There are many new standards for what we can and cannot eat at school. The government controls the foods that are served and sold during school hours.

There are strict regulations regarding serving size, sodium and sugar. This makes it very difficult for our school to choose snacks that are cost-effective yet still conform to the health standards.

The new rules eliminate items as such as Cheez-Its, Fruit Snacks, and Chex Mix. There aren’t very many food items that even pass the new health standards.

I believe that these requirements are too restrictive and prevent us from enjoying the things that we eat at school.

As high schoolers, we are old enough now to make our own decisions on what we eat and what we choose to buy. I feel that we can figure out for ourselves what we think is healthy and what is not.

Not only does this make it hard for us as students to find snacks that are good and not too expensive. But also it will have a negative impact on the money that the school brings due to students not buying the snacks.

If the snacks are not appealing to students, the sales will go down, and this hurts the things that the school uses the money for as such as; FCA, athletics, and other extracurricular activities.

But the main issue is that the school does not make the regulations, which makes it hard to try and get them to change the rules and allow the snacks.

I also feel that the current foods that we have available to purchase are not unhealthy, and that the government needs to re-evaluate their attempt to regulate food items that are sold in our school. For example, the standard Cheez-It snack size is only 150 calories with 8 grams of fat.

The only thing we can do as students is support our school and try to make it possible for our school to sell the snacks and food that we love that brings in the funds that we need in order pay for all of the things that we do.

Some school groups depend on the sale of these snacks and drinks in order to have their club or organization.

We are not forced to buy the snacks; it is our own personal choice, therefore it should not be an issue if the school sells snacks that the health department considers “unhealthy”.