Arizona Schools Ban Junk Food

If you aren't eating a healthy diet, we will hunt you down and throw you in jail!!!

I disagree with banning junk food. I speak for all students when I say that we should have the choice. THey have banned high schools too not just the younger children.

Were just going to sneak it in some other way. The store is a haven foor junk food.

Ban junk food!

I believe junk food should not be banned. It is our choice what we can and can't eat. If schools are really concerned with our health they would leave more time for exercise. Schools should take responsibility and take a part in all aspects of student health and not use junk food as their scapegoat.

I also disagree with the junk food ban. I believe it is a violation of our rights.I also believe that senate is basicly telling us we have no idea what we are doing.Yes, I do understand that it was banned for weight issues,at the same time senate is saying that we are to stupid to make food choices.If a person feels that they are over weight and would like to change they have that RIGHT AND THEY WILL CHANGE!!!!
And if senate has a problem with weight issues in students....then offer more classes for P.E. or maybe start a weight loss program so students who do have a weight issues can be motivated to lose weight.....but im sorry to say some over weight people feel good in their own skin!!!! SENATE i hope you read this because i am the future and if i dont like you I guarantee you wont like me!!!

signed,
angry athlete

i disagree with banning junk food also. some of my friends hav stopped eating at school altogether because junk food was banned

Fighting for Food
Due to higher than ever obesity rates and an increasingly overweight population, Americans have struggled to find solutions. One suggestion, which is already being used in many places, is to regulate the food and beverages students are allowed to buy at school. It is believed that if students cannot buy fattening or sugary foods at school they will be forced to consume more nutritious alternatives. However, this is cruel, discriminatory, and oppressive. Instead of regulating what foods they sell to children, schools should be educating them about the importance of exercise and healthy eating habits.
The government should not tell us what we should or can eat. This is unnecessary and strips us of our basic freedoms. Yes, we as a country are getting fatter, but not everyone is. Our own lifestyle should be whatever we desire it to be, not what statistics say is ideal or healthy for us. Our decisions of the food we eat are our own, and if some people overeat or eat unhealthily that is their own problem. What schools should be doing is creating awareness and teaching the value of healthy eating habits. By banning many favorite foods people are forcing their beliefs on others, most of whom are not overweight or obese.
Supporters of food regulation argue that children cannot make good choices for themselves. They insist that self-responsibility will not work because people will not make what they consider to be the “right” choices. However, this is a communistic idea and goes against everything America stands for. If people are not allowed to make their own choices they will have little freedom and capitalism will fail. In 2006 a study showed that most Americans blame obesity, especially their own, on lack of exercise and willpower rather than the types of foods being advertised in stores, restaurants, and television.(Saletan) This refutes the claim that children are manipulated by television and advertising and are “subjected to what is little different from a sustained brainwashing program.” (Rigby) We must ask ourselves, though, “If today’s children do not learn to make choices for themselves while they are young, how will they cope in the real world?” If we censor everything potentially harmful from children’s lives, they will be unprepared when they are finally on their own. They will be so used to the government and their parents taking care of them that they’ll expect it their entire lives. Unfortunately, life does not work that way, at least not in this country.

What schools should be doing instead of banning junk food is teaching kids the importance of a well balanced diet and encouraging sports and exercise programs. It is very unlikely that removing a few foods from the school menu is going to significantly or even noticeably reduce the weight of the students in general. For most students the school snack bar represents only a small portion of their daily food intake. If they are not sold their favorite snacks at school, they may turn to other stores or bring the same foods from home. After all, the law can’t follow them home. When they get home kids can eat all they want, regardless of what the school thinks. In 2003 an experiment was conducted among 41 schools. The students were all put on low calorie and low fat meals for lunch for a period of time, but experienced “no significant reduction in their percentage of body fat”. Another study concluded that children were compensating for their lower calories at school by eating more junk food at home. (Brown) As food regulations have already been proven ineffective, schools should instead focus on creating awareness and educating students of the risks of unhealthy eating, such as obesity, heart disease and diabetes. If they are taught to make good choices early on, kids will be more likely to develop better eating habits later on in life. If they know the reason they shouldn’t binge on junk food, they will probably understand and be less hesitant to comply. Simply taking away from kids the foods they know they like will make them want it more and do nothing to solve the problem, as they will doubtlessly continue eating them from any other source they can get.
The very idea of withholding foods or telling people what they should eat infringes upon our most basic rights as humans. This country was founded on the principle of freedom and individual choice and responsibility in all things. The first amendment of the US constitution states that “all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty… and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.” (John) Telling anybody they cannot eat what they want robs them of their enjoyment and right to pursue happiness. It does not matter how unhealthy or potentially harmful a food is, an individual has the right to eat it. If their diet has a negative affect on their health, they should cut back or refrain from eating it. Otherwise, it is their fault if they become obese or diabetic.
Censoring what foods students can buy at school based on statistics of obesity is a cruel and futile process. It restricts their freedom to eat the way they want and has little to no actual effect on the overall health of the students. People should be responsible for their own health because if they aren’t they will be unprepared to make wise food choices after school. Schools should be teaching encouraging a well balanced diet, not forcing it upon people. This will help students make good decisions later in life more than any food bans will, and that is what school is for.

I totally disagree with banning junk food from schools!!!!! In a survey by Herald Pulse,"Do you support the schools' attempt to ban junk food?", 81% said,'No. Kids should have options too'. Only 18% said,'Yes. As long as they make healthy food available'.And 2% said that they were,'Not sure'. Clearly, even parents think that there should be junk food in schools. People can ban junk food from schools but they can't ban junk food from the world.

the school has the right to bann the sale of junk food. If you feel you really need it then bring is from home, that you choice

A 100% fruit diet is a catastrophe, one man who ate an apple a day had his front teeth reduced to stubs because of the acid in the apple. Prof. Vincent Marks said correctly: 'there is no such thing as junk food but there is such a thing as a junk diet'. Besides, it is the parents responsibility to moderate junk food in their homes so their kids can grow up in that sort of environment.