Study finds little healthy in school vending machines

"Ignoramus27444" wrote in message
...
Study finds little healthy in school vending machines

May 12, 2004

BY JANET RAUSA FULLER Staff Reporter


Eighty-five percent of snacks and 75 percent of drinks sold in vending
machines in middle and high schools are junk food, a study released
Tuesday by the Center for Science in the Public Interest found.

This has been the case for as long a I can remember. Although we didn't
have machines until high school, which was loaded with junk, there was a
little candy store we all stopped at right across the street in Elementary
and Middle. IMHO, the only reason this is even talked about is because kids
are fatter now than they were a few decades ago. Why are they fatter
really? IMHO, it is because of technology. Kids all have those stupid
computer games and play them instead of riding bikes and playing football or
whatever. The streets and ball fields are not nearly as filled with kids as
when I was one. I am very glad I am not growing up in this current
generation of kids. They get stimulated on computer games and really don't
play with each other like when I was one. It is too bad, but I guess it is
called progress. They sure were good times back then. All I did was play
basketball, ride bikes, football, flashlight tag and a host of other
physical activities.

Curt

I am curious, did you take a bus to school or did you walk?

I walked. What is funny is I can truly say I walked a mile to school. Down
hill on the way there and back up on the way home. My parents didn't
believe in giving me a ride. I liked to walk back then and still do. It is
one of my favorite things. Very relaxing.

Curt

"curt" wrote in message news:XfNoc.35327
This has been the case for as long a I can remember. Although we didn't
have machines until high school, which was loaded with junk, there was a
little candy store we all stopped at right across the street in Elementary
and Middle. IMHO, the only reason this is even talked about is because
kids
are fatter now than they were a few decades ago. Why are they fatter
really? IMHO, it is because of technology. Kids all have those stupid
computer games and play them instead of riding bikes and playing football
or
whatever. The streets and ball fields are not nearly as filled with kids
as
when I was one. I am very glad I am not growing up in this current
generation of kids. They get stimulated on computer games and really
don't
play with each other like when I was one. It is too bad, but I guess it
is
called progress. They sure were good times back then. All I did was play
basketball, ride bikes, football, flashlight tag and a host of other
physical activities.

I agree, I think it is mostly the lack of physical exercise. However, eating
patterns have changed over the years and I think kids today are, on average,
more consistently exposed to large amounts of foods that are even junkier
than when we grew up. Just the advent of high fructose corn syrup use in
everything for one, and supersizing so many things. But we ate a lot of
sweets, pretty much as much as we could get hold of. Could afford, really.
But we spent our allowances on many things other than sweets. I suspect
allowances are often bigger these days, come to think of it, as we used to
do odd jobs (washing windows and cars, cleaning boats, etc.) to supplement.
I can remember occasionally buying an entire cheesecake at the local bakery
with a little friend and taking it to the beach to split. And we were always
buying cotton candy and frozen bananas, taffy, corn dogs (oh the culinary
joys of growing up within a bike ride of a beach resort).

However... note the bike riding, and we went on very long rides sometimes,
depending on where we wanted to go. Summers were spent running around the
beach and swimming all day and into the evening, the rest of the year we ran
around the beach and rode bikes. Rowing and sailing year round. I even went
to an elementary school that has its playground on the beach, so more
running around and in middle and high school we had lots of sports...
required! Although we did ride the bus to school. Just lots and lots of
activity and no TV until after dinner. In the summer we ran around until
well after dark playing hide-and-seek and stuff like that. Once in a while
card games, Go Fish or Canasta at somebody's house. It was just a far more
active lifestyle. And hardly possible any more, with working parents,
latchkey kids, and increased dangers in letting kids run free like that. But
I don't remember any friends from my neighborhood with weight problems until
maybe high school (and even then it was pretty minor... we just weren't as
emaciated as we wanted to be). And we girls became less active by high
school, too, not wanting to mess up our hair... lol. No blow dryers back
then, can you believe it?

HG

Oh, and then my oldest son, who is in 11th grade. The kids can leave school
premises at lunch for a half hour. Alot of them get into cars and go to the
fast food resturants.