The Importance Of Nutrition In Schools For Our Children

Over the years, many of us have had a laugh at the expense of our parents and grandparents in regard to their cherished “Back in my day” stories. When you compare the eating habits and nutritional intake of our parents, grandparents, and even ourselves as children to that of today’s children, however, the story is much less amusing. According to the Let’s Move! website, in addition to greatly reduced rates of physical activity, modern children are also faced with the following nutritional challenges compared to kids 30 to 40 years ago:

• Children are taking in an additional 200 calories a day just from snacks alone.
• Portion sizes are two to five times larger than in the past. For example, while sweetened drink portions used to be 13.6 ounces, the new standard is 20 ounces.
• We now eat 31% more calories than forty years ago. This includes 56% more fats and oils and 14% more sugars – in fact, Americans now eat 15 more pounds of sugar a year than in 1970!

All these factors and more have led to skyrocketing childhood obesity rates. For children aged 6-19 in general, rates have increased from 5-6.5% in 1980 to 17% in 2006. Luckily politicians, celebrities, food suppliers, communities, and more are beginning to take action to counteract this staggering new reality, and much attention is actually being focused on improving the nutritional content of school lunches. First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign, celebrity chef Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, and chef and author Alice Waters’ The Edible Schoolyard are just a few high profile projects that specifically aim to improve the quality of food children in the United States consume while at school. In addition, a bill touting the most significant overhaul of our nation’s school lunch program in 30 years was recently approved by the House of Representatives and the Senate. The bill aims to increase nutritional standards in all federal food programs and eliminate junk food and soda from schools over the next 10 years. It also requires schools to abide by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s health guidelines.

Just as Americans are striving to combat childhood obesity through education about practicing well-balanced life styles and eating habits, the SafeSchools online staff training system also aims to keep school children and staff safe and healthy by offering a well-rounded list of courses specifically tailored for nutrition services employees! SafeSchools’ Nutrition Services training category currently offers the following expert-authored, 100% school-focused courses:

• Foodborne Illnesses
• Food Safety and Kitchen Sanitation
• Food Service Equipment: Safe Use
• Food Service Equipment: Sanitation
• HACCP: Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points
• Nutrition Basics
• School Meal Compliance

By: D McMullin

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D.McMullin is the director of marketing at SafeSchools. She is the author of this article concerning nutrition for children in schools.