This Junk-Food-Funded Elementary School Curriculum Is Bonkers
Kids are learning that they can exercise away Big Macs and Pepsis. Scientists beg to differ.
At elementary schools nationwide, a health curriculum called Energy Balance 101 has taught millions of kids a seemingly simple concept: In order to stay fit, all we need to do is balance the food we eat with exercise. In the first lesson, elementary schoolers learn that anything and everything takes energy, from playing sports to doing homework. Teachers are instructed to ask how much you would need to eat or drink in order "balance shooting baskets for 30 minutes." Calories in, calories out.
Sensible enough, right? But there's something odd about the curriculum: Not once does it suggest ditching junk food—in fact, the lesson plan explicitly says, "There are no good foods or bad foods!"
This approach isn't surprising when you consider the source. The class is part of a program called Together Counts. That program is wholly funded by a group called the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation—which is in turn run and bankrolled by junk food corporations. Indra Nooyi, CEO of PepsiCo, is the chair of the board, and directors include the CEOs of Kellogg, Hershey, Nestle USA, Coca-Cola, Unilever, Smucker, and General Mills. The organization's mission, according to tax filings, is "to help families and schools reduce obesity—especially childhood obesity."
The first presentation for Energy Balance 101 for students between third and fifth grades.
In addition to schools, the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation, which has an annual budget of about $10 million, funds energy balance programs for a wide variety of organizations, including the Girl Scouts, the National Parent Teacher Association, and the National Head Start Association. A Boy Scouts program is in the works. Moms are sponsored to blog about the benefits of the energy balance programs. In all, HWCF estimates that 28 million students from pre-K through fifth grade have taken part in the program, as well as another 1.7 million Girl Scouts. (Girl Scouts maintains that the curriculum was introduced as a "short term...optional activity" and is "not a part of any national programing.")
Together Counts isn't the only energy balance campaign supported by junk-food companies. Earlier this year, Coca-Cola came under scrutiny after the New York This Junk-Food-Funded Elementary School Curriculum Is Bonkers | Mother Jones:
