Our increasingly health conscious world has its advantages.  The knowledge we have about human health today can help people to live longer, healthier, happier lives.  But there is a dark side to staying on top of the latest diet trends and health tips.  Many health conscious students are putting themselves in danger of malnutrition and eating obsession by refusing to eat lunches from school cafeterias.  With healthy snack selections, vending machines in school could help to alleviate this growing problem.

I recently learned that a young girl who is close to my family skips breakfast every day because she is “not hungry.”  She then eats nothing for lunch because the food in her school is not up to her standards, and finally deigns to eat dinner only when something healthy is served.  She is only 13 years old, and I am afraid she is in danger of developing a disorder.  I did a couple of quick searches online, and found that she is far from the only one with these distressing habits (scroll down on the link to see many children and teens with similar stories).  Many young girls and boys are skipping both breakfast and lunch—with complaints about school food at the forefront of their reasoning.

Changing the messages our children get from mass media and the insecurities of their own peer group may not be in the cards for us.  It would not do any good to demand that they eat unhealthy food that may further contribute to a negative self-image.  But we can encourage them to find healthy food options, and to avoid skipping meals whenever possible.  Informing children that their brains need nourishment to function fully through a school day can help them to make better decisions.  And by making healthy food available to them, either in their cafeterias or through the vending machines in school, we can provide them with the tools to make healthy eating choices every day.