High schools give students opportunity to be healthier

Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School (BBCHS) and Kankakee High School are implementing new health food guidelines announced by the Obama administration on Feb. 25.

These health food rules ban the promotion of sugary drinks and junk food from scoreboards and vending machines in schools, which are part of Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move initiative, according to Daily News America.

“The idea here is simple – our classrooms should be healthy places where kids aren’t bombarded with ads for junk food,” Obama told the Associated Press. “When parents are working hard to teach their kids healthy habits at home, their work shouldn’t be undone by unhealthy messages at school.”

A memorandum sent out to School Nutrition Association Members and Supporters said this new rule, informally becoming known as the “Scoreboard Rule,” is phasing out marketing of any type of food that does not comply with Smart Snacks, nutrition standards offering healthier food options to students during the school day.

Kim Abrassart, Food Service Director at BBCHS, is finding ways to provide students with healthier snack options with the help of Smart Snacks and the “Scoreboard Rule.”

“I think it’s good,” Abrassart said. “I think a lot of times students pick up bad behaviors early in their life.” Abrassart said that although such things such as sugar and salt isn’t bad in and of itself, when consumed often and in large quantities it could lead to type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, or high cholesterol. “You’ll pay for it later on,” she said.

Director of Food Service at Kankakee High School, Cathy Breeck, said removing the advertisement of unnecessary items such as sugary sports drinks is good because advertisements have created a lot of the problems that have to be dealt with today.

“If people didn’t see advertisements all the time they wouldn’t be tempted. Advertisement is what encourages us to eat and do and be things that we really don’t need,” Breeck said. “If it’s not on every billboard you see it’s not going to be in the face of people. School shouldn’t be a place where we’re doing that.”

BBCHS does not supply their vending machines with candy, gum, or soda, according to Abrassart. She said they also changed the vending machines in BBCHS to have just water brands advertised on them, not Pepsi, Coke or sugary sports drinks.

“We now serve fresh fruit everyday. I got rid of Hostess. It wasn’t very popular at the time, but I could see the handwriting on the wall, where this was going, and I knew if I could take things away and add things slowly it would be better,” Abrassart said.