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Should junk food and soft drinks be sold at schools? Well, while the typical and easy answer would be no, there is a little more to it than the bad rep these items carry.

According to the film, “Super Size Me,” the amount of children who are obese has doubled since the year 1980. Obesity is now the second major cause of preventable death in America, right after smoking. That is over 400,000 preventable illnesses related to obesity each year. Weight gain and obesity leads to health problems such as: hypertension, coronary heart disease, stroke, gallbladder disease, sleep apnea, breast cancer, colon cancer, asthma, diabetes, respiratory problems, and hepatitis…just to name a few. So with statistics like those, why would any school want to expose the students to fatty foods like chips or candy?

With that said, many schools across the country wanted to ban competitive foods. These “foods” are defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as “foods offered at school other than meals served through the USDA school meal programs.” Competitive food policies exist in many states and include laws that restrict access to food and beverage vending machines that have minimum nutritional value. However, even though this restriction may seem fairly simple, is the USDA really solving the obesity epidemic?

ABC News recently did a report regarding junk food in schools. Jennifer Van Hook, a Professor of Sociology and Demography at Pennsylvania State University made a very good point when she stated “"Schools only represent a small portion of children's food environment.” As students grow older, they naturally become more independent and have more disposable income. Therefore, they have more control over what they eat. Even if schools try to serve food with a higher nutritional value, students are still exposed to these foods elsewhere.

At Granite Hills, the majority of the food we are served is from Sysco Corporation. It is the largest food service distributor in North America and is known for its various canned, dried, and frozen foods. Basically, all the cafeteria workers have to do is thaw out or reconstitute the processed products delivered. So, that burrito you had for lunch today was likely made about two months ago. Sure, there a few fresh and homemade foods offered, but for me, a few is not good enough. How is this pre- packaged and processed junk healthier than a candy bar or a soft drink? Why should candy bars and sodas be banned when half of the food that is served at many cafeterias is more fattening than the typical fatty foods that have a bad rep? For example, there are 36 grams of sugar in Country Time Lemonade. It has as much sugar as a Coke. But because Coke is a brand of soda, it should not be promoted or sold on campus. Another pointless attempt at a solution is the smaller portions of food.

The bags of chips have become significantly smaller. However, in the mindset of a student, if you are going to buy a small bag for 50 cents, you might as well buy two for a dollar. Having limits and restrictions only make those foods that much more tempting. High school is a time for experimenting, and if something is banned, students a more likely to try it.

In my opinion, students should be offered a variety of foods at school. Kids need to learn balance. If the majority of food sold at schools is just as bad for you as a box of candy, than why bother banning junk food items? This is why strongly believe real healthy food needs to be promoted. If schools made it a priority to serve natural and fresh foods, the obesity epidemic would severely decrease. However, until all schools in this nation truly promote a healthy diet, I think it is absolutely pointless to ban junk food or soft drinks at schools.

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0 #27 Mario Mendoza Diaz 2012-02-10 19:00

the sad thing that there is only a few things for vegetarians and there is no soy milk for them

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0 #26 Jo9514 2012-02-05 06:37

Everytime I eat school food i feel sick and thats because its not healty, and we need a bigger variety, other than the daily mini burgers and tornadoes/pizza and hoagies

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+1 #25 Braulio Gamboa 2012-02-01 22:19

It may be better to start bringing food from home because as long as the cafeteria is making money they won't change their minds.

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+1 #24 Isidro Alvarado 2012-02-01 22:17

I agree with The Beast because people do have control of their eating habits so they can choose whether to eat junk food or healthy food.

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+1 #23 water 2012-02-01 22:15

I agree with what she is saying. The food providers need to put healthier things on their menu.

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+1 #22 Alexis Lopez 2012-02-01 22:13

I agree with Bailey, there's no point of banding junk food when the food from the cafeteria is as bad as junk food.

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0 #21 David Dorado 2012-02-01 22:13

I most certainly agree with Bailey.The way children eat today will definitely effect their future. I mean if you were to walk into
a 3rd grade class room and mention the chip brand "Cheetos" and say who likes them about more than half will raise their hand. :eek:

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0 #20 Isidro Alvarado 2012-02-01 22:12

I think if we were to have more of a variety of healthy meals that people will enjoy and buy we can have that as well as keeping some junk food, so we won't just have junk food.

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-1 #19 ashton lambert 2012-02-01 22:11

I agree with Antonio, The producers should put healthier items on the menu. This would bring us one step closer to stopping obesity.

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-1 #18 Chad 2012-02-01 22:11

Marcus who do you agree with?

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