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A salad may be healthy - but it also may be pretty much iceberg lettuce which is then slathered with a dressing with more fat than Big Mac.
Kale and other greens may be healthy - but if 3 out of 4 kids simply won't eat them then you just wasted an enormous amount of kale and you have a pack of hungry kids making trouble in school.
Whole grains may be healthy - unless you believe in the Atkins school of dieting. A segment of society now considers carbs no better than poison.
Fish may be healthy - unless it has mercury.
There are many more.
Now let's test the junk food -
A burger or pizza may be junk food - but then again it's protein, grains, dairy, maybe some veg on top. Really? That's junk?
Fries or chips may be junk food - but they also may be just one part of a meal which otherwise is pretty healthy.
Soda may be junk food - but depending on which soda it may still be better for you than all the sugar in orange juice or all the hormones in non-organic milk.
Candy probably is junk food - unless it's dark chocolate, or more than half nuts.
And neither of these food categories take into account the exercise or lifestyle of the person eating them. The captain of the football team may eat tons of what you consider junk food but still burn it off on the field. The captain of the chess club may eat nothing but healthy foods but still be pasty with no muscle tone.
And then finally, there is a cost to putting the food choices out there. If a school offers more from the junk food side I listed than the health food side but by doing so they have enough funds to offer lunches to their poorest students free of charge then that's pretty good. But if instead it's all first rate organic healthy food but if you can't pay up you don't get to eat then you've basically put your richer kids on a weight loss diet and your poorer kids on a starvation diet. Then thanks for nothing.
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This type of food only becomes detrimental to health when eaten as a staple.
Of course regular exercise is also key to a healthy lifestyle.
Schools should definitely be promoting healthy lifestyle choices, but I firmly believe that the onus is on parents to instil into their children, a common sense approach to diet and fitness.
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What about low-income students?
If the school serve healthy food, they aren't forcing them to eat, they are presenting a choice.
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I would say these matters should be solved outside the school environment. For example, the government could issue food stamps for school students from families with income below a certain value. But even in this case, it is my firm belief that it should be up to the student what food to buy with those stamps. For example, the government could issue daily stamps worth $15, and the student would but whatever food he/she wants from the available menu with the stamps.
I understand the notion that it is better for the students to eat healthy food, and I understand that the taxpayers want their money to be used with the highest effectiveness - but at the same time, as a libertarian, I am strongly against such explicit incentivizing of the desired action.
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So your point is that we shouldn't have school lunches?
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No, my idea is that the school lunches are offered for sale, as in any conventional cafe or restaurant, and when needed, the government provides coverage for those lunches to the students from poor families. The advantage of the system I am suggesting is that the freedom of choice is not taken away from the students, while the needing students still receive the help they need.
On the other hand, forcing all students to eat healthy food only, whether at the taxpayer's or their families' expense, is contrary to the spirit of this country, in my opinion.
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