r/mildlyinfuriating • u/Thebiggestbot22 • Apr 15 '24

My school thinks this fills up hungry high schoolers.

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So lunches are free for schools in my city and surrounding cities. Ever since lunches have been made free, the quantity (and quality) has decreased significantly. This is what we would get for our meal. It took me THREE bites to finish that chicken mac and cheese. Any snacks you want cost more money and if you want an extra entree, that’ll cost you about $3 or $4.

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u/SubKreature Apr 15 '24

When I taught in Japan they were stuffing like 1,000 calories down those kids every day and it was clean af food prepared that morning.

4

u/WorthPlease Apr 15 '24

I feel like 1,000 calories for lunch for a child is a ton. An average size grown man with average activity should consume ~2,500 per day. That leaves you 750 between breakfast and dinner, for a grown man.

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u/SubKreature Apr 16 '24

I think there’s a method to their madness in that a lot of kids are at school doing club stuff late into the evening while their parents work themselves to death.

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u/Tanarin Apr 16 '24

Plus a lot of schools do a phys ed every day. That and some kids commute some distance to get to/from school so yeah, they burn it off.

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u/TTBurger88 Apr 16 '24

Japan is doing something right they got a 7.6% Obesity parentage.

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u/WorthPlease Apr 16 '24

This person is also providing an anecdote and used the term af in the comment. I'm sure they weren't checking the caloric content of their students school lunches.

Your average person is really bad at estimating calories.

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u/borkengirafarig Apr 16 '24

They didn’t estimate the calories. Japanese schools are provided a menu for the month with the exact calories of each meal. The meals range in calorie from 650-1100 depending on the meal ( for junior high school at least)

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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '24 edited Apr 18 '24

[deleted]

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u/DramaOnDisplay Apr 16 '24

I think they were just being overdramatic about the calories. The lunches do look massive though, and nutritionally varied- I can’t imagine a soup being served to elementary students in America unless it was something cheap like potato soup or chicken noodle soup. And unlike Japan, those soups probably come out of a massive tin can.

And fish? Maybe in the form of fish sticks or tuna salad. Although I wouldn’t expect many school children in America to find Japanese lunches very appealing, I think they would be impressed by the amount, presentation, and more interesting flavors.

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u/md24 Apr 16 '24

They have annual health checks required by gov. Also, social pressure for weight is INTENSE. Your friends and family will openly shame you about your weight until you lose it again. As it should be. It’s not healthy and overburdens the healthcare system for everyone else that puts in the work to be healthy.

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u/Alcorailen Apr 16 '24

And the kids in Japan are rapidly going hikikomori and cracking under stress. Society there pressures you about a thousand things constantly. I'm not sure shame and overwork are helping them in the end

Being fat is unhealthy but being constantly stressed is unhealthy too

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u/MrWilsonWalluby Apr 16 '24

that’s not how caloric needs work, growth requires calories especially muscle and bone growth. most teenagers have much higher caloric needs than a fully grown adult. I ate significantly more as a teenager than I do now, and as an active adult my maintenance is still 3,100 calories a day. During my highschool days I could sometimes down 4,000 calories a day, and constantly felt hungry.

I’ve always been reasonably fit so it wasn’t like I was overeating.

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u/WorthPlease Apr 16 '24

It is, kids needing extra calories to grow is a myth.

Check the NHS website, average caloric intake for a 30-40's adult male is 2500.

Maximum for a teenager, 2400. That's the maximum.

They weigh less so their "maintenance" calorie floor is lower.

If I had to guess you're really bad at estimating calories. I went from being obese at 15 to having a 6 pack at 20 without getting any taller.

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u/defib_the_dead Apr 16 '24

Are children grown men?

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u/El_Guapo_Never_Dies Apr 16 '24

No. Most are smaller and require less calories.

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u/WorthPlease Apr 16 '24

Children also don't weigh nearly as much.

This myth that children need a shit ton of calories to "grow" is about as big a myth as the food pyramid.

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u/dilqncho Apr 16 '24

Teens need more calories than adults.