Food — it remains a necessity in every teenager’s life. Vending machines hold the key to curb your midday hunger. So why have they abandoned them at Lawrence High?

Health guidelines prohibit the sale of soft drinks, fruit drinks with minimal nutritional value and sports drinks anywhere in school buildings or on school campus. This rule restricts the food we eat at school but does not eliminate vending machines all together. With changes, students could benefit from healthy options in vending machines.

Food typically harbored in vending machines is unhealthy. The National Institutes of Health conducted a test to examine the association between the items sold in school vending machines and the dietary behavior of students. The results concluded that school vending machines had either a positive or negative effect on the students’ dietary habits. This depended on what they sold.

This study also proved that vending machines hold a major part of supporting healthy eating habits in teenagers. The machines can potentially better students’ diets.

Junior Kassidy Husted would like the vending machines to return. She used the vending machines at least once a week last year and said healthier choices like Chex Mix and fruit snacks were satisfying. She added that vitamin water is great opposed to soda. The disappearance of the vending machines left Husted as well as other students baffled.

“I don’t get why they are gone,” she said. “It’s sad because when I’m hungry during the day, I can’t get anything.”

Last year, sophomore Cierra Hollins used the vending machines “like every passing period,” she said.

“I’m really hungry now,” Hollins said. “It affects my mood. I can’t focus.”

Vending machines benefit students in several ways. As Hollins said, it prevents hunger. With a snack in her system, she focuses on school work — not her rumbling stomach. Husted found the vending machines convenient because she didn’t have to go somewhere else when she is in need of a snack.

“If I had to wait after school for my mom to come get me, I could grab a snack if I was hungry,” Husted said. “It’s also cheap.”

Healthy snacks also benefit athletes. After school they could get snacks or vitamin water before practice. Nobody should go through a tough practice on an empty stomach. People need food to fuel their bodies.

While vending machines appear to be one of the reason for poor eating habits in teens, the food choices remain the issue — not the machines. As long as they contain healthy options, vending machines can be a strong benefactor in influencing better eating habits. Re-instating the vending machines would help students to control their hunger and could lead them to healthier eating habits.