Children and Nutrition
After having been around children in the public schools for the past 15 years, there is something that I have noticed that a lot of the so-called “behavior problems” have in common – poor nutrition. Parents, have you even taken a look at what they’re serving in the school lunches these days? A typical lunch can consist of chicken nuggets, peas, tater tots and a fruit cocktail. Let’s take a quick look at these foods. (Note, I am not a nutritionist.) Chicken nuggets are usually made from “reformed” chicken pieces, water and salt, plus that lovely crust in which they are coated. Not much protein there. Peas are a vegetable, true, but contain a great amount of starch. Tator tots? Please. Try potato shavings and water. And, have you ever read how much syrup they pack fruit cocktail in? I can’t even tell you what fruits are in fruit cocktail except for the cherries.
I would see children come to school with no breakfast (sample school breakfast: sugar filled instant oatmeal, chocolate milk or French toast sticks and syrup) or drinking soda and eating tortilla chips or cookies. Then the student would try to concentrate on work until lunch, where s/he dined on the wonderful chicken nugget meal. Then after school, who knew whether s/he got an afterschool snack of cookies and fruit punch or even had a decent dinner. The brain cannot function on too much sugar. The body’s reaction to sugar may be AHHD, ADD, hyperactivity, etc. In fact, in some cases, changes in the child’s diet has led to improvement of symptoms. See here.
We have to keep our children away from the sugar! Parents, I know it’s so hard to do. Believe me, I do love a taste of the evil white stuff too. Moderation is the key. I certainly don’t deny my children the occasional (and I mean 3 times a month, if that) lollipop and I do allow them some home baked or store bought cookies. I’m not crazy enough to think I can keep them away from the stuff forever. However, I don’t encourage it and I don’t use candy or cookies as either a reward or punishment, i.e you’ll get a cookie if you do a, b or c or, ‘you won’t get dessert because of a, b, c.”
What do I do with my regular ol’ children? Well, I keep fruit in the house. I feed them vanilla yogurt with Kashi granola on top. If they beg, (smile) I just might sprinkle a bit of Ovaltine over the top. Want a banana? Want a peeled apple? The phrase, “we’re having strawberries with a whisper of sugar for dessert” gets as much as a “yay” as “who wants cookies.”
Again parents, for those of us who do this, it’s not easy or cheap. It’s much easier to purchase a 99 cent box of vanilla wafers (which I do buy) than a 2.50 pound of strawberries, which will be gone in about 15 minutes. I knew I was doing something right when my son said to me, “Carrots aren’t a vegetable, they’re a snack!” and refused to eat some white rice I cooked because he said it didn’t taste as good as the brown rice that I usually served.
Here are some sites that talk about children’s nutrition and where you can get some pointers. Add your tips or webbie references in the comments! (Please, no advertisements.)
Children and Nutrition Web References:
http://www.deliciousdecisions.org/
