It’s lunchtime at Saint Stephen’s Episcopal School, a time that’s known for supplying our students with delicious food. Though delicious, this food is notorious for being unhealthy. Our lunches consist of varying fast food options, and few healthy alternatives. Frankly, these healthy alternatives never really make the cut because of their unfavorable taste. It takes a devoted student that’s willing to opt for the low-grade salad over the tasty, yet unhealthy fast food we offer every day. Having fast food every once in awhile may serve as a nice occasional treat, but it shouldn’t be consumed regularly. Instead, fuel your body properly with the foods it needs for success.

How you fuel your body has an enormous impact on your overall health and wellness. Studies show that having fast food as little as twice a week, which is common at Saint Stephen’s, shows a two-fold increase in insulin resistance, a risk factor for type 2 diabetes, let alone the weight gain from eating the food.

Jake Ross, a Saint Stephen’s senior, said “I usually eat hot lunch around 2-3 times a week, and never get the healthy options. I usually decide on the Papa John’s Pizza, General Tao’s chicken, and Chick-Fil-A.” Delicious options that I have fallen guilty to eating regularly myself, but yet are terrible for your health.

Fueling your body with these types of foods isn’t good for you because you’re eating a huge amount of calories that have little nutritional value. When the food is consumed often, the excess fat, carbohydrates, and processed sugar contribute to an increased risk of obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and many other chronic health conditions. It’s not wrong for Saint Stephen’s to have these types foods, but the student populous should be aware of the damaging effects on our bodies. By knowing this, we should control ourselves and eat our beloved hot lunch as an occasional treat, rather than an often-relied upon food source.

Eating a well-balanced lunch that you pack from home will give you profound health benefits. Research shows that cutting back and limiting unhealthy foods and drinks from student’s diets has a positive impact on standardized scores. Students are able to learn better when they’re well nourished, and eating healthy foods correlates to getting higher grades, having better memory, better alertness, and faster information processing skills.