It’s discouraging but not surprising to hear that the $1 billion or more in federal money spent each year on nutrition education isn’t changing kids’ junky eating habits — that’s according to a recent review of school nutrition programs that found mostly failure.
One major program that gave away fruits and vegetables to fifth-graders ended up with a net increase of kids saying they hated fruits and vegetables. Not good.
The national obesity epidemic is more complicated than school programs alone can address — parents, for example, often undo the nutrition lessons learned at school.
Maybe we should be targeting the parents, not the kids. Philip Zeitler of the Children’s Hospital in Denver says children lose weight when “their families get religion about this and figure out what needs to happen.”
We can’t expect kids to be more virtuous in their eating habits than their parents or society at large.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
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30 Comments
Alice Waters, whose Chez Panisse’s Nouvelle Cuisine in the 70s revolutionized upscale dining nationwide, went on to lead a healthy school foods initiative in Berkeley starting in the 90s.
At first kids whose palates were trained on junk food rejected the new fare–until she trained school staff to teach the kids how to grow their own food in the school garden, and prepare it in the school kitchen, as well as teach nutrition science during these hands-on activities. The kids love it, and many have even taught their parents how to prepare healthful meals at home.
I thought there were so many poor and homeless people in America who were starving to death?
Guess not.
Too bad kids have to teach their parents how to cook and eat now. How stupid is America today?
You still have all the junk food and pop machines in the schools.
The food served by the schools is not healthy either. It’s not prepared at the schools anymore and how many times do they order in pizza?
If kids learned good eating habits from an early age, these habits would stay with them their whole life, and we could get rid of the candy and pop machines in the schools. We simply have too many incompetent parents out there, unfortunately.
Let me sum up here:
$1 Billion in taxpayer money wasted because those stupid parents still will not raise their kids in a government approved manner.
All you have learned is that you cannot overcome the influence of the parents. Children are the parents responsibility. Let us stop wasting money on things the parents will not support.
“The food served by the schools is not healthy either.”
Everybody needs to watch Supersize Me, especially the segment on school lunches.
It really does take a village you know.
The Government needs to take control and responsibility for these poor children.
We need a Social Security Village for them, to provide everything they need.
The Village will also take care of the elderly.
And we’ll have free health care for all who can’t afford it.
For those who can afford it, you will pay for yourself – and everyone else.
Where would be without Momma Farmgirl to take care of us all and tell us what to do? And she scolds us when we need it too. yuck..yuck…yuck….
walk on by…
I knew it! Clark IS Farmgirl!
Thanks Farmgirl for revealing yourself.
Now we know who the real boss is!
Scold me again Farmgirl, it’s so fun!
But I LIKE the SUPERSIZE FRYS!
Please don’t pass a law telling me what I can and can’t eat!
Thanks for the compliment, but no, I’m not clark.
There are many of us who just walk on by…
COMPLIMENT!?!
Yes, you too can be a PSYCHO!
And who is us? Some queer lesbo team?
Throwing a bunch of lima beans on a plate in front of a kid isn’t going to make the kid suddenly go ‘oh yum’. The downside to this program is the kids will not eat at school, then go home and stuff themselves full of junk.
This whole plan to make everyone more healthy is going to backfire bigtime. If you want kids to eat healthy, you’ve got to make the healthy stuff actually taste good.
Why are we so concerned about school lunches and the vending machines when we have these very same junk food corporations being sponsors at sporting events? We see marketing 24/7 from these junk food companies and yet we blame the schools for their ‘bad’ lunches.
There was junk food in my childhood (50’s – 60’s) but we did not have an obesity problem. I remember my mother telling us kids to drink our milk and clean our plate. We did not have a microwave and most foods were not processed. My mother cooked from scratch. But then that brings us to the topic of mothers were mostly stay at home moms at that time also.
Mothers could do that back then because the husband had a solid job with a solid company making a living wage. And there was loyalty from employer to employee and employee to employer. How many people today are secure in their jobs? How many are making a living wage today?
One other thing we did have was the availability of exercise when we went out to play. During those days, we had neighborhoods that everyone knew everyone else’s kids and everyone watched out for everyone else. We do not have that neighborhood connection anymore. We don’t see kids playing outside like they used to because it is not safe to do that anymore. There seems to be some pervert around the corner.
Kids will follow their parents and have you seen the average parent now? The apple does not fall too far from the tree.
Pmom..
Not just tastes good but also make it convenient… I used to like going during break between 1st and 2nd hour to get breakfast, which consisted of Sunny Delight and french toast sticks… All and all a good snack and easy to eat.
Also, needs to be cheap…
oh and Gym should be manditory for all grades and maybe cut back on some of the “book classes”…
Gym used to be physical activity but nowadays it is more class than actual exercise.
And exactly which book classes would you propose to do away with Tony? Reading, Math, History or Science?
Fred,
I dont propose doing away with those subjects, just less of them…
I have always worked better having a break than learning.. i.e., i always did better in the first class of the day, or the the first class after lunch or Gym than i did the classes later in the day…
When I worked as a substitute, I found it alarming to have so much of the junk food such as hamburgers, pizza and etc., delivered to the school serving line.
The idea behind it was give the type of food that the kid wants.
Yes, there were long arrays of sugar injecting candy and soft drink vending machines available as well.
Someone had to make the decision to put these types of foods in, but no one will admit to it.
You can see kids throughout the day with a bag of chips, candy or sugared soda water in their hands stuffing them down as fast as they can before class starts. Or they will stick them in bag to secretly take a bite or drink during class.
Just one look at the trash cans around the school will confirm the huge amount of snack foods consumed daily by students and faculty as well.
The one billion dollars a year on nutrition spent per year is wasted if the adults running the schools allow all of these fast foods and snacks in the school.
ksfarmgrrl,
I agree, ‘Super Size Me’ documentary should be watched — Spurlock’s diet-caused illness was scary, and educational.
The DVD also has an interview with Phil Lawler (PE4Life) in ‘Bonus’. He has a comprehensive program, and does stuff like hooking up an exercise bike to a video game.
The students get in shape, have fun, AND learn better in classes.
More info and a video about his program,http://www.pe4life.com/
“But I LIKE the SUPERSIZE FRYS!
Please don’t pass a law telling me what I can and can’t eat!”Posted by: Billy Boy | July 14, 2007 at 10:12 AM
Then eat the ones with lots of trans fat, and have bad health, and/or early death.
http://www.mcdonalds.com/app_controller.nutrition.index1.htmlLarge French Fries = 47% daily value fat, and 8 grams trans fat.
Daily trans fat should be below 1 gram… zero is better.
OR… you can get ZERO trans fat fries in NY City (Canola Oil Blend) — Because NY City passed a law banning trans fat.
http://www.mcdonalds.com/usa/eat/nutrition_info/nyc_phil.html “Thousands of Americans have already enjoyed the 0 grams trans fat fries and confirmed they have the same great taste customers have come to expect from McDonald’s.”
Fred, nice comment at 12:24 pm and you are right about those times.If I remember right we did not have as much conveniences, there was candy bars and soda at full service gas stations but it was not like it is today, not like a QT store.And you did not see so much of those kinds of conveniences at the schools.I think that the problem of un-healthy eating habits goes back to several avenues for several generations.You have marketing strategy that target groups and the industries are fully aware that they taking advantages of the fact that people are generally not self disciplining.You have industries that are tied together in a muti-trillion dollar global industries such as service, medical, imports and exports of goods and etc. etc.The $1 billion or more in federal money spent each year on nutrition education is up against one hellacious giant part of it self.
Philippians 4:5, “Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand”.
Kansas must be quoting from some kind of historical reference book written by a bunch of drunks…
The answer is Physical activity… It doesn’t matter if a kid drinks a gallon of Pepsi and eats a bag of chips a day if he runs 5 miles along with it… Its proven that people who exercise, no matter how bad the diet is, are much better off than anyone who dont exercise…
When I was in High School I consumed somewhere in the neighborhood of 3,000 – 5,000 calories a day… twice what someone of my age and weight is supposed to. But i also was on the wrestling team and tended to work every ounce of that off.
Than my senior year came around and i stopped wrestling… I ate Sonic almost every day… I gained a bit of weight back too because i wasn’t exercising…
Sunny delight is healthy? Its sugar water.
It has to start at birth, if parents only allow kids to eat healthy and not even allow junk food in the house, that would make a huge difference. The schools need to follow through with the same policy. It’s just hard to convince parents to do that when they’ve also been raised on a diet of fast food all their lives. Old habits die hard.
My kids eat really healthy as adults, all are vegetarian, no sugar or fat, and they only buy raw and/or organic. I HATE to eat that way…they keep telling me that they want me to live with them when I get old…NO WAY..I couldn’t stand to eat that food..bean sprouts and curry, YUCK! Give me a big juicy steak and fries with lots of salt!
Best- selling food writer David Goldbeck’s new book “The ABCs’ of Fruits and Vegetables and Beyond” has a new approach to this problem. First the book teaches kids the “ABCs” with 26 poems so their first words go from Apple to Zucchini. Then he supplies hundreds of other food related activities. The idea to give kids a multi dimensional relationship to these important foods. Nutritionists love it.
There’s so much focus on vending machines in schools…what about the vending machines in every workplace in America? Why should the kids change if the adults won’t?
Personally, I’m pro-choice on food. If we teach our children moderation in all fun but potentially addictive, unhealthy things (you know…like alcohol, sugary treats, gambling and organized religion) I think they’ll turn out just fine.