The health and wellness of America’s youths are questionable at best, thanks to more time spent in front of the television, less spent in gym class and food choices that don’t make the situation any better.

The Des Moines Independent Community School District is going after the issue with a series of new nutrition standards intended to not only meet U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines, but go beyond that to encourage students to make healthy food and beverage choices among students during the school day.

“Part of it is a shock to begin to think about changing a paradigm,” said Teresa Nece, director of food services for the district. “But it’s the right thing to do.”

But with the looming threat that vending restrictions will limit revenues from vending machine sales, not everyone in the district is 100 percent behind the plan.

Under the proposal, which will likely be presented to the school board Tuesday for review and come up for a vote Oct. 4, foods and beverages sold individually at elementary schools would be limited to low-fat and non-fat milk, fruits, 100 percent juice drinks, non-fried vegetables and healthy, age-appropriate food items.

Middle school and high school students could not purchase soft drinks, fruit-based drinks with caloric sweeteners or fruit-based drinks with less than 30 percent fruit juice. Individually sold food items will be subject to restrictions based on fat and fat calories, sugars and sodium, and at least two fruits and/or non-fried vegetables must offered for sale at every vending machine site. Portion sizes will also be limited.

“As a committee, I think we concluded that we wanted to make sure we were offering healthy choices to students,” said Marc Ward, a Des Moines School Board member and chair of the district’s policy committee. “Diet is import to education and having the right frame of mind in the classroom, and it carries into adulthood as well.”

But Ward acknowledges concerns from some in the district over the monetary costs that could follow these policy changes. Schools nationwide generate revenues from vending machine sales and often receive rights fees from vending companies in exchange for exclusive contracts.

Connie Cook, principal of Hoover High School, said those financial consequences, and their effect on students, must be taken into consideration as the board considers these policy changes.

Two years ago, Hoover made the move to shut off most of its vending machines during the school day, making them available to students only before and after school.

“We lost over $1,000 a month in revenue, which is used for all things that directly benefit students,” Cook said. The school now brings in approximately $1,500 to $2,000 a month in vending machine revenues. In the past, those funds have replaced the $12,000-apiece scoreboards used year-round by school teams and community organizations.

Not only have revenues dropped, but fewer vending companies are willing to fund big-ticket items in exchange for exclusive contracts with individual schools.

“We support the interest in nutrition and in trying to get kids to select healthier snacks,” Cook said. “However, you have to balance that with the fact that after school is over, kids can go make their choices anywhere and will. Hopefully we can convince kids to be better users of those products, but you still have to give kids choices and mold them to make the right choices rather than remove the choices and think that’s going to teach them something.”

Hoover has raised the cost of pop in its vending machines, and machines that dispense water, juice and healthy snacks will be left on throughout the school day “because we can’t continue to lose $1,000 a month,” Cook said.

But Nece said Des Moines is not the first school district to consider these changes, and that nationwide research supports a change in nutritional guidelines.

“There are other school districts that have done this, and there are states with far more restrictive guidelines,” she said. “They are making money, and more money than they did before.”