Philly schools efforts cut fat kid rates in half

Common sense things like no candy, replacing sodas with fruit juice and a heavy educational component make some big changes in fat kid rates.

I did have to laugh out loud at the following:

For the study, changes were made to the food in vending machines or the cafeteria in five of the schools. Juice, water and low-fat milk replaced sodas. Snacks had to meet limits for fat, salt and sugar. Students who ate healthy snacks got raffle tickets to win prizes such as bikes and jump ropes.

"We found when you give children healthy choices, they pick them," said Grace McGinley, school nurse at Francis Hopkinson School, one of the test schools.

No, Nurse McGinley. You found that when you took away all bad choices that the kids got healthier. This wasn't a matter of kids choosing healthy foods over junk food.

Jeez. Even when the evidence is right there in front of them they insist upon casting it completely incorrectly.

Don't get me wrong: This is great news, and there should never be soda and junk food sold in elementary schools. But let's not cast this as some kind of "choice" by the kids.