School vending machines are making students obese
Let’s face it, kids in America are fat. In fact, almost 30% of them are obese! What is causing this obesity epidemic? Where is the blame? It is not fair to blame the children themselves; they are too young to make smart food choices when their parents are not around. And what happens when their parents are around? What are you teaching your children about healthy eating habits? You can do the best you can at home and serve a full meal and in suitable portions at dinner time, but children spend most of their days at school where you have no control over what they eat and how much they eat. We all know that school lunches are not the healthiest meals in the world. Processed foods that contain frozen meat and starches lack the essential fruits, vegetables, and whole grains that children need to maintain adequate body weight. Where else can children get food at school? The dreaded school vending machines are taking your kids’ money and getting fat.
The effects of eating junk food at school
There are many reasons why children do not need to eat junk food at school. It not only affects your physical health, it also affects your mental health. Eating a lot of empty calories and processed junk doesn’t fill you up and deplete your energy. Children do not get any “value” from this type of food. It does not feed their bodies or give them energy to function throughout the day. They will have a sugar rush followed quickly by a sugar crash that will leave them wanting another sugar “high” and the vicious cycle continues. The same goes for carbohydrate-laden salty snacks. Carbohydrates simply turn into sugar and have the same effect on a child’s metabolism. A junk food diet will also cause children to lose concentration, feel sluggish, and perform poorly in class and on tests. Blood circulation can even slow down if you eat too much junk food and fat gets in the way of your blood flow. Brain capacity can also be compromised, as a constant diet of junk food will cause a lack of oxygen, nutrients, and protein in the brain. Other effects include heart disease and high cholesterol. As you can imagine, having these health problems in childhood can have a major impact on a child’s life in the long run. It is much more difficult to correct these health problems than to simply avoid them in the first place. Fat children grow into fat adults, which is why more than 25% of Americans are obese. Learning proper eating habits as children will help these children maintain a healthy weight and body fat percentage as they grow. School vending machines DO NOT help children make healthy food choices.
Why do schools have vending machines?
It seems so obvious that if you remove vending machines from schools, children will eat better. Unfortunately, it is not that simple. Our schools are underfunded and vending machines provide them with the revenue stream they need for their operating budgets. Schools receive money from the government under the National School Lunch Program that feeds more than 30 million children each day in more than 101,000 schools. But it is simply not enough. One dollar per student is not enough to provide them with a healthy meal. So schools supplement cafeteria offerings by adding vending machines as another food option for students. Vending machine profit margins are huge because the profit margin is so high. And students will visit vending machines over and over again because of the addictive power that sugar and carbohydrates have on the body.
Changes in the store for school street vending
There is a light at the end of the junk food tunnel. Legislation is up for a vote that could mark the end of the era of school vending machines. The Hunger Free and Healthy Kids Act will give more money to schools and allow the Secretary of Agriculture to set nutritional standards for schools. Parents and schools can also play a critical role in our children’s eating habits. Schools can voluntarily eliminate junk food vending machines and / or replace them with healthy vending machines that offer children nutritional options that will fill them up and help them focus throughout the day. Parents, the real change must come from you. Start with the way you eat. Children watch what you eat and are more likely to listen to your nutrition advice if you are eating healthy foods yourself. You can’t eat pizza and expect your kids to eat salad. Get your kids involved in preparing healthy meals. The more invested they are in the process, the more likely they are to eat something they don’t usually like. Perhaps most importantly, parents should pressure their children’s schools to make the necessary changes. Most school administrators will simply let the vending machines remain in place if they are not encouraged to remove them. If you take a stand for the health of your children, schools will be forced to make a change.
We all know that changes must occur to help our children get back on track. They are simply too fat and the fault lies with the schools and the parents. However, vending machines are the main culprits, as they continue to provide our children with junk food that compromises their health and their ability to learn. Change must come from both parents and schools to eliminate these machines and improve the opportunities our children have in life. Your success in school, college, your professional life, and your health depends on it.