Healthy Eating Habits or a Lifetime of Confusion?

       Childhood obesity has risen dramatically over the past decade and continues to plague our nation. Since children spend a majority of waking hours in school some believe that soda and vending machines are to blame along with nutrient lacking school lunches. 

“Competitive” food being served in a high school cafeteria.

Since the 1940’s schools themselves have been responsible for providing lunch, often taking much criticism for lack of nutritional value in the meal that for most kids is the most important meal of the day.   While lunches have improved over the years, vending machines become more and more of a normal staple in the school cafeteria and hallways. Even “competitive” food vendors are setting up shop in a lot of our high schools and junior high school cafeterias. 

We are sending children mixed messages by telling them to eat healthy and to make healthy choices but when the lunch bell rings we send them to a cafeteria filled with high fat and sugary foods.  Schools are even signing contracts with top “competitive” food and drink vendors stating that the funds will help to pay for things at the schools that have recently been cut back due to the financial crisis our country has been facing.  While some support these money making ventures other’s believe our children’s our in great danger of health problems now and later on during life.  Type ll Diabetes and other obesity related illnesses are on the rise and schools are steadily teaching poor eating habits out of the classroom while trying to teach good eating habits in the classroom.

            Supporters of revenue making vending machines and “competitive” food say that they believe children will find other ways to get junk food and sodas if the schools don’t provide it.  Which they say then becomes a safety concern of children leaving school during lunch breaks and being injured.  Even though everyone doesn’t agree with making money off of selling junk food and encouraging bad eating habits to our children they just simply don’t know any other way to raise the kind of money these schools need. 

            So while it is easy to sit back and criticize it is also easy to understand where both sides of this argument our coming from.  On one hand we our giving our children too many unhealthy food and drink options so that schools can have more money for the school system while also teaching our kids to make healthy eating habits by not eating high sugar and high fat foods so that they can live a long and healthy life. 

Junk food in schools. (2007, January 24). Issues & Controversies On File. Issues & Controversies. Facts On File News Services,  Retrieved February 22, 2011, from the Issues & Controversies Database.