“To provide opportunities for students to put theory into practice, nutrition education should go beyond the classroom” –W.T. Yeung, PhD

Comic source: www.tuberose.com

There are an endless number of research conducted which focuses on understanding how the today’s youth make dietary decisions. I have interpreted a consistent theme in most of these studies: That simply educating students about proper nutrition and partaking in some form of physical activity is not enough. Take for example a studied conducted by Yeung et al (2010) that  sampled 836 students (age 11-18; 41% male & 59% female) and looked at perceptions of body weight and image, their eating attitudes and behaviors, eating habits, food knowledge, and perceptions and mastery of cooking skills. The study concluded that despite a majority (94%) having studied food and nutrition in their curriculum, felt competent in making healthful food choices (67%), learned to cook (86%), had “food label-reading skills” (75%), and the majority (92%) knew  the benefits of exercising, less than half ate breakfast every day and fruit and vegetable consumption was below recommended daily intakes (RDI).

I strongly believe that there needs to be a radical change in how we implement dietary education. Our youth need to develop long-term focus in their dietary habits, i.e. life-long work on the process to improve their nutrition and physical activity…not a focus on instant results and diet-trends.  How can this be achieved? I can share my personal experiences in what has allowed me to improve (and continue to improve) my overall dietary habits.

Stock up well: The easiest way to influence your child as a parent is to stock your pantry and fridge with healthy foods. It’s surprising how quickly kids will adapt their diet based on what is provided at home. Yes, you might be indirectly forcing you’re kid to choose an apple over processed apple sauce, but someone needs to crack the wipe to get them on the right track.

“The Sauce is the Boss”: Cooking is still an important process in teaching proper nutrition. A study (HERE) by the University of Minnesota found a direct influence of family meals have on influencing adolescents to eat a healthy diet. The most enjoyable process of cooking, I believe, is preparing the sauce. Using a different sauce creates a different experience even for the same meal. Getting your child to start cooking is one thing…but to get them hooked, then teaching them a handful of simple sauces is the way. HERE is a list of simple sauces that can be taught.  Also, what about giving your child the responsibility to preparing a complete meal for the family every now and then…the parent should help, of course. Another benefit for making sauces…you can easily incorporate several veggies in a batch of your favorite sauce (e.g., tomato sauce for a pasta meal).

I work in a nutrition department that has begun to look at sustainability within our agricultural system. So what does it mean to be truly sustainable? I was curious too and happened to find the following article…enjoy!

Sustainable Agricultre

(Article source: Seed Magazine; Image source: Berkeley )

What does “sustainable agriculture” truly mean—and what should it look like? The outlines of this long-running debate will be familiar to many. One side argues that modern, industrialized farming, for all its flaws, has mostly been a force for good, vastly improving yield, reducing food-borne illness, and saving the world from Malthusian disaster.  Building upon this foundation, modern farming should be science-based and highly capitalized, employing the arsenal of innovations in chemistry, biotechnology, and satellite systems—from biotech seeds to laser-leveled fields. The other side rebuts that given the enormous environmental and social costs of intensified agriculture, a paradigm shift is needed: one that takes a whole-systems approach based on traditional knowledge, alternative agriculture, and local food system experience.

Source: Medical News Today

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will devote $1.5 billion over the next five years to maternal and child health,family planning and nutritionprograms in developing nations with high maternal and infant death rates, theNew York Times reports.

Melinda Gates, who announced the planned spending at an international women’s health conference in Washington, D.C., on Monday, said the money will be used to train health workers, develop improvedantibiotics to treat infections in newborns and find better ways to treat hemorrhage in mothers.
Gates noted the example of Malawi, one of Africa’s poorest nations, which has started to lower its child and maternal mortality rates. She said pregnancy and childbirth in developing nations often “end in tragedy,” but many deaths could be prevented at a “stunningly” low cost (Grady, New York Times, 6/8).

Gates also said the problem is not caused by a lack of medical knowledge but because “we haven’t tried hard enough.” She added, “Policymakers in both rich and poor countries have treated women and children, quite frankly, as if they matter less than men. They have squandered opportunities to improve the health of women and babies” (Burns, AP/CBS News, 6/7).

The Gates Foundation, which has assets totaling roughly $35.2 billion, already has spent $10 billion on global health projects, including $1.8 billion for maternal, newborn and child health efforts. The foundation’s primary focus to date has been vaccines and infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS (New York Times, 6/8).

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also spoke at Monday’s conference to promote a joint action plan intended to improve women’s and children’s health. He called on business leaders, lawmakers and health experts to submit ideas and proposals before the action plan is finalized in the next few months (AP/CBS News, 6/7).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women’s Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women’s Health Policy Report is a free service of theNational Partnership for Women & Families.

Truly shocking when put into perspective of the migration of the spill, where oil has made landfall, efforts attempted to stop the leak, and effects on the wild life. The original animated image and full report can be found HERE.

These three articles are significant to me as they are relevant to events that have happened to me in the past week. The first article is due to my recent visit to the dentist…I was curious about the effects of eating late night, as I tend to do. Dentists seem very against it for the reasons mentioned in the article. The second article came about after I read a research paper that found an association with higher levels “food insecurities” in low-SES families whose mother experienced mental health problems – depression being a significant contributor. Therefore, the authors suggested that research is needed to assess whether “interventions that address women’s mental health symptoms can help to reduce the burden of food insecurity and its consequences on families” (Melchior et al., 2009). I agree, as interventions that focus on improving family nutrition emphasis education too much – which is not a bad thing. However, education should derive from understanding root problems or barriers (e.g., mental health barriers). Lastly, the third article expresses a concern that I have when I shop at a health food store or supplement store like GNC. It’s either hit or miss when it comes to getting recommendations from employees…so I just tend to ask a nutritionist or look up information on-line.