Are schools doing enough to promote and educate students on healthy living?
Schools have started to promote and pay more attention to nutrition and healthy living. There are now guidelines for school health programs to promote lifelong healthy eating. The eating and exercise habits that a child has, are similar to the lifestyle they will have as adults; therefore, the choices that the child makes are of great importance. Having policies, programs, and guidelines sets a standard for the schools to follow. Taking soda out of vending machines and replacing it with healthier options is something that is becoming very popular for schools. Removing greasy food and putting foods that a healthier in its place is another great idea that is taking over. Schools are also making nutrition lessons part of the material taught in classrooms. Educating children about healthy foods and lifestyles, and what can happen when a person isn't following the lifestyle are ways to get children to want to become healthy.
But is all of this enough? Some say yes, while others say no.
Some people think that it still isn't enough because the issue is still huge. Obesity continues to be a problem for children and adults alike. There is clearly a lot being done, and everything that is in place now, continues to be improved each year. I think that although there is always room for improvement, schools are taking huge steps and doing their part with these programs and actions. What more can they really do to be more effective? They have programs and guidelines in place. They are educating people on the importance of a healthy life, while taking the bad food options out of the school. The only thing that I could see them doing more of, is just continuing to improve the standards already in place and keep going with the nutrition lessons.
I chose this topic because I teach nutrition lessons to children at my after school program. They love to learn about nutrition and healthy living. They are very engaged in the activities and participate so much in discussions. I can tell that they learn about it in school because some information is review for them! That is just so great to me and I feel like they are really understanding the information that is given to them. I give them a "weekly challenge" for homework and they love to tell me all about how it went for them. The challenges are just things such as watering down juices, eating less meat and more vegetables, walking up and down the stairs 3 times before going to a different floor of the house, and more. They tell me about how their family gets involved or that they continued to do the task even after the week was through!
This is what the new "food pyramid" looks like!
Where I found the image:
http://www.choosemyplate.gov/
Where I found my information:
http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/
http://www.asfsa.org/
Schools have started to promote and pay more attention to nutrition and healthy living. There are now guidelines for school health programs to promote lifelong healthy eating. The eating and exercise habits that a child has, are similar to the lifestyle they will have as adults; therefore, the choices that the child makes are of great importance. Having policies, programs, and guidelines sets a standard for the schools to follow. Taking soda out of vending machines and replacing it with healthier options is something that is becoming very popular for schools. Removing greasy food and putting foods that a healthier in its place is another great idea that is taking over. Schools are also making nutrition lessons part of the material taught in classrooms. Educating children about healthy foods and lifestyles, and what can happen when a person isn't following the lifestyle are ways to get children to want to become healthy.
But is all of this enough? Some say yes, while others say no.
Some people think that it still isn't enough because the issue is still huge. Obesity continues to be a problem for children and adults alike. There is clearly a lot being done, and everything that is in place now, continues to be improved each year. I think that although there is always room for improvement, schools are taking huge steps and doing their part with these programs and actions. What more can they really do to be more effective? They have programs and guidelines in place. They are educating people on the importance of a healthy life, while taking the bad food options out of the school. The only thing that I could see them doing more of, is just continuing to improve the standards already in place and keep going with the nutrition lessons.
I chose this topic because I teach nutrition lessons to children at my after school program. They love to learn about nutrition and healthy living. They are very engaged in the activities and participate so much in discussions. I can tell that they learn about it in school because some information is review for them! That is just so great to me and I feel like they are really understanding the information that is given to them. I give them a "weekly challenge" for homework and they love to tell me all about how it went for them. The challenges are just things such as watering down juices, eating less meat and more vegetables, walking up and down the stairs 3 times before going to a different floor of the house, and more. They tell me about how their family gets involved or that they continued to do the task even after the week was through!
This is what the new "food pyramid" looks like!
Where I found the image:
http://www.choosemyplate.gov/
Where I found my information:
http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/
http://www.asfsa.org/
No comments:
Post a Comment