How are we as learners expected to “reach our fullest potential,” as stated in the schools mission statement, while our bodies are energy less. Throughout the school day our bodies drag through the hours feeding on whatever energy we may have stored within us.

The school’s wellness policy vowed, “Ludlow School District will always promote healthy schools by supporting wellness, good nutrition, and regular physical activity as part of the total learning environment.”As a result this policy swears to better the lives of their students mentally and physically, does it not?

It does, so why is food being restricted in classes when numerous dietitians, nutritionists, and doctors through various case studies and statistics show that eating several small meals a day will in fact promote a healthier life style?

The restriction of food in classes not only limits the nutrition of students ,but also chains our energy effecting our ability of becoming further enlightened in our education.

Doctor Jorge Cruise argued that eating every three hours after breakfast increases our BMR (baseline metabolic rate) which is the minimum calorific requirement needed to sustain life in a resting individual. Even the simplest thing, like taking a breath requires our BMR. Cruise believed the higher BMR, the more likely our chance of survival.

He believed that a high BMR was equivalent to high energy levels, and was dominant in keeping a controlled and monitored weight. So if we chose to follow in Doctor Cruise’s beliefs, how will that happen when food is not allowed outside the cafeteria?

That ruling forces us, the student body, to eat only one meal while we are obligated to deposit ourselves in this institution for six hours. RD Noralyn Mills, believed if we only feed the body three major times a day, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, we are in fact destroying our metabolism’s major wave patterns and signals. It is proven that our bodies would rather grasp on to our food sources rather than convert into energy, due to the fear of our body going hungry. As a result we students can feel drowsy and fail to be alert throughout the school day.

However, if we generously donate food to our bodies throughout the day our metabolism will become acquainted to the pattern that more food will be on its way soon, and will not be hesitant to let the food go to produce a constant energy burst that works as a helping hand to truly help us reach our fullest potential.

Not only Ludlow, but also the entire state of Massachusetts has taken multiple actions to try and emphasizes better eating habits to reduce the percentage of obesity in our community. However, there are still 70 percent of teenagers who eat an unhealthy diet.

Dietitian Becky Hand completed a study in the British Medical Journal and found that people who ate six small meals a day had a five percent lower cholesterol level and a slimmer chance of heat attacks, and diabetes in comparison to the people who ate three large meals a day.
Her study also concluded that if a child is 14 or 15 years old and is already obese, there’s an 80% likelihood that he or she will be overweight or obese for the entire life.

But it doesn’t stop there, the limitation on food furthers as it disturbs and agitates the learning environment in the language classes. The way food is produced, consumed, and prepared is an important part of different cultures around the world. Because food cannot be eaten or prepared in foreign language classes, students fail to learn about that culture’s diet and distinct eating habits.

Researchers believe that a societies agricultural, customs, and sociology can all be exemplified through the diverse eating chooses and patterns each society and country make.

“Food” unites people imitating a burning everlasting flame as traditions are passed down from generation to generation. Each culture has their own story behind their food selection, and allowing us to take part hands on with their customs and recipes enhances our appreciation while allowing us to become more involved in their natural and beautiful culture.

This also permits a piece of every moral and value they stand for to illuminate within us while giving us a chance to create a dish with a higher significance. We can then bring it to class, and enlighten and further other educations of our classmates.

Not allowing students to eat throughout the school day positions us at a higher risk of obesity now and in the future. Various studies, doctors, and experts all believe, and prove, that eating various times throughout the day actually helps us mentally and physically. Hearing that a change in the wellness policy of allowing food in classrooms could improve the lives of students, should make you wonder if one simple change, is worth trying.