FinallyitFits

Children & Healthy Eating

School meals have always been something to be joked about but recent studies showed that many of our schools did indeed need a shake up when it came to providing healthy nutritional meals for children and their diet needs.

Reports showed that meals being served in schools were far from healthy, with meals such as burgers and fries being served on a regular basis with very few fresh vegetables.

Maybe some of the problem was through choices from the children themselves, how many children do you know who would choose omelette, spinach and baked potato for lunch when they could have burger and fries.

So recently big changes have been made to the majority of schools and the menu, instead of offering fizzy drinks containing a lot of sugar schools have now cracked down and are replacing them with fruit juices.

Schools that have a tuck shop are now giving the option of purchasing fruit also and are now offering low fat varieties in crisps. Children now have access to nutritional leaflets in schools explaining the right types of food which make for a healthy diet but in a language that is easy for children to understand.

Healthy eating in schools

The food we eat has been linked to how we behave and a study showed that children who start the day off with a good healthy breakfast had a better concentration span, were better behaved overall and less hyper active than those who skipped breakfast.

However children who ate sugary breakfast cereals or pancakes for breakfast tended to leave the child hungry half way through the morning and tired. The child’s behaviour was distracting and they had a lack of concentration.

Convincing schools to change school meals policy has taken a long time, but they are now realising the changes they can make and see the results in lessons and test score improvements.

The value of eating healthy and well balanced meals are now being included in lessons in school even in infant schools, as we are learning that the earlier we start teaching our children the importance of eating right the better impact it makes.

Some schools are taking part in schemes such as fruit and vegetable schemes which covers children between the ages of 4 and 6; this scheme entitles the child to a free piece of fresh fruit or vegetable everyday.

The aim of schemes like these is to encourage children from a young age to eat more fruit and vegetables. Some schools also take part in milk schemes which provides milk free of charge to children under the age of 5.