I can’t say if the calorie count on this headline is accurate… but it is disturbing.
“At High School, Pit Stops Add 21,000 Calories in Two Hours”
All last week, The Washington Post covered childhood obesity. This is but one of the articles that brings saliency to one of the various factors that end up eventually impacting the health of young adults…. availability of junk food in schools.
When kids replace school meals with chips and candy from the vending machine, I’d say there is a problem. Displacing calories that should come from nutritious foods with empty-calorie snacks that provide little nutrition has been a great concern for dietitians and public health professionals. Excess empty calories can lead to weight gain and adequate calories with low nutrition quality can lead to malnutrition – and yes it is possible to be malnourished and obese at the same time! These widely-held concerns were reflected in the 2005 dietary guidelines for Americans, which included recommendations for discretionary calories (limits on added sugars and fats in the diet).
Judging from the way this article reads, it appears that the junk food is part of the school culture and the “in” thing is to buy “lunch” in shiny packages and glass bottles…
In a 2-hour period over lunch, Bladensburg students have bought 186 items, spending a total of $130, devouring 21,000 calories and 629.5 grams of fat. Eleven of the 24 wire-coil snack slots are empty. Kiwi-strawberry drinks are gone. No one bought a milkshake. The profit from sales go to district’s food and nutrition services.
“Wait an hour and they’ll be crawling back,” said Michael Vincent, who has worked in the cafeteria for nine years.
As midday hunger sets in, students start banging their fists on the cafeteria windows: “Mr. Mike! Mr. Mike! Please, please!” Vincent unlocks the door and lets them swarm the machines again. He said he would rather see students munch on the vending machine’s baked chips than candy bars sold outside of school.
News flash… midday hunger would not set in if the kids ate a real lunch in the first place. PB&J, an apple, and string cheese from home or even the hot entree offered in the school will have more nutrients than what these kids are getting from a vending machine.
…and evidently this Bladensburg school is one of the healthier ones in the Prince George’s county area with less than half of the kids buying vending machine food on a typical day.
Bladensburg’s vending machines are more healthful than most, and fewer than half the school’s 2,100 students buy snacks and sodas from the machines on a typical day. Rice Krispies Treats (150 calories, 3.5 grams of fat) are an improvement from Snickers bars (280 calories, 14 grams of fat). Baked chips have replaced fried.
If 50% of students buying from vending machines is considered good, then yes, I’d say there is a problem. Maybe the food being offered in the school is unappetizing or maybe it is just “cool” to buy from the vending machine. Maybe they shouldn’t let kids buy from the vending machine outside of lunch hours. Maybe they should offer a sack lunch option and for the $1.85 a typical lunch costs, they can give the kids a sandwich, fruit, milk and a granola bar. I wish this article would have followed the kids home to see their choices at breakfast and dinner. Then we’d get an accurate picture of their overall nutrition status.
My question is simple. Who benefits from the convenience of the vending machines in schools? It certainly is not the kids. Not only are they getting poor nutrition, but they are developing poor habits. Should we be satisfied that there are “healthier” choices like fruit snacks and baked chips. Clearly, something is not working with the current scenario where fresh fruit, like oranges, bananas and apples are not even available as a choice.
I’m not the only one who thinks this is absurd. Reader comments range from “get the vending machines out” to “has it gotten this bad? we never had vending machines in school” and some people even commenting “I ate like this when I was in high school, but I wish I hadn’t” and blaming their lack of nutrition education and understanding about what is – and is not – healthy.
Check out the reader comments and let me know what you think about this issue.
Filed under: calories, children, eating healthy, food industry, nutrition, obesity, overweight, policy | Tagged: school lunch
It is entirely up to the parents to make sure their kids eat healthy. The have to force schools to monitor what kinds of foods the kids are eating. We are in the age of video game and kids are playing outside less.
My favorite line from the comments:
“As long and Coke and Pepsi rule the world we will always have “nachos” as a food group.”
A couple of comments mentioned that in their experience, they discovered that a lot of the kids that used the machines are never given a lunch by their parents. Even when asked to. I think the schools could do more to convince the parents that it is very necessary.
Like you said, the schools could also provide a decent sack lunch option if the children are simply passing up the “hot” lunches because of the taste.
Allowing the machines to remain is just a very laissez-faire way of handling the problem of lack of options for the students.
Coke/Pepsi et al. usually donate money to the individual school or school board as part of their contract to place their vending machines in the school.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the same practice holds true for the food??? vending machines.
I have also heard the argument that ‘real’ food costs more than processed foods. What a load of …
The $1.85 lunch that you suggested Rebecca has to cost less than a Coke and a small bag of nachos..
And if you tie in the future costs (medical, environment & financial) of eating nachos and coke for lunch, I can’t even begin to imagine what the final cost would be.
Common sense is sure in short supply these days.