New school rules help, but kids must learn to choose good foods

David Bjerklie

Has it happened in your school yet? Have apples and carrots replaced ice cream and brownies on your lunch tray? Have teachers told you not to bring cupcakes on your birthday? If you answered yes, you're not alone. Schools across the country have made tougher rules about food over the past several years. "I'm a little upset that tasty treats (like cupcakes) aren't allowed," Abbie Dreibelbis, a sixth grader at Bellefonte Area Middle School, in Pennsylvania, told TFK Kid Reporter Samantha Stokes. "But I am okay with why the school district is doing it."

The changes reflect concerns about kids' eating habits and health. Two-thirds of Americans are now overweight, including nearly one in five kids ages 6 to 19. Doctors and parents are worried. Being overweight increases a person's chances of developing serious health problems, such as diabetes or heart disease.

To combat the obesity epidemic, states have passed laws requiring schools to develop lunch programs that are nutritionally balanced. New York City has even banned from restaurants foods fried in unhealthy oils.

But efforts to slim down the nation don't seem to be working. Americans just keep getting bigger and bigger. Last month, a national report found that in the past year, obesity rates have risen in 31 states. Not one state reported fewer overweight people. And a study by the Gerber baby-food company found that the vegetable that 2-year-olds eat most is potatoes--in the form of greasy French fries!

We know which foods are healthful, so why do we crave the ones that are bad for us? Scientists have a pretty good idea. Appetite, our urge to eat, takes place in both our brains and our bodies. We see and smell food and it makes us hungry. Our stomachs produce chemicals that tell our brains, Go eat! Eating makes us feel good. This is all perfectly natural. Humans must eat to survive.

The problem is what we want to eat. Why do we love foods loaded with salt, sugar and fats? The answer can be found in our biology. When ancient humans lived as hunters and gatherers, there were no guarantees where or when they would find their next meal. The human body developed certain traits that helped our ancestors survive. When they found foods rich in calories and nutrients, it was smart for them to eat as much of those as they could. It was also smart for them to keep eating even after they were full. Why? Because food was scarce. Even salt, which is necessary for survival, was hard to find.

Today in the United States, food is not scarce. It is plentiful and cheap, and we don't have to hunt down our dinner or spend hours gathering berries and nuts. But human biology hasn't changed much since prehistoric times. Humans still crave the foods that once kept them from starving.

There are many ways that our appetites can be thrown out of balance. For starters, think of all the ads you see for fast food, candy, soda and breakfast cereal. Companies work hard to create foods that kids will want to eat. Usually, that means loading the foods with those tasty ingredients that were once hard to find. A new study found that nearly 98% of food commercials that young children see on TV are for foods that are high in--you guessed it--salt, sugar or fat.

We don't have to feel guilty about wanting, and sometimes eating, our favorite foods. But we do need to learn to balance food choices (see "5 Tips for Eating Smarter").

"I'm glad to see that (the ways kids are eating these days) are changing," says John Lynch, food service director at Aliso Viejo Middle School, in California. "But kids still need to be informed on the good and the bad of the different foods they eat, not just what we serve here at this school," he told TFK Kid Reporter Laila El Hasan. Eating right shouldn't stop at the end of the school day. Consider it homework for the whole family!