Carol Simontacchi
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 Sadly, when decisions about whether or not to bring in the vending machines must be made, registered dietitians often help make the decision. Dietitians should be leading the charge against junk food, but it seems their eyes cloud over when presented with more dollars to plug into their programs.
One food service director bragged, "We profited $50,000 net the first year, and it's more than double that today."9
The American School Food Service Association is the national trade association that serves food service departments in school districts. |
Earl Mindell and Hester Mundis
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 Additionally, many schools have vending machines for gum, soft drinks, and other junk foods, which compound the problem by teaching children poor nutritional habits right in their halls of learning.
The convenience of having a child eat a school lunch is not worth the nutritional cost. A high-sugar intake at lunch can cause a drop in blood sugar during the afternoon, which can in turn leave a child fatigued, inattentive, and unable to retain what is being taught. Refined sugar has also been linked to delinquency. (See section 151.)
71. |
Judith J. Wurtman and Susan Suffes
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 By midnight even the vending machines are empty. So the nurses end up eating the candy and cookies brought in by friends and families of the patients, food that most of the patients don't feel well enough to eat themselves and so give to the nurses. "I don't know how many nights I have dined on fancy chocolates and tins of cookies," one nurse told me. "If I could convince the patients' families to bring big tossed salads and slices of lean roast beef I would really have something good to eat."
Working after-hours in an office building or a factory poses the same problems. |
Cheryle R. Hart, M.D. Mary Kay Grossman, R.D.
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 You will realize this quickly if you rely on vending machines or convenience stores for snacks. Develop some new habits, like bringing high-protein snacks with you. Add more high-protein foods to your routine shopping list. Look for more tips on adding more protein to your diet in Chapter 6.
If for any reason you don't link and balance a meal or snack, don't kick yourself. Use it as a learning experience. Did you feel any different afterward? More sleepy? Less productive? What could you do differently to prevent this in the future? |
Arthur C. Upton, M.D.
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| Although most states prohibit the sale of cigarettes to minors, the laws are not uniform and often not well enforced; also, cigarette vending machines are easily accessible to underage smokers. (The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has recommended, thus far without success, that states and cities ban the machines. |
| Food may be contaminated from its cadmium-containing vessels, such as cadmium-glazed pots and pans, or from vending machines dispensing liquids and soldered with cadmium-containing materials. Electroplated ice trays are also a source of exposure.
Air pollution affects those living near zinc and lead smelters and other cadmium-emitting plants. Other sources of cadmium exposure are waste incineration, fossil-fuel burning, sewage sludge, and phosphate fertilizers. Smokers are exposed to cadmium contained in tobacco. |
Barnet Meltzer, M.D.
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 At the hospital, she made frequent visits to the cafeteria and hit the vending machines in between. On her way home in the morning, she looked forward to pancakes and eggs at one of the local diners before she went to bed. Eating was the most important, most interesting, thing in her life.
I took a thorough medical history. In the process of describing her health, Sally revealed how lonely and socially frustrated she was at the age of 41. |
David Brownstein
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 Soda vending machines are now commonplace in schools. A 12-ounce can of non-diet soda contains approximately 10 teaspoons of refined sugar. Fruit juices are not much better than sodas. Water should be the beverage of choice (see section below).
Many illnesses have been associated with increased use of refined sugar (see Table 15).
Table 15: Illnesses Associated With Increased Sugar Consumption
1. ADHD
2. Arteriosclerosis
3. Arthritis
4. Cancer
5. Candida
6. Diabetes
7. Kidney Disease
8. Liver Disease
9. Thyroid Disorders
10. |
Kelly Brownell and Katherine Battle Horgen
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 The United States can change only by retrofitting an entrenched and toxic environment. Other countries may be able to create a better fit between modernization and healthy lifestyles. Preserving native cultures may be one leverage point, but preventing the ravages of poor diet and inactivity is sensible on economic and humanitarian grounds. Countries can seize this special opportunity by shaping policies to their needs. |
Stephen T., M.D. Sinatra
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 Many schools have vending machines full of salty, fatty, and synthetic-filled snacks and sugary sodas, or sell ice cream and sweets like brownies or cakes as desserts.
Drinking too many carbonated beverages, high in phosphoric acid, can literally remove calcium from the bones. Since increasing sodas usually means skipping milk, children, especially females, run the increased risk of bone fractures.
In response to this information, many patients have asked me if their children need vitamin and mineral supplements, or even herbs for that matter. |
John Robbins
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 And at AMA headquarters in Chicago, cigarettes had always been available from vending machines in the lobbies and bathrooms.
TURNING OVER A NEW (TOBACCO) LEAF
Today, the AMA likes to say that all that is history, and it is true that in the last few years the AMA has finally begun to speak out against tobacco, and to pass various resolutions calling for measures to combat smoking. But when push has come to shove on tobacco issues in Congress, the AMA has not contributed much to the fight. |
The Complete Book of Alternative NutritionSelene Y. Craig, Jennifer Haigh, Sari Harrar and the Editors of PREVENTION Magazine Health Books
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| That may mean Pritikinizing your kitchen, finding a restaurant that's willing to prepare special meals for you and stashing some healthy snacks in your desk so you won't be tempted by the vending machines at work.
It's also important to create a support system of friends and family who can encourage your efforts to eat healthfully and exercise, such as a spouse who's willing to learn new cooking techniques or a co-worker who will take walks with you on your lunch hour.
"Sooner or later, you're going to wake up in the morning and be tempted to go off your diet," says Pritikin. |
Carol Simontacchi
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| What is sold in the vending machines? If you think the schools stock healthy snacks in the machines, you live in a dreamworld. Top sellers are soft drinks, coffee, juice and pseudo-juice drinks, candy, chips, pretzels, cookies, and even french fries. Nonsparkling water accounts for a small fraction of soft drink sales.8
While some school districts make a perfunctory attempt to limit the amount of junk the kids consume, let's face it: Motives are driven by profit, even when administrators know that the consequences of offering low-nutrition snacks can be severe. |
Kelly Brownell and Katherine Battle Horgen
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| This hardly seems worth the boast if 40 percent of schools have no water or juice in their machines at all!
The spokesperson also said, "Water is the fastest growing item in the beverage category."
Perhaps sales moved from a very low percentage to a slightly higher percentage, representing "fast" growth, but this seemed a statement that could be misleading.
When I (KB) returned from Washington, I went with my son to his public high school in Connecticut. We recorded every beverage choice in the school's thirteen soft drink machines; there were 170 buttons one could push to select a beverage. |
Elizabeth Somer, M.A., R.D.
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 If your cravings come during your energy lull in the day, such as midmorning or midafternoon, you can:
• Bring a nutritious and pleasurable food with you to work so you are not ar the mercy of office vending machines or the snack carr.
• Select nonfat foods that will give similar satisfaction to their high-fat counterparts: If you crave something sweet and creamy, try a creamy yogurt; fat-free cream cheese and jam on crackers; or a piece of Lemon Chiffon Pie. |
H.J. Roberts, M.D.
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 Aspartame Is Everywhere"
The enormous consumption of aspartame-containing products correlates with their universal presence in food markets, other stores, and vending machines. Aspartame has become ubiquitous.
A 48-year-old woman with aspartame-related complaints wrote:
"It is becoming increasingly difficult to avoid aspartame. I am constantly irritated by people not informing me when a product containing aspartame is served. This has happened time and again at church suppers and friends' homes. I do not want it foisted on me. |
Ruth Winter
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 Food served for immediate consumption, such as that served in restaurants and hospital cafeterias, on airplanes, and by food service vendors (such as mall cookie counters, sidewalk vendors, and vending machines).
• Ready-to-eat foods that are not for immediate consumption, as long as the food is primarily prepared on-site—for example, many bakery, deli, and candy-store items.
• Food shipped in bulk, as long as it is not for sale in that form to consumers.
• Medical foods. |
Marion Nestle
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 An official of a school district in New York state told me that his students drink so many sodas that the biggest problem is keeping the vending machines stocked, and teachers of my acquaintance give similar accounts. If just half the students in a district of 10,000 students consumed one soda per day, gross sales should have been more than $25,000 per week. To such figures must be added sales of drinks at sports and community events. |
Earl Mindell and Hester Mundis
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| The same is true for food served on airplanes, and that sold by food service vendors; for example, mall cookie counters, sidewalk vendors, and vending machines.
Deli, bakery, and candy store items are also exempt, believe it or not. This is because although these foods might not be for "immediate consumption," they are ready-to-eat products that have been prepared primarily on site.
Any food shipped in bulk, as long as it is not for sale in that form to consumers, is allowed to cross state lines nutritionally unlabeled. |
Marion Nestle
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| It also includes the food service sector—food carts, vending machines, restaurants, bars, fast-food outlets, schools, hospitals, prisons, and workplaces—and associated suppliers of equipment and serving materials. This vast "food-and-fiber" system generates a trillion dollars or more in sales every year, accounts for 13% of the U.S. gross national product (GNP), and employs 17% of the country's labor force. |
| Soft drink producers also blocked proposed restrictions on sales from vending machines, and fast-food companies won the right to continue selling items that had to meet nutritional standards only if they were sold as part of reimbursable school meals.45
Legal loopholes permitting the sale of high-profit items encouraged large food service corporations to move into the school meal business. In 1994-1995, about 8% of schools participating in federal meal programs had contracted with companies such as Marriott, Aramark, and Daka to run their food service operations, a doubling since 1987-1988. |
| Because this goal applies to foods served in snack bars, school stores, and vending machines, improving the nuttitional quality of competitive foods has now been incorporated as a formal component of national nutrition policy. It is as yet uncertain whether and how government agencies will implement this policy.
PRESERVING "THAT BRIEF SHINING OASIS"
The attention that soft drink companies have recently focused on children in grades K-12 can be seen as part of the increasing intrusiveness of commercial interests into American schools. |
| For soft drink companies, a stable base of sales in schools is only the most evident benefit of pouring-rights contracts; the agreements also result in constant advertising through display of company logos on vending machines, cups, sportswear, brochures, and school buildings. In this manner, all students in the school, even those too young or too difficult to reach by conventional advertising methods, receive constant exposure to the logos and products. The use of a single brand is designed to create loyalty among young people who have a lifetime of soft drink purchases ahead of them. |
Carol Simontacchi
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| The program became so profitable for the school district that he subsequently brought in vending machines for snacks and cold-food items. He already has picked out a machine that makes hot french fries in forty-five seconds for $1, and has his eye on a hot-air popcorn machine. He's looking to vend fresh fruit and ice cream.13 What a deal.
In case food service directors lack imagination for how to get their kids to buy more junk food, food manufacturers offer their own fresh ideas. |
William Duffy
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 A man reels dizzily down the stairs to the subway, clutching the handrail, lunging for the candy vending machines. No candy. No Pepsi-Cola. Only gum. He's sweating. His speech is slurred. He looks like a sloppy drunk, bracing himself against a steel column until the BMT express pulls in. He lunges into the train, gripping the center pole with one hand. Sweat pours through his shirt. Clumsily he removes his jacket, one hand, then the other, clutching the pole. When his jacket slips to the floor he can't pick it up. The train screeches to a halt. |
Carol Simontacchi
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| But when it all comes down to the final decision, the dollars decide the school lunch program and what goes into the vending machines. The health of your child's brain has nothing to do with it.
The school food service program, including vending, used to be the responsibility of the principal, but this task was taken over by the professionals. "Where once vending was managed by principals seeking supplemental income, now amid the vending machine clatter, you can hear the sound of coins jangling right down to the bottom line of school food service department budgets. |
Berkeley Holistic Health Center and Shepherd Bliss
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| The organization supports the negative behavior of smoking with cigarette vending machines and smoking lounges. The organization's norm then appears to be at odds with the individual's efforts to quit smoking. The individual finds himself trying to "buck the system," and the organization in effect undermines its very efforts to contain costs.
Other effective aspects of an employee wellness program include an employee assistance program and a risk-screening component. Statistically ten percent of all employees have serious personal problems; the most common of these are alcohol-related. |
Michael F. Jacobson, Ph.D., Lisa Y. Lefferts and Anne Witte Garland
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| Demand that schools replace junk food with healthy foods in school vending machines.
ž Recommend that schools use a sound nutrition curriculum, such as one prepared by the American Health Foundation or American Cancer Society, which goes beyond the basic four food groups.
ž Ask your school board to ban from the classroom any food-company educational materials that promote unhealthy products or poor nutrition, or that place brand awareness above nutritional awareness.
ž Involve local civic organizations in improving television advertising geared to children. |
Joseph Glenmullen, M.D.
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 In the middle of the night, when it was too late to go out, she would descend into the basement of her dormitory to a small room lined with vending machines. In the fluorescent-lit, linoleum-tiled room she would furtively drop her quarters into the steely machines and yank on their plungers to get bags of potato chips or chocolate chip cookies.
"I always meet one or two other girls," said Amanda, "either at the machines or going down to them. We barely acknowledge one another with a guilty look of 'I know what you're doing.' |
| If the vending machines were already empty, Amanda would raid her dormitory's small communal kitchen. Women stealing their roommates' food to fuel binges is quite a serious problem on college campuses.
Back in her room, Amanda hastily consumed bags of cheese twists, boxes of vanilla wafers, cartons of Haagen-Dazs ice cream, or whatever the high-carbohydrate food happened to be. Some women describe eating whole loaves of white bread because that was all they could find in the cupboard.
Amanda ate until her stomach was so full it was distended. |
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