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Massachusetts bans all fried foods, sugary and sweetened beverages in all schools

F

flipster

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 14, 2010
591
3
Boston
With obesity on the rise, Massachusetts has now banned all fried foods, sugary and sweetened beverages, and foods high in sodium in all public schools.

I personally think that this might be a good idea, because in my high school, there are a lot of overweight kids.... I'm not affected by this problem, I'm kind of mad that I won't be able to get the foods and snacks I like anymore, but this could be a good thing. What do you guys think http://www.boston.com/news/local/ma...lth_officials_to_consider_school_snack_rules/
 
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I think this thread will end up PRSI before long :p

Really, though, I can see the argument for having healthy alternatives available, but it's not the school's job to be a parent.
 
Finally, it's about time. I grew up in Italy, soda machines were miles away from schools, all we had was water and orange juice and I never saw an obese kid. You're right schools didn't raise us our parents did, but that doesn't cut schools from it's responsibility to practice good habits for these kids.
 
Bennybear said:
Finally, it's about time. I grew up in Italy, soda machines were miles away from schools, all we had was water and orange juice and I never saw an obese kid. You're right schools didn't raise us our parents did, but that doesn't cut schools from it's responsibility to practice good habits for these kids.
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When I was a kid I ate junk food all the time, but I also went out to play. Kids don't do that now. And just about all of them either take the bus or get rides to school.
 
About ****ing time.

Anyone saying the school shouldn't parent... It's taxes providing food and contributing to the issue and taxes having to take care of the obesity.

I'd love to know how many of the naysayers agree with a ban on smoking in a public place but disagree withthis. Poll?
 
MacNut said:
When I was a kid I ate junk food all the time, but I also went out to play. Kids don't do that now. And just about all of them either take the bus or get rides to school.
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That's very true, we did spend more time outside and walked to school, now it's all xbox and PS3. Even thou some play sports and all it still not enough I'm telling you. why can meals be cooked fresh everyday, why can they just give this kids water and natural juices? times have chanced, there's a McDonalds on every street corner, all kids want is junk food. The majority of families both parents work so it's a lot of take out, I'm telling you pretty soon this kids gonna grow 2 heads they are on steroids.
You're right, it starts at home no doubt, this is just a start, but one day when I send my kids to school I'll be happy to know that they don't get fed junk.
 
flipster said:
With obesity on the rise, Massachusetts has now banned all fried foods, sugary and sweetened beverages, and foods high in sodium in all public schools.

I personally think that this might be a good idea, because in my high school, there are a lot of overweight kids.... I'm not affected by this problem, I'm kind of mad that I won't be able to get the foods and snacks I like anymore, but this could be a good thing. What do you guys think http://www.boston.com/news/local/ma...lth_officials_to_consider_school_snack_rules/
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I remember reading about a school in the UK doing something similar. The school menus were changed to offer items that were tastier, but also bland and unpalatable Some older kids made a nice bit of change buying food from nearby shops and selling it over the fences to grateful kids.

I think this is largely stupid because eating this food occasionally is not going to make kids obese. And the larger problem seems to be huge portions, a lack of variety and a huge decline in physical activity and exercise on the part of school kids, not just junk food.
 
This will probably save the state money in the long run.

And if parents don't like it they can send their kid to private school. The Govt has every right to dictate what is consumed in public schools. Keyword for this topic is PUBLIC school.
 
Tomorrow said:
I think it's not the schools' business what parents feed their kids.
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This regulation isn't about what the parents provide for their kids, but what the schools provide. It doesn't address school lunches either, but what is available in the vending machines on school grounds.

It also applies to fundraising events, so I am not sure how it will affect bake sales.

All in all, though, I think this is a very good thing. I am repeatedly dismayed at what my daughter's elementary school (in Massachusetts) offers for lunches. This is part of of a larger shift to recognizing the importance of a healthy diet to students' academic and physical health.

To that end, while this doesn't addressl what parents send with their children, to say that what kids eat is of no business to the teachers and others at schools is unrealistic. The difference in behavior and learning ability in kids who eat nutritionally-void food products compared to diets higher in fruits & vegetables, whole grains, and protein is quite noticeable.
 
I predict this will affect childhood obesity or whatever in MA by somewhere around zero. Just because a child's choices are somewhat limited for one third of the day will probably have very little bearing on what they're consuming during the remaining two thirds.
 
I don't even see why the schools offer snacks or vending machines. When I was in elementary and middle school. They only offered breakfast and lunch in the cafeteria.

You got whatever they were serving. No choices on what went on your tray. You got the properly balanced food groups in lean portions and your choice of nonfat chocolate milk, lowfat plain milk or a tiny OJ.

I don't see why schools changed from this in the first place. Even if you brought your own food you could only eat it at lunch time. Not during recess or any other breaks.

Maybe two or three times a year did they have a class party where you brought snacks and drinks for the class.

What screwed everything up is when they started letting commercial entities inside the schools in the first place. They are supposed to be a place of learning not brand placement.
 
velocityg4 said:
I don't even see why the schools offer snacks or vending machines. When I was in elementary and middle school. They only offered breakfast and lunch in the cafeteria.

You got whatever they were serving. No choices on what went on your tray. You got the properly balanced food groups in lean portions and your choice of nonfat chocolate milk, lowfat plain milk or a tiny OJ.

I don't see why schools changed from this in the first place. Even if you brought your own food you could only eat it at lunch time. Not during recess or any other breaks.

Maybe two or three times a year did they have a class party where you brought snacks and drinks for the class.

What screwed everything up is when they started letting commercial entities inside the schools in the first place. They are supposed to be a place of learning not brand placement.
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Different districts had different standards. In the ancient days when I went to school, the weekly lunch menu was printed in the city newspaper. I don't remember breakfasts, but lunches included at least 2 entree items, and there was even desert (hot apple pie was especially good but probably too sugary by today's standards).

I don't even have a problem with commercial entities, as long as the schools call the shots and there are nutritional items instead of heavy junk. Not too long ago I was reading an article about the sorry state of school lunches in the Los Angeles school system (sorry, I don't know how to do a link with TapaTalk). It was just a sad comedy of errors, including dumb rules and a small fixed budget that (fairly) had to allocate more money to food worker salaries and so had less left over for food. One odd little thing was how some schools had to stop serving grapes for lunch because too many ended up on the lunchroom floor, supposedly creating a hazard.
 
Long overdue. The UK have been doing this in some schools. But my thoughts are, why not hit the people who make this food directly? The longer we have people making this crap, the longer people are going to stay fat.
 
Tomorrow said:
I think it's not the schools' business what parents feed their kids.
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But its not the parents feeding the kids, its the schools.

I personally think its a good idea. The U.S. is very overweight. I've noticed this when traveling to other countries. I as well as friends of mine who are from other countries have all noticed that the U.S. has fast food on every corner, portions in restaurants are generally huge, and due to many peoples jobs being far from their homes (as well as stores and other attractions), people generally drive instead of walk or ride a bike which hinders exercise.
 
MacNut said:
Why not ban school buses and let the kids walk.
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They used to around my way. Everyone walked to school and we had no fat kids in our class.
Now (I live near 2 schools) the roads have stopped because there are too many cars dropping kids off... and they are all getting a little tubbier.
 
My school banned salt from everything. Took out the seasoning from the fries, no more salt in the Mac n' Cheese, no more salt packets. I was surprised: They're pushing unhealthy food to be healthier? It's still very much processed foods, if you want to be healthier, get rid of it.

I carry my lunch from home now. Normally a decent sized bowl of mixed fruit. Crackers. Two sandwiches. And a bottle of water.

And I walk to school (Most times :(). A good 10 minute walk, but I walk pretty fast compared to others. Yet, I'm still sweaty(ish) by the time I get to school. (I sweat a lot...)


I weigh about 130, and am 5'10.
 
You all got full meals at school?

We had to bring our own from home or buy food from the tuck shop.

Very rarely got a tuck lunch but damn, it sure was nice once in a while. This was before regulations cancelled it out, we had so many different types of pies:

Meat Pie
Steak Pie
Beef, Tomato and Cheese Pie
Beef, Cheese and Bacon
Potato Pie
Vegetarian Pie
Chicken and Leek Pie
Satay Chicken Pie
Thai Chicken Pie

Then there were sausage rolls, fresh cut sandwiches and rolls, salads, pastas, hot food like lasagne, lollies, chips (Hot and packet).

Man we had a good tuck shop back then.

I mostly just had lunch from home though, sandwiches, generally a banana as well etc.

Certainly never had breakfast at the school. The only people who got meals served at school were the kids who boarded there.
 
It's not really the school lunches that are that bad tbh, we have something called a snack bar at our school. They serve:

Any type of Snapple
Tons of fruit juices
Arizona Iced Tea
Water
Cookies the size of your head
Ranch/Cheese Doritos
Cheese/Plain Ruffles
Sugar Pretzels
Cheese Pretzels
Plain Pretzels
Salted Pretzels
Gushers
Fruit Rollups
different types of ice cream
the list goes on and on

I mean, I don't see a problem with the school serving this type of food tbh. It's more the kid's who buy the food that have the problem. I'm 6'1, and I weigh 140 pounds. I'm really skinny, but I like to enjoy a pretzel or a pack of gushers sometimes. I stay skinny because I know not to overdue it -- you can have snacks whenever you want, but in moderation. In other words, your allowed to have snacks. The kids that I see go up there are getting 2 bags of doritos, a pretzel, a cookie and a sugary arizona iced tea (that's overdoing it imo). It kind of sucks because soon there will be no selection for this.. I also don't really have a problem with "fat" people either. I don't really see people as fat or skinny. More like happy or sad.
 
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