Delicious Life Coaching

Finally, someone is at least thinking about improving the food kids have access to in schools.

According to this NY Times article, a report released by the Institute of Medicine says that junk foods should be banned from vending machines and school cafeterias. In light of the report, Senator Tom Harkin, sponsor of the Child Nutrition Promotion and School Lunch Protection Act, is considering putting the recommendations in the Farm Bill. If passed, the Department of Agriculture could be required to ensure that certain kinds of foods are kept out of schools.

The only thing that seems misguided to me is allowing caffeine free, diet sodas to stay in schools. Just because they have no calories doesn’t mean they’re good for kids. They’re just cans of chemicals - how could ingesting this be good for growing children and teenagers? Also, diet sodas have not been shown to help people lose weight, so what benefit are they serving?

When I was a teenager and in my early 20’s I had a diet-coke addiction. I had to have at least one every day, and I would feel crazy if I didn’t have it. When I finally gave it up, I felt so much better. I was much less irritated, my skin got better, and I didn’t have the same craving for sweets that I used to have when I drank them.

Dr. Mercola has some strong opinions and research about artificial sweeteners which can be found here.