by Falyn Bonacore

Teenagers preserve adrenaline by eating regularly and healthily. Considering this, a school cafeteria’s main objective, primarily in high schools, should be to ensure that students remain fueled with nutrition throughout the day to sustain their academic work and avoid behavioral problems. Regardless of nutrition, school meals are crucial to building a communal and positive school atmosphere – one that recognizes inclusive diets and offers nutritious selections. 

It is fundamental to establish inclusivity in the cafeteria. School officials should acknowledge that some individuals require special exceptions to the food they consume, such as with gluten-free and vegan options. Students’ particular diets are essential to their daily performances in the classroom. Therefore, these diets and restrictions should be emphasized in school-provided food.

Nutritional maintenance in adolescence, which comes from healthy meals, is proven to be associated with excelling grades, greater alertness, and more efficient information processing, overall boosting students’ academic performance. Individuals begin developing habits as young men and women, especially with food. Too often, they attend schools that offer a variety of unhealthy meal options. These unhealthy options may help to establish poor eating habits which can be detrimental to the student. Schools can begin acting to ease these poor eating habits by offering new or supplemental nutritional food selections in the cafeteria.

It can be suggested to school officials that the cafeteria supplements its unhealthy food choices with more fruits, vegetables, and meat, which is recommended for nearly anyone’s daily food consumption. These selections can be vital to virtually any diet, such as gluten-free and vegan lifestyles. Exploring better varieties of food can only benefit teenagers and their ever-growing bodies. More healthy cafeteria food options is an idea worth exploring for all schools.