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Honorable Mention: Kaylynne Canady – Perry High
School/11th Grade
Unhealthy Food Tries to Go Healthy
Sarah hurriedly scampered down the stairs at Perry High School.
Five minutes to get her books, talk to her friends, and get to
class. To Sarah that wasn’t enough time. She quickly yanked
open her locker skimming Johnny’s head as she slammed it
shut. She glanced at her watch –
9:28 a.m. She had two minutes to be in the dreaded classroom. Sarah
hadn’t eaten breakfast this morning and didn’t think
she could make it one more hour without something to satisfy her
grumbling stomach. She raced to the vending machines. What did
she want? Hurry, she told herself. You’re gonna be late.
Her eyes scanned the machine – chocolate donuts, cherry turnovers,
M & M packages. She frantically pressed the buttons – C6 – and
out came a small bag of Doritos. She checked her watch while clutching
the chips and raced to chemistry class.
Could Sarah have made better decisions that morning? Sure. Sarah
could have eaten breakfast. As many as 48% of girls and 32% of
boys do not eat breakfast every day. [Ohio State University family
and consumer sciences] Why did Sarah choose the unhealthy chips
over the other options in the machines? One reason was, there was
nothing healthier than her choice. The real question is, “Would
Sarah have chosen a more health conscious food if available or
would she have skimmed over it and stayed with the chips? Many
reasons contribute to her decision.
Schools rely on vending machine income and adolescents buy unhealthy
foods; therefore, the schools continue to supply them. My high
school gives all the proceeds back to the students. Mr. Justus,
principal, believes that kids are going to buy junk food; it’s
just a matter of where they do it. He would rather them buy it
in the school versus the convenience store down the street because
he will make sure that it is the kids who benefit from the machines.
In the past, our vending machine money has been used to purchase
library material. Our school’s prom is completely paid by
the vending machines. “I would rather the kids worry about
their school work than worrying about raising money to pay for
luxuries like the prom,” says Mr. Justus.
Empty calories are another reason why Sarah may have chosen the
vending machines. “Empty calories are those foods that contain
little, if any nutritional value to your diet. Empty calories are
generally extremely high in calories and fat. They aren’t
very fulfilling and leave one hungry.” [Diet Bites] We as
young adults tend to crave instant gratification and empty calories
suffice us.
“Oklahoma has a growing problem of diabetes and the highest
rate of heart disease of any state in the country.” [Senator
Bernest Cain, D-Oklahoma City] Recently a bill passed the Oklahoma
Senate which states that elementary and junior high schools can
only provide nutritional food except on special occasions and after-school
activities for the junior high. In high schools, all foods can
be sold, but schools must offer alternatives and incentives for
better diets. [Ron Jenkins AP writer]
Because overweight children and adolescents are more likely to
become overweight or obese adults, this poses a huge national health
problem.
“Obesity is associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes,
asthma, heart disease, stroke, hypertension, high blood cholesterol,
and other problems. In fact, 4% of adolescents now have “adult
onset”
diabetes and, in some clinics, teens represent half of all new
cases.”
[Safeguard of Students campaign] Although the contributing factors
of obesity are many and not pinpointed, it is clear that school
food programs have contributed. “According to data from the
U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 74% of middle
and junior high schools, and 98% of senior high schools, have vending
machines or snack bars where junk foods and soft drinks are sold.” [Safeguard
of Students campaign]
I have often heard and personally believe that unhealthy foods
just taste better. Marketers have overcome the challenge of maintaining
the flavor and taste of foods with added nutraceuticals, substances
that provide medical or healthy benefits, by using new technologies
and ingredient implementing techniques. “In the last year
several new products in the meat, water, and confectionery categories
have been introduced with nutraceutical positioning.” [Unhealthy
food goes Healthy]
My suggestion to lessen the problem of students choosing unhealthy
vending machine food is money. It’s sad to say but people
respond to it. In my opinion, both health conscious foods and empty
calories should be offered.
The differences would be prices. Healthier foods would be made
significantly lower in prices and more available. If that were
to happen, at a quick glance students would see less costly foods
more and hopefully be more likely to choose those. Unhealthy eating
is a learned habit that usually begins when children begin secondary
schools because that is the time when parents stop packing their
lunches and let the child decide what to eat. Healthy vending machines
need to start in the elementary schools. At that time, the children
will grow through their years learning proper nutrition and better
habits.
As I walked down the hall today, I saw various signs posted on
the wall. One portrayed a beautiful girl with discolored, rotten
teeth due to smoking, another about giving blood to save lives,
and one encouraging the choice of fresh fruit and milk in the morning.
We as students see those posters everyday but to most, those posters
do no good. The point of the posters is to help students “become
aware” and “hopefully change our ways.” How many
students are influenced by them? I don’t think that much
commercialization and “awareness” of the vending machine
problem will impact students.
We cannot minimize the impact of this problem. This issue directly
includes us, the future dominate generation. If this problem isn’t
resolved, this country’s future looks nothing short of becoming
the most self inflicted health deficient in our country’s
history.
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