The 8 Worst Snacks That Teenagers Eat At High School

As a public school teacher I have a bird’s eye view of the type of food our lovely adolescents indulge in on a daily basis.   More so given I am the medical teacher!  In the introductory medical class, we spend several weeks on proper nutrition, clean eating, awareness of food toxins, and all the other fundamental principles we espouse at Naturopathic Earth.

A few of the kids already come armed with that knowledge.  While some of them listen and begin to make incremental changes to their diet as well as endeavor to cajole their parents into enacting sound nutritional changes, most don’t.  All realize the Standard American Diet (SAD) pushed on Americans is utter garbage.  But the step from “knowing” this fact to enacting personal change is difficult for some.   Alas, for every student who comes in eating almond butter with apples, most continue to eat the same garbage as they did at the beginning of the year.  Lord knows I did when I was in high school.

When I was in school, food was not allowed in the classroom or hallways. Solely at lunch or prior/after school could you eat but never in the classrooms was this allowed.  Though this is the official policy at most public schools, eating in the hallways and classrooms is very common.

So in honor of this self-sabotaging feat, I would like to offer the 8 worst snacks that teenagers eat in my class on a daily basis that are derailing any attempt at proper nutrition.

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Sports Drinks

In my youth energy drinks like Gatorade were only seen on the practice fields of our various high school sports teams.  Prior to that most coaches and trainers just gave athletes water mixed with a little salt to balance the electrolytes.  In the 1980s Gatorade made the big push into the hearts and minds of our adolescents that they should be drinking these drinks at all times not just after 2-a-day football practices.  Michael Jordan and other athletes were paid well to push this idea.

What do you see today?  Kids walking the hallways drinking this toxic, fluorescent drink nonstop.  They drink them for taste and not for need.  What is the problem with sports drinks?  Sugar, food dyes, and until recently they put Bromiated Vegetable Oil (BVO) into them, a known toxic flame retardant chemical, which as been banned in Europe for some time.  The FDA here designated it as GRAS (Generally regarded as safe), but recently has pulled that designation away.  Mountain Dew and other products still contain it.  And of course the cherry on top is that they are encased in plastic.

{Read our articles on plastics and BPA.}

Takeaway:  Even if you are an athlete stay away from Sports Drinks.  They are rotten to the core and do not provide any nutritional value whatsoever.  Plus they are loaded with toxins.

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Coffee Drinks

Another seismic paradigm shift in teenage habits is coffee.  In my youth coffee drinking was only done by adults.  And to be fair, back in the 80s, it was nasty instant coffee mixed with preservative-laden creams and artificial sweetener packets.  With the arrival of Starbucks in the 90s, the marketing of coffee switched from adults to teenagers.  And why not?  Teens arguably need caffeine as much as adults.  The clever marketing change by Starbucks and others was to make coffee sweeter and more dessert-like.  Hence the Frappuccinos, smoothies, and alike.  Now kids come to school with either a fresh Starbucks-sweetened coffee in hand or the bottled varieties.

Is there some value in coffee?  Of course, coffee beans are a superfood which boast a variety of phytonutrients, antioxidants, and alike.  They enhance cognition, memory, cardiovascular health and metabolism.  The main issue with coffee is not the coffee per se, but they way it is addled by the sweeteners, artificial flavorings, dyes, and alike.  For example, take a look at this link which demonstrates what is really in a Pumpkin Spice Latte.

Takeaway:  I mention to my students the sound benefits of the Arabica bean, but I think most of them see that as an endorsement to continue drinking flavored coffee drinks!  I exhort them to try more keto-friendly Bulletproof Coffee and encourage them to give it a chance.  (When done well, these drinks are tastier than the Starbucks concoctions.) I also suggest they just drink standard black coffee.  They give me the look of disdain!

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Sweet Tea

We have talked plenty in past articles of the benefit of the Camellia Sinensis plant, the plant which provides the “Colored Teas” of White, Black, and Green.  (Not to give a downgrade to the variety of herbal teas since they are beneficial as well.) Tea is a “Superdrink” which provides many of the same benefits mentioned with coffee beans above.  As many of you know, I drink 3-4 cups of Green and/or White Tea a day.  As with many things, Big Food goes and ruins a good thing by adulterating it.

We have a contest in my class in which the student who brings in the food or drink with the highest amount of sugar per serving earns extra credit for the upcoming test.  More often than not the bottled, sweetened teas sold by Arizona, Honest, Lipton finish near the top. (The winner is typically Fanta which may boast 80-90 grams of sugar in one serving!) Either way, sweetened tea has enough sugar (typically in the form of High Fructose Corn Syrup) to put an elephant into a diabetic coma.

Takeaway: Develop a taste for unflavored tea (which to be fair many of my students do) or sweeten it responsibly. (Click here to see how.). When going to a fast food restaurant order the tea unflavored and then only add trace amounts of sugar.  Most sweetened tea at restaurants are overpoweringly sweet.  Tea in any form is such a weapon on our road to wellness.  Utilize it, but utilize it wisely.

{Read our article on the Review of Natural Sweeteners.}

{Read our article on the benefits of tea.}

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Flavored Chips

We had Cheetos, Doritos, and alike when I was a youth.  Their popularity today is not new.  Humans like that great combination of crunchy and salty with a little sweetness.  It merges perfectly with the bliss point of fat, sugar, and salt discussed in book Salt, Sugar, Fat: How Food Giants Hooked Us by Michael Moss.  (Click here to see it.)  But with all things recently, Big Food as amped up the taste on their chips to stratospheric heights.

Today, students’ most favorite chips tend to be Hot Cheetos, Takis, or anything that is loaded with spice.  What many people don’t know is that several European countries have attempted to ban these variety of chips due to complaints that high consumption of them has led to stomach ulcers, severe abdominal pain and MSG syndrome.  In truth the amount of transfers, sodium, and MSG in them is enough to cause my own neurons to explode just thinking of them.

Takeaway: Look, we all like a good chip here and there.  Moderation is the key.  Opt away from the flavored chips loaded with acrylamide and MSGs, and choose organic blue corn tortilla chips, kale chips, or other healthier alternatives.

{Read our article on how to purge your pantry of toxic “Frankenfoods.”}

{Read our article on the problem with MSGs.}

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Packaged Pastries

In my youth, Ding-Dongs, Twinkies, and Zingers were the snacks du jour.  Later in the health-fad “fat is bad” mindset of the 90s, fat-free pastries like Entenmanns were all the roar.  Students nowadays don’t seem to like the Hostess brands of packaged pastries as much.  Here in San Antonio, we see a lot of the Mexican brand Bimbo or Otis Spunkmeyer. 

The main issue with most pastries is that they are not only loaded with 300 forms of sugar, but feature trans fats in the form of partially hydrogenated vegetable oil as well as artificial sweeteners, inflammatory vegetable oils, and food dyes.  All of these are taxing on the liver, heart, and nervous system.  Not to mention they are high in empty calories.  To exacerbate this further, unlike fresh pastries, which feature many of the aforementioned, the packaged ones are teeming with preservative chemicals (e.g. potassium sorbate) to guarantee they stay fresh for the many months they are enclosed in that plastic vacuum.

Takeaway: Eat pastries sparingly.  But if you do eat them, try homemade muffins and alike where you can control the ingredients used.  With a couple of minor switches, you can bake a relatively health muffin.

{Try our muffin recipe!}

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Soda for Breakfast

Perhaps the most egregious of all “food sins.”  Students commonly will arrive at school with a “Big Gulp” size soft drink.  These “diabetes in a bottle” boast up to 400 calories and 100 grams of sugar in a serving.   Students ingesting this obscene amount of sugar so early on the morning sets them up to be overly agitated and hyperactive, followed by the inevitable somnolescent sugar crash…neither of which are conducive to learning.

Takeaway: The pernicious effects of soda has been well-told to the point that large cities are banning the “Big Gulp” servings from being offered at all.  Certainly don’t opt for the diet variety of these drinks since artificial sweeteners wreak absolute havoc not the body.  Strive to wean off of sodas entirely and perhaps switch to partially sweetened teas, kombucha, full fat milk, or best of all….water.

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Candies

On the test covering nutrition, I give the students 10 questions in which they have to tell me which of the two snacks presented is healthier for them.  One of the questions is “Chocolate Bar vs. Skittles.”  Though candy bars are full of the garbage we have mentioned previously in this article they do offer some nutrition in the form of proteins and fats.  The sugar-based candy (i.e. Skittles, gummy bears, Nerds, gumdrops et al) offer absolutely no nutrition.  They are in essence 3 different types of sugar mixed with food dyes, artificial flavorings and preservatives.

Takeaway: Limit your sugar-based candies.  They are the food equivalent of sodas.  Empty calories…

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Fast Food Takeout

A McDonald’s opened across the street from the previous high school in which I taught.  My current one has a newly opened pizza place and 3 taco shops.  It makes complete sense as a business owner to open eateries close to high schools. But as an educator or administrator at said school it is a bane.  Kids constantly come to school with various fast food meals.  Parents even will drop them off during class time.  And of course kids endeavor to sneak off campus during all periods to get the tasty, yet extremely harmful foods.

Takeaway: Fast food on occasion is okay, but as a parent and educator the omnipresence of fast food near a school is taxing not just for educators and administrators, but for the waistline and health of our kids.  I would plead these establishments not to build close to school, but we know that’s akin to asking a pedophile not to find children attractive.  It is in their nature!

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The honorable mentions of the 8 worst snacks that teenagers eat would include chocolate-covered fruit or nuts, candy bars, and cheese sticks, but those at least offer a modicum of nutrition, similar to candy bars.  As I mentioned earlier, not all students eat the aforementioned junk, but a large majority do.  Not surprisingly the rate of childhood obesity has grown exponentially.  Some of this rise might be attributed to genetics, a large part of it to extrinsic toxins (e.g. plastics, MSGs, and other obesogens), but the largest contribution to this rise are poor eating habits and emotional eating.

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As a former obese child, I understand the difficulties and stigma involved in childhood obesity. Listen to my Confessions of an Obese Child series.  But I also had the ability to lose the weight and keep it off for over 25 years.  If your child is in need of weight loss, consider hiring me as their Health Coach.  No health coach you encounter has that experience.  See Pricing Here.

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A. Gregory Luna

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