health and wellness for kids

Getting Kids Involved in Nutrition Early

Last year, when many schools across the country to implement the new guidelines for school meals, the move has sparked protests among students and the movement had a difficult start.

Children have flatly rejected the new menus, forcing many school districts, the Unified School District of Los Angeles included, to reconsider their implementation plans.

The difficulties and problems faced by school districts with school meals, however, is much deeper than just picky eaters. If a school district wants to instill a healthy lifestyle for students, who must implement nutrition plans to educate beyond the dining room.

Children should learn health and nutrition at an early age, and these plans should be implemented throughout their school life.

An example of a school to do this is Mark Twain Middle School in Los Angeles. They use a school garden as a catalyst for learning in different subjects like math and history, for the use of the food grown in the garden for school meals.

This has led the Los Angeles School Board vote to develop nutrition education should be integrated into the curriculum.

"We have a sacred obligation to ensure that we do everything possible to improve the nutritional quality of our content," Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Board Member Steve Zimmer told the Los Angeles Times.

While you may not have to be as big as Mark Twain Middle School, school districts must follow the example of LAUSD if they want their new plans for school cafeteria to have a lasting impact on children.

Besides implementing nutrition programs in school curricula, other measures can be taken.

Deborah Lewison-Grant and Carolyn Cohen, co-founders Foodfight, an organization dedicated to promoting health and nutrition education in schools, said teachers should set an example.

"We can not expect students to make healthy choices (in or out of school), while adults in their learning communities are plunking sweet drinks, chips and candy at her desk and ignoring conventional wisdom eat meals well-balanced, "Lewison-Grant and Cohen wrote in a blog.

They went on to explain that, however, the teachers themselves must be educated in nutrition and.

"At the same time, we can not expect teachers to act as role models for their students without giving them the skills to make their own health and wellness needs of food and buy and support healthy choices," writes Grant Lewison and Cohen.

Ultimately, a combination of example and education is the only way to really get kids to adopt a healthy lifestyle. Just give the kids a new menu will not cut it, because they just do not eat.

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