Title: How Bad Does Cafeteria Food Affect a Student's Health? | Healthfully
Headings: How Bad Does Cafeteria Food Affect a Student's Health?
How Bad Does Cafeteria Food Affect a Student's Health?
Fats
Carbohydrates
Changes
Concerns

Content: Changes
Many schools have made menu changes to improve students' health, offering more salad choices, substituting baked foods for fried and switching from whole milk to low fat. Additionally, some colleges have eliminated trays from their cafeterias. While this was done primarily as a measure to cost costs on buying and washing trays, it also makes it more difficult for students to overload their trays with food that adds too many calories. Some schools have also decreased portion sizes, which helps reduce the total number of calories that are consumed. Many schools have made menu changes to improve students' health, offering more salad choices, substituting baked foods for fried and switching from whole milk to low fat. While this was done primarily as a measure to cost costs on buying and washing trays, it also makes it more difficult for students to overload their trays with food that adds too many calories. Concerns
How Schools Can Help Promote Healthy Eating
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School budgets often dictate using government surplus foods as part of their offerings, which the school can have converted by commercial processors into potentially unhealthy foods such as chicken nuggets, pork patties and pizza. Large corporations that offer financial incentives for selling their products -- which are rarely healthy food choices and generally contribute to obesity without adding any nutritional value-- make it hard for schools with strapped budgets to say no. If chips and snack foods -- which have calories but no nutrition -- are offered as part of the cafeteria lunch, students have a hard time turning them down.