Content Warning: mentions of eating disorders and body dysmorphia
We all know how it goes. You have a big test, and you don’t have time to eat breakfast, so you forget it entirely. You eat half of the cannoli dip from the cafeteria, spending the rest of lunch getting a final review in. When you sit down and take one look at your test, you feel unfocused. A pit grows in your stomach. You might walk out of it feeling like you didn’t do well, when you had thought that you were going to ace this one. But in truth, the test itself wasn’t the problem. It’s the food (or lack thereof) in your body that makes it exceptionally difficult to perform your daily tasks. What we do and don’t put in our bodies plays a big role in our physical and mental well beings.
While the number of calories one needs varies on many factors, teenagers need to supply themselves properly to aid their growth, especially during this crucial stage of development. But with most people also prioritizing sports, clubs, or work, it can be challenging to find the time to sit down and eat a well balanced meal. It’s easier to grab a granola bar for breakfast, rather than to take the time to craft its caloric counterpart of eggs and toast. Constantly seeking out more efficient dietary alternatives, shortcuts, and supplements is more dangerous than one may think.
The consumption of protein can feel like a major concern for many teens, especially student athletes, which is why high-protein shakes and energy drinks are becoming increasingly more popular. Consistently consuming high-protein food items can actually be harmful, resulting in dehydration and kidney stress. Protein shakes can cause serious and potentially life-threatening irregularities in the cardiovascular system. Overall, the risk is definitely higher than the reward when it comes to these “performance-boosting” products, and regularly consuming them can be dangerous.
It’s also worth mentioning that influencers and athletes who promote these products likely do not consume them themselves, as they are only paid to endorse them. While the constant praise from influencers might make energy drinks and protein shakes seem favorable, they should only be consumed for specific purposes (for instance, if you don’t eat meat, your doctor or dietician might recommend protein supplements). Instead, drinking water will also benefit you and give you energy, protecting your body in the process. Water is also more accessible and less expensive compared to protein shakes and energy drinks.
Still, these examples don’t encompass the full extent of the damage that media and societal pressures can do to our nutritional health. Every time we open our phones, we are constantly bombarded with information about the “ideal body type” and ways to achieve it. A study done by the Institute of Global Health showed a strong link between the use of social media apps and feelings of body dysmorphia. Online trends can paint unhealthy practices like protein overloading as necessary to achieve one’s perfect body. Many online fads about weight loss might claim that they have reliable and positive results, but most of them are ineffective at best, and downright harmful at worst. Before starting any weight-loss diets, it is important to seek the advice of your general physician or a qualified nutritionist.
Another possible contributor to this issue is the school cafeteria. School lunches are vital parts to many student’s diets, and can be the main source of nutrition students can get throughout the day. This means that how much and what kind of food the cafeteria serves is incredibly important. We spoke with IHS’s school lunch manager, Jamie Zervos, regarding this issue. When asked how often students are coming back in line for seconds, Zervos responded that it’s common for students to be doing such on a daily basis. Furthermore, Universal Lunch this year has forced the cafeteria to prepare food at faster rates, compared to years where lunch was served at different periods, which makes it more difficult to fully create a lunch that will satisfy everyone.
IHS student Jesse Rinzel ’23 also described how the smaller-scale lunches have affected his choices as a student-athlete and how much he relies on school meals for daily nourishment. Rinzel explained how he organizes his purchases of multiple school lunches a day, and if it weren’t for his strategic planning, the size of the school lunch would not be enough. Regarding the limitations of school meals can impact other student-athletes, Rinzel states, “If someone is an athlete and can’t provide their own extra food or lunch money then they would be at a disadvantage compared to those who can because food as a fuel is one of the best ways to optimize your performance.”
Whether you’re an athlete or not, consuming the proper amount of nutrients and vitamins is vital to your health. With students having the opportunity to purchase cookies, ice cream, or chips, constantly supplying your body with processed snacks, rather than whole foods is an easy, yet harmful habit. These snacks are not bad when consumed in moderation, but they definitely should not replace whole foods which provide more nutrients. A study done by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention showed that in 2017, only around 7.1 percent of high school students nationwide met the daily recommended intake for fruits, and 2.1 percent met the recommended amount for vegetables.
It isn’t only the cafeteria staff’s responsibility to ensure we maintain a healthy diet, however. Many classes at IHS like health, biology, and food science have to talk about nutrition. Rethinking course material pertaining to food is also a necessary step that must be taken. When going over nutrition, teachers should avoid using polarizing language about food, and should encourage conversations about the nuance of a healthy diet. While there are several baseline recommendations one should generally follow, it is important that we can understand that a healthy eating routine isn’t “one-size-fits-all.” Food can be a very sensitive topic for many students, so it is imperative that we ensure the language used in classrooms is sensitive, inclusive, and informative.
Although teens’ diets are being threatened by the aforementioned elements, there are viable solutions to the problem. Knowing how to promote healthy habits is an easy and sure way to start to change unhealthy habits. The district needs to give students more easy access to medically correct information about how to maintain a healthy balance of nutrients, and we should be given the tools to discern the truthful information from the harmful. Addressing the validity of online claims about diet culture and muscle-gaining trends would allow for us to make healthier choices sooner.
We all need to actively implement these choices into our lives, and ICSD can make it easier for us to do so. It is clear that the current structure of lunch is inhibiting this change from occurring. The cafeteria staff should be given the time to prepare meals that are both sizable and nutritious. The lines for food must be changed so that students can receive their food in a timely fashion. Besides lunch, breakfast should also be further encouraged for students in the mornings, and there needs to be an adequate amount of time for it to be served and eaten, considering the staggered arrival time of students due to transportation issues.
As students, if we want to learn, we must be provided with an environment and conditions that won’t impede our learning. This should include the ability to consciously decide what fuel we give ourselves. We should be instructed on how to avoid bad decisions, and we should be provided with opportunities to make good ones. We should start to make better choices, and ICSD must help us achieve them.