I think this would be a good step to teaching kids proper nutrition.

This, in addition to maybe a basic nutrition class or something, could be GREAT in terms of fighting childhood obesity. I definitely think it's a step in the right direction.

I think it would be better to display the benefits of eating good foods (good skin, strong teeth and bones, longer life, etc.) than showing how many calories it contains. You don't want young girls obsessing or trying to see who eats the fewest!

I think that it sends out a mixed message. I think schools should be providing healthy options and not placing the focus on how many calories are in a food. Nuts have a lot of calories in them, but they're good for you. Diet soda has no calories, but is nutrtionally void. They should rather invest in nutrition and fitness programs to educate them.

oh god.. it takes people like me years of therapy to let go of the counting. all this measure does is exchange one form of disordered eating for another.
honestly, i wish i could go back to the day i first looked at a calorie label and give myself a slap in the face.

I agree with Steph and Danielle, I'd rather they focus on healthy choices and healthy eating rather than calorie counts. It could have a negative effect and children could start obsessing over numbers.

I agree with danielle...they could post how many servings of fruit/grains/meat etc that an item has - wouldn't that be more helpful in teaching children about making healthy choices? Calories are found in both healthy and less healthy choices...

I also agree that the messaging should focus around nutritional benefits of eating good food-- I wouldn't want school children to start feeling guilty about consuming too many calories. Growing children need calories!

I'm on the fence. I really would prefer that schools focus on teaching kids to make healthy choices rather than count calories. The problem is that portion control is one of the biggest problems with eating habits in the US, and calories can help figure that out. Schools should be able to provide appropriate portions so that calories counts are unnecessary, but I'm not confident this is happening.

I feel that an education needs to take place, but by posting boards with calorie counts? I disagree with that. I think that runs the risk of making kids hyper aware of the calories in a meal or food item, and they need to be taught how to make healthy choices not count calories. Certain food items are low in calories and equally low in nutrition. If they insist on posting nutrition information in some way, make it kid friendly. Use icons or graphics (stars etc) to mark healthy choices so that the kids understand that caloric intake is not the bottom line, healthy choices are.

I'll get off my soap box now.

Maybe they should put certain foods in calorie ranges or use some other code or a special code for healthy options. Putting calorie numbers will make kids obsessed with calories -- when it's not all about calories, rather, it's about the quality of food. They need to focus on WHOLE foods rather than artificial, chemicalized, sugary, fat laden foods.

i second candy apple-calorie counting takes over your life. kids do NOT need to count calories. It is a horrible pattern to start. Just provide foods that are good for kids and not overly processed or refined.

Ok good. I was going to come and say focusing on calories is not healthy and could lead to obsessive behavior. But you guys already did that!

I like the idea of doing a more "mypyramid.gov" approach. Where the children try to make sure they have 2 servings of lean meat, 1 serving of fruit, 1 veggies, and 2 carbs in each meal.

That way they're learning about complete meals AND being healthy and aware.

With candy apple and mes... first thing I thought when I saw this was that disordered eating habits will become much easier maintain, and less easy to identify. If you see a 12 year old girl who is normal weight keeping track of calories, you start to worry. But if you know she's in a school that advertises all the calories, most wouldn't think a thing of it.

Posting the healthy serving sizes for each item would be a MUCH better idea! I wish I'd had that in middle/high school.

I'm completely with Stephisme92 - my best friend and I only ate vending machine food for lunch the first two years of high school (before we were allowed off campus) so we could compete to see who could eat the fewest calories. My personal best was a bottle of water and a bag of vending machine cotton candy. 50 calories for lunch, and, looking back, 0 nutrients. We did that water & cotton candy thing for about a semester. This seems really dangerous for girls like my bestie and I.

absolutely not.

I developed my first eating disorder in 8th grade after a health project where we had to count and record calories for a week.

I'm with candy apple. I never thought I'd be free of counting. I finally am, at age 22, and after multiple relapses and treatments. But I wish I could go back to the 14-year-old me and rip every label off of every item.

I’m undecided because on one hand it's a great way to teach kids to be conscious of what the put into their bodies, but then there is the problem of eating disorders. Will it scare them into thinking they can't eat anything unless it's under 100 calories? What about those who are already obsessed with weight loss, how will they react? It’s a big responsibility teaching kids about nutrition in a balanced way.

I understand the negatives that all of you are mentioning, but one plus to all of this is that it might shame the schools into serving healthier food.

I think some discretion should be applied here. I don't think this is necessary for younger students. But for older students who are about to enter the real world, I think one of the important lessons that should be learned is how to take care of yourself properly. Having this information could help students learn the correct ways to use it. That said, there obviously would need to be a educational component to this (as in a health class) and teachers or counselors should be on the look out for those using this system inappropriately.

I'm going to vote no. Just because a child knows how many calories are in a particular food doesn't mean they actually know anything about nutrition!!

If schools are truly concerned with the health of their students they should be instituting a nutrition class. One that teaches the correct AMOUNT of each food group that is suggested we consume daily. It needs to be more in-depth than the food pyramid.

Think about it. Kids are already so stressed out with school itself and now they are being made to stress about calories? They will in this perfectionist society. For many kids this will lead to calorie counting and obsessing about food and diets and under the right circumstances will lead to a number of eating disorders, which is something nobody needs to go through.

Leave nutritional standards up to the parents.

You can't have too much knowledge, imo. Some kids are clueless about how many calories are in their food, and they feel discouraged when they're trying to lose weight and can't. They don't know how to make the right choices. But I agree that they need to have a class to fully inform them about nutrition, and tell them that while diet coke is calorie free, is also quite bad for you. Calories is just one thing they should be aware of, there are many others which are just as important.

I'd prefer the school only serve healthy menu options and appropriate serving sizes as opposed to inflicting calorie counting on children. If McDonald's can come up with a healthy happy meal (grilled chicken wrap, apple slices, and milk) then surely a school can come up with an appetizing healthy meal also.

Caloire counting shouldn't start in school, maybe as old as 18 years old. The schools should just focus on providing healthier options, just take away the junk food altogether so there are no bad options!

i'm in college studying to be a pediatric dietitian and think this is a horrible idea!!!!! i hope they don't do it. young children should not have to worry/obsess over the amount of calories they're having. learning about nutrition in school would be ok, but not putting the calories on the menu.

oh and offering healthier options & portions would be a good idea too.

Tweety I was just wondering if the school board had actually talked to any RDs before spending tens of thousands of dollars on this. Maybe you (or a professor or student group) should email this school district and give them your "professional" opinion.

From the linked article, the lady that seems to be in charge is Cleveland County health director Denese Stallings.

It couldn't hurt.

i don't think kids understand the per serving thing, just cause something says 110 calories, there might be like 3 servings.
I developed an eating disorder in high school from calorie counting. i would rather see them offer more healthy food then put calories on everything

in most cases i'll say yes that they should share the calorie information - but the reason that i would say no is because once you reach a certain age (girls at least) there's a tendency to develop and Eating Disorder and i think that if there's opportunity to minimize the number of cals you have then i think that's just giving a tool to them. not that this is the case with everyone, but i remember back when i was in high school and there were soo many times that i just wouldn't eat because i was trying to diet or not eat more than like 200 cals a day - and this would have been even more of a reason for me to be compulsive about it all

I'm with tatsauce. Just serve healthy food and you won't need to display the calories.

Agreed, Aimeeb and tatsauce! Focusing on calories when kids don't even know what they are is just asking for trouble... If the schools would stop serving fried foods, electric-yellow nacho cheese and wonder bread pizzas and start spending time making real sandwiches, good salad bars etc, there wouldn't be much need to tell the kids how many calories were in their food.

Okay let's get something straight: An eating disorder is a mental illness. Anything can trigger it in someone who is already predisposed, but counting calories will not cause a healthy individual (that would be the other 99% of individuals) to develop anorexia.

Anyway, I trust nothing that comes from Crest, especially when it comes to children. These were the same people who distributed fun little toothcare kits at my elementary school containing colored and flavored fluoride tablets! To this day I wonder what kind of damage ingesting that did to my developing brain.

The whole health attitude needs to change in this country. It's just become another gimmick for companies to market their patented crap. See, you can't patent an apple, but you can patent aspartame. I really couldn't care less if dumb adults can't see that raw, natural food the answer, not Diet Coke...

But targeting children who don't even have the capacity to know better yet (not to mention in schools, where parents can't really control what they do) crosses the line of ethics and morality in my book. I will never forget reading about this new school for obese kids and teens than teaches them to eat "healthy" as part of the curriculum. What were they teaching them to eat, you ask? Why Diet sodas, reduced fat yogurt, Splenda, etc. Ridiculous!

Never too young to learn about what kind of food is good for you and what is not!

I don't think it's a good idea. At a time when a lot of tween/teen girls think they're "fat" when they are a perfectly normal weight, they could potentially develop a really serious eating disorder by trying to eat foods with very few calories. Why not just stop serving crap like pizza and hot dogs and serve REAL food so kids and teenagers can eat a normal lunch and not have to worry that it'll make them obese?

AlexandraEva- actually, almost every instance of clinical eating disorders begin with what most people consider "normal" dieting behaviors. Such as counting calories. While it is a mental disorder, it is very much a learned behavior.

Also, the middle school has nothing to do with Crest the dental health company.... it's the school's name.

i think calories are a bad idea. why not just provide a variety of foods in the correct portions? a kid should definitely be allowed to have, say, cookies, but if they're provided maybe 2 small cookies and no more, that would teach them moderation.

its a great idea. kids need to start learning about nutrition at a young age.

i think it is pointless. if a young girl is at risk for an eating disorder, the school posting the calorie counts for all it's food is not going to hinder or help her. you dont need to count calories to have an eating disorder. in the same vein, a kid who is going to eat badly is going to eat badly. if a child is obese, it had to start somewhere, most likely at home. and if a child is being fed bad foods at home and being taught by their parents that eating like that is okay, something at school is NOT going to change their mind. most kids just don't let the things they're told at school affect them that much. i personally am in high school and i KNOW that posting calorie counts would not affect anyone on either end of the spectrum, from those with disordered eating behaviors to those who are obese. kids just dont CARE that much. maybe if it came from another source, outside of school. but they will generally blow off anything they're told at school about how to live their life.

maybe not the calories.. but more to the nutrition content, both macro and micro..

or just provide healthier mix of food

I think it's a good idea to serve healthier foods or at least provide those options. Students should learn about nutrition for promoting health benefits rather than aesthetic reasons.

instead of investing in calorie counts, why don't they prevent child obesity by replacing the food they serve with healthy choices? Don't leave room for them to choose something unhealthy with fat and sugar. Its that simple.

I think that calorie counting will not make much of a difference...kids don't care about how many calories they have, so it would be a waste of time. Well, maybe for secondary students...but elementary kids should not be burdened with calorie consumption, but should be provided with healthier choices.

Yes and no. I think its a good thing to make kids aware of what they're putting in their mouth but I'm not convinced purely listing the amount of calories in the different options is gonna help anything.. Healthy eating is more than just counting calories, its about _where_ those calories come from that matters the most! If you get the majority of your calories from carbs and fats you're on the wrong track. I think the school meals should put less emphasis on grains and increase the amount of veggies and protein sources!

For high schools, I think it would be a good idea. For younger students I think it's better to send something home to parents so that they can educate their children. I don't think an 11 year old should be choosing lunch based on calorie counting.

I believe the complete nutritional content, or lack there of, should be posted on school lunches to make the program accountable for what empty calories it is serving our youth.

good god! i developed an eating disorder at 11 but if this "information" had been put up in my school lunchroom, i'm sure i'd have been dieting at 8 years old. this is totally inappropriate, especially in a society where so many little 5 year old girls are dieting because they think they're fat. why don't schools focus on health instead? they could put up, for example, how much calcium or fiber or protein a food has, and teach the kids what the best nutrients for you are. calorie counting for kids is riducloussss

There is no need for kids to start thinking about counting calories. If healthier choices are made available to them (and only healthier choices) then that is what they will eat and grow accustomed to. America doesn't need to be a society full of calorie counters and health nuts. It just needs to become somewhere where people choose to eat when they are hungry and recognize the nutritional value of food.

I think that we should consider putting the amount of calories in each food item. Lots of people if you don't exercise for maybe 15 minutes or more a day, what every unhealthy food you it, it just comes on you. I eat a lot of lettuce but when I'm at school, I see people taking huge scoops of pasta, 2 cheeseburgers and 2 pieces of pizza with stuffed crust, the burgers are out 400+ calories and the pizzas are around 800+ calories. If you would watch the biggest loser, every year, they say "we have a huge group of people," but this year is the same but larger. About 1/2 or maybe 2/3 of America is obese. It's really unnecessary for people in the lower 500's and around 600 pounds.