Almost every school you see has at least one vending machine. But the problem is that many of the items offered are unhealthy choices for your body. If you ask five middle school kids, I bet they’d tell you that their favorite snack is Cheetos or a Snickers bar from the vending machine. You can just go over, put the dollar in, punch some numbers in and get your snack. It’s that easy. It’s also easy calories for your body.

Some studies suggest that teens who eat healthy on a day to day basis reduce their chance of being obese. The problem is that these vending machines don’t have healthy choices, just mostly fried junk that doesn’t contain any real nutritional value and doesn’t benefit you or your body. Teens’ minds are programmed to think, “Ooh, chocolate!! I want some of that,” or, “Yum, barbecue chips!!!” What they don’t know is that these foods are just preservatives and artificial flavors in a bag.

The other concerning element is that teens go to school, see all these “stay fit” posters plastered on the walls and then they are faced with these vending machines with chips and candy. School districts are sending a mixed message by promoting healthy lifestyles and then just washing that all away with junky vending machines. It’s not fair to the students who are being fooled with faulty displays at schools across the nation.

Advertising companies are targeting schools as a place to advertise their snacks to kids, and the districts are approving of this, but why?

Here are Cheetos Nutrition Facts:

Cheetos Crunchy Cheese Flavored Snacks

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 1 oz (28.0 g)

Amount Per Serving

Calories 160

Calories from Fat 90 % Daily Value*

Total Fat 10.0g 15%

Saturated Fat 1.5g 8%

Sodium 290 mg 12%

Total Carbohydrates 15.0g 5%

Dietary Fiber 1.0g 4%

Sugars 1.0g

Protein 2.0g

* Based on a 2000 calorie diet opposed to a package of Soy Crisps:

Nutrition Facts of Single Package of Soy Crisps

Serving Size: 25 crisps (28g)

Servings Per Container: 3.5

Amount Per Serving

Calories 110

Calories From Fat 20 % Daily Value**

Total Fat 2g 3%

Saturated Fat 0g 0%

Cholesterol 0mg 0%

Sodium 160mg 7%

Total Carbohydrate 17g 6%

Dietary Fiber 2g 8%

Sugars 2g

Protein 7.5g 15%

Vitamin A 2% Calcium 8%

Vitamin C 2% Iron 10%

After researching this topic, I began to realize that machines with healthy options are hard to find in a school environment. Schools should take an approach to replace the unhealthy choices with more healthy ones, such as instead of chips, Soy Crisps. Think about it, schools are a place used by kids more than their own homes, so this makes a huge impact on them. The downfall on this is, bad choices encouraged by schools, that students trust, are changing students minds about these snacks and making them think otherwise.