Last week I forgot to bring a lunch to school and found myself standing in front of the vending machines in the LaGuardia High School cafeteria. I expected to find a small, reasonably healthy snack to get me through the afternoon, but when I looked, what I found was chips, cookies, Pop Tarts, pretzels and Rice Krispies Treats. The one healthy drink - a bottle of water- was sold out.
Although the evidence that child obesity affects school performance is limited, nutrition clearly affects academic performance. Anyone who's taken a test on a morning they've missed breakfast will tell you so. Poor nutritional status and hunger interfere with cognitive function and are associated with lower academic achievement. While school health classes encourage balanced and nutritious diets, the vending machines' crunchy, sweet and salty contents completely contradict this message.
Schools are concerned that if they change vending machine selections to be more healthy, they will lose money. However, in many cases where healthier options were given to kids, there was no decrease in sales. I also know from talking to kids in my school that there are a lot of people, especially girls, who would be grateful for healthier choices in the vending machines.
Being overweight is really difficult. A lot of kids today are interested in eating well, and it's important that schools encourage this, not just in the classroom, but in the lunchroom, too.
Editor's Note: DOE has, in recent years, revamped its vending offerings to more healthful choices -- some may remember the days when soda pop and high-fat chips were de rigeur in every city school -- but snacks still rule at lunchtime, often in lieu of 'real' food. All school cafeterias are supposed to have fresh fruit (and salad!) on hand daily, for healthier alternatives to lower-fat snacks, but getting kids to take the fruit is as much a challenge as leading the proverbial (sated) horse to water...
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