Debunking Beer Can Chicken: A Waste Of Good Beer, And Dangerous
Starbucks 'Trenta': How The New Size Compares To Your Stomach
We've already seen action at the individual school level to ban unhealthy foods from school campuses. However, a bi-partisan group is now taking it to a nation-wide level by introducing legislation that would prohibit the sale of fatty, sugary foods like French fries and sodas in schools, not just in the cafeterias, but anywhere on the school grounds, which includes, vending machines, school stores, and even fund raising events.
Currently, the schools set a minimum nutrition standard on foods - that they must have at least 5% of the US RDA of certain proteins, vitamins, and minerals - which allows things like cookies, chips, French fries and doughnuts to be sold. The new bill, instead, would have much a much stricter list of "banned foods" based on whether they promote obesity and chronic illnesses.
I wonder if Girl Scout cookies would be banned.
[photo: New York Times]
New Trayvon Martin Evidence Features Incriminating Photos, Texts From Teen
The List #0147: Escape a Car Underwater
Jodi Arias Jury DEADLOCKED
Visit the Maldive Islands Before It's Too Late
H&M's Plus-Size Model Jennie Runk Says She Chose To Gain Weight
Charlie Sheen Gets Back To His Roots
Okla. Sheriff's Deputy Finds Dog Guarding Body Buried Under Destroyed Home
Reptiles Make Home in UK Man's Cable Box
Killed Soldier In London Attack Identified
Springtime Budget-Busters -- Savings Experiment
Is This Woman Too Pretty To Work?
What It's Like To Talk To A 2-Year-Old
Editorial: Engadget on the Xbox One
Parents Face Tough Choice When Tornadoes Bear Down
WHOOPS! Obama Makes Big Gaffe
The Story Behind Hairspray
Jury Foreman: '18 Days Of Testimony Hurt' Jodi Arias
Surgeons Remove Giant Hairball From Tiger
Bridge Collapses In Washington State
Helen Flanagan Launches PETA Campaign As Only She Knows How
Rapper Accused Of Faking His Own Death To Escape Payments
Brave Woman Stood Down Armed London Attackers
'DWTS' Shakeup Ahead?
LOOK: Photoshop Mistake Is Seriously Cringeworthy
Teenager's 'Awww'-Inspiring Drawing Wins Big At Google
PHOTO: Dog Guards Dead Victim's Body After Oklahoma Tornado Disaster
Pope Francis Says All Who Do Good Are Redeemed - Atheists Included
REVEALED: Disturbing Trend In Human Intelligence
Wolf Blitzer's Embarrassing Moment With Tornado Survivor
Man Reportedly Beheaded In Brutal Assault In London Neighborhood
The World's Most Powerful Women
Who Won 'DWTS'?
4-06-2006 @3:13PM John said... The Tater Tots! Won't somebody please think of the tater tots!!!!!!!
Reply
4-06-2006 @3:40PM Heidi said... Banning cookies would only lead to more intense desires for eating cookies (want what you cant have). And I am sorry but legislation should never take place of educating. Teach kids that vegetables can be good, yummy, and full of things that make them strong. Dont serve limp, oversteamed beans and expect kids to want to eat them. I LOVE vegetables and I wouldnt eat that stuff. Kids need to learn to make their own healthy choices, not have the choices made for them.
Reply
4-06-2006 @4:56PM J.Ho said... Aside from the debate on whether or not banning sugary, fattening foods from schools is right or wrong ... I can't imagine that the US legislature the jurisdiction to pull this off.
This is a local issue that should be up to the local education authorities.
The only way they can enforce this is to withhold funds from schools, districts or states that don't comply. This is how the federal government enforces pretty much everything on the states. Making a law wrongfully trumps states rights.
However, if I were a school principal, junk food (soda, candy, greasy foods, etc.) would not be sold at all (or on a limited case-by-case basis). It's a no brainer. If a fellow principal at another school chooses to serve sugar and fattening food on-demand, that's their choice. If parents want to send their kids to school with candy bars, soda and other crap, that's also their choice. Albeit a dumb one.
Reply
4-06-2006 @5:33PM extramsg said... Yeah, I doubt this will go very far on the national level, but....
The other problem is that healthy food is more expensive. Hamburger is cheap compared with chicken breast and a heck of a lot easier for a school to prepare. The easy preparations are always processed, breaded items. Tater tots are a lot cheaper and easier than roasted potatoes. Etc. And if they think putting peas and carrots in front of a kid will mean they'll get eaten....
I also wonder if they're going to prevent kids from bringing this stuff to school. I see a lot of kids with lunch pails eating peanut butter and jelly (high fat, high sugar, high calories) in the future of a school with such rules (bag of Doritos on the side). When I was a kid, too, me and friends would go buy boxes of Jolly Ranchers and other junk food and sell it to kids when our school store stopped selling candy.
Reply
4-06-2006 @5:47PM Hawk said... I was going to say something like blah blah blah legislation might not be so bad, people aren't always capable of managing themselves, that's what government's for, blah blah
but then I realized, this is a cultural thing. You can screw around with food in school all you want, but that doesn't stop the fact that regardless of school food when I was a kid, I still ate Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fruit snacks (no nutritional value) or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles hostess pies (I think the stuff inside really was radioative).
You know what we should do in order to improve the american diet? BAN TELEVISION. Then no one will know about all the disgusting and pointless junk food there is to be eaten.
:)
Reply
4-07-2006 @3:21AM Kelley Ritchey said... I don't think legislation is the answer. Give kids more healthy options and moderate the french fries and those tater tots on the menu.
You don't have to kill off all the french fries.
Reply