Healthy Vending Machines Replace Junk Food In Schools

While it is generally not our practice to publish commercial pr articles, we thought that this information would be of general interest.

With all of the focus on health, nutrition and obesity issues in schools, this is a very interesting effort (there are others) – we wish them success.

Read on . . .

New York City, NY (July 05, 2011) – As a kid, there’s nothing worse than getting made fun for being fat. Sheena knows. All during her school years, she was called names like Twinkie and Slimfast by her peers. Of course, back when she was in school skinny was the norm, so the “fat kids” stood out like a sore thumb. Sadly, the norm is changing. The number of overweight children in the U.S. is higher today than ever before in history, with 1 in 3 children being overweight or obese.

Sheena says “Kids are kids. They want what they want. If you make them choose between a carrot and a chocolate bar, 11 times out of 10 they will choose the chocolate bar.”

She believes it starts with the adults. “It is critical for the adults at home and at school to set examples of healthy eating, provide healthy food and yes, enforce healthy eating. These are the places children spend the majority of their time and are influenced the most. The expanding obesity epidemic among our youth can, in large part, be attributed to irresponsible adults.”

Instead of pointing fingers though, Sheena decided to start a company called Go Organic Vending to solve a problem she saw in schools…junk food vending machines. She learned that schools make money from selling soda and unhealthy food to kids and school administrators are reluctant to remove the machines because of worry over loss of income. However, Aptos Middle School in San Francisco, is a prime example of a school that actually saw their food-service profits increase after junk food was removed. Their school administrator stated that “people tend to forget that kids WILL buy other items if they can’t get junk.” In fact, the entire San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) implemented a new healthy food policy that requires a certain level of nutrients in all snack foods sold at schools stating that “you can’t put a price on children’s health.”

Many schools are making the switch to healthier food policies and Go Organic Vending helps make it a smooth transition by providing schools with healthy, organic drink and snack vending machines. All snack and drink products meet the Institute of Medicine’s Nutrition Standards for Foods in Schools, so you can be assured that anything your child eats from a Go Organic Vending machine is nutritious, organic and healthy. In addition, schools need not worry about income loss because Go Organic Vending offers a generous profit share program. “We feel healthy vending machines should completely replace junk food vending in schools because children deserve to have healthy food choices.”

Go Organic Vending provides schools, businesses and other entities with healthy snack vending machines at no cost. If you are a parent, school administrator, teacher, friend or anyone concerned about the health of our youth, we urge you to speak with your local school board of directors about implementing healthy vending into their program. It is zero cost and completely risk-free.

http://www.goorganicvending.com