News
Do you know what phytochemicals are? I had never heard of them until a few months ago, but if you ask any second grader from Incline Elementary, Truckee Elementary or Lake Tahoe School, they'll know. In March I started teaching nutrition education in eight second grade classrooms. I taught five-week courses, highlighting each category in the food pyramid and talking about the importance of eating right, exercising, and leading a healthy lifestyle.
For each lesson I brought handouts, with activities for the students and information for the parents about the specific food group we talked about. I also brought healthy snacks: Whole wheat tortillas with hummus, baked sweet potato fries, fresh fruit salad, and string cheese sticks. The kids were psyched about the snacks, and many of them said they were going to have their parents make something similar. It was good to hear the positive feedback; I hope the kids went home and talked to their parents about the healthy snack they ate and more importantly about what they learned.
A student's mother helped out in one of the classrooms and she started talking to me after class one day. She told me that her 7-year-old daughter was already very concerned about her body image and only wanted to eat vegetables in order to get and stay thin. The mother was thankful that I was coming into the classroom and talking about how each food group contributes to our health and well-being in different ways.
Overall the nutrition education classes were successful. It was fun for me to be in the classrooms and the kids enjoyed it too. Through these classes I reached about 160 children and hopefully they absorbed some of the information and passed it along to their parents and guardians, in order to build a healthier community.
Also, in case you don't know any second graders to ask — phytochemicals are plant chemicals that help our bodies fight off germs and disease. There are lots of phytochemicals in fruits and vegetables (of which you should eat 5-9 servings a day), and also whole grains, beans and herbs. So now you know!
Providing healthy snacks at home
Below are a few guidelines that will help you be ready to meet your child's needs with school starting again.
Prepare snacks and put them in the same place everyday so your child knows where to find them. Kids come home from school hungry and are more likely to eat something you've prepared if they know it will be there. A few ideas for snacks that can be prepared ahead of time include: Cheese and crackers, vegetables with hummus dip, granola bars, peanut butter and jelly sandwich, cheese sticks, bagel pizza, low-sugar cereal or granola, yogurt and fruit salad, cheese quesadillas, and fruit smoothies.
What you can do
Be a good role model for your child. If your child sees you enjoying healthy foods and doing physical activity, he or she is more likely to do the same now and for the rest of his or her life.
Plan family activities that provide everyone with exercise and enjoyment.
Reduce the amount of time you and your family spend in sedentary activities, such as watching TV or playing video games. Limit TV time to less than two hours a day.
Guide your family's choices rather than dictate foods. Experiment and find out what kind of fruits or vegetables your child will eat and always make them available.
Don't place your child on a restrictive diet.
Avoid the use of food as a reward.
Avoid withholding food as punishment.
Children should be encouraged to drink water and to limit intake of beverages with added sugars, such as soft drinks, fruit juice drinks, and sports drinks.
How do we advocate for healthier food choices for school lunch and “nutrition breaks” without making the food providers feel like they are under attack? How do we get our children to make that choice? How do we get parents to stop sending their children to school with a candy bar or bag of chips for breakfast?
Education and being an example to our children is a start. This is an area where we feel we can make a difference through our nutrition education program in the elementary schools. Being an example is recognizing that we are role models for our children. Health consciousness and choosing to eat healthier foods is a lifestyle not a diet. Healthy eating can be fun. Happy eating!
— Julia Berberan is the Project Mana nutrition
education coordinator cation
coordinator at Project MANA
For each lesson I brought handouts, with activities for the students and information for the parents about the specific food group we talked about. I also brought healthy snacks: Whole wheat tortillas with hummus, baked sweet potato fries, fresh fruit salad, and string cheese sticks. The kids were psyched about the snacks, and many of them said they were going to have their parents make something similar. It was good to hear the positive feedback; I hope the kids went home and talked to their parents about the healthy snack they ate and more importantly about what they learned.
A student's mother helped out in one of the classrooms and she started talking to me after class one day. She told me that her 7-year-old daughter was already very concerned about her body image and only wanted to eat vegetables in order to get and stay thin. The mother was thankful that I was coming into the classroom and talking about how each food group contributes to our health and well-being in different ways.
Overall the nutrition education classes were successful. It was fun for me to be in the classrooms and the kids enjoyed it too. Through these classes I reached about 160 children and hopefully they absorbed some of the information and passed it along to their parents and guardians, in order to build a healthier community.
Also, in case you don't know any second graders to ask — phytochemicals are plant chemicals that help our bodies fight off germs and disease. There are lots of phytochemicals in fruits and vegetables (of which you should eat 5-9 servings a day), and also whole grains, beans and herbs. So now you know!
Providing healthy snacks at home
Below are a few guidelines that will help you be ready to meet your child's needs with school starting again.
Prepare snacks and put them in the same place everyday so your child knows where to find them. Kids come home from school hungry and are more likely to eat something you've prepared if they know it will be there. A few ideas for snacks that can be prepared ahead of time include: Cheese and crackers, vegetables with hummus dip, granola bars, peanut butter and jelly sandwich, cheese sticks, bagel pizza, low-sugar cereal or granola, yogurt and fruit salad, cheese quesadillas, and fruit smoothies.
What you can do
Be a good role model for your child. If your child sees you enjoying healthy foods and doing physical activity, he or she is more likely to do the same now and for the rest of his or her life.
Plan family activities that provide everyone with exercise and enjoyment.
Reduce the amount of time you and your family spend in sedentary activities, such as watching TV or playing video games. Limit TV time to less than two hours a day.
Guide your family's choices rather than dictate foods. Experiment and find out what kind of fruits or vegetables your child will eat and always make them available.
Don't place your child on a restrictive diet.
Avoid the use of food as a reward.
Avoid withholding food as punishment.
Children should be encouraged to drink water and to limit intake of beverages with added sugars, such as soft drinks, fruit juice drinks, and sports drinks.
How do we advocate for healthier food choices for school lunch and “nutrition breaks” without making the food providers feel like they are under attack? How do we get our children to make that choice? How do we get parents to stop sending their children to school with a candy bar or bag of chips for breakfast?
Education and being an example to our children is a start. This is an area where we feel we can make a difference through our nutrition education program in the elementary schools. Being an example is recognizing that we are role models for our children. Health consciousness and choosing to eat healthier foods is a lifestyle not a diet. Healthy eating can be fun. Happy eating!
— Julia Berberan is the Project Mana nutrition
education coordinator cation
coordinator at Project MANA
