Nutrition

The other day I was half listening to the national news and one line caught my attention. “...the recommendations for nutritional school lunches are being turned down due to cost.” I wanted a rewind which did not happen but my mind kicked into gear with thoughts, questions, and argument.
My first thought was the idea that we are a nation of unhealthy eaters. This led to many more thoughts including the amount of people who are encouraging healthy living and that this nation is looking for ways to reduce health costs. One of our First Lady’s initiatives has been the idea of healthy eating, healthy body- reducing and preventing childhood obesity. There are currently medical shows and reality shows that encourage developing positive eating habits or work at exposing the difficulties in health, mental health, and the fight/struggle to reduce obesity. Daily we are inundated with weight loss programs. And last week we were all introduced to a very user friendly plate that is a guide to balanced eating.
Lots of implications relating to education came into my mind concerning nutrition. For many children the school lunch is the only or largest meal of the day. With the current economy there are many children on free or reduced lunch programs in public schools. Shouldn’t it be a tasty nutritiously balanced meal? The lunch program in elementary schools is where some children develop their food tastes as well as seeing a variety and what portions are appropriate. I see school lunch programs as an opportunity for paying forward and developing healthy eating habits and attitudes. For the child that brings a packed lunch it is the same situation. What is in that lunch is important to that child. A question running through my head was how much of a money maker is the lunch program for school districts?
Just an aside, there are many and a variety of lessons and educational experiences that could be part of the many areas of curriculum involved with what a child is eating and health.
We as educators see how food choices affect our children during the school day. Elementary educators will tell you a healthy breakfast gives students the advantage. We notice that students with a healthy breakfast start the school day being more alert, more focused, more positive, and more ready to work than the child who didn’t start with a nutritional breakfast (and a good night’s sleep). Many educators could share stories of children whose days were affected by what they ate not just whether a breakfast was eaten.
After lunch there are days when the children are not as focused; downright cranky, or lethargic and not ready to go forward with a continuation of their academic day. I wonder how often that is directly related to the nutrition in the lunch?
Medically we need to be looking at the fact that many of our children are overweight, or suffer from malnutrition, and some are dealing with medical situations so well balanced meals are a must. As my dentist reminds me- the body is a closed system so what you feed it affects the entire system. Many of us have heard- “you are what you eat’’.
As a country we are looking for ways to reduce medical and insurance costs. We all know that our habits affect our bodies. This includes our nutrition. How often are the media sharing with us that eating this or that can affect the chances of various diseases?
It would seem to me a nutritious lunch at school and daycare might be an excellent way to start healthy eating habits, introduce a variety of foods, and affect long term mental and physical health. Obviously it would give many children that competitive edge everyone is looking for. Perhaps the overall health of the next generation could be better because we begin young to help each child to gain knowledge and take ownership and responsibility of food choices. Healthy living choices could become the norm for the majority. Let’s pay forward-that could lead to …………..