New School Programs That Aim To Combat Childhood Obesity
It was on the first quarter of 2010 when First Lady Michelle Obama announces the ambitious national goal of resolving the epidemic of child obesity in America. The campaign is called “Let’s Move” and it aims to provide schools, families and communities simple tools to help kids be more active, eat better, and get healthy. Since then, several other healthy campaigns from various sectors followed across all states. And before the year ended, President Obama enacted into law a new nutrition bill – Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act 2010 – that would help improve the quality of foods served in schools.
Another noteworthy event that happened in line with Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign was the launching of Fresh Healthy Vending a healthy snacks vending franchise offering where most of the healthy vending machines are placed in schools and in locations where children spend time after school like YMCAs.
Better Kids Behavior Starts With Healthier Diets
If you want well-behaved kids, get rid off the junk food. While this may sound unbelievable and even quite ridiculous, there’s just enough reason to believe with the outcome. And one school institution to have reaped the glory of feeding its students with nutritious foods is Appleton Central Alternative High School—an alternative school with notoriously delinquent students.
“I found the students to be rude, obnoxious and ill-mannered,” said school counselor Greg Bretthauer when head his first job interview with ACA High School in 1997. The sight of the students’ behavior made him turn down the job offer only to take it several years later after seeing the astounding change that took place in the school’s atmosphere and children’s behavior.
Impact of Fresh Healthy Eating and Learning
If you hear that fresh healthy eating equates to improved learning, would you start packing healthy lunches and snacks for your kids first thing tomorrow? With the growing cases of childhood obesity in the country, it is understandable how various sectors are rigorously lobbying for more nutritious foods for the kids. But other than ending childhood obesity, some wellness coordinators and school districts are already heavily implementing healthy feeding to its students. The reason: kids are having better behavior, enhanced school performance, and improved concentration when they eat healthy.
Of course, schooling has very high demands. Apart from having to consistently wake up early to avoid tardiness, kids are also subject to plenty of homework, projects, late-night study sessions, exams, and the list goes on. Without endurance and proper focused, it’s easier for any school kid to feel burnt out, confused, and might eventually result to dropping out for the school year.
Fresh Vending Machines Coming to Schools Nationwide
img class=”size-medium wp-image-1534″ src=”http://www.freshhealthyvending.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/healthy-vending-machine1-148×300.jpg” alt=”" width=”148″ height=”300″ />“Eat ‘Em Like Junk Food.” This is the eye-catching slogan you will on the vending machines installed on September 17 in both Mason High School, in Mason, Ohio and Fayetteville-Manlius High School in Syracuse, New York as part of the healthy public relations campaign of Bolthouse Farms— Bakersfield, California-based grower. Indeed, there is no stopping healthy vending machines in coming to schools nationwide to promote healthy eating habits to children.
Though President Obama has earlier seek the improvement of child nutrition by eliminating junk food options in vending machines and replacing them with healthier options, there have been several moves among business owners targeting healthy changes in vending machines. This comes right in time when childhood obesity in America has gone uncontrollably higher in the recent years.
Obese Teens Are More Prone To Become Obese Adults
If there is one thing that some overweight adults would have wished if they can turn back the hands of time, it’s that they should have eaten healthier and consumed lesser fats. Unfortunately, as we age there’s no such thing that can make us go back in our teens. But sure enough, there’s still enough time for parents to prevent their kids from suffering the same fate of becoming obese as adults – if only they’ll start serving healthier meals and lunch on a regular basis.
In a recent national study of American youth, researchers found that one in twelve teenagers became severely obese as they entered adulthood. It can be recalled that the US federal government, along with the Department of Agriculture and other concerned sectors are vigorously leading the pack to fight childhood obesity in America. This problem is noted not only to adversely affect country-wide households but even the health care cost of the US – where over US$140 billion went to the national medical expenditures for 2009 alone.
Tips For Kids Staying Healthy in Schools
In today’s hectic schedules among working families in America, it is somewhat inevitable for parents to just give their kids money to buy their own meals in school as opposed to packing healthy lunches and snacks at home. Unfortunately, in many cases, monies are not well spent in healthy food options because the lure of junk foods in vending machines is just around the corner. So how then do we keep our kids healthy in schools if monitoring their food during mealtimes is hugely impossible?
One viable option being looked at recently is the introduction of fresh healthy vending machines in school campuses. We know students are almost always in a rush when they’re in school due to a variety of reasons; and thus, lining up in school cafeterias to get nutritious snacks are likely to take the back seat. This is where vending machines come into the scene. After all, kids still adore fast and convenient service and food access.
Healthy Kids Diets Makes for Better Learning in Schools
Sure it takes some good effort for parents to prepare packed meals for their children, and it even takes a lot more to ensure that kids are eating healthy in school when they miss the time to send nutritious lunches and snacks to their kids. With the frenetic and busy schedules of working families, the kids’ health is at times taking the backseat. And unfortunately, it leads to childhood obesity and poor performance in schools.
So, what options are we looking at for our kids’ healthy diet? How do we make them perform well in school and stay alert all throughout the day?
Children Need to Get Healthier in Schools
Education is the greatest wealth parents can pass on to their kids. Hence, it doesn’t come as a surprise why parents work so much just to make sure they afford the best schools for their kids. And when we say best schools we don’t only expect an excellent standing but also a healthier environment for our children.
Exactly, how do we know our children are getting healthier in schools? Or at the very least, enrolled in a school with great facilities, outstanding people, and a fit environment that encourages them to lead a healthy lifestyle?
Healthy Snacking Makes for Healthy Schools
With the start of the new school year comes the real test how students will come to appreciate the new healthy menus offered in school cafeterias. Are children about ready to embrace healthy lunches and healthier snacks while avoiding the tempting gaze of junk food vending machines? Of course, it would be good to know if schools will be carrying fresh healthy vending machines, too, to complement the changes in some of the food in their ala carte menus. But we can only hope so much and trust schools in their guided implementation of healthy food to combat obesity.
As we already know by this time, schools are seriously adapting the healthy challenge of ending childhood obesity by overhauling their menus to include healthier choices such as more milk, yogurt, and fruits and veggies—to the point of substituting some ingredients of all-time favorites with healthier mixes.
Fresh Foods for Packing a Healthy School Lunch
Summer is over and kids are surely excited to go back to school and meet new friends and re-connect with the old ones. But are parents excited and prepared, too? Perhaps, yes if we are only talking about kids’ school supplies and books, but what about dealing with healthy school lunches? Are parents even thinking about packing healthy lunches for kids in the coming school year? Or are we still have some challenges shopping for the right food to go with their new lunch box?
While there has been a lot of news telling parents how schools have been seriously preparing for healthier food options this school year, relying solely on school cafeterias may not give a 100% guarantee that the kids eating healthy. Thus, packing for lunches and snacks are mostly recommended by city officials and even by many school administrators.