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Elementary School Gym teachers telling kids to restrict calories!

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  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
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    For all the people saying she was doing the right thing - question. If you felt that your kid had had enough to eat for the day, would you give them a handful of nuts instead of dinner? Seeing as how your cool with them being taught that's a reasonable thing to do?

    This might shock you, but my kids sometimes skip dinner if they are not hungry.

    Crazy, right?

    smh.

    Read the question.

    smh.

    Ok, if they had a big lunch, and only wanted a handful of nuts, why not?

    IIFYM.

    "if they are not hungry."
    " only wanted a handful of nuts"

    The question has nothing to do with their hunger levels, or what they want - I asked if you decided the kid had had enough calories for the day, would you give them a handful of nuts instead of dinner.

    The teacher wasn't teaching "Don't eat if you are not hungry" she was teaching that if you're out of calories, don't eat dinner.

    Yes. I've cut my kids off of food when I know they've exceeded what they should be eating for a day. How is this odd?

    Oh wait, I get it! In the US, food equals love, rather than just nutrition.

    What makes you think I'm in the US? And you've not fed your kids dinner, when they're hungry, because you figure they've had enough fr the day? for real?

    If they have had enough, they won't be hungry. They may want to eat a lot out of habit or because they like the taste of the food being served, but they should not actually be hungry.

    Even if the kids are a bit hungry at bedtime once in a while, that isn't a bad thing either. IMO Just yesterday my middle son was procrastianting snacking in the evening. Bedtime rolled around and he hadnt eaten for about 5 hours. He went to bed anyways because it was time to go to bed. He may have been hungry but he can eat in the morning. He's 12.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    For all the people saying she was doing the right thing - question. If you felt that your kid had had enough to eat for the day, would you give them a handful of nuts instead of dinner? Seeing as how your cool with them being taught that's a reasonable thing to do?

    Of course not. They get what everyone else is having not special meals. Do people count calories for their kids?!

    If you're teaching calorie counting (which I think is absurd but whatever) you have to give real world examples of what you do and how it works. If calorie counting is how you expect these kids to control their weight it needs to taught and modeled for them. Weight control doesn't happen by teaching a perfect textbook example of calorie counting. There are real, concrete things you do to achieve that ... like eating nuts for dinner because you overindulged earlier.

    I'm not really sure why this thread started up again, but I think the problem is that the gym teacher wasn't actually teaching any kind of curriculum, she was sharing her own issues/approach with kids for whom her approach was likely not what would ever be taught or appropriate (kids calorie counting probably isn't a great approach, although some may disagree). On the other hand, kids understanding how calories work as part of a unit or class that covers health and nutrition, great -- this was not that.

    Nuts for dinner is fine if that's what you want, but it seems like an absurd example to me for either nutrition or calorie counting. It's not a balanced meal, and NOT low cal (unless the nuts are a very small amount) compared to many more nutrient-dense, balanced meals.

    I don't think it's a big deal to eat super light or skip a meal if you had a big meal earlier. I don't think it's a big thing to have one unbalanced or non nutrient dense meal, either. Our next door neighbors (who were not overweight) when I was a kid regularly had a huge post church meal on Sundays and then just some popcorn instead of dinner. We thought it seemed like a fun custom, and on rare occasion I've skipped a meal and just had popcorn, which is less nutrient dense than nuts. I've grabbed nuts and some raw veg for breakfast too (although it wasn't intended as a super low cal breakfast). But if I were teaching a class or planning the curriculum I'd be aware that it's quite easy, depending on the kids, the demographic, etc., to get the idea that you should punish yourself for overeating or skip meals to keep weight down or some such and that it might not be understood in the right context (and I don't want to teach kids to be neurotic about weight or calories, although I do want them to understand that part of being healthy is a healthy weight). I think the teacher going on about her stuff outside of the curriculum or any planned curriculum in that way is what's being objected to.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    Theo166 wrote: »
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    For all the people saying she was doing the right thing - question. If you felt that your kid had had enough to eat for the day, would you give them a handful of nuts instead of dinner? Seeing as how your cool with them being taught that's a reasonable thing to do?

    My kids skip dinner when they are not hungry, or only eat a small portion.

    Tonight my oldest was not hungry at dinner so he had a slice of ham and a few cucumbers.

    Yesterday me second oldest was not hungry at dinner so he skipped it. At about 8or 9pm he did have a handful of nuts. We have a bowl of mixed nuts on the table. He probably had 1/2 a cup of nuts and then went to bed.

    I find this a much better solution than eating when not hungry. I'm cool with it. My kids are all slim and active. They eat when they are hungry and don't eat when they are not. Mostly. They are all have a weight percentile below that of their height. For example, son #3 is at the 100th percentile for height but about 75% for weight.

    At least once a week I skip dinner because I'm not hungry. Most days of the week I skip breakfast. It's not unhealthy, IMO.

    That's not what I asked. I asked if you thought your kid had eaten enough (ie was "out of calories") would you tell them to have a handful of nuts rather than giving them dinner. The teachers wasn't advocating not eating if your not hungry, she was advocating not eating because you've run out of calories.

    The teacher shared his personal experience, he didn't give them instructions to do exactly what he said.

    Out of curiosity, why do you keep assuming the teacher was a man when it was explicitly stated that the teacher was a she in the first post?
  • liftingmomlife
    liftingmomlife Posts: 47 Member
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    highly inappropriate. teaching and encouraging healthy eating habits is extremely important, especially childhood obesity rates being what they are. however, there are other ways to go about this than pushing calorie counting. that's not even as NECESSARY as really teaching what good food choices look like, and how to include those in every day life.
  • Theo166
    Theo166 Posts: 2,564 Member
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    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    Theo166 wrote: »
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    For all the people saying she was doing the right thing - question. If you felt that your kid had had enough to eat for the day, would you give them a handful of nuts instead of dinner? Seeing as how your cool with them being taught that's a reasonable thing to do?

    My kids skip dinner when they are not hungry, or only eat a small portion.

    Tonight my oldest was not hungry at dinner so he had a slice of ham and a few cucumbers.

    Yesterday me second oldest was not hungry at dinner so he skipped it. At about 8or 9pm he did have a handful of nuts. We have a bowl of mixed nuts on the table. He probably had 1/2 a cup of nuts and then went to bed.

    I find this a much better solution than eating when not hungry. I'm cool with it. My kids are all slim and active. They eat when they are hungry and don't eat when they are not. Mostly. They are all have a weight percentile below that of their height. For example, son #3 is at the 100th percentile for height but about 75% for weight.

    At least once a week I skip dinner because I'm not hungry. Most days of the week I skip breakfast. It's not unhealthy, IMO.

    That's not what I asked. I asked if you thought your kid had eaten enough (ie was "out of calories") would you tell them to have a handful of nuts rather than giving them dinner. The teachers wasn't advocating not eating if your not hungry, she was advocating not eating because you've run out of calories.

    The teacher shared his personal experience, he didn't give them instructions to do exactly what he said.

    Out of curiosity, why do you keep assuming the teacher was a man when it was explicitly stated that the teacher was a she in the first post?

    Haven't reread the OP since it started, thought it was a man. Does that disturb you, do you think I'm being sexist, or are you projecting?
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    Theo166 wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    Theo166 wrote: »
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    For all the people saying she was doing the right thing - question. If you felt that your kid had had enough to eat for the day, would you give them a handful of nuts instead of dinner? Seeing as how your cool with them being taught that's a reasonable thing to do?

    My kids skip dinner when they are not hungry, or only eat a small portion.

    Tonight my oldest was not hungry at dinner so he had a slice of ham and a few cucumbers.

    Yesterday me second oldest was not hungry at dinner so he skipped it. At about 8or 9pm he did have a handful of nuts. We have a bowl of mixed nuts on the table. He probably had 1/2 a cup of nuts and then went to bed.

    I find this a much better solution than eating when not hungry. I'm cool with it. My kids are all slim and active. They eat when they are hungry and don't eat when they are not. Mostly. They are all have a weight percentile below that of their height. For example, son #3 is at the 100th percentile for height but about 75% for weight.

    At least once a week I skip dinner because I'm not hungry. Most days of the week I skip breakfast. It's not unhealthy, IMO.

    That's not what I asked. I asked if you thought your kid had eaten enough (ie was "out of calories") would you tell them to have a handful of nuts rather than giving them dinner. The teachers wasn't advocating not eating if your not hungry, she was advocating not eating because you've run out of calories.

    The teacher shared his personal experience, he didn't give them instructions to do exactly what he said.

    Out of curiosity, why do you keep assuming the teacher was a man when it was explicitly stated that the teacher was a she in the first post?

    Haven't reread the OP since it started, thought it was a man. Does that disturb you, do you think I'm being sexist, or are you projecting?

    None of the above. I just noticed it before, thought hmm, I thought it was a woman so checked and found I was right. I noticed you doing it again, so asked.
  • leanjogreen18
    leanjogreen18 Posts: 2,492 Member
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    My kids heard aspartame and sugar was bad in school, couple that with my "healthy" wheat no white bread and no candy at home ( they got candy once a week when we went to the grocery store) they started a strike against diet drinks and McDonald's at a young age ( I took them there a lot:)). Add to that college and I have one pescatarian and one moderate eater that eat lean chicken, salads, tons of veggies and fruit with moderate candy. The moderate candy eater just finished a 50k the other one is fit too.

    I dieted when they were at home but didn't have a big weight issue until they left home and I started many super restrictive diets causing rapid loss then added weight gain. We ate out a lot so the "healthy" message they learned at home was somewhat messed up.

    I guess my point is something they heard at school (erroneous) and our home environment ( focus on "healthy" whatever that meant at the time) helped them to be conscious of the food they ate/eat at a young age (5th grade). As adults one will still not eat at McDonald's the other will and makes "healthy" choices there. One teaches her kids slow, go and whoa foods to her small kids. One is raising his kid as pescatarian. And everyone is active in spite of my very lazy self, neither battle weight issues as I did. Neither will drink diet drinks nor do their children have regular soda. I'm interested to see how their children choose to eat as adults:).

    We can't stop our kids from hearing things, but we can take it as opportunities to have conversations with them. They are individuals and will come to their on conclusions eventually. We can't shelter them from everything said.

    AND I'd like to add it's ok to be upset with what they hear (I still wanted McDonald's).

  • coreyreichle
    coreyreichle Posts: 1,039 Member
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    fitbritt__ wrote: »
    highly inappropriate. teaching and encouraging healthy eating habits is extremely important, especially childhood obesity rates being what they are. however, there are other ways to go about this than pushing calorie counting. that's not even as NECESSARY as really teaching what good food choices look like, and how to include those in every day life.

    You do know this entire site, and it's mobile app is centered around calorie counting, right?
  • heiliskrimsli
    heiliskrimsli Posts: 735 Member
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    fitbritt__ wrote: »
    highly inappropriate. teaching and encouraging healthy eating habits is extremely important, especially childhood obesity rates being what they are. however, there are other ways to go about this than pushing calorie counting. that's not even as NECESSARY as really teaching what good food choices look like, and how to include those in every day life.

    You do know this entire site, and it's mobile app is centered around calorie counting, right?

    Not only that, but calorie counting to ensure that intake is appropriate for height, age and activity level is a huge part of what "good food choices look like".
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
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    fitbritt__ wrote: »
    highly inappropriate. teaching and encouraging healthy eating habits is extremely important, especially childhood obesity rates being what they are. however, there are other ways to go about this than pushing calorie counting. that's not even as NECESSARY as really teaching what good food choices look like, and how to include those in every day life.

    You do know this entire site, and it's mobile app is centered around calorie counting, right?

    And the terms of service prohibit minors from using the site. So...
  • coreyreichle
    coreyreichle Posts: 1,039 Member
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    WinoGelato wrote: »
    fitbritt__ wrote: »
    highly inappropriate. teaching and encouraging healthy eating habits is extremely important, especially childhood obesity rates being what they are. however, there are other ways to go about this than pushing calorie counting. that's not even as NECESSARY as really teaching what good food choices look like, and how to include those in every day life.

    You do know this entire site, and it's mobile app is centered around calorie counting, right?

    And the terms of service prohibit minors from using the site. So...

    ... and what does that have to do with the price of tea in China?
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
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    WinoGelato wrote: »
    fitbritt__ wrote: »
    highly inappropriate. teaching and encouraging healthy eating habits is extremely important, especially childhood obesity rates being what they are. however, there are other ways to go about this than pushing calorie counting. that's not even as NECESSARY as really teaching what good food choices look like, and how to include those in every day life.

    You do know this entire site, and it's mobile app is centered around calorie counting, right?

    And the terms of service prohibit minors from using the site. So...

    ... and what does that have to do with the price of tea in China?

    That's what I was getting at. The poster suggested that the teacher shouldn't be focusing on calorie counting with the children, and you said (paraphrasing) "but this is a calorie counting website." My point is that children aren't supposed to be using this site, so how is that relevant to the discussion?
  • coreyreichle
    coreyreichle Posts: 1,039 Member
    edited April 2017
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    WinoGelato wrote: »
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    fitbritt__ wrote: »
    highly inappropriate. teaching and encouraging healthy eating habits is extremely important, especially childhood obesity rates being what they are. however, there are other ways to go about this than pushing calorie counting. that's not even as NECESSARY as really teaching what good food choices look like, and how to include those in every day life.

    You do know this entire site, and it's mobile app is centered around calorie counting, right?

    And the terms of service prohibit minors from using the site. So...

    ... and what does that have to do with the price of tea in China?

    That's what I was getting at. The poster suggested that the teacher shouldn't be focusing on calorie counting with the children, and you said (paraphrasing) "but this is a calorie counting website." My point is that children aren't supposed to be using this site, so how is that relevant to the discussion?

    Well, I was mainly replying to this line...

    "there are other ways to go about this than pushing calorie counting"

    Calorie counting is the one sure-fire way to ensure you maintain a healthy weight. Obviously, kids not learning about calorie counting is working really well to ensure we have an obesity epidemic.
  • heiliskrimsli
    heiliskrimsli Posts: 735 Member
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    WinoGelato wrote: »
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    fitbritt__ wrote: »
    highly inappropriate. teaching and encouraging healthy eating habits is extremely important, especially childhood obesity rates being what they are. however, there are other ways to go about this than pushing calorie counting. that's not even as NECESSARY as really teaching what good food choices look like, and how to include those in every day life.

    You do know this entire site, and it's mobile app is centered around calorie counting, right?

    And the terms of service prohibit minors from using the site. So...

    ... and what does that have to do with the price of tea in China?

    That's what I was getting at. The poster suggested that the teacher shouldn't be focusing on calorie counting with the children, and you said (paraphrasing) "but this is a calorie counting website." My point is that children aren't supposed to be using this site, so how is that relevant to the discussion?

    Whether or not a site's TOS prohibits minors for legal reasons has no bearing on whether or not children who are learning about nutrition, diet, and exercise in a physical education and health class at school should learn about calories and employing conscious control of intake.

    In general a website's TOS is a legal disclaimer designed to protect the owner of the site from any repercussions that might come from minors using a site which include but are not limited to things like collecting personally identifiable information, the posting of photographs of the minors, and actions resulting from minors interacting with adults on the Internet.

    I think it's kind of a stretch to take that to mean that MFP is affirmatively stating that calorie counting is bad for anyone under 18 years of age.
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
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    WinoGelato wrote: »
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    fitbritt__ wrote: »
    highly inappropriate. teaching and encouraging healthy eating habits is extremely important, especially childhood obesity rates being what they are. however, there are other ways to go about this than pushing calorie counting. that's not even as NECESSARY as really teaching what good food choices look like, and how to include those in every day life.

    You do know this entire site, and it's mobile app is centered around calorie counting, right?

    And the terms of service prohibit minors from using the site. So...

    ... and what does that have to do with the price of tea in China?

    That's what I was getting at. The poster suggested that the teacher shouldn't be focusing on calorie counting with the children, and you said (paraphrasing) "but this is a calorie counting website." My point is that children aren't supposed to be using this site, so how is that relevant to the discussion?

    Well, I was mainly replying to this line...

    "there are other ways to go about this than pushing calorie counting"

    Calorie counting is the one sure-fire way to ensure you maintain a healthy weight. Obviously, kids not learning about calorie counting is working really well to ensure we have an obesity epidemic.

    I think it's important for kids to learn about energy balance, that being at a healthy weight is about an equation: calories in and calories out (CICO). I think it would be important to teach kids things like the CO side includes the calories you burn just being alive, as well as being active, as well as exercising for fitness. We have a lot of adults who come here who don't even have that basic understanding. I think you should teach kids that when that equation is unbalanced one way or the other, it has an impact on your weight. Again, lots of adults who come here don't understand that it's really about a mathematical energy balance equation.

    Then I think it's really important to teach kids about nutrition, both macro and micro nutrients, and moderation. Depending on the age, I don't think you need to stress counting calories for children; and given that this was in an elementary school, I don't think that needs to come up as more than a passing reference.
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
    Options
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    fitbritt__ wrote: »
    highly inappropriate. teaching and encouraging healthy eating habits is extremely important, especially childhood obesity rates being what they are. however, there are other ways to go about this than pushing calorie counting. that's not even as NECESSARY as really teaching what good food choices look like, and how to include those in every day life.

    You do know this entire site, and it's mobile app is centered around calorie counting, right?

    And the terms of service prohibit minors from using the site. So...

    ... and what does that have to do with the price of tea in China?

    That's what I was getting at. The poster suggested that the teacher shouldn't be focusing on calorie counting with the children, and you said (paraphrasing) "but this is a calorie counting website." My point is that children aren't supposed to be using this site, so how is that relevant to the discussion?

    Whether or not a site's TOS prohibits minors for legal reasons has no bearing on whether or not children who are learning about nutrition, diet, and exercise in a physical education and health class at school should learn about calories and employing conscious control of intake.

    In general a website's TOS is a legal disclaimer designed to protect the owner of the site from any repercussions that might come from minors using a site which include but are not limited to things like collecting personally identifiable information, the posting of photographs of the minors, and actions resulting from minors interacting with adults on the Internet.

    I think it's kind of a stretch to take that to mean that MFP is affirmatively stating that calorie counting is bad for anyone under 18 years of age.

    See my follow up post.
  • coreyreichle
    coreyreichle Posts: 1,039 Member
    edited April 2017
    Options
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    fitbritt__ wrote: »
    highly inappropriate. teaching and encouraging healthy eating habits is extremely important, especially childhood obesity rates being what they are. however, there are other ways to go about this than pushing calorie counting. that's not even as NECESSARY as really teaching what good food choices look like, and how to include those in every day life.

    You do know this entire site, and it's mobile app is centered around calorie counting, right?

    And the terms of service prohibit minors from using the site. So...

    ... and what does that have to do with the price of tea in China?

    That's what I was getting at. The poster suggested that the teacher shouldn't be focusing on calorie counting with the children, and you said (paraphrasing) "but this is a calorie counting website." My point is that children aren't supposed to be using this site, so how is that relevant to the discussion?

    Well, I was mainly replying to this line...

    "there are other ways to go about this than pushing calorie counting"

    Calorie counting is the one sure-fire way to ensure you maintain a healthy weight. Obviously, kids not learning about calorie counting is working really well to ensure we have an obesity epidemic.

    I think it's important for kids to learn about energy balance, that being at a healthy weight is about an equation: calories in and calories out (CICO). I think it would be important to teach kids things like the CO side includes the calories you burn just being alive, as well as being active, as well as exercising for fitness. We have a lot of adults who come here who don't even have that basic understanding. I think you should teach kids that when that equation is unbalanced one way or the other, it has an impact on your weight. Again, lots of adults who come here don't understand that it's really about a mathematical energy balance equation.

    Then I think it's really important to teach kids about nutrition, both macro and micro nutrients, and moderation. Depending on the age, I don't think you need to stress counting calories for children; and given that this was in an elementary school, I don't think that needs to come up as more than a passing reference.

    So, why do you think many adults come here, lacking understanding about it all just being an energy balance?

    Could it be, perhaps, calorie counting only gets a passing reference today, in school? School is where this stuff SHOULD be taught.
  • heiliskrimsli
    heiliskrimsli Posts: 735 Member
    Options
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    fitbritt__ wrote: »
    highly inappropriate. teaching and encouraging healthy eating habits is extremely important, especially childhood obesity rates being what they are. however, there are other ways to go about this than pushing calorie counting. that's not even as NECESSARY as really teaching what good food choices look like, and how to include those in every day life.

    You do know this entire site, and it's mobile app is centered around calorie counting, right?

    And the terms of service prohibit minors from using the site. So...

    ... and what does that have to do with the price of tea in China?

    That's what I was getting at. The poster suggested that the teacher shouldn't be focusing on calorie counting with the children, and you said (paraphrasing) "but this is a calorie counting website." My point is that children aren't supposed to be using this site, so how is that relevant to the discussion?

    Whether or not a site's TOS prohibits minors for legal reasons has no bearing on whether or not children who are learning about nutrition, diet, and exercise in a physical education and health class at school should learn about calories and employing conscious control of intake.

    In general a website's TOS is a legal disclaimer designed to protect the owner of the site from any repercussions that might come from minors using a site which include but are not limited to things like collecting personally identifiable information, the posting of photographs of the minors, and actions resulting from minors interacting with adults on the Internet.

    I think it's kind of a stretch to take that to mean that MFP is affirmatively stating that calorie counting is bad for anyone under 18 years of age.

    See my follow up post.

    How do you teach someone to balance a numerical equation without any reference to the numbers, especially when they're in the arithmetic and not abstract mathematics phase of learning?
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
    Options
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    fitbritt__ wrote: »
    highly inappropriate. teaching and encouraging healthy eating habits is extremely important, especially childhood obesity rates being what they are. however, there are other ways to go about this than pushing calorie counting. that's not even as NECESSARY as really teaching what good food choices look like, and how to include those in every day life.

    You do know this entire site, and it's mobile app is centered around calorie counting, right?

    And the terms of service prohibit minors from using the site. So...

    ... and what does that have to do with the price of tea in China?

    That's what I was getting at. The poster suggested that the teacher shouldn't be focusing on calorie counting with the children, and you said (paraphrasing) "but this is a calorie counting website." My point is that children aren't supposed to be using this site, so how is that relevant to the discussion?

    Well, I was mainly replying to this line...

    "there are other ways to go about this than pushing calorie counting"

    Calorie counting is the one sure-fire way to ensure you maintain a healthy weight. Obviously, kids not learning about calorie counting is working really well to ensure we have an obesity epidemic.

    I think it's important for kids to learn about energy balance, that being at a healthy weight is about an equation: calories in and calories out (CICO). I think it would be important to teach kids things like the CO side includes the calories you burn just being alive, as well as being active, as well as exercising for fitness. We have a lot of adults who come here who don't even have that basic understanding. I think you should teach kids that when that equation is unbalanced one way or the other, it has an impact on your weight. Again, lots of adults who come here don't understand that it's really about a mathematical energy balance equation.

    Then I think it's really important to teach kids about nutrition, both macro and micro nutrients, and moderation. Depending on the age, I don't think you need to stress counting calories for children; and given that this was in an elementary school, I don't think that needs to come up as more than a passing reference.

    So, why do you think many adults come here, lacking understanding about it all just being an energy balance?

    Could it be, perhaps, calorie counting only gets a passing reference today, in school? School is where this stuff SHOULD be taught.

    I think that just like any math concept, it should be included in the curriculum at the appropriate age. Elementary school kids, don't need to get into counting calories just like they wouldn't be doing trig and calculus. Talking about nutrition IS the most important thing for elementary school aged kids. As they get older, then the calorie concept can become a larger focus, even getting into calorie counting - maybe calculating the differences between calorie content of different macronutrients and how that would contribute to a day. I've heard of high school classes where the kids design meal plans and calculate the calories and nutrition for a day or week or even a month, for different individuals. I think that's a great lesson, at that age.

    I think the reason so many people come here not understanding CICO is that the fundamental energy balance isn't taught. That doesn't even have to get into counting calories. I'm a proponent for counting calories, obviously, but I know that there are other ways to be successful at managing the weight without counting and logging. But whether you count cals or not, CICO still applies and THAT is the message that I think is failing to be taught to individuals of many ages...
  • heiliskrimsli
    heiliskrimsli Posts: 735 Member
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    WinoGelato wrote: »
    I think that just like any math concept, it should be included in the curriculum at the appropriate age.

    And like every other concept in mathematics, there's a reason that we start kids out with counting and arithmetic rather than algebra, discrete mathematics or calculus.

    Adding and subtracting four digit numbers is something my school taught in third grade. When I was 8. No reason those four digit numbers couldn't be calories.