Student Take: Why
Should People Eat Healthy?
“I eat healthy because I know that your eating habits can affect a person’s daily life.� Emily Windsor, 12
“I plan to improve the decisions I make about what I eat throughout the school year.� Kenysha Falls, 10
North Star Take: You Are What You Eat
While occasionally eating junk food isn’t detrimental to your health, it’s still crucial to pay close attention to your diet
ON BEHALF OF THE EDITORIAL STAFF h^daUW]/UW]c^SPh R^\ “ /UW]c^SPh
“I think they [the school] provides many different options [of food] to choose from.� Stephanie Monson, 9
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“Hey guys, wanna stop by Steak ‘n Shake?� Sound familiar? It’s very common in today’s society for teenagers to hang out at the local fast food restaurants around town. According to the Business Insider, teens are spending 20 percent of their money on food alone. For the the first time in history, teenagers are spending more money on food than clothes. In today’s society, teenagers are wasting an increasing amount of money by buying food that is unnecessary and unhealthy. In addition to their three daily meals, teens purchase additional food from gas stations, fast food chains and vending machines. Starbucks and McDonald’s are two of the top places that teenagers buy their food from, and it only makes sense. Another major problem facing teens today, according to a study conducted by Forbes, is skipping breakfast. Doing so has frequently shown a strong correlation to major health risks including high blood pressure, obesity and the buildup of unhealthy blood-fats.
FHNTODAY.COM PAGE BY BENNETT SMALLWOOD
11.4.15
This is not to say that an occasional donut is detrimental to your health, and a healthy diet does not necessarily call for one to give up all of their favorite foods. People must simply be making sure that they are getting all of the nutrients such as vitamins and minerals that their body needs to function properly. Furthermore, an often overlooked component to a healthy diet is the amount of water intake. A regular Ice Mountain water bottle water often dulls in appeal when vended next to a bottle of Coke. While the recommended intake of water varies from person-toperson based on several factors including their environment and physical activities, the Food and Nutrition Board advises around two-to-three liters for adolescents ages 14-to-18. With all these factors pushing teens to spend excessive amounts of money on unhealthy foods, almost 21 percent of adolescents between the ages of 12 and 19 were considered to be obese in 2012, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention Department (CDC). This means that over a third of all American children and adolescents were either obese or overweight. In response to the increased health conditions associated with