Friday, May 6, 2011

Kids' health and Community Gardens

A few months ago I had lunch with a visiting group of kindergarteners from a local elementary school. They weren't allowed to pick out the foods that they wanted to try, of course that'd get in the way of all the big college kids, but what was on the menu for these kids? Pizza, a small side of fruit, and a cookie. Any time I've seen kids come to the caf' they are always excited about the availability of pizza, cheeseburgers, and fries, while none of them pay attention to the other lines.
Why is it that kids only have eyes for these unhealthy foods? If it's based on their home diets, school seems like the place where they should be getting healthier foods. Even in high school I remember having to look a little harder to find the healthy stuff.
Now I'm looking at this campaign to get more salad bars in schools. With a little effort at school and especially through community gardens, do you think we can get America's children back on track, both at home and in school, leading the nation toward a lower risk of heart disease and other preventable diseases (that cost the US billions annually)?

10 comments:

  1. I think this idea is genius. I remember when I was a little child, I was overweight because I never even looked to eat healthier foods such as fruits and vegetables, however I think the idea to give children a salad bar with variety is a great idea, which will save them and this country money in the long run. I also think this idea should be taken to all types people, young and old. I think there are many people out there uneducated about nutrition and it shows with the obesity rates in this country. Great idea to do the salad bars!

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  2. Lets face it a cheeseburger tastes way better than overcooked cafeteria broccoli and trying to tell a child about the need to eat healthy is a daunting task. In my opinion the only way to get kids to eat healthy is to not provide unhealthy options.

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  3. Should, need, want. Who care? This is America where freedom exists. No one cares about other people anymore. (Sorry, this is little harsh to say...) A lot of corporations only care about profits.

    Many corporations are not like Kelloggs...

    Let me tell you something. You can't change the world. However, you can try to change your community... Still, it's a lot of work.

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  4. I think this idea is definitely worth a shot. If children are allowed to make their own decisions about food at home, they might learn to branch out more when it comes to trying healthier options in the cafeteria. I remember hating when my parents would tell me to eat my vegetables when I was little, but when I got a little older and they let me make my own choices about what I wanted to eat, healthier food seemed way more appealing. I think community gardens could be a good way for children to feel like they have a larger sense of responsibility and ownership over the food they're eating.

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  5. There definitely needs to be more healthy food in school cafeterias as a preventative solution for the health issues we are seeing in children.

    The Kalamazoo public school that I work at has slowly started to integrate more healthy options into their menus, which is really cool to see. As of last year the kids were getting cookies and fries as side dishes, but now they get fresh fruit and vegetables. Even with the more unhealthy items, like pizza and hamburgers, they have made efforts to make it slightly more healthy, like using whole grain crusts or buns.

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  6. Growing up I had no problem eating healthy food, and my mother usually packed my lunch. When I did buy food from the caf I would go for the pizza because the healthier options tasted awful. I think school cafeterias need to focus on making healthier food taste better, and then maybe children will want to eat better.

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  7. I think it is possible to get America's kids back on the right track and eating healthy, however the existence of fast food restaurants as well as an abundance of junk food that is being marketed through television will make it very difficult. It is important to teach healthy eating habits to kids at early age so that have a good foundation moving forward when they are allowed to make their own decisions.

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  8. It starts at home. Fast food is cheap, generally tasty, and most of all, convenient. Its a lot easier to go to the drive thru for dinner than it is to try and prepare a meal from scratch after a long day of work. As far as schools are concerned, their biggest issue is most likely cost. At the same time, it doesnt make a whole lot of sense to sell healthy food if the kids dont eat it.

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  9. I tutor at one of the service learning programs at K , where children are given snacks for study breaks.Initially children were given snacks like pretzels and chocolate chip cookies just because they are easy to store.However, after some discussion and reflection we tried to introduce fruits for snacks.The CES leaders were concerned that the children wouldn't eat at all but guess what they gladly ate those fruits .I definitely think it is possible to at least encourage children to eat healthy.

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  10. I agree with Chris. A child will always go for taste. The only way to encourage children from eating unhealthy food is to provide them as many options of healthy food and none or few unhealthy option.

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