Finding Our Way Back to Healthy Eating
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Finding Our Way Back to Healthy Eating: A Conversation with David A. Kessler | |
Today, kids are more likely to eat for reward than fuel, says former FDA commissioner David Kessler in an interview in this month's EL.
"Kids are growing up, not just with food that's been highly developed to be stimulating—layered and loaded with fat, sugar, and salt, which stimulates intake—but they're also constantly bombarded with food cues," he says. With fat, sugar, and salt available 24/7 and on every corner, what can schools do to help kids develop healthy eating habits?
One way is to make sure the lessons taught in the lunchroom don't contradict those taught in science or health classes. Teach kids how to make nutritious choices, and provide in-school healthy options and opportunities for students to exercise good food judgment.
In the same issue of EL, "What the Research Says About . . . School Meals and Learning" points to some of the barriers to more nutritious school meals (higher cost, less appeal to students). Several articles ("Good Food in the City," "Saving Marvin Sweettooth," "Coordinated School Health: Getting It All Together") show schools that have steered their communities back to healthy eating.
How has your school supported healthy eating? How have you handled barriers to healthy eating?
