In the past 30 thirty years childhood obesity has more than tripled. As of 2008, more than one third of children and adolescents were overweight. Childhood obesity has a lot of health risks, and can be very dangerous. Over the past few years people have been speaking about the issue more and more.
Between 2003 and 2005 in California, a policy was placed that sodas and other high sugar drinks were to be eliminated from schools. The policy also included that schools were no longer allowed to sell junk foods. To monitor if taking away junk foods from schools had an effect on childrens’ weight, researchers used eight years of BMI (body mass index) from students in fifth to seventh grade. The study showed the BMI rates from the years before the policy was in place, and years after the policy was in.
The research showed that before junk food was banned from the schools, the BMI of all the students was increasing. The number of overweight students was significantly reduced within the three years after the policy came into effect. The study was also compared to similar research done in Lost Angles. The results they had also showed a decrease in overweight students after monitoring what was available for students at school. Changing how kids eat at school saves them a couple hundred calories a day, which is enough to make a difference in the long run.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/08/bans-on-school-junk-food-pay-off-in-california/
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100302083500.htm
http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/obesity/facts.htm
This is a great policy to ban junk food from schools. Children eat enough junk without having it in school as well, between snacking after school, before bed, going to Mcdonald’s for dinner, not to mention every holiday there’s cake, cookies or candy. I also think that parent’s need to be more active in their children’s lives. Limit the amount of tv and video games they play in a day. Children should be outside engaging in some type of activity. If everyone as a whole in society did their part, there wouldn’t be so much obesity!
I agree that putting healthier food into schools is great for the children. But how far is too far? I have a child in First grade who refuses to eat lunch at school. They try so hard to make everything healthy, that they don’t realize that some kids don’t eat all of this at home. Maybe a little variety would help. Why not not use whole wheat pasta one day to let the kids who don’t get a chance to eat a hot lunch have that chance. My daughter eats a sandwich everyday and misses out on a hot lunch opportunity. Some might say she is being picky, but I have been there recently and ate lunch with her and from an adult point of view the food was not good. I have to say I am not at all picky when it comes to eating. Everywhere is becoming aware of obesity. McDonalds even has apples in their Happymeals with smaller fries. Why does it have to be everywhere? Some kids just don’t like all of it.
This is a good policy, if you give children healthier choices at lunch, eliminate the junk food, then hopefully a healthier diet with become a habit or lifestyle they grow up as well having. If schools only have healthy choices for children to eat and children are in school about 9months a year, they eat lunch 5times a week, then the effects have to be eventually lowering the obesity and BMI rates is school age children. Every effort counts if its coming from school or home!
The temptation of junk food is everywhere so to remove it from schools, where a child eats at least 5 meals a week, is a good idea. Not only is it good because it reduces the BMI rates of students, it’s probably also good for students who have trouble focusing after eating or drinking high sugar foods. Children are more sensitive to sugar than adults so if a child drinks a soda at lunchtime, by the time he or she is back in class they’re probably wired and can’t focus on what they’re supposed to be learning and/or distracting the rest of the class. It would be interesting to see if there’s any effect on kid’s grades after removing junk food. Back to the main subject though, I think this ban should definitely be enforced in grade schools. Junk food should be a once-in-a-while treat, not an every day option.
I recently read a Facebook post on how to rid your home of ants. It said to put cornmeal out on the floor and the ants would come and take it back to their home and since they cannot digest it, they would all die. Brilliant right??? …Until we think about how the human body processes things like processed sugars and fats. I base most of my diet on Dr. Joel Fuhrman’s book Eat to Live. I apologize that I don’t have page numbers as references, but the book talks about eating a more natural diet made up mostly of vegetables and very little in the way of meat and processed foods. It makes sense that if we eat things that are natural, we will be healthier. Think about the layout of the grocery store though… only about 15% of it is produce! The link that I included below also addresses this issue in a similar fashion to the Eat to Live book. The second link I included discusses statistics on sugar consumption in the United States over the years.
I agree with Ellen that the “healthy” choices in schools are not always ideal for children though. Children do need to be exposed to healthy alternatives at home as well as in school. As the parent of a 3-year-old who will not touch a vegetable to save her life, I commiserate. But, as a country we need to open our eyes to see that the very foods we pull off the grocery shelves are the “poison” we bring back to our families.
http://www.sott.net/article/242516-Heart-Surgeon-Speaks-Out-On-What-Really-Causes-Heart-Disease
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20D10FF355414728DDDA90A94D1405B828CF1D3
I think that some of the problems are that for one, people don’t cook and eat at home as much as they used to. People are in more of a hurry and just grabbing something to eat wherever they may be, and most of the time it isn’t a good choice. In addition, schools now allow kids to leave at lunch, so kids are likely to grab pizza, or maybe donuts from the closest coffee shop, or even just chips and soda from the closest store.
Hurray, I finally figured out how to log in here!
I just wanted to say that the decrease in the average body mass index must go back to multiple causes, and surely cannot be explained with these regulations only. Even if it’s a major factor.
I think this is a great regulation, even if some people might say that the government should not tell us what we can and cannot eat, when childhood obesity has become the problem it is in our country, I think we need to take a look at what we are eating. In an article from another class of mine, the author gives three rules to eating healthy: Eat food, not too much, and mostly vegetables. By “eat food,” he means don’t go for all the processed junk that makes up probably 80% of our options at big supermarket chains. “Not too much” is fairly obvious rule, and “mostly plants” means anything that grows from the earth, while still trying to avoid GMO’s or heavily chemically treated plants, although I’m not sure what negative effects (if any) GMOs have on people. I think eating meat isn’t a bad thing, as long as it hasn’t been fed unnatural ingredients or been grown with hormones to increase meat like Tyson and Purdue (among many others). This kind of got off track, but I just watched Food Inc. for the first time, and if you haven’t seen it, I recommend watching it, even though it doesn’t really focus on obesity.
I agree with junk food being taken out of schools. I know from experience that when you try to go on a diet it is hard when your at school and all you see are sodas and candy. I think a lot of people have issues with this because they believe that healthy foods are gross, but really they are really good, some of them.
I know that my Mom prior to retiring last year, worked as a lead cook in a local elementary school for many years, and she was constantly commenting on the changes that were happening with the menus as of late. They were using whole grains, whole wheats, more fresh fruits and vegetables and less processed foods. With childhood obesity one of the issues that face our society I think that this is a positive thing. Most children eat breakfast and lunch at school, if there is a way to help them eat healthy for 2 of the 3 meals of the day that is a move in the right direction.