There I was, standing in front of the vending machine on the third floor of building nine. It was around 8:45 in the morning and I didn't have breakfast yet. As my eyes casually glanced at a Twix bar with intense desire, I ordered my hungry, growling stomach to be quiet. My intelligent mind was actually going for something healthy this morning. Before my stomach could give the first blow of the round I searched frantically for a cereal bar. Result: not one in sight. It wasn't enough that there were no hot or cold food vending machines offering soups, fruit, and salad,at school. Instead, the snack machines only offer high-sugar, low-vitamin candy bars, or high-sodium, low-protein chips--none of which were baked in this particular instance.
In 2004, Americans spent over $21 billion on food and drinks from vending machines, says the National Automatic Merchandising Association.
I'm pretty sure I accounted for at least 10.5 billion of those dollars.
In 2005 NAMA launched the "Balanced for Life" campaign highlighting the urgency for healthier selections to be added to snack machines.
While I've seen baked chips and Rice Crispy Treats-- essentially the only two healthier choices I've seen so far--in the vending machines before, lately I've been seeing the slots that hold these few healthy choices empty or stocked with something else of lesser nutrition.
The school cafeterias always have Nabisco's 100 Calorie Snack Packs, but they're not always nearby, and when they are I mysteriously end up acquiring two slices of cheesy, greasy, pizza before I make it through the never-ending line-- that's in addition to my two slices of calorie-filled cheesecake.
Aramark, one of America's leading vending distributors, has vowed since October of 2005 to provide categorized healthy snacks to vending machines. Aramark's website states that they identify the healthier foods in these such categories: foods in lower fat, foods and drinks lower in carbohydrates, foods and drinks lower in calorie, and bottled water and 100 percent juices.
Aramark also states that through their 2004 research, they have determined that there are more than 150 products that fit into these four categories. Yet, the only "healthy"thing staring me in the face was a Rice Crispy Treat.
As I looked around the vending machine room I saw six different kinds of soda being offered along with Aquafina, but no juices. I let that slide, but I was still very hungry and my intelligent mind was brutally battling it out with my hungry stomach.
Because my class would be starting soon-- and because I was seriously standing in front of the machines for about six minutes and this guy kept staring at me-- I decided to make a choice. With a strong sense of victory my mind decided on the slightly healthier Rice Crispy Treat instead of the Twix bar. My fingers pushed 1-4-5, and much to my surprise a Milky Way bar came out. My intelligent mind was now in defeat and filled with confusion. How could I have made the wrong selection? My hungry stomach was also confused. I had made the wrong selection. I honestly meant to get the Twix bar. But I wasn't that ticked.
The National Automatic Merchandising Association
http://www.vending.org/
Aramark
http://www.aramarkrefreshments.com/News_and_Resources/News_Releases/News_Release.asp?id=372
daytondailyviews
13 years ago
