Introduction

Obesity is a problem in Canada$-$this is indisputable But how far should the war against obesity go before it starts to cause new problems? This piece, published in the Globe and Mail on September $18,2014,$ was written by Leah McLaren. It documents an example of the adverse effects when the war against obesity goes too far

"Banning Junk Food hy Leah McLaren

You may have heard of Keenan Shaw, the $17-$year$-$old student at Winston Churchill High School in Lethbridge Alta, who got suspended this week for selling contraband soda pop on school property. This freckle$-$faced, glinty$-$eyed teenpreneur stocked his locker with a case of Pepsi, a beverage banned under the Lethbridge School District's new nutritional guidelines $($only diet pop is allowed$)$ Hawking his wares at an undisclosed markup. Shaw sold out in minutes and pocketed a tidy profit, only to pour it into more cases of pop, which he promptly sold the following day $[1]$

School administrators didn't think his enterprising scheme was so sweet. They gave Shaw a warning, and when he refused to heed it$,$ they suspended him. "I thought it was a joke. I didn't know they could suspend me for selling pop Shaw complained to a reporter after the fact. His mother was also indignant, saying that while she understood the need for rules, suspension seemed a bit harsh. Besides, she liked the idea of her son "being an entrepreneur $[2]$

Bracketing for a moment the fact that actively praising your child in public for selling banned substances probably isn't the wisest parenting strategy let's look at what's actually going on here. For as long as I can remember, high school cafeterias were essentially the nutritional equivalent of a red light district$-$scary buffets of Tater Tots, gravy fries and quivering Jello bowls, with an obligatory platter of overripe, untouched fruit at the cash$$register$[3]$