Our Eating Habits


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Lunch is one of the key ingredients of a good school day without a healthy meal the second half of the day is a drag. One of the few things that is looked over by many people is the shortage of time that we have eating that healthy meal and the after effects that it has on students.
Studies have shown that students should be getting enough time to eat, socialize and have their bodies feel full. Students need the feeling of getting full so their bodies won’t focus on their hunger after they have eaten.
Starting from the time students sit down and start chowing down on food, students should have 15-20 minutes of eating and socializing giving the body enough time to digest the food and collect the necessary nutrients from said foods.
“I believe that there are ways of improving lunch and the time needed for students to eat” Principal Mike Halley said. The lunch line at SHS is a big one for the student body; especially for upperclassmen lunch, holding students from grades 10-12.
As students, we get 35 minutes for lunch and that starts right when cats ends, or for freshmen, as soon as fourth period ends. Once students get in line, student bodies are hungry and their brain is sending signals they need food now which makes them believe the line takes longer than it actually does.
For students who end up at the end of the line, they basically have 15 minutes of eating, cleaning up and getting ready for their next period. That’s a problem the school is facing and with the 10 minutes of eating time, students eat a lot faster. When eating faster our bodies eat more than they should.
Obesity is linked to fast eating and with students scarfing down their food, their bodies are getting more than enough making them sick or hungrier. This is not healthy for young adults and growing teenagers who need the most nutrition they can get.
The time students have can be changed but it has to be approved by the school board and Taher, the schools food provider, based on employee hours.
Many schools have had success with adding quicker chances to get their students meal to them with adding extra checkout lines, more food lines, a “Grab-and-Go” option and vending machines that vend full meals.
With the Grab and Go option, students would be able to order beforehand and get their food once it’s ready at the pickup station. The pickup station would be separate from other lines and would have a faster readiness time.
Ideas that have been discussed by teachers and students have been taking out cats and making lunch that full time. But with that idea, security would need to be improved to keep freshmen on campus and fights from happening.
All solutions are valid but it’s the way of executing and making everyone happy with the time spent on lunch.

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