Finally, Healthy Lunch Programs in Schools
Families across Western Pennsylvania and around the country are struggling financially because the economy is in a recession. More children go to bed with hunger or they have to adjust to eating cheaper, less healthy foods. The Congress is just dilly dallying, though many children depend on school and summer lunch programs as a primary source of food. The Act which funds all school meals, the Nutrition Act seems to be going nowhere; it’s in legislative limbo.
The new bill will upgrade current nutrition standards; more students will have access to reduced and reduced cost lunches and local framers can sell their produce to schools for the lunches. Though there is strong bipartisan support, Congress is not serious in enacting new legislation especially with the current law sets which will become ineffective by September end. Question is why is the bill being stalled, with all those important provisions? It is because of time and money.
Is Obesity Making Girls Hit Puberty Sooner?
Puberty is defined as the period in life when a person becomes sexually mature. Accordingly, puberty involves physical changes that usually happen between ages 10 and 14 for girls and ages 12 and 16 for boys. But what if your girls start puberty earlier than the normal age range?
My elder sister’s puberty stage started at age eight, while I started at age seven. As young girls, it was never easy to go through such dramatic changes at an early age, when all I could think of was school and play. But instead, we went through menstruation, breast enlargement and lots of other physical changes that we maybe should not have gone through. No one in our family (except my sister and me) has had precocious puberty. My mother was frightened during those times and so she brought us to doctor after doctor. At the time it seemed that my sister and I were the only girls in the world dealing with such problems, but recently doctors have begun to notice that it is becoming all too common.
Obesity Being Eliminated by Organic Vending Machines in Schools
Based on a new study, obesity levels have gone down for many teenagers but that’s not the case in some ethnic and racial minorities. Kristine Madsen, M.D an assistant professor at the University of California San Francisco said progress is visible only in some groups, for the first time in three decades. The study has been published online and will appear In Pediatrics, September issue.
Inactivity Does Not Lead to Childhood Obesity
Obesity may lead to inactivity, but inactivity does not lead to obesity, says a new study. While it is a widely belief that a contributing factor to obesity is inactivity among children, Early Bird Diabetes study suggest otherwise, that decreased physical action or movement may actually be an indicator of fatness. Early Bird is based at the Peninsula Medical School in Plymouth, UK, and has been observing city school children for the past 11 years. And the question exclusively placed to them is – which comes first?
It is well known that less active children are fatter, but that does not mean – as most people presume it does – that inactivity leads to obesity. It could equally well be the other way round: that obesity leads to inactivity. The finding which appeared in the Archives of Disease in Childhood and highlighted by the BBC showed that physical activity had no impact on weight change, but more weight clearly led to less activity.
Healthier School Lunches Found Refuge in House Bills
Gone will be the days when vending machines in schools have sweets displayed on them. Canteens that serve greasy and unhealthy foods will be out of the picture already. Hose Democrats have shown greater support for first lady Michelle Obama’s aim to putting healthier school lunches on canteens.
The House of Education and Labor Committee has already approved the bill that allows the Agriculture Department to come up with new standards for the food in schools and in vending machines, as well. To make the legislation possible, nutrition programs are allocated a budget of about $8 million.
Pass Child Nutrition Bill – Michelle Obama
If you are a parent worrying about the food being served at your child’s school, fret no more. Thank you to First Lady Michelle Obama as she urges the Congress to pass the Child Nutrition Bill to improve nutritional standards and help fight childhood obesity.
Most parents on the go do not prepare packed-lunch for their kids nowadays. Same goes with the kids as packed lunch means “uncool”, so the ending would just be buying in school everyday. But are we sure what they eat is nutritious?
Children Need Guidance in Making Good Nutritional Choices
When going back to school, children need to remember 80 and 20. You may wonder what these numbers are. Susan Mann, registered dietitian at the Baptists Health Center for Diabetes and Nutrition Education said these are numbers in percentage, of the amount of nutritional food to be consumed daily versus amount of treat allowances they can have.
80 is the nutrition number.Local Health professionals have advised on the need for school going students to concentrate on their nutritional needs especially if they are bringing home made lunches. Mann further said all nutritional aspects like proteins, carbohydrates and dairy needs to be included in a lunch and from vending machines. Mann suggested that to keep kids interested in their lunches, its necessary to try different varieties of bread for sandwiches i.e. whole wheat bagels,bread,tortilla wraps and also changing the mixes that goes in the bread like peanut butter, cream cheese, shredded
Childhood Obesity: Ask Not Who’s to Blame, But Ask What You Can Do About It
Studies indicate that “childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years”. F\In addition to this, “the prevalence of obesity among children aged 6 to 11 years increased from 6.5% in 1980 to 19.6% in 2008”. Furthermore, “the prevalence of obesity among adolescents aged 12 to 19 years increased from 5.0% to 18.1%”.
Indeed, the numbers are increasing and will be increasing more and more each year if nothing is done to resolve the issue of childhood obesity. Who is to blame for all these? Should parents be blamed for overfeeding? Should teachers’ school administrators be at fault for allowing the selling of unhealthy foods in middle school vending machines?
Legislators Shows a Double Thumbs Up for the Schools’ Nutrition Bill
The Massachusetts Legislature which bans the selling of unhealthy foods and drinks in Massachusetts public school has already been passed. The bill constitutes the various nutritional vending guidelines which will be developed by the Department of Public Health. Additionally, it also institutes the standards for products sold in vending machines, school stores and cafeteria a la carte lines.
Other than the nutritional guidelines and the standards, the bill also imposes for school districts to establish school vending wellness and advisory committees who are tasked to create a district-wide wellness policy. Nutrition and exercise are also imposed to be included as one of the school subjects. Even the Department of Agriculture is tasked to collect data that aids both the local farms and public schools as they work hand in hand; and as a result, the residents of Massachusetts will only be purchasing the products that are grown and harvested in Massachusetts.
Trying to Substitute Junk Food with Healthy Vending Snacks
On Tuesday Michelle Obama told AOL Health, that to combat childhood obesity and to ensure that next generation of American children are healthy, would to take a collective effort from the nation. This would involve efforts from parents to doctors to government officials. There is a need to concentrate on schools.
She further said in order to improve quality of school food including vending machine snacks; she hopes to pass the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act. According to the Associated Press (AP), many school districts all over the country are trying to substitute sugary and salty vending machine snacks with more nutritious healthy food like fruit bars and nuts.Based on a 2008 Schools Health survey done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 64% of secondary schools across 34 states ,stopped their empty calorie snacks, this is an increase in 46% in 2006.There is always room for improvement to stop unhealthy eating habits. The AP reported that based on research done by Institute of Medicine and National Center for Health Statistics, showed 10% calories of a young person originates from saturated fat and 21% of kids aged 9-13 yrs get one fourth of their energy from added sugars.