A Guide For Better Kids Nutrition
A study has indicated that parenting styles are linked to family meals. In turn, family meals also have an effect on adolescents’ eating habits. The University of Minnesota has found that children with authoritative parents take on family meals more frequently.
According to the university’s data, family meals tend to persuade adolescents to take on healthier diets. Thus, parents need to be authoritative. When they are, they tend to emphasize more on family meals – thereby helping their kids grow healthier.
Healthy Pyramid in School Lunches and Snacking
Summer’s over! Students are back to school again. Parents, on the other hand, will be packing healthy school lunches again until the school year ends – all for the love of their children.
Schools are also doing their best provide nutritionally balanced meals. But, for parents, packing a healthy school lunch at home is not that easy at all. Parents may be bombarded with their busy schedules that they barely have the time for meal planning as well as highly irresistible prepackaged foods that are full of sugars, salt, calories and fats.
Back to School Healthy Student Tips
School demands a lot from students. Homework, school projects, extra co-curricular activities, examinations and others keep students busy and exhausted. Since it’s a must for students to learn in school, they should eat and live healthy.
- Breakfast is a must because it provides energy for the brain so they continue learning in school. Second, breakfast helps them maintain a healthy weight. So, do insist your children to eat breakfast and never miss one every day.
- Snacking can be healthy. Just don’t overeat and do not rely on greasy, unhealthy fast food types of snacks. Ensure that you have nutritious foods (e.g. veggies, fruits, cheese sticks, low-fat yogurt, butter-free popcorn, etc.) at home so your children can easily munch on their healthy snacks.
Milk is Once Again Cool for School Vending and Nutrition
Since time immemorial, milk has been every child’s favorite. But milk tends to be out of the picture when children are already 11 years old. At this age, children drink more soda than milk.
In fact, America’s milk consumption fell from 20 gallons a year per capita, compared the early 1990’s 25 gallons. School lunchrooms used to be milk’s home because kids drink milk during recess time. But kids no longer drink milk as much as their parents want them to.
American Diabetes Association Cheers for New Healthy Kids Act
The American Diabetes Association is an organization geared towards “preventing and curing diabetes and improving the lives of all people affected by diabetes”. The association expressed their approval for the U.S. Senate’s action on passing the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act. Through this act, the House of Representatives can already vote to pave the way for the various federal nutrition programs that will be expiring on September 30, 2010.
Because of the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, schools can already provide healthy and nutritious meals to students through the school lunch program Furthermore, schools will also get rid of the junk foods and high cholesterol beverages from the vending machines and a la carte lines. Aside from schools, low-income women, infants and children are also encompassed in this bill.
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
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.
Iowa City Schools Get Healthier
From Mondays to Fridays, kids and teens go to school. Going to school is a good thing as they get to learn something new during their school days. However, school days also provide opportunities to become unhealthy.
Every time, kids and teens are in school, they go to the school cafeteria to eat their meals. Sadly, the school cafeterias and mostly serve greasy foods. In turn, they become obese, unhealthy or just not eating the right nutritious foods that they deserve.