Have Schools Gone Bananas?
California Ban's unhealthy foods from schools
By Jessica Valadez

It has come to my recent attention that obesity is affecting young children all over the nation. All over TV I have been seeing commercials of doctors urging kids to eat healthy. But now this urging has become a law for public schools. The California legislature, through a bill by Senator Marth Escutia, just passed a law that would ban the sale of sugar-filled sodas in high schools. Under the bill (SB965), schools would be allowed to serve healthier drinks, such as water, milk, and fruit and vegetable-based drinks made up of at least 50 percent fruit juice without added sweeteners. This leaves me to question if this is actually going to be a good thing or a bad thing.

I've been out of high school for two years and when I was attending there was never a question about obesity that was coming from the school administration. I honestly think if they are going to ban junk food from schools that more students are going to be bringing lunch from home, which is a good thing, but could be a time-consuming hassle. When I was in school, instead of waiting in the long lines to receive my lunch, there were vending machines put up that most of the students went to for lunch. We had the choice of any kind of snack and any kind of soda we wanted to drink. Then my senior year the prices went up from $1.00 to $1.25, but people still kept buying from the vending machines.

Now that I am in college, there is still the same problem of people essentially being fed by vending machines, but the college was pushed to put the “Healthy Start” snacks in the vending machines. Those snacks had green labels on them. This way you have your choice to snack on something healthy or something not so healthy. That might be a more subtle way to get high school students eating better.

Part of the problem with the younger generation is that they are caught between two influences.   One is an easy and cheap way to get junk food, and an equally unhealthy media depiction of a certain body image. I think most of the diet changes being talked about, even by the legislature is a fad. First came all those   “lose weight quick diets” like the South Beach Diet, the Low Carb Diet and the Protein Diet. Then came the diet pill fad, thinks like TrimSpa and Lipitor. What ever happened to the old fashioned way, like exercise? On top of that, parents' are at the point where they are working two jobs and don't have time to come home and cook dinner. The only meal the kids have to get them through the day is the lunch they give them at school. Even out of the high schools people are changing the way they eat in general. Fast food places are constantly changing the menu to keep up with the eating conditions. Some fast food places are serving salads, yogurts, fruits, veggie hamburgers and wraps. Schools are now just part of the fad.

Only time will tell what will happen with junk food in the high schools, but no matter how hard they try, we still have the freedom to eat what we please, it may just not be on campus.