Deseret News | Schools take aim at obesity epidemic

Reader comments
Schools take aim at obesity epidemic

Great! | 5:54 p.m. April 14, 2009

This is great! We need more of this out there. Thank you- The school should really take the soda machines etc out of the schools - they will lose money but we'd have healthier kids.

School's are part of the problem | 8:44 p.m. April 14, 2009

Um, here's an idea if the schools REALLY want to tackle this issue: Don't serve unhealthy food at school. That means no vending machines, and no more "pizza and a popsicle" lunches (my kids get this kind of lunch--no joke--about once a week). Also, no more chocolate/strawberry milk, and no pizza/hamburger/etc. lines at the high schools. I mean, they are KIDS. If the junk food is available, they WILL eat it. So feed them healthy food. And if they end up not eating at all? Let them go hungry, and they'll decide eventually not to be so picky. I'm disgusted by what's on my kids' school menus.

kit | 10:55 p.m. April 14, 2009

umm... here's another idea stop reducing recess time in schools. Stop trying to make our kids statistics in the no child left behind testing and let them outside to play and learn to interact with each other, not just be able to pass a test!

Comments continue below

Physical Education anyone? | 11:23 p.m. April 14, 2009

Um, dont cut PhysEd. Legislature refuses to use rainy day funds even when it is raining and school districts, especially in St. George are cutting all "non-core" education. Is it raining enought to use the rainy day fund you geniouses on the Hill?

Fast Food | 8:39 a.m. April 15, 2009

Why not ban fast food restaurants within a mile of schools, like a drug free zone. We have fourteen of them across the street from my school. Just try keeping high school students on campus with McDonalds, Burger King, Carl's Junior, Arby's, 7-11, Wendy's, etc. across the street. We do not sell carbonated beverages in our machines, but students super size their big gulps for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We are killing ourselves for a buck. Sad that profit drives us to this.

Dantley | 10:20 a.m. April 15, 2009

I say remove the snacks out of the class room. I had to call the principal at my sixth grader's school, since his teacher would not listen to us when we said he does not need a "math snack" right before lunch.

Lazy | 2:55 p.m. April 15, 2009

why not just get kids out of their mommies' minivans and cars and actually try walking to school? you get exercise and lower co2 emissions, both problems with diabetes, asthma, and obesity.

Not the School's Business! | 3:37 p.m. April 15, 2009

Doesn't anyone else out there bristle that the public schools (an entity now of the federal government) now must intrude where it has no business -- in the personal rights and choices of students and their parents? First, indoctrinate their minds with political correctness; now tell them what they must eat, and how they must look. As if kids today don't have enough peer pressure and angst over their appearances; to hve the "school" pass judgment on kids is both waste of my tax dollars, and not their role. Teach Johnny and Mary how to read and write. Quit being the food police. Enough of the "nanny state!" Some kids are naturally and genetically disposed to different body types. Saying they should all fit one mold is ABSURD.

IS the school's business | 8:00 p.m. April 15, 2009

I completely disagree with "Not the School's Business!". There's nothing compulsory about this program, it's all educational.

It is ABSOLUTELY the school's place to teach kids about health and healthy living, and that includes eating and exercise. No one's telling anyone what they MUST eat or what body type they should have... this is still a free country and kids can eat whatever they want, regardless of what they learn in school about how bad it is for them.

The schools MUST teach kids about the consequences of choosing to eat certain foods over others, and the consequences of a lack of activity. This is a HUGE problem and education and repetition are key.

No one is being forced to do anything... they're just being EDUCATED, just like they should be in school.

take that to heart | 1:07 a.m. April 16, 2009

IS, you got it right on the point
kids out their
like me have to get educated about this epidemic
of Obesity

KeepItSimple | 8:31 a.m. April 16, 2009

Just a note regarding school lunch. The programs surely have room for improvement. However, there is something you all need to know. The 'fast food' type items have to meet strict federal regulations regarding fat content etc. They are manufactured especially for school nutrition programs. So the pizza, nuggets, burgers etc. that are served in the schools are not the same items you would get at say McDonalds or Pizza Hut.

Bryan | 11:13 a.m. April 16, 2009

KeepItSimple is misinformed in their point about nutrition standards.

Nutrition standards in schools are bought and paid for by the lobbying arm of the corporations to make sure they don't have to do anything special but peddle the children crap. And they have a special lobbying group that does nothing but make sure congress doesn't improve nutrition standards in school.

You really should see Killer at Large, it delves deeply into that point.

Super Size Me | 1:24 p.m. April 16, 2009

TO LATE!!!!!!!!!!

H. | 12:05 p.m. April 19, 2009

My child's kindergarten snack has been chocolate milk and a rice crispie treat most weeks. School districts should do better than that and provide more than the occasional apple slice or banana half. We pay a snack fee, but it is frustrating to see what that fee is spent on - lots of sugar.

Anonymous | 9:12 p.m. April 19, 2009

It's ironic that the high school cafeterias have to meet a certain standard of nutrition, but most of the kids get in their cars and head to the nearest drive-through for fast food, or rely on a couple of candy bars and soda from teh vending machines. So many of the cafeterias rely on pre-fab food that is low in fat but not appetizing enough to lure the kids to eat it. Bring back the good old days when you walked in the school to the aroma of baking bread, so you actually looked forward to breadsticks and chili at the cafeteria? I don't think there's anything wrong with low-fat chocolate milk, if it gets them to drink milk instead of soda pop.

sarah | 10:07 a.m. April 20, 2009

I send my kids with a sack lunch everyday. I don't think that most of the cafeteria workers actually know how to cook...they just reheat prefab meals. I'm sorry but iceberg lettuce and one slice of a pink tomato is not a serving of a vegetable. Let's let private companies serve in the school. Government does a terrible job and a private company could do it better and for less money.

Omar Alvarado | 6:13 p.m. April 29, 2009

I don't think that this is a good idea, forcing kids into something they never chose? For example. I am being taken out of band for the complete yeare of my first year of high school, just for some PE thing? Keep in mind that band keeps hope alive!! Band is something, as a visually impaired person, that I enjoy and love, and would die, just to be in it! Why is the government getting into something that isn't their business? IF Someone could please help me out here! I understand that it is a state requirement, but for what, exactly?

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2 photos

Michael Brandy, Deseret News

Actor Allan Groves performs with the theater troupe from Intermountain Healthcare Tuesday. He and Elise Groves (background) performed a humorous show design to help kids avoid obesity at Bonneville Jr. High.

Gallery (2 photos)