Healthy Eating in Schools
Learning healthy habits that last a lifetime
School is more than just reading, writing, and arithmetic. Children spend half of their waking hours in school, learning habits and behaviors that can stay with them for a lifetime. For many children, school offers them the first opportunity to make food choices on their own, without the supervision of their parents. Making the healthy choice the easy choice at school can help build healthy habits.
The school environment provides a valuable opportunity to make healthy, nutritious foods available to children. This is especially important when considering the epidemic of childhood obesity and the associated health problems children are facing at younger and younger ages.
Many children receive nearly half of all their day's calories in their school meals, making it even more crucial that these meals be healthy. Unfortunately, some school food programs rely on highly processed foods high in calories and sodium while providing few fresh fruits and vegetables or whole grains. This is not only a missed opportunity to nourish children, but it helps create unhealthy habits.
School celebrations, rewards, and fundraisers are also common sources of unhealthy foods. They often revolve around high-sugar, high-fat foods that have little nutritional value. Snack foods offered to students are frequently chosen for low-price convenience and are prepackaged and heavily processed. When kids eat candy bars, potato chips, or cupcakes during the day, they are substituting them for foods that provide nutrients necessary for growth, development, and protection from disease.
Good nutrition also plays an important role in children's academic performance and behavior so it's another useful tool for an educator helping his or her students succeed. By offering healthy choices wherever food is served--including in the cafeteria, in the classroom, in vending machines, and at extracurricular events-schools can ensure their students are healthier and better prepared to learn.
Case Studies
At two elementary schools in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, non-food rewards provide a fun incentive for students while replacing the unhealthy foods that had been offered before.
The Nutra-Net program finds fresh ways to educate students on healthy eating through nutrition, education and cooking lessons that make eating healthy fun for children and families.