9-12C
There will be a fair amount of cloud and the chance of a few showers.

Find a...

Date Job Car Home











Educate parents about the school lunch box

I am prompted to write by the media coverage relating to obesity, particularly in teenage girls.

Two of the main factors causing obesity are the quality of food and the lack of exercise.

One of the main sources of food during the day for many students is the school lunch. If parents paid more attention to what they gave their children in their lunch boxes, then it would go a long way towards dealing with this problem.

In looking at what’s in many of the lunch boxes of my fellow students, I see that the food/treats they are given by their parents, such as chocolate, crisps, biscuits and sugary drinks, are the very things that are both unhealthy and a major cause of their obesity.

Three of the ingredients that do the most damage in this kind of diet are salt, sugar and processed fat.

There’s very little nutrient value in these types of foods and they are also quite addictive.

For instance, lunches should consist of fruit, wholemeal bread, fruit juice, and dairy products, such as cheese and yoghurt.

Not only would the students feel better, because of the energy they would get from those foods, but they would also help to cut down on the obesity problem suffered by so many.

Jozi Hurden-Fouché (13)
Baltimore
Co Cork

© Irish Examiner Ltd. All rights reserved

Home

More from the Irish Examiner