subject: School Vending Machines Are A Battlefield [print this page] Over the past several years you have heard a lot of chatter about banning certain foods or regulating the availability of certain items to kids and even in some cases adults. There has been wide ranging debates about banning sodas that are of a certain size or banning soft drinks in schools all together. There is a collective sense that we have reached a tipping point of some kind where the food we eat in the United States might change fundamentally.
With of that debate though there is one thing that is not in question, sometimes a candy bar can taste delicious. The ability for a snack from a school vending machine or an office vending machine turning your day around is undeniable. All the regulation in the world can not change the fact that sugar can have a positive effect just as well as it can have a negative affect. There have been efforts to tamp down the amount of sugar and processed foods that we eat but really the items inside vending machines are not the problem. Even the most sugary and salty snacks only become an issue when they are eaten in an unbridled and glutinous fashion. The issue becomes one of personal responsibility and teaching both children and adults to make wise decisions in the things they eat.
School vending machines themselves are a great way to teach our kids to make smarter food choices. By simply offering healthy options and emphasizing health lessons in schools we can teach kids the important lessons that we should all work towards. You teach them the concept of "once in a while snacks" like candy and chips and "any time snacks" like vegetables and fruits. These concepts may seem simple to you or I but the road to building good habits for our children and ourselves is right inside of them.
As debates over healthy food options versus "unhealthy" options rages on in school and office vending machines everywhere we should probably stop thinking of the two as mutually exclusive. By offering both options and regulating our own eating habits in a better way we are making ourselves healthier and taking the power back into our own hands. No one really wants a snack food prohibition. Instead we want the option to make better choices and the freedom to enjoy something sweet every now and again. There should be no crime in such a desire.
