Is nutrition taught in schools anymore?

[grasswire]

I was just at the supermarket and am so dismayed at the legions of folks I saw with baskets full of harmful "food". Young couples obviously shopping for the week ahead with the apparent entrees of frozen corn dogs, pizzas, mac-cheese, frozen french toast, gallons of HFCS drinks, chips, junk junk junk junk junk junk junk.

Sure, we all go for some unhealthy snacks now and then, but these people are building their whole diet in trash food.

Is there no nutrition training in school now? Shouldn't that be a health care priority?

[datasuspect]

1. chocolate covered honeybuns

extra big ass fries

[hack89]

2. Yes

at least where I live.

[grasswire]

4. well, I did see two young women kneeling in the tuna aisle..

....trying to discern which brands were really dolphin free. Kudos to them -- at least they were trying to do SOMETHING right.

[NYC_SKP]

3. If it's done, and done well, students would stop eating school food.. n/t

[grasswire]

6. well I did think about that

although 1. I'm not sure schools care if kids eat on campus and 2. some schools have tried to elevate the nutrition of school lunch.

[DesertFlower]

7. what are they serving?

[NYC_SKP]

8. Well, catsup is a vegetable. And some schools have contracted with fast food places.

And then you've got vending machines on many campuses, usually not stocking the healthiest choices.

Of course, with as many different schools and districts as there are in these United States, it's not fair to broadbrush them all.

[seleff]

17. Some better than you'd think

I taught at a blue-collar suburban HS last spring. I thought that the lunch options were amazing. A complete lunch was: home made soup, salad bar, sandwich (hoagie, cold cut and cheese whole wheat bread available as were veggie fixings) chips (sun-chips or baked lays), a piece of fruit, cookie or cake and milk or juice. As an alternative to a sandwich was a hot entree or pizza. That said, there were fast-food burgers brought in as well. Students could make less healthy choices (boys did this more than girls)but as I looked around, most didn't. For students a complete lunch was $2.50, for adults it was $4. I had previously taught in a less advantaged Atlanta suburb and the food choices were much less impressive, chili-cheese fries and wings seemed to be the main fare twice a week.

I know that nutrition is covered repeatedly in health class, but my sophomore son only finally got the message about diabetes risk this year. He's cut out regular sodas, but it's still frosted chocolate chip pop=tarts for breakfast, yuuch.

[DesertFlower]

5. i don't know if they teach it here.

i'm always amazed at what i see in people's wagons at the store.

[noamnety]

9. They teach it in health class, yes.

But knowing what's good for us is different than having the willpower and discipline to stick to long term goals instead of short term joys.

We all know exercise is good for us, but knowing it intellectually isn't the same as wanting it emotionally.

[seabeyond]

10. yes. at early ages and lots of the grades. they progress the education as kids age. nt

[ZombieHorde]

11. Yes. My nine year old was taught how to read nutritional labels at her school. nt

[flvegan]

12. Don't even get me started.

Far too many people in this country either have absolutely no clue how to properly feed themselves or they just don't care. I know for some, money is definitely an issue, so I'd leave that faction out. But watching obviously unhealthy people (with their obviously unhealthy children in tow) pushing carts full of garbage to the checkout.

It's sad, really.

[grasswire]

15. I realized today that it's harder for the people to shop for good food.

The quality of the meat usually is poor, the "good" things are tucked away here and there, the space is mostly given to processed foods and junk. At every turn, the purchase of unhealthy food is encouraged.

Sure, I could go to an upscale market, but why should I have to? Why shouldn't a regular neighborhood market provide nutritious wholesome food in enough variety to provide choices for families?

Are food producers and chain grocers as greedy as the banks? It's starting to appear that way. What a disgusting disservice to our people.

[Warpy]

20. There are also serious time constraints

When I went back to school, my strict veggie diet went to hell. I had to start eating things like chicken breasts and fish because they were so simple to prepare, just spice them and throw them into the oven while I cracked the books. I didn't feel as well as I had on a veggie diet but it beat the hell out of junk food.

However, you might also have inadvertently hit on an ignorance factor, the stupid conceit that it's beneath one's dignity to cook one's own food.

Yeah, there are times I want to tell them to put the beer and soda back on the shelf in favor of iced tea for a week and use the savings to buy a damned cookbook, but I keep my mouth shut. I know what it's like to come home exhausted and facing a mountain of work at home. Cooking is about the last thing you want to do, even if you love it.

[uppityperson]

13. Most places it is taught but advertising outweighs that for educational purposes

Fun Food can be part of a balanced healthy diet, but not the whole thing.

[femmocrat]

14. The items you listed are the staples of the school lunch program.

People are buying what they are used to eating, apparently.

Yes, they still teach the "nutrition triangle" in Consumer Ed., but they really need to teach it to the school food service people instead. Our school lunch and breakfast programs are made from these four food groups: fat, salt, sugar, and grease.

[RadiationTherapy]

16. In college I took a nutrition and food selection class.

It taught what micro and phytonutrients do for our bodies and how to eat/cook to get them. This is the level of nutrition education we need. Without the 'food selection' part there is only half the story.

When I was in school we had health which, eventually, got to the food pyramid and calories. It was useless.

[Warpy]

18. People start eating that crap because they're being worked to death

and don't know how to make simple fare any more. Too many cookbooks have restaurantitis, pushing overcomplicated food that no sane person with a job can do any time but weekends. They're also rewarding themselves with good tasting crap because there are so damned few other rewards these days.

Schools teach the new food pyramid but they don't teach kids what to do with it. People buy processed stuff because they have no clue what to do with the fresh stuff. They buy packaged dinners because cooking several items looks time consuming and complicated and they don't have the time.

The problem is that they end up feeling like shit and don't know why.

I'm not their judge. If they ask for my help, I'll give it. However, I'm not going to sneer at the contents of somebody's shopping cart. I have trouble enough deciding on the contents of my own.

(today it was leeks, potatoes, greens, cheese, and cat chow)

[grasswire]

25. I'm blaming the profiteers

...and the corporate gurus who sell the idea to people that processed foods full of empty calories are a reward.

I'm "dismayed" at the choices. This couple I saw today, in their early twenties, obviously afflicted with HFCS syndrome, so earnestly looking for food for the week ahead and filling their shopping cart with only mega-fat and sodium and carbs. I felt very bad for them.

And I'm angry at whatever forces are in play. It's the same ball of wax as the banks that whack them with an overdraft fee for a soda on a debit card.

[ConcernedCanuk]

19. Look at the choices in the school cafeterias for your answer

.
.
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I think that is a good reflection of the nutrition "education" going on nowadays

(sigh)

[LeftyMom]

21. I was really lucky- our health teacher had us do meal plans and calculate their nutritional content.

He also did a demonstration of what one "serving" was versus what people typically dish out for themselves, and reminded us to figure based on what we actually ate.

We also got very good comprehensive sex ed in that class, and did Red Cross CPR training and got our certification. Definitely the most productive six months of my high school career.

[mitchum]

22. I teach nutrition in my SPED classes

[gravity]

23. They need to teach something practical than just nutrition

Most young people know what foods are healthy, it is just that most of the convenient cheap foods are bad for you.

There should be a course on how to eat nutritious food that is tasty while being on a budget. If you can educate people on how to prepare easy meals or make smart decisions when eating out, then it would be more effective.

[Odin2005]

24. No, only pro-corporate "nutrition".

Based on a "food pyramid" designed to cater to Big Ag interests

[MissB]

26. It is here.

I'd happily eat lunch everyday at my kids' school. We don't have a cook- we contract with a caterer. She makes everything using fresh local ingredients (organic with gluten and dairy free options). Our public school also doesn't participate in the federal school lunch program, which is why the offerings are so damn good. No tater tots or chicken strips or chocolate milk. She does offer cookies one day a week, though.

Aside from that, yes, the kids get nutrition info in class- I've noticed something each year - a unit here and there.

[bridgit]

27. Yes, in passing - processed corporate pre-pack foods are...

all over school campuses, however, as early introductions *to* American consumerism. And their presence is designed to run counter to whatever is being taught in class. The heavy lifting of nutritional education best takes place at home imo and as difficult as that may seem to be
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource