Persuasive Essay: Should Junk Food Be Banned?

Fast, simple, inexpensive, and easy. Who does not like the sound of that? This easily accessible item has one catch though, it is detrimental to one’s health if taken on a daily basis. Too much of a good thing they say. With childhood obesity skyrocketing over the decades, it raises the question if schools should ban junk food. During the growing and developing stages of adolescents, students need a healthy and well balanced diet to help them grow into healthy adults. Adolescents spend more time at school than at home and two of their main meals, breakfast and lunch, are provided there if they choose to eat at school. That’s almost up to fifty percent of their caloric intake (Gibson and Swartz). By reducing and or eliminating junk food from …show more content…
However, exercising is only part of the component of fighting obesity and chronic illnesses, it needs to be complimented with a healthy and well balanced diet. Today schools put emphasis on school sports and exercise, however, while that does help combat obesity and other health problems. Schools are still contributing to the problem by providing vending machines with food high in calories and carbohydrates (Lee and Sprague). Unfortunately vending machines are convenient and for many students it is their preferred choice because that is what is provided for them at school. Many school vending machine contracts with the vending machine companies that has options to put healthy options in them. However, because junk food is less expensive and profit for the schools, the healthy options is not much of a choice. Due to this, school providing vending machines with junk food is contributing to the problem of obesity in students, not fixing it. With vending machines and easily accessibility to junk food in school, a study conducted in 2005 found out that 68% of students drank soda and or any other high fructose during the school day (Gibson and Swartz). Having high sugar and caffeinated drinks can increase the risk of a student developing anxiety and depression, not just only physical health issues but also psychological problems. Having …show more content…
The idea is not to ban junk food in all, it is to provide more healthier options than unhealthy options, so it makes it harder for the student to choose the junk food and reduces the accessibility (Bornstein). Schools want to make the heather options outweigh the junk food, so it becomes to the student to learn and decide which of the options is healthier for them. Instead of making the decision between a candy bar and chips, it would be be between dried fruit and baked chips. Wether it is at home, school, or at a friend’s home, students will eat whatever is provided and available to them, healthy or not (Ballaro). If students are not presented and or not having easier accessibility to healthy choices, they will develop the habit of eating junk food. They will become so use to eating junk food that when they grow into adults they will associate junk food as being the best options for them for their body. If schools continue to provided more junk food than healthy food to students, it is teaching them that junk food is the best thing for them, when really it is damaging their bodies and minds and contributing to the obesity problem in America. Many students feel that they could and can benefit from more healthier food options in school but it is tough for them to make