. 2004. Print
Institute of Medicine (U.S.), Committee on Prevention of Obesity in Children and Youth,Jeffrey Koplan, Catharyn T. Liverman, Vivica I. Kraak, Institute of Medicine (U.S.). Food and Nutrition Board, Institute of Medicine (U.S.). Board on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. “Preventing childhood obesity: health in the balance.” National Academies Press, (2005). proQuest web August 12, 2010
Speiser PW, Rudolf MC, Anhalt H, et al.. “Childhood obesity”. Journal of Clinical Endocrinological Metabolism 90 (3): 1871–87. (2005) Print
Videon TM, and Manning CK. “Influences on adolescent eating patterns: the importance of family meals”. Journal of Adolescence Health 32 (5): 365–73. (2003)proQuest web August 12, 2010.
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