Kids Dish

An Associated Press review of 57 nutrition education programs found that they’re mostly failing. Having worked in inner city, poverty-stricken schools where 99% of the students were eligible for free or reduced prices lunches I can understand why. Children eat what they learn, and if mom and dad find it easier and cheaper to feed their kids deep fried, fast foods and sugary soft drinks that’s what kids prefer. No amount of nutrition classes can change a child’s preference unless they have a desire to change their own eating habits. Most children, even the morbidly obese, don’t have those desires. Health and nutrition classes can educate, but in a country where the childhood obesity rate for kids aged 6-11 has quintupled since the seventies, classes just aren’t enough. The article lists several obstacles.

PARENTS. Experts agree that although most funding targets schools, parents have the greatest influence, even a biological influence, over what their children will eat. Zeitler says when children slim down, it’s because “their families get religion about this and figure out what needs to happen.”

But often, they don’t.

“If the mother is eating Cheetos and white bread, the fetus will be born with those taste buds. If the mother is eating carrots and oatmeal the child will be born with those taste buds,” said Dr. Robert Trevino of the Social and Health Research Center in San Antonio.

Most kids learn what tastes good and what tastes nasty by their 10th birthdays.

“If we don’t reach a child before they get to puberty, it’s going to be very tough, very difficult, to change their eating behavior,” said Trevino.

POVERTY. Poorer kids are especially at risk, because unhealthy food is cheaper and more easily available than healthy food. Parents are often working, leaving children unsupervised to get their own snacks. Low-income neighborhoods have fewer good supermarkets with fresh produce.

“If Mom can’t find tomatoes in her local grocery store, nothing is going to change,” said Zeitler.

Meanwhile, it’s harder for children to exercise on their own. Parks often aren’t safe and sports teams cost money.

“Calorie burning has become the province of the wealthy,” said Zeitler. “I fear that what we’re going to see is a divergence of healthy people and unhealthy people. Basically, like everything else, it costs money to be healthy.”

ADVERTISING. Children ages 8 to 12 see an average of 21 television ads each day for candy, snacks, cereal and fast food - more than 7,600 a year, according to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation study. Not one of the 8,854 ads reviewed promoted fruits or vegetables.

There was one ad for healthy foods for every 50 for other foods.

Children may be the best sources to explain why lessons about nutrition don’t sink in.

“I think it’s because they like it so much, because like, I don’t know if you’ve seen the new hot Cheetos that are like puffs? Oh my God, they’re so good. Like everyone at the school has them and they’re so good,” said Ani Avanessian, 14, of Panorama City.

Her classmate George Rico, a 13-year-old whose mother is a manager at a McDonald’s, said he loves his nutrition class. But does it affect what he puts in his mouth?

“Well, no, but it makes me think about what I eat,” he said. “I think kids don’t change because they’ve been eating it for so long they’re just accustomed to eating that way.”

Parents have so much power over what their children choose to eat. Though preferences for sweet and salty foods are instinctual, constant exposure to a variety of different foods prepared in a variety of ways is the best way to ensure your child will eat a healthy, varied diet. Serving grilled cheese and chicken nuggets just because you know your kid will eat them just creates a child who will will choose to eat grilled cheese and chicken nuggets. The easiest way to teach your child to eat fruits and vegetables is to eat them yourself and enjoy them.

nutrition, nutrition education, childhood obesity, poverty