SUPERMARKETGURU FOOD &
HEALTH WEEKLY NEWSFLASH!
Want Healthy Kids? Feed Them
Published on: July 18, 2003by Ali Moss
In an effort to curb the ever-rising weight of America's youth, health agencies and school systems across the nation have begun to create programs for toddlers through teens that teach nutrition, exercise, and even use counseling in an effort to turn kids into healthy, weight-conscious citizens. Yet as noble and well thought-out as these methods are, no kiddie yoga or "body recognition" class can take the place of Mom and Dad. Additionally, anyone who's attended high school lately - and more recently middle school - knows that obesity is not the only weight problem plaguing our children. While teaching our kids to take responsibility for their own health might help, from the point of view of someone not so far from their own childhood, such instruction is more likely to amplify the already existing body image problems that lead to obesity's extreme opposite.
Children shouldn't be taught to consciously eat healthily, the responsibility is too large. Childhood is not meant to be spent thinking about jogging and calories. Rather, parents should feed their children healthy, balanced meals so that eating healthily is something subconscious. Because I was always taught to eat fruits and vegetables along with proteins and carbs at every meal, I don't have to think, "Gee, I should really eat a salad this time." Instead, I just know that I just feel like eating a salad or chicken with my pasta. Thus, eating healthily isn't something that I associate with counting calories or anything that really stresses me out, it's something that just comes naturally. Programs that teach kids what to eat and when to exercise aren't going to help because it's neither natural nor effective for kids to worry.
Schools are not, however, off the hook. Even at my well-funded high school in a relatively health conscious community, students who choose to buy cafeteria food are literally unable to purchase a healthy meal. Schools shouldn't outlaw junk food all together, because that will just make kids gorge on it later, but healthy options such as fruit, yogurt, salad bar fare, sandwiches, and other non-fried foods need to be made available. No matter how much we can teach children about eating well, if lunch choices are pizza, fries, cookies, or popcorn chicken, nobody's going to be losing weight.
The idea is, healthy habits start at home and are perpetuated at school. Kids learn from example, and if they are literally conditioned to eat well, they might eat too many cookies every once in a while, but they'll know to follow them with some broccoli or wash them down with some apple juice.