I was all set to speak at a couple of assemblies at Metro Christian Academy this week when news swept the campus that an 11th-grade student had died in a tragic car accident. Suddenly, there were more important things for the administration to deal with. Lauren Crawley, 16, died on Monday, February 11, and Metro Christian Headmaster Tom Cameron told the Tulsa World that Lauren was “devoted to her church doing missions work.”

As you would expect, her death cast a pall over the school. Instead of speaking at the school assemblies, the school invited any interested parents and teachers to meet with me regarding the Metro Health Initiative, which is a 12-week pilot program based on Perfect Weight America. Around 50 showed up this morning, and I spoke for 20 minutes and then took some questions. A handful of schoolchildren were there, too.

I have to hand it to Headmaster Tom Cameron and Dody Patrock, the Health and Safety Director, for spearheading the Metro Health Initiative at their school. They are trying to make some headway in conducting a “whole paradigm shift”—as Dody called it—in what students eat and how much they exercise. Three years ago, they started a “Respect Your Body” week to start the education process with the students, who, during puberty and rapid growth spurts, are getting interested in their bodies, wanting to get bigger and stronger . . . or thinner. The Metro Health Initiative does more than focus on the five meals that kids eat at school each week; we’re trying to get parents and children to focus on the 16 meals a week they eat at home.

Toward that end, the school is taking some active steps. The cafeteria asked the catering company that provides the midday lunch meal for the students and the staff to use whole-wheat bread, whole-wheat tortillas, and whole-wheat pasta. Spinach and other deep-greens are added to salads that are made predominantly with “head lettuce,” which is not so green and thus less nutritious. Fries are now served once a week; baked potato wedges on the other days. No more soda pop or boxed “fruit juice” drinks. Instead, the students and staff enjoy baked tilapia, whole-wheat lasagna, healthy soups, and delicious wraps. “If the kids want junk food, they have to bring it to school,” said Dody.

Metro Christian’s vending machines got a makeover as well. Banished were Coke and Pepsi; in were bottled water and bottles of 100-percent fruit juice. When I saw that some of the vending machines were selling healthy items like Clif bars, 100-percent fruit leathers, and healthy granola bars without hydrogenated oils, I donated a couple of boxes of Garden of Life Living Foods bars and Rainforest Cacao Chocolate to get them going. I hope they sell like the proverbial hotcakes.

Headmaster Tom Cameron told me that vending machines are a significant source of revenue at many schools these days. I wrote about this trend in my new book, The Great Physician’s Rx for Children’s Health. The money—which school districts use to purchase sports equipment or sponsor field trips—is what blinds school administrators into allowing vending machines that dispense Pepsi, Doritos, Skittles, and caffeinated soft drinks like Mountain Dew, Surge, Josta, and Jolt, which deliver a caffeine punch of 92 milligrams per twenty-ounce drink—the equivalent of a five-ounce up of brewed coffee. Caffeine causes nervousness, irritability, restlessness, and fidgetiness, which means that teachers must contend with caffeine-hopping kids in their classrooms. I view this as selling out our kids’ long-term health for short-term gain.

Fortunately, the pendulum is starting to swing the other way as school administrators add up 2 + 2: soda pop plus vending machines equals childhood obesity. In 2006, the William J. Clinton Foundation brokered a sweeping deal with Coke, Pepsi, Schweppes, and the American Beverage Association to sell only water, fruit juice, and low-fat milks in elementary and middle schools. Although commercial fruit juice and low-fat milk are problematic, at least some of the people in charge are recognizing an insidious problem on our school campuses. That’s why I salute Metro Christian for being pro-active with their vending machines and the meals being served in school cafeteria at lunchtime.