School Confidential
Advice from America's Most Trusted Principal
Is your child too busy to eat?
Fox News Channel's segment on "Hungry to Learn," showed a frightening side note to the dangers of the ever-growing competitiveness to get into college.
Eduville's team looked into this issue and the associated statistics that we found associated with teen health and nutrition were startling:
Poor Nutrition and Disease
§ The number of cases of Type 2 Diabetes has increased 10 fold in our youth over the last decade
§ 33.6% /25 million of children and teens, ages 2 to 19, were overweight or at risk of becoming so.
The most shocking news is that there is a calcium crises occurring with our teens: 9 out of 10 teenage girls and 7 out 10 teenage boys do not consume nearly enough calcium that their developing body's need resulting in brittle bones and increased injuries.
This is because they are not meeting their nutritional needs - they are not eating lunch. Instead, they are turning to vending machines for sodas, sports drinks, and snack foods for a quick hunger fix.
More bad news
A study done by the American Dietetic Association determined that our teenager's brains require a specific level of nutrition in order to maintain alertness and memory retention. That wolfing down meals with limited time leads to stomach problem.
Cheli's Tips
1. Studies have found that 20 minutes does provide a sufficient and healthy meal time. Make sure your teens are at least spending 20 minutes eating lunch.
2. Schools that are encouraging students to skip meals once a week in order to take an extra class are sending a bad message about food and nutrition. Ask your child if this is happening in their school.
3. Increasing pressure on our children to achieve has caused huge leaps in stress and depression
Talk to you school's teachers and principals about other ways to schedule extra courses, labs and other extracurricular programs (e.g., either before or after school) by not using lunch as one of them).
