Schools have been making decisions on the calorie intake of certain foods and drinks, not giving the students a choice. Schools are  starting to reduce the amount of sugar that is in the foods and drinks  and replacing them with things that contain less sugar or ZERO sugar at all such as lemonades, carbonated drinks, applesauce, and condiments. According to the CDC “Limits were placed on calories, total and saturated fats, trans fat, sugar, and sodium in competitive foods.” Schools should not determine the intake amount that’s healthy for students,  this is the job of the students. Schools shouldn’t be able to determine what kids eat and drink by lowering the calorie and sugar amount allowed in competitive foods. According to Food and Nutrition Service – U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Schools do influence what students eat and drink. According to the CDC “Schools play a critical role by providing opportunities for young people to be exposed to a variety of healthy foods and beverages, helping students develop good eating habits, and teaching them about the importance of healthy eating.” Schools think they are the main reason why students eat healthy. Students are going to choose what they want to eat, so providing options they might not want or need can cause them to not eat at all. 

Schools seem to think that obesity is a problem, however the obesity rates are quite low. “The national rate of obesity among kids ages 2 to 19 increased to 22.4% in 2021, up from 19.3% in 2019.” according to The World Health Organization. These rates aren’t high and it only went up 3.1% in the last 2 years. The rates in Wisconsin are even lower making us one of the healthier states. “In Wisconsin, 14.6% of youth ages 10 to 17 have obesity, giving Wisconsin a ranking of 32 among the 50 states and D.C.” g

Too much sugar is an issue. “All of these choices can damage teens’ health because their growing bodies need the right nutrients in the right amounts to work properly.” However, there is something called too much sugar. It can cause many health problems right now or even in the future. It can have a negative effect on these students’ brains and bodies that are still developing. 

Students should be able to make their own decisions about what they eat or drink. The world already has enough health issues with many teens and we don’t need schools making it even worse. Students know their bodies better than the school does so the school shouldn’t be deciding how many calories are in the competitive food options.