When Gov. Bill Owens vetoed a bill targeting school vending machines, he struck a rare blow for common sense.
A disappointed Alice Madden, House majority leader and sponsor of the meddling House Bill 1056, claimed it was a “huge disappointment that Colorado will not be promoting healthy food choices for our young students.”
Actually, it was quite refreshing to see an elected official – on this lonely occasion, at least – resist government paternalism. Though it would be even more refreshing had an elected official just spit out the uncensored truth:
“A bill on obesity is rubbish, actually. Nope, your kids aren’t fat because of vending machines. No, it has little to do with your economic situation – unless, of course, the cost of water and vegetables now exceeds the cost of soft drinks and cheese puffs. And no, there’s no ‘epidemic.’ Dear parents, there’s only you to blame.”
The executive director of food and nutrition for Denver Public Schools, Leo Lesh, is too tactful to directly condemn parents for their behavior, though he does consider HB 1056 worthless.
“That’s what we do,” Lesh says. “We’ve always been doing those things.”
DPS, for instance, Lesh contends, already abides by the vending machine provisions put forth in HB 1056. Without government coercion? Imagine that.
“Three years ago, our first step was replacing the regular chips with the healthy chips and that sort of thing,” Lesh explains. “The following year we eliminated all the candy bars. We started doing that as a matter of course, because we thought it was the best thing for kids.”
Guess who complained loudest about the removal of candy bars? According to Lesh, teachers did. “It just wasn’t convenient for some of them.” And like teachers, if parents feel dissatisfied with the types of foods DPS offers, they can complain – or just brown bag it.
And how important are snacks, anyway? Many obese kids, Lesh says, enter DPS well on their way to a lifetime of weight trouble – long before they ever encounter a vending machine – and it continues.
“We’ve seen things like kids not eating a nutritious lunch and bringing in a 20- ounce bottle of Pepsi instead,” he says.
In a recent study, six Harvard doctors studied more than 14,000 American children and found that evidence “did not offer support for the hypothesis that snacking promotes weight gain.”
Another study run in the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics from three years ago found that contrary to the groups’ “expectations,” snacks did not have an effect on body-mass index.
Surely, this is not a surprise to parents who are paying attention.
Some magnificent pediatricians I’ve met in the past few years have imparted their wisdom on the topics of kids and potential obesity.
First, they tell me: Provide children nutritious foods at home. Second: Engage in physical activity with your kids – you know, ride bikes, play tag, throw some dodge balls at each other. Finally: Buy your kids an ice cream cone once in a while, so they don’t feel like they’re missing out on the good stuff.
It’s not rocket science, actually. Do we need officious legislators involved?
Besides, as Owens pointed out: Look who’s talking. The “two vending machines in the Capitol basement had 10 types of chips, 20 types of candy bars, 13 kinds of cookies and pastries, three types of crackers and two kinds of nuts.”
If you’ve had the pleasure of witnessing some our legislators roaming the Capitol, you won’t be surprised. We’re not talking the U.S. volleyball team here.
“There were only three choices that might be considered ‘healthy,’ and those consisted of bits of dried fruit in bags,” Owens said, wondering if children visiting the Capitol “might well note the inconsistencies.”
So, if Colorado wants to begin shaping up, why not mandatory calisthenics for our many, um, chunky legislators? Jumping jacks, push-ups, sit-ups and such.
Let’s see how that works before we abdicate our obligations as parents to them.
David Harsanyi’s column appears Monday and Thursday. He can be reached at 303-820-1255 or dharsanyi@denverpost.com.
