Aug 20, 2012
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Attention high school football fans in Maine: B.Y.O.C. – Bring your own Coke.
The Portland Public School system will no longer allow soft drinks to be sold on school property – including at high school football games. School officials are also banning the sale of gridiron staples like buttered popcorn and potato chips.
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Instead, football fans will be encouraged to nosh on baked tortilla chips, reduced fat string cheese and hummus.
The total ban on the sale of soft drinks is part of a new policy governing the sales of healthy foods and beverages, said Chanda Turner, Portland’s school health coordinator.
“We’re taking it to another level,” Turner told Fox News. “We’re not going to sell soda and it doesn’t matter who it’s to.”
Read the entire policy by clicking here.
The school system released a statement online stating that “diet influences students’ ability to learn, and they aim to ensure that food offered at schools and school events support student achievement.”
The far-reaching policy covers food and beverages served at sporting events, staff parties, and school celebrations. Soft drinks will no longer be sold in the faculty lounge.
Parents will no longer be allowed to bring cupcakes to celebrate birthday parties. Teachers will no longer be allowed to reward students with a cookie or brownie.
This is Hummus — an alternative snack that Portland school officials want football fans to consume.
“Using food as a reward for behavior and achievement can encourage unhealthy habits later in life,” the school system said in a statement on its website.
Instead, teachers will be encouraged to reward boys and girls with an eraser, a sticker or “taking a walk with a special staff person.”
Turner said food sold during the school day must meet the USDA’s Healthier US Schools Challenge minimum nutrition standards at the Gold Award level. But they are also applying strict standards to food and beverages sold after hours.
“If it’s a school organization or a school group doing the selling, then they need to meet some minimum nutrition standards,” she told Fox News.
In other words, Mr. Pibb and Coca Cola are now banned.
Instead, the district said booster clubs are allowed to sell water, coffee, tea, 100 percent fruit juice or flavored waters that don’t exceed 66 calories per eight ounces. Beverages are not allowed in a container larger than 12 ounces.
The school district also placed restrictions on pre-packaged foods. Regular potato chips are not allowed. However, baked potato chips are okay.
Among other items approved for sale at sporting events are whole-grain soft pretzels, fruit, sunflower seeds reduced fat string cheese, air-popped popcorn and vegetables.
Turner said prepared foods like burgers and hot dogs are still allowed but only if vendors provide a healthy alternative. For example, if you sell a cheeseburger, you have to provide whole fruit.
“You can have pizza but try to make it whole grain and lower fat cheese,” she said. “Find that balance.”
So what about nachos?
Turner said it depends.
“During the school day it would have to meet the school lunch standards,” she said. “It’s a much more complicated formula. If you’re talking about a tortilla chip that’s baked, if you’re talking about a cheese sauce made more naturally, perhaps with low fat (cheese), I could see where you might be able to get nachos that meet (the guidelines). But you’d have to do a lot of work to do that.”
The policy has earned praise from the Portland Press Herald. The newspaper’s editorial board congratulated the school system for “instituting a pro-family, pro-student health policy.”
But the policy does have its critics and a number sounded off on the local newspaper’s website.
“Are they going to frisk for soda at the gate,” asked one reader. “These feel-good, know-it-all infiltrators are wrong.”
“Today it’s soda, next it will be something else and then something else,” another reader wrote. “They nanny-staters nibble away at our freedoms and for the most part we stand by and say, ‘Oh, it’s only soda.’”
Turner defended the policy against accusations the school system overstepped its boundaries.
“We are not making any restrictions on personal choice,” Turner told Fox News. “The only thing we are affecting is – what are we as a school system going to sell or provide.”
She said students and faculty are still allowed to bring their own soft drinks purchased off campus.
“It’s not a complete restriction on anything considered non-healthy,” she said. “We didn’t want to go too far. We tried to find a nice happy medium.”
FOX News Talk
I hope the school system gets zero sales of the new items and goes broke. When you tell people what to eat, you've gone too far.
Just think how short the lines at the concession stand will be!
kidding right
HOw stupid so called experts glad I live in Texas where we do not put up with theseliberal nut cases. Eat what I want when I want cholesterol 122. bloomberg and the so called experts need to chill and get a big gulp.
Leslie, you have more chins than a Chinese phone book!
You are morbidly obese and the closest you've ever been to having a 122 cholesterol was the day you waddled out of your Momma!
Soda is horrible for you…. Are they going to allow gatterade. It has just as much sugar as soda if not more. What is wrong with these people.
I can see more people (the ones who have jobs at Coca Cola) loseing their jobs over this.
If there going to remove it from the schools then why don't they remove it from the food stamp program as well.
What's happen'd to America? I have the Right to "Pursue Happiness" under the U.S. Constitution! I'm not happy when the Gov. what I can and can't eat! Live and Let Live, That's the American Way!
They are winning the war on liberty and prosperity. Remember in November!
What's happen'd to America? I have the Right to "Pursue Happiness" under the U.S. Constitution! I'm not happy when the Gov. what I can and can't eat! Live and Let Live, That's the American Way!
Wonder what they will do when people bring in BIG ice chests and sell Coke, etc. in the bleachers to anyone who wants it? Someone could make some big money that way.
Wonder what they will do when people bring in BIG ice chests and sell Coke, etc. in the bleachers to anyone who wants it? Someone could make some big money that way.
As an enterprising American I would carry as many cokes into the facility as possible and "sell" them to the wanting masses. G-d Bless Coca-Cola…nectar of the Gods. Is it about time corporations call bad B.S. when they see it? If I was the CEO of Coca-Cola, I would sue the school district. Regardless, of it's legal merits…sue the Progressives and hit them in the pocket book big-time. Maybe then the Morons would stick to what that were hired for…education of k-12 children. After that one I thirsty…I gotta go get a coke…a classic 16 oz. twist-off. Wife made a chocolate cake last night…I gunna get a piece of that to go with the coke and all before dinner!
Some of these so-called "educators" are not really educated, they're indoctrinated by the education machine. They don't understand that they are simply a victim of the educational "law of primacy," that whatever they hear first they believe.
This is another insane example of why I don't want the government involved in my life.
Under which rock did these morons crawl out from? It's a once a week event to drink cola at a football game at most….is that dangerous? The panty-waisted idiots in Maine must think so, otherwise they'd have never elected/selected this Chanda Turner idiot. (Anyone know if she has anything more than a 4year degree as a shit-stirring vegan nut case? Is she fat?
Well that is pretty stupid…
Well that is pretty stupid…
Sounds like it's time to have a few beers at the game! Bet they change their mind quick!
Man, how disgusting. Wonder when their sales drop about 90% will they cave in and allow people to buy what they want? This is just too much control! Yes America does not eat real healthy, but that is not the root problem! No exercise, starting at school age, too much computers, games, movies and sedentary jobs. We need activities, bring back PE, intramural games, start Zumba for after school and have companies enlarge areas for exercise! Geez! Instead of saying your kid is not going to work the melon fields or corn fields let them work! It's good for them. Instead of them riding in transportation everywhere have them walk or bike it. Don't turn on the TV before 8:00 in the evening. Our schools, gov't, and insurance companies should not be telling us what we can and cannot eat or do, instead encourage and find solutions to the root of the problem!
There is seriously something wrong with the people on here. I teach high school, and my high school also stopped selling soft drinks and sugary drinks. I have so many overweight students, it really is an epidemic. I guess we could do one of to things, we could encourage a healthy eating lifestyle, and ban these unhealthy drinks and foods. The other option is the republican way, blame liberals for taking the ability to be a fat pig away from young kids, blame congress, blame Obama, blame everyone but the parents for allowing these kids to do whatever they want. These comments here are truly scary. Republicans are out of touch with this country. There's a reason democrats control the executive and have the legislative branch, republicans aren't wanted anymore. Look at Akin, reinforcing the right winged ideology that women shouldn't have control of their own bodies. How can any republican even claim to be so with a straight face? The base of their party is the solid south, and guess which states of the United States are consistently ranked the least educated….wait for it….all the southern states! Your base is the most uneducated in the entire country. You got the hillbillies, rednecks, racists, homophobes, xenophobes, oh yeah, and Christians……Ha!
The liberal Nazis strike again. It's interesting how the electorate are never allowed to have a say in the implementation of these ridiculous restrictions. As a high school teacher, I can confirm that rewarding students who perform well on a test with a "special walk with their teacher" is the most idiotic idea I've ever heard. Any student would laugh at such a proposal. The stupidity of Obama's America is simultaneously amazing and terrifying. Furthermore, I find it interesting that this was labeled "pro-family". I remember when that phrase once described people who were pro-life and pro-traditional marriage. Funny, how the language has changed.
I'm speechless………no I'm not…..this is just fucked up.
Fathom the hypocrisy. Some people are all over the woman who won't sell marshmallow pies at a farmers market to people using food stamps for just this reason and the press is bothering her with racial epithets and make her feel ashamed. Meanwhile go buy a giant gulp in new York or happy meal in San Fran
God, I am so sick of liberals and their "we know what's best for everybody", BS. 10 year-old children who know-it-all. That's what they remind me of.
Food Nazi…what's next? Filtered water instead of natural spring water… stop the nonsense!
Stop going to games for a season and see what happens…come on 'Americans' stop being such sissies
Let's see how long it takes them to change their minds when they start losing money!
It's so crazy, I work in a school cafeteria and everyone thinks school lunch is making kids obese, we have low fat, all wheat bread, salads and veggies everyday and just a few steps away we have four vending machines with candy and honey buns and four soda machines…IT'S CRAZY!!!!!!!
We didn't have this problem with school food when we were kids. No one wants to put the blame where it needs to go, on the parents. They need to make their kids get out and play and not sit on their fat asses inside all day!
I swear liberals are the biggest @$$holes I've ever seen. First to cry tolerance, last to forgive. First to cry open mindedness, first to try and shove a belief down your throat.
with a menu like that being proposed…………the stands will be EMPTY.
NOW…I've heard it all! It is insane to think if you don't sell any item you are forcing someone to eat healthy! When will the madness end!
OMG when is it going to end. Now we can't drink or eat what we want are you kidding me. We all make choices in life and we have to live with those choices.
I swear liberals are the biggest @$$holes I've ever seen. First to cry tolerance, last to forgive. First to cry open mindedness, first to try and shove hummus down your throat.
1938 Germany again! Kill the left, not just defeat them. "Liberalism is a mental disorder."
my community would ban together and boycott all games where the school dictates what is sold!
What the booster clubs and organizations can do is set up a fundraiser "tailgate" in close proximity to the school/stadium and everyone can eat before they get there. You would have to buy the water because most high school events won't let you bring "outside" food/drink. But there is NO WAY that I would buy ANY food! When they have to start throwing the junk away because nobody wants it, then you go to a school board meeting to discuss the waste. If the school is providing/buying what is sold in the concession stand it is YOUR tax dollars and YOU have a right to say something. (Side note: wonder how much of the "cabbage sloppy joes" were trashed at the WH today?)
OMG! Could we just get back to letting kids live normally. I mean, really………a coke, chips or whatever at a football game? Come….on….people! This is just too much cramming down our throats. Whether local or federal, too much of that the past 4 yrs. Enough. I grew up in the 60's, and none of that hurt any of us.
ROFL. This administrator is a friggin' retard. Thank god I'm finished with our educational system. Idiots.
I'm glad you're done with it too. Doesn't sound like you learned anything, though.
They'll be back when the money falls off. Usually schools use the money for expenses for clubs and such. Ours was used for the quarterback club who bought equipment for the players and actually set up their weight room.
I see someone brilliant coming up with a vending truck ACROSS from the football field and scoring big selling the food people WANT to eat instead of hummus…
Fire all of the staff that has more than five percent body fat for setting bad examples for their students!
They shouldnt get fired for that. They need someone like me-a motivational speaker who has been there to kick their asses in gear!
I am concerned that Schools, not Parents, have become empowered to dictate what our Children can/can not eat or drink. One size does not fit all and I had no restraints when I was growing up. We are developing a Nation of Wimp's and it time for the Uber Left to get out of our lives.
I am concerned that Schools, not Parents, have become empowered to dictate what our Children can/can not eat or drink. One size does not fit all and I had no restraints when I was growing up. We are developing a Nation of Wimp's and it time for the Uber Left to get out of our lives.
Come on, I agree that making high school kids eat hummus is a littly silly, but American Children do need a healthy diet, and most sodas have anywhere between 30-55 grams of sugar, and chips and snacks in vending machines are not healthy at all, they cause obesity, diabetes, heck they can cause heart attacks from clogged vesels, However, just mandating this so fast and completly taking everything away is silly, and will proably never work.
People have a right to make there OWN decisions, right or wrong thats freedom. Its when people begin to make decisions for you that our freedom & liberty are stolen from us. I cannot fathom the arrogance someone must have to think that they can live your life better than you. People don't get it has nothing to do with healthy or not food, is has to do with personal choice and individual freedom.
okay mike i can agree with you on that, it should be the parents that take the responsibility of what their chldren eat or not. But other freddoms have been chosen for us, gun control, bans on which animals we can and can not own, taking away the freedom of speech with what we post on here being used against us, mandating that all employers provide health care and birthcontrol, heck i think i should be able to choose what my tax $ go to
No argument hear, just add this to the list. When you can't smoke, can't drink what you want, can't have too much sugar, can't have too much fat, can't say what you feel, can't defend yourself with your second amendment, can't smoke in a park, can't choose what taxes your money goes towards, can't travel freely, can't speed on highway your money paid for, can't do what you want with your body, can't immigrate here even legally if you want, can't…..can't…… can't list is nearly endless, this is where it started with a coke cola at a kids school. It snowballs, into less freedom every day, less choices, and more people that feel they can run your life better than you. The government takes money from your check before you get paid, when you succeed they tax you when you fail they don't bail you out. Its not greedy to want to keep your money, its greedy to want to take someone else money. Its not wrong to want to run your life, its wrong for any government to want to dictate your life. Government doesn't just want your money, they want your voice, your choice, your decisions, your life. This is the America our parents and grandparents built? this is best our generation can do? We should be ashamed, this is the problem with America little things like this.
freaking morons..this would not be allowed in the South, but the pc idiots will love it.
Wow, all of you right-wingers suddenly become libertarians when you can't constantly gorge on cola and cupcakes. You all would be up in arms if the school district started selling kids beer or cigarettes or porn to raise funds. The reasoning is the same; schools should not be in the business of facilitating behaviors detrimental to the health of the students.
You all might take a look at a map of obesity as a function of year and state:
http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html
Such B/S…Just another example of when the government gets involved in anything…..IT SCREWS IT UP! Better wake up people and take this country back.
Yeah I can here it now…..Hey son, go get me some hummas before the game starts. NOT
Hey now…I like hummus…haha!
You goofy thing ACCK
You goofy thing ACCK
what took it's place? Beer?
Juice
Juice
ok, I feel better!
ok, I feel better!
Lynne can you imagine going to an MHS game and ordering Hummus, fruit and juice….NO POPCORN, NO CHIPS and no COKE. Truly this had to come from the land of the fruits and the nuts from CA!
Lynne can you imagine going to an MHS game and ordering Hummus, fruit and juice….NO POPCORN, NO CHIPS and no COKE. Truly this had to come from the land of the fruits and the nuts from CA!
Oh no you did not just go there, Kathy! The least you could do is "bless my heart" after a comment like that. Isn't that the southern way to be able to say what you want about someone
Oh no you did not just go there, Kathy! The least you could do is "bless my heart" after a comment like that. Isn't that the southern way to be able to say what you want about someone
Such B/S…Just another example of when the government gets involved in anything…..IT SCREWS IT UP! Better wake up people and take this country back.
Yeah I can here it now…..Hey son, go get me some hummas before the game starts. NOT
I am not opposed to hummus, I actually love it, but I just can't see a bunch of good ol' boys at a football game snacking on hummus and air popped popcorn. What are they going to attack next? Movie theaters? "Hey mom can I get rice cakes and wheat germ juice?" Come on, cupcakes and pizza and soda are TREATS; that's why they make special foods for special places that you don't normally eat every day.
I am not opposed to hummus, I actually love it, but I just can't see a bunch of good ol' boys at a football game snacking on hummus and air popped popcorn. What are they going to attack next? Movie theaters? "Hey mom can I get rice cakes and wheat germ juice?" Come on, cupcakes and pizza and soda are TREATS; that's why they make special foods for special places that you don't normally eat every day.
Attending a game, laughing with the crowd at the concession, and buying an apple or hummus. Yea, can't wait!
The school system officials should be the first in line at the concession, march on field at halftime, and declare "we love you, this is SOOO good for you."
OMG. Okay, no soda in the school during school. Feeble but ineffective attempts @ healthier school lunches. But humus @ a ball game? No soda? String freaking cheese? HUMUS? Tortilla chips, okay, but all the other, I think whomever is in charge of the school systems (and this would mean many local boards) have absolutely gone over the edge with this crap. Even the PRESIDENT, for pete's sake, and his "eat healthy" wife eat game day foods on game day—Don't see any humus and string cheeses on those menus. And, the food police probably don't go to or watch ball games, so what the heck do they know?
Are you crying over a little spilt humus?
HUMMUS? Give me a freaking break! This is a football snackbar, not a Happy Hour! It is up to individual parents to determine what to feed their kids, NOT the bleeding government! That includes high fat, Kosher, vegan, or any other diet. BY the PEOPLE, FOR the PEOPLE does NOT mean that the Party Members get to dictate all aspects of daily life! Simple law of supply and demand here: DO NOT BUY, and they will stop serving it. Key to change: VOICE YOUR OPPOSITION.
Let these idiots know what you think of them. Here is the idiots website.
http://www2.portlandschools.org/district-wellness
Go there and click "send a comment". Blast these idiots with every swear word you can think of. They deserve no respect what-so-ever.
I would tell them to go straight to heck! I would make sure everyone boycotted their so called snack bar, and would no longer bought food or drink from the school! I would have every child bring their own lunch and coke in a thermos! If they get them back where it counts in the pocket book then they will change their tune! If they want to raise their own kids on hummus and tofu, that is their choice, but don't shove your extreme BS down the throats of everyone else! What the heck are they going to do, when our young girls and boys become anorexic? What then! Liberals are nothing this then power hungry self righteous, mentally ill arseholes!
I completely agree, except I plan to put crack in my kids' lunches. The gummint can't tell me what to do.
Like the sarcasm, I also sent a e-mail to the Portland board of superintendence!This is an issue I think that needs to fought, because they are over stepping their boundaries!! They take away this,then it will be something else, and the evil road of liberalism is laid!! You would of thought they would of learned from California, Liberals will ruin your state,if they are allowed to!
Who decided these fools should make rules for the rest of us. That's the problem with liberals! They want to control every aspect of our lives. Live the way you want to stay the hell away from me!
What the hell!!!!
What the hell!!!!
I want to tell them, "just go away! But before you go away, pour me a nice, refreshing Diet Coke!"
I want to tell them, "just go away! But before you go away, pour me a nice, refreshing Diet Coke!"
Other fools.
Obviously Portland schools have plenty of money, unlike school systems in the south, where funds from concessions help fund athletic programs. Must be nice.
They are not making rules for you. You can buy and drink all the cola you want. You just can't force the government to provide it for you. The schools are making choices regarding which refreshments to provide based on health considerations.
And I seriously doubt you would allow me to live the way I want. Can I grow opium and pot and then smoke it all? Can I have a heroin vending machine? Can I run a brothel? Right wingers are often libertarians on guns and cola, but conveniently forget this philosophy when it comes to other areas.
Unlike most people commenting here, I am actually from Portland, Maine. I went camping two weeks ago. At the time, I thought that was a very American activity, but in our cooler we brought (gasp!) hummus. Now I wonder if my camping trip wasn't just another liberal socialist plot to destroy America.
No one says you can't drink your own Coca-Cola. But please admit it isn't healthy, and stop getting upset if a school hundreds or thousands of miles away doesn't want to sell diabetes to children.