School lunches are meant to provide students with the nutrition they need to get through the day, but how students use what is offered can vary. What people eat makes a large impact on their health, and school lunches are a big part of students’ diets. How can students eat healthy with what they are provided? To learn more, several students were interviewed about their eating habits and how they make healthy choices with the options available in the cafeteria.
Grand Ledge High School offers free lunch to every student, as provided by the state, and they present multiple different meals to choose from. They have a build-your-own nacho line, chicken sandwiches, fries, grilled cheese and chips, a wrap and sandwich bar, salad, yogurt parfaits, bosco sticks, chicken strips, and a meal that varies from day to day (ranging from mac ‘n cheese to Asian cuisine). They also offer various fruits and veggies to add as a side. Drinks include apple juice, chocolate and white milk, water, and a sugar-free juice. Students may also purchase ice cream bars or potato chips if they desire at an extra cost.
While the school does offer some less nutritious options, they also offer plenty of protein, fruits, and vegetables. The variety of options creates a lot of flexibility for students to get a meal to their liking. According to Harvard’s School of Health, a healthy meal consists of a balance between protein, vegetables, fruit, and whole grains (The Nutrition Source, 2023).
Many students are aware of this and try to implement it into their school lunch choices. Brianna Craig, a senior at Grand Ledge High School, likes to go through the sub line (which offers sub sandwiches, wraps, and salads) and get a sandwich filled with meat and vegetables, saying “I try to eat healthy with sandwiches, stack on the veggie and meat.” This checks off protein, vegetables, and whole grains off the balanced meal list. Many other students said that this is what they do to be healthy as well. Similar to Brianna, Hunter Raymond (a sophomore at Grand Ledge High School) says that he gets “subs with lots of veggies.” Another Grand Ledge student, Jane Miller, stated “I try to make sure that I have at least some vegetables in my lunch.”
Brianna also stated that she enjoys the school’s Asian cuisine offered from time to time, which includes chicken, rice, cooked vegetables, and sometimes a spring roll as well. This also fulfills most of the requirements for a balanced and healthy meal.
Another way students found to eat healthy at school is to get food from the nacho line. This option presents a variety of foods you can add to your nachos, making it possible to get a healthy lunch. Juneau Nelson, sophomore student of Grand Ledge High School, likes to take this route.
He explains that, “It has the most meat, and they have a lot of veggies, and it’s just the most food.” Not only does he like getting nachos because of their health benefits, but he has found that it is more filling than other school lunches and keeps him satisfied for the entire school day. In his words, “All the other choices just have not enough food and I’m hungry by the end of the day and that’s not healthy and I need more food.”
School wraps, sandwiches, and nachos are what you make of them. Due to the variety of options to add to your meal, you can make your lunch as healthy as you choose. It is still possible to choose an un-nutritious meal with these options, but if you are trying to be healthy, simply do your best to choose plenty of vegetables and protein.
After covering what students aim for in their lunches, what are some foods that Grand Ledge students try to avoid? Penny Miller, a Grand Ledge High School freshman, does her best to avoid unhealthy oils or anything that seems unbeneficial. “I try to not eat anything too greasy or anything that looks like it’s just not healthy.” Meanwhile, although fruits are an important part of a balanced meal, a student claimed to avoid the school lunch fruit. “The healthy options are either canned stuff which is nasty, or it’s rotten fruit.” This student, Kyla Styles (a junior at Grand Ledge High School), points out that the fruit is not always the freshest, or it is canned, which some may find unappealing.
In conclusion, students have found the sub line and nacho bar to be some of the best ways to eat healthy at school, in addition to other meals. They offer protein, vegetables, and whole grains, just as recommended by health professionals to fulfill a healthy meal. Grand Ledge High School’s lunch also provides fruits as sides, which some students enjoy while others avoid them. Though many find it difficult, it is possible to eat healthy with school lunches.
