ColumnWhat if we saw snack foods for what they really are?

Cheese puffs, bags of mini chocolate chip cookies and caramel chocolate bars, that’s what good snacks are made of, right?

Of course we all know better than that, but if you were to take a look into the vending machines of most schools over the past few years, you might have thought otherwise. Companies spend around $149 million a year on marketing to kids in schools, most of it going to beverages. To change that, the Obama administration has implemented new rules in regards to food and advertising in schools, part of Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move initiative.

Part of it involves offering up healthier snack foods than the good ol’ regular vending machine options. The new USDA standards include limits on calories, sodium and sugar. Snack foods with grains must have at least 50 percent of whole grains, or have whole grains listed as the first ingredient. That means no more Frito-Lay’s Cheetos Oven Baked Flamin’ Hot Cheese Flavored Snacks and other assorted culinary fineries.

Ready for the really shocking result? Kids are not happy about it. “Michelle Obama is single-handedly ruining my life by changing school lunch and the vending machines,” tweeted a student, one of many complaints that students have been making online. Here are a few more gems from the Twitterverse:

“michelle obama killing me putting whole grain rice krispies treats in the vending machine this is unamerican and just plain cruel”

“Everytime I think of Michelle Obama taking away the good vending machine I just want to eat a big mac! #Youdontownmemichelle #takethat”

“Me and Michelle Obama gonna fight if I dont see chewy sweettarts in the vending machine tomorrow”

Yeah, she’s pretty terrible, that Obama lady. Who does she think she is trying to get you to eat more carrots? That’s just grotesque.

That kind of response is of course ridiculous, and I feel that the only real appropriate counter response to it is this amazing trailer for a fake film called Snackpocalypse.

Ah yes, the issue of snack foods turning kids into zombies.

But wait, that’s not really that absurd of a claim. After all, unhealthy snack foods affect our brains and our bodies. Too much sugar is linked to mental health problems and lethargy. It’s one of the most addictive substances out there – eight times more so than cocaine – and companies are happy to keep feeding it to us, putting us all into a sugar-dazed state. Sound like a zombie apocalypse yet?

Sure, snack foods high in fat and sugar aren’t going to turn you into a real zombie, but how they do make you feel isn’t that far off.

So good on Michelle Obama for working to tighten up nutritional guidelines, and for cracking down on food companies marketing to kids in school. Because if anything, we don’t need fewer guidelines, we need more. Pair that with better education about real food and you can be sure that we’ll be well on our way to avoiding the snackpocalypse.

Related on EcoSalon

20 Best Foods for Your Brain

Crispy Baked Carrot Chips Recipe

Improving the Food System and Fighting Obesity

This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’ weekly column at EcoSalon: Foodie Underground, an exploration of what’s new and different in the underground movement, and how we make the topic of good food more accessible to everyone. More musings on the topic can be found at www.foodieunderground.com.

Image: Phil Whitehouse

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Magda Rod recently took her LA boutique Visionary on the road.

We are a society used to getting immediate gratification so why wouldn’t we want clothing as quickly as we can get a Big Mac?

The shift in consumer desire to want more now has led us, over the years, to the current state: body care and electronics being sold in vending machines, a craving to know more about where your friends are 24/7 through social media and those energy drinks to help you move faster to get everything, you know…now.

Eco-designers and boutiques are not exempt from this Nowism.

From Pop-up shops in major cities where designers can have a temporary storefront (and for a short time only!) to Etsy sites (once scoffed at by many designers I know) to create limited editions with their end-run fabrics, the race is on.

These pop-ups offer what Trendwatching.com calls “temporary brand manifestations that add an element of surprise, urgency, and must-have/must-see to shopping, dining, entertaining, lodging, exhibiting and so on.”

And with this quest to quench the insatiable with what’s new NOW, we don’t have to wait until January to buy our spring dresses at our favorite boutique before they’re bought out. We can buy them now. We may even be able to ask the seller to modify them for us.

The lines have become blurred. What kind of an effect does this have on your own purchases where once you planned seasonally? And when it’s eco, immediately, how eco is it?

Some words of advice: With all that is Nowism being forced down your throat, keep yourself in check with what you really need despite the hype and yes, even the immediacy of the vending machine.

Can you imagine designers promoting something like pencil skirts in all sizes in a machine in your city? Would you buy one?

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