Are Vending Machines Part of the Problem?

Vending machines have become a common feature in most high schools across the nation. Their contents mostly consist of soda, sports drinks, and energy drinks. Snack machines include a variety of processed, packaged foods.

Sports drinks are intended to rehydrate athletes or anyone who exercises intensely. Unfortunately, these drinks are high in both sugar and calorie content, but low in nutritional value, and many of the students who purchase these drinks are not engaging in strenuous physical activity. For them, the drinks are empty calories that can contribute heavily to weight gain. Soda and energy drinks typically contain both empty calories and large amounts of sugar.

Snack foods found in vending machines are overwhelmingly unhealthy--Poptarts, chips, candy bars, pie, etc. These items are usually high in saturated fat (and sometimes trans fat) as well as calories and sugar. They are also usually low in healthy content such as fiber and protein.

Most schools contain vending machines because the additional income is significant. By making deals with specific companies, such as Coke or Pepsi, schools can charge both one-time and annual fees. They can also make a commission from any products that they sell from vending machines in the school.

As part of its ongoing campaign against childhood obesity, the Obama administration has begun taking steps to improve the quality of vending machine food and drinks in schools. The plan includes eliminating unhealthy items such as cookies and salty foods, and replacing them with more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.

While these practices may take some time to implement, experiments have shown that it's definitely possible to get kids to adopt healthier habits. In 2004, a high school assistant principal in Minneapolis replaced 75% of the drink machines in his school with only water, and only allowed water in classrooms. In two years, profits from the machines went from $4,500 to $11,000, proving that water is a lucrative alternative to soda and other unhealthy drinks.

Final Newsletter

Note: GoogleDocs did something funny to the pixelation, so I apologize for any graphics issues and recommend that you download either the .pub version or the better-quality .pdf version.

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Subway

While the Subway chain has a great reputation for being a healthy fast food option, it's important to remember that while Subway restaurants do have nutritionally balanced meals, they also have meals that aren't as good. By choosing the right bread, meat, meal size, sides, and toppings, anyone can find a healthy meal at Subway.

As tempting as it may be to purchase a footlong because it's a better value in terms of size, keep in mind that only about half (a 6-inch) should be eaten in one setting. The sandwich itself may be healthy, but double the amount means double the calories and double the fat content. Remember that wheat bread is the best option since it contains more whole grains. When selecting meat, the lowest-calorie options are turkey and ham, or a combination of the two. Make sure you're at least choosing a sandwich from the 6 grams of fat or less section of the menu, since their other sandwiches can contain a significantly higher amount of calories and saturated fat.

Toppings should include as many veggies as you like, and condiments should be fat free or low fat. Try mustard, which has about 5 calories as opposed to the 110 calories in both mayonnaise and ranch dressing. Healthy sides are varied and plentiful at Subway and include apples and Dannon yogurt, which contain 35 and 80 calories, respectively. Baked Lay's chips have 130-140 calories and are the healthiest 'junk food' item, and the yogurt parfait also makes a great side or snack at 160 calories. Try to balance your side with your main course--if you chose a sandwich higher in calories, go with a low-calorie side.

I love Subway because they offer enough alternatives to truly earn their reputation. They heavily promote their subs that have less than 6 grams of fat--an accomplishment in the fast food business. Subway sandwiches are a great source of Vitamin C, calcium, and iron, and they also provide a bit of Vitamin A.

Regarding the kids menu, it could be more extensive, but Subway has included some of the best sandwiches--turkey, ham, roast beef, and veggie. They're about 4 inches long and can include the same range of toppings as regular subs. With these age-appropriate options, any family should be able to enjoy a nutritional meal at Subway.

Check out Subway's website for more options. For this post, I used their Nutrition Data Tables (PDF).