No More Soda Please

The  Average teenager gulps down almost two cans of soda every day -- often purchased from a school vending machine. While those sweet sips can add thousands, even millions, of dollars in soda-company incentives to a school district's budge, the health consequences for kids are sour. The extra 2,100 calories per week contribute to childhood obesity and its accompanying risk for diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Drinking soda instead of milk has also been linked to weaker bones, tooth decay and caffeine addiction.

Small wonder, then that school districts across the United States are banning "liquid candy" from their vending machines. The nation's largest districts--Los Angeles Unified (LAUSD) and New York City public schools--outlawed soda in 2003, stocking the machines instead with milk, bottled water and juices without added sweeteners. Others are following suit.

Step-by-Step Plan

"What students do at home is their business. As school, it should be ours," says LAUSA school board member Marlene Canter, who spearheaded

 the LA soda ban. "Sodas are empty calories, caffeine, and sugar. That is not something we should be selling. Parents here in Fowlerville agree-- and encourage parents everywhere to ask their local districts to amke the same healthy-drink switch. How do you start:

• Teach your school board:    Kids who gulp three or more sodas a day have a 60% higher risk of overweight.
• Rally other parents:    Explain why compromising children's health for school funding doesn't make sense.
• Spin it positively:   In LA they called it a "Healthy Beverage Campaign."
• Don't eliminate vending machines:   Just stock them with water and low-fat milk.
• Follow the LA strategy:   Start with swaying stubborn board members, and developing strategies for replacing lost revenue from soda sales.

You have to ask yourself if the money is more valuable then our children.

by Korey Capozia