Schools are always pushing for their students to practice healthy living. They want us to get our sixty minutes of exercise per day, to eat well, and to take educational health classes. But, if student health is so important to our schools…. then why are they supplying junk food in the school vending machines? Isn’t that contradicting the message they're trying to convey to students?
By having unhealthy snacks in school vending machines, schools are stating that it’s okay to eat a bunch of worthless calories. Go ahead, eat a Tasty Cake! No. If schools are really serious about promoting healthy living, then they wouldn’t have junk food so accessible for their students. Instead, schools should be placing healthier foods in the school vending machines. This means snacks that will actually be nutritious for students.
Now, it’s understood that most healthy foods include items that will spoil, such as fresh fruit, but there are healthier choices that would be perfect to place in school vending machines. For example, replacing the Cheetos and chips with raisins and peanuts would be an ideal way to substitute unhealthy foods for nutritious ones. This will encourage students to make a better choice when they buy food from school vending machines. And, this shouldn’t affect the school vending machine sales because, let’s face it, when teenagers are hungry, they’ll eat whatever they can get a hold of.
Providing students with only healthy options helps them live a better lifestyle. After all, my mom always says, “If you have only healthy foods to eat, then you’ll only eat healthy foods!”