"Taylor Elementary a model in fighting obesity," by Jill Tucker, the SF Chroncile, Feb. 9, 2011
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/02/09/MN5V1HKEVP.DTL
Good nutrition has joined the pantheon of the three "R's" at a Portola neighborhood school in San Francisco. The school holds nutrition and cooking classes, has its own garden and devotes time daily for physical fitness. Michelle Obama held the school up as a national example in her Let's Move campaign to fight childhood obesity. The school has focused on the problem for years and has managed to reduce obesity to almost zero.
Of course, nationally the rate is skyrocketing, as the article points out. At least 1 in 3 American children are obese, with the rate climbing to 40% for African Americans and Latinos. But children at this school snack on vegetables and fruits from their garden and learn about healthy foods as part of the curriculum. This story is very relevant to parents and educators, who are clearly the main audience. But society as whole should take notice since the health costs affect us all and the cost to the children is high as well. This is clearly a good example of how schools can and should step in to help out their students.
I LOVE this! I love how practical it is, gardening, physical labor, enjoying the fruits of that labor, learning about nutrition, getting physical activity, and responsibility. Ownership of your body and health, I wonder if children from this school will be less likely to do drugs, have unprotected sex, and other things harmful to their bodies. That might be a stretch but I see those things as possible fall out from learning to care about and be actively involved in your own health care. Our school won some grant in which we get fresh fruits and/or veggies everyday. The kids get exposed to such a great variety of healthy foods. They had kiwi berries one day - I had never heard of those. YUM! Like grapes but kiwi - just pop them in your mouth and go. There was starfruit one day, and all sorts of others. Just the exposure is beneficial in my mind!
ReplyDeleteI agree. I love the idea of kids doing practical stuff in school. I think it gives them a connection with reality and their community. Plus it's a lot more fun to grow and cook and eat nutritious food than learn about it in a book. I think this kind of hands on stuff was much more prevalent back in the day and I hope it returns to schools. Cheers,
ReplyDeleteThe school has “managed to reduce obesity to almost zero”??? Are you kidding me? That’s incredible! In the medical community, obesity is considered one of the greatest epidemics to hit America. Not just a problem like the article says… an EPIDEMIC. With 1 in 3 kids classified as obese, there’s not much that can compete with its prevalence. And of course, with increasing obesity comes increased incidence of diabetes and hypertension, both which can cause major systemic and ocular complications if left uncontrolled. Schools and parents need to jump on this, doing what they can within their financial limits to follow the precedence set by Taylor Elementary, making healthy living one of the central tenets of their education.
ReplyDeleteMy family migrated to America in search of money and resources. My father was a skinny skinny man when he first got here. The same can be said about my uncles and aunts. Its interesting to that the rate is climbing to 40% for African Americans and Latinos. I wonder what percentage of that represents low income families. I have always seen this obesity thing from one perspective...My family had very little to eat in Mexico. My uncle would tell me that most nights his dinner was a warm bread roll and a bottle of coke. That's all they could afford to feed for his family. Not all days were that bad, but once they came to America, and they saw $.89 burgers and other fast food items...oh man. My dad would tell me that when he first started working and made close to nothing in wages, he survived off of those cheap cheeseburgers. Healthy food is not cheap, healthy bread is not cheap. And the fruits and vegetables that are cheap, they aren't good for you--packed with some nasty chemicals. Low income families cant afford the "good healthy" stuff. It doesn't help that most have a big family to feed...if you got 5 kids to feed including yourself, its easy to turn to the dollar menu. And if you're starting off making little to nothing, you develop nasty eating habits that are hard to break, even if you can later afford better quality food.
ReplyDeleteI think its a great program that the school is doing. Sometimes parents from another culture who are used to appreciating anything they can get to eat have little practice of good nutrition. It would be great to know that these kids are coming home, and educating their families on good eating habits and active lifestyles...As i have grown older (because I too was part of a family that saw fast food as a wonderful benefit from America) i have tried to encourage better eating habits amongst my parents and siblings. Lets just say my dad and uncle's are no longer skinny young men...
Childhood obesity is super prevalent among low income families! And the impacts can last a lifetime (or even shorten a lifetime). I think it is super impressive that this school has nearly wiped out obesity in it's student population. Also fantastic to hear about the resources available at Jessica's school in Newberg :) Other than unealthy fast food or processed food from the grocery stores being less expensive and quicker for low income families where some parents are working multiple jobs to get by, low income kids are eating school lunches provided at little or no cost to families. The school lunches though are typically high in calories and low in nutrition. It's great to hear about some schools that are making efforts to address that - they can really make a big difference in fighting the epidemic!
ReplyDeleteJavier, I completely agree with your point that healthy eating is expensive, and the prevalence of obesity in lower-income families speaks to that. We, as in the public health and education systems, need to find a way to encourage low-income families to spend the extra money on healthier food items. It's really a matter of choosing between paying more for better food now or paying a lot more for medical expenses later in life. Granted, it's a bit tougher to address this problem within a health system that insures treatment of obesity but does not fund its prevention.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kevy that this is a public health issue. My undergrad is in public health ed and I find this to be an issue that should be getting more attention. I remember one professor talking about how baby formula companies push their products on the poor. I was confused by this. She went on to say how many of the families could get WIC or foodstamps to cover the cost??? The big problem was no one took the time to educate these moms on the HUGE benefits of breast feeding. This seems crazy to me. It would be healthier for both mom and baby, save money, and be all around good.
ReplyDeleteKids could be the catalyst for change. Get them eating healthier and knowledgeable about food and let them spread the info.