Last week I had the pleasure of attending the St. Mary's Heart Fair in Madison. I went in a supporting role, and to taste the various food samples offered as a way of educating a guy like me in the ways of eating more healthy.
After a wonderful buffet of food, I settled on the "meditteranean" cooking area and tried to learn how to make the adjustment from simple down home barbeque chicken to the more healthy way. I have to admit. I learn a lot just by eating a wonderful dinner....anyway....
I attended a lecture by one of the St. Mary surgeons on "atrial fib" and also a session by a nutritionist. Right in the middle of her presentation, she said that there are TWO signs of childhood obesity. Then she flashed two slides silently. The first was a lone picture of a COLA can. Then the lone picture of a TV.
She went on to say that where there is lots of cola or soda in the home, and there is "a TV in the bedroom of a child" there will be childhood obesity---or it is very likely.
The reason I bring this up-----two weeks ago I spent a few hours reviewing the Evansville Review from February of 2002. Very nostalgic. At the School Board Meeting in February of 2002 two decisions were made---to move to full day kindergarten, and to approve the cola contract....a contract that is up for renewal shortly I believe.
One lone school board member rose on the cola issue. That member said that the cola contract would be harmful to students, and in order for the contract to come out, every student in the district would have to triple their cola consumption. The proponents said: "No problem. We will do so."
Today. Five years later. More knowledge is available.
Today. If you see that former school board member in the grocery store, stop and offer contratulations for the courage to stand up for student health.
And for the record---it appears that far more time and analysis was spent on the "cola wars" than on the finanical analysis regarding the space and resource requirments for kindergarten short and long term. More on that later.
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About a year ago, the school stopped selling sugary, caffeinated sodas in the coke machines. Now they sell diet sodas and "power drinks" in them. But diet sodas are also bad on teeth (the carbonation) and diet sodas have chemicals (saccharin or aspartamine) which may also have negative health effects. Obesity isn't the only health problem with the coca cola machines -- there's dental problems and perhaps other problems from the chemicals (remember the cancer scares? plus some people can have heart probs with the chemicals).
ReplyDeleteWonder what the athletic department will get out of the coke contract this time around? Last time it was a new scoreboard and cold hard cash.Maybe the music department or the drama department -- or even the educational programs should get a kickback this time.
So are you going to name the school board member? Is it a current member? My guess would be Jeff Conn, who isn't on the board now.