By: Drew Sallinger, Gator Galaxy Staff
Lunch at McDonalds, 2 Mcdouble’s 1 McChicken, a large fry, and a large drink for $6.28 before tax and 1920 calories. Lunch at subway, Footlong black forest ham sub and a large drink for $7.90 before tax and only 220 calories. The thing is most students would rather go to McDonalds for the cheap inexpensive food with no regard as to how unhealthy it is for them. The epidemic that’s sweeping our nation, and that’s seems to be getting worst is the Unhealthy diets of high school students in the United States. Brian Johnson (12) “It’s easier to go to McDonalds over some place like subway because it’s cheaper and you get more food out of it” this seems to be a common consensus among the majority of the student body, the underlying issue and a major contributor to this issue is that the Unhealthy fast food is much less expensive in comparison to a healthier alternative such as Subway or Jimmy Johns.
According to The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) “Obese youth are more likely to have risk factors for cardiovascular disease, such as high cholesterol or high blood pressure. In a population-based sample of 5- to 17-year-olds, 70% of obese youth had at least one risk factor for cardiovascular disease.” This issues is easily preventable by eating a more balanced diet, but the problem that arises is that around North Star your options for a healthy lunch are very limited not only but the number of establishments in the area but by the time allotted to those of us whom have open campus. As a student body, our “healthier” choices around North Star include Subway, Jimmy John’s, and Juice Stop if you consider a fruit smoothie a real meal. Our choices for the “unhealthy” eateries consist of places such as McDonalds, Burger King, Culvers, Wendy’s, Arby’s, Taco Inn, Taco John’s, taco Bell, and Fazoli’s. And they question our motives, but simply stated the inexpensive and quick options are hands down more available to us.
As for just eating at school, the students who rely on school meals are quite well off in comparison. Schools provide their students with a choice of a few balanced meals that meet the criteria for being a “healthy” alternative to fast food. Some schools like our own Lincoln North Star, have specialty lines with more snack like foods, North Star’s is called the snack shop and usually offers Subway, Pizza, Burgers, and Chicken. Although these are not always as balanced as they should be they are still a much healthier option than McDonalds and Burger King.
Many of us lean towards the unhealthy choices for monetary reasons, Austin Gubbels (12) “I’d rather go somewhere that I can get more food for less, it just makes more sense.” Granted most high school students are on a budget it’s still not difficult to eat slightly healthy. The key is to either go somewhere that is a better alternative, or use moderation. You don’t need to get four big macs, a large fry, and a large soft drink; that’s just a little excessive, if you learn to tone down and to scale back. You don’t have to give up your fast food to eat healthy, as long as you eat a good breakfast and use moderation next time you’re placing an order at Burger King, you’ll be much better off.
