Seattle Press on Line - If You Are What You Eat, Why Give Students Junk Food?

If You Are What You Eat, Why Give Students Junk Food?

By Ted Lockery

Feb 21, 2001 -- back in the 1970s, when I was in elementary school, "You Are What You Eat" was the public-service mantra of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). On the cinder-block cafeteria wall, the slogan hung beside a poster depicting smiling students whose outlined bodies were filled to the chin with a collage of apples, broccoli, cheeses, bread slices and pork chops--elements of the decade's Four Basic Food Groups. Back in the classroom we colored mimeographed versions of the poster to drive the message home.

But the message fell short. As caretakers of the next generation, we now turn a blind eye to what our children eat in school. According to a recent USDA study, the availability and consumption of junk food in public schools is on the rise. With this increase in junk food consumption comes an increased risk of anemia, growth retardation, compromised cognitive achievement and obesity. Concerned with these risks, the USDA has recommended to Congress that all foods sold in public schools meet nutritional standards.

While it is already required that lunches and breakfasts served in public schools meet federal nutrition standards, other school offerings, like vending machines and school stores, are not regulated, and are often more enticing and convenient than the cafeteria.

Dingdongs are a no-no for school vending machines.

The Seattle School District's nutritional standards for food sales at student stores and vending machines, last revised by the school board in 1984, are dubious at best. On the list of "nutritious foods" allowed in district vending machines and school stores we find: Kit Kat bars, Mounds, Sugar Babies, Corn Nuts, Oreos, Cheetos, Doritos and Twinkies. Meanwhile, other items didn't make it on the list--like Ding Dongs, Almond Joy bars and Munchos. Where's the standard?

With everything we now know about the importance of a healthy diet, why hasn't the district updated its standards since 1984? How can we expect students to learn and thrive on a diet of Twinkies and Sugar Babies? When we teach children that "they are what they eat," and then sell them junk food between classes, it seems the only nutritional standard is a double-standard. The school board, vendors, parents and teachers like myself have all been complicit in this shameful trend.

The question remains: What are we going to do about it? We could wait for Congress to implement the USDA's recommendation, putting an end to snack bars and vending machines as they currently exist in Seattle Public Schools. Or, we could demand real nutritional standards from our school board, hold ourselves accountable to those standards at our schools and commit to changing the policy and practice of selling junk food to our students.

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cameron	Mar 23, 2006	sioxlookout,
why the **** not?