It makes me so angry that CICO etc. isn't taught in schools
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I don't think I was taught about nutrition in school & if I was, it was so fleeting I don't remember it. I didn't really know the science of weight gain & loss until a year or two ago when I did my own research.
Healthy eating and knowledge about healthy weight is fairly privileged information in society today. If you grew up with that knowledge, good for you. But if we want to address the public health issue of obesity, there are a lot of other social issues (such as poverty and income inequality) that need to be addressed first. Why are there kids learning about good nutrition but going home to top ramen, mac & cheese, & canned chili? Considering the social implications might help answer that question.
Even so, I still think nutrition should be taught in schools if it isn't already. A kid might go home to less-than-stellar food options & poor eating habits, but that information might come in handy for them someday.0 -
SergeantSausage wrote: »It is. You just weren't paying attention.
Health class.
Gym / PE
Biology
I was taught the concept at least 3 times by the end of High School.
The wrestling team got it drilled into 'em trying to make weight, right?
Pay attention next time.
I was plenty attentive at school thanks. I live in the UK and we didn't have a health class, weren't taught any theory in PE, and must've only VERY briefly touched on it in biology.
And we certainly didn't have a wrestling team.
Just because you were adequately educated on it doesn't mean it's like that at all schools.
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bigblondewolf wrote: »My daughter is in first grade. She came home acouple months back and told me about a game they played in PE, it was like hot potato but with "healthy" and "unhealthy" foods. They had to keep the unhealthy stuff out of their little stash of food by passing it to other kids and keeping their healthy stuff. She told me pasta is a bad food and we shouldn't eat it.
See, this would bother me if my child came home saying we could no longer eat pasta because it was "unhealthy." It's all well and good to say that the schools should be teaching healthy eating, but I think this example also shows how many problems it can cause because of the individual opinions of who is teaching the kids.
I was pretty upset about that one. I ended up giving her a little lecture right then that it is not about good food/bad foods, it is about balance and maintaining an active lifestyle. Poor little 6 year old having to ulearn her school lessons
Edited cause I didn't really make sense
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farfromthetree wrote: »PeachyPlum wrote: »I will say that even though my husband attended public school in a fairly good school district, and attended both Health and Food & Nutrition classes, his grasp of nutrition and what is "healthy" was really... inadequate.
When we met, his basic understanding was Fast Food = Not Healthy. Home Cooked = Healthy.
We'd finish a dinner of ribeye, baked potatoes with cheese and bacon, buttered rolls, and a small salad (his drowning in ranch dressing) and I'd say "Oh my gosh, I can't believe I ate all that."
And he'd say "Yeah, but at least we ate really healthy stuff!"
That's pretty funny. I think this is how most people still think!!
There's someone I knew on another site. She's struggled with her weight all her life, her husband is overweight, and unfortunately, now her little girl is already very obese. One day she started posting that she had to fix it and help her daughter, and her first goal was to start cooking healthy food at home instead of ordering out every night like she had been. She very proudly posted their first "healthy" meal: fried chicken, creamed corn, baked potatoes with sour cream and butter. The next night it was one of those magic 3 ingredient casseroles from pinterest where the closest thing to a veggie was the can of cream of mushroom soup.
It wasn't the kind of website where you could really have a serious conversation about things, but a few people tried to post recipes for her that were a little more balanced. She shot every one of them down with oh, husband won't eat that, daughter won't eat that, husband won't eat that. Etc. The basic taco salad that someone brings to every potluck ever was "too much work."0 -
6th grade in the 1970s -- tiny town in the rural southern U.S.0
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*I should add that while the healthy habits are taught in school, you absolutely need to enforce the knowledge by implementation. Let the kids help cook, weigh, measure - they'll have the skills, knowledge and hopefully practicality of it. The buck stops there, though - they are still their own people and will make their own mistakes. You can lead a horse to water...0
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My daughter came home from school telling me she was done eating processed food. I told her she was going to starve. She held out for a few hours till she really wanted some Mac and cheese.0
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I agree that the general concept of CICO should be taught (more so by parents), but I guess it can't be so black and white for kids.
For example, if you said to an adult 'eat what you want as long as it's within your calorie maintenance/deficit' (as many people do on this site, and which also is true), you would assume that said adult would still eat a fairly balanced diet, with some common sense. Whereas if you said the same to a school child, they might think 'oh well I can eat 2 Big Macs and 2 Mars Bars a day and be fine!', which isn't exactly promoting a healthy lifestyle.
So, I think the bluntness of CICO may not always work for kids. I do however think they should be taught the basis of healthy nutrition and the benefits of being active, which we were never really taught in my school.0 -
Food is such a sensitive topic (as seen by discussions right here in the forums of MFP!).
I think a lot of schools are afraid to teach anything related to weight for fear of kids developing eating disorders. It is a shame, really, because in school is a great opportunity to get 'good information' that might even discourage eating disorders!
I was a science teacher in The States in the 80's and was turned into my principal because I mentioned that whole grain breads had more fiber in them than ordinary white bread. The furious parent who complained said that kids don't have a choice over what is fed to them, so they shouldn't be taught that any food is a better choice over any other food. She was a fellow teacher, BTW.
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noobletmcnugget wrote: »noobletmcnugget wrote: »isulo_kura wrote: »It is in biology
It wasn't though that's the problem.Maybe it depends on where you go to school, but I know we had health and nutrition classes where I grew up. Didn't stop people from getting fat, pregnant or STDs, in some cases, all 3. You can't force people to care about information, no matter how early it's delivered. I see people I remember sitting next to me in poli sci and science post incredible misinformation about politics and science on fb all the time.
I live in the UK and I was never taught properly about it. And I realise that some people don't take notice of anything they're taught, but at the same time some do, and I think everyone should be given access to that information.
Maybe it's just different where I grew up, idk.
I'm in the UK too. It is covered, briefly, in biology. Also a BASIC grasp of physics helps.
How long do you want a school day to be/tax to be increased to (or diverted from elsewhere), to cover what is common sense and should be taught, through example, by parents?
If we ever covered it in biology it must have been extremely briefly. I never learnt about the effects of over restricting, about CICO, starvation mode (largely) being a myth or that fad diets, cleanses, detoxes etc. were utter rubbish.
Considering better education on it would likely decrease the incidence of weight-related medical problems, in addition to improving a lot of people's quality of life, I think it's rather important to teach properly actually.
Plus it wouldn't require much teaching time to cover the absolute basics. It could easily be covered in a single lesson.
IT IS covered. In biology, physics, home economics, guidance and PE.
I'm, personally, pleased that the majority of teaching time is spent on maths, English etc rather than wasting more time on it for people who aren't paying attention.
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Knowing what to do and doing it are two entirely different things. I could probably have a degree in nutrition with all the reading and studying I've done on the subject over the years, but my emotional problem with food led to 20 years of obesity. I have kids, and, at least in their public school in the United States, they learn a lot about nutrition and healthy habits early on.0
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noobletmcnugget wrote: »It makes me angry that we aren't all taught the basics about weight regulation, nutrition and fitness as children.
My grandmother never got past grade 2 (literally) - even she understood that you can't put it on if you don't put it in.
You don't need "school" for something this basic.0 -
Food is such a sensitive topic (as seen by discussions right here in the forums of MFP!).
I think a lot of schools are afraid to teach anything related to weight for fear of kids developing eating disorders. It is a shame, really, because in school is a great opportunity to get 'good information' that might even discourage eating disorders!
You know what screwed me up, and probably would have really damaged me if it weren't for the fact that I had outside influences (parents, 4-H, etc...)
There was a poster in the girl's locker room that basically said:
If you feel very full all the time ===> You will gain weight quickly
If you feel a little full all the time ===> You will gain weight slowly
If you feel neither full nor hungry ===> You will stay the same weight
If you feel a little hungry all the time ===> You will lose weight slowly
If you feel very hungry all the time ===> You will lose weight quickly (WARNING! This is not safe)
Well, of course what does every single junior high/high school age girl want to do, regardless of whether she's overweight or not?
I was smart enough to realize that starving myself was a terrible idea, but according to that poster, feeling a little hungry all the time was A-OK. To this day, I have to remind myself that it's not cool to get hungry and eat *just* enough to make the hunger pangs go away.0 -
noobletmcnugget wrote: »Umm yeah, it is. We teach about physical, social and emotional health actually.
*mini rant moment*
Why do schools have more and more responsibility chucked at them?! Is it too much to ask parents to parent?!
*rant over over*
Maybe it's different where you are. I was never properly educated on the subject at school.
Do you not have parents? My 10 year old logs (by his choice).
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they taugh us by using word problems,
If Sally took Billy's chocolate bar and Billy raced the train at 16.3 mph how fat would Joey be ?
Answer : 19/64th of a pencil
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I was taught in High school...I think in health class.. that doesn't mean I was taught right... My oldest daught (age 7)came home with a paper about calories and bad/good foods... Pasta was on that list of bad... She still didn't know what she would of needed to know about calories.. She will start learning more about age 10 cause thats when I will start teaching her. I do make sure my kids eat healthy and they dont just sit around the house.. I have to very active little girls...0
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Umm yeah, it is. We teach about physical, social and emotional health actually.
*mini rant moment*
Why do schools have more and more responsibility chucked at them?! Is it too much to ask parents to parent?!
*rant over over*
Yep, this.
I'm a secondary school teacher. I teach French mainly, but we all have to teach PHSE (personal, health and social education) and we cover healthy living. I wouldn't want to encourage 11 year olds to calorie count, but they learn the basic principle of eating a balanced diet and exercising, and making sure they're not eating more than they're burning.
We also teach sex ed in schools. The area I teach in has a high teen pregnancy rate.
Children are taught to read/write in primary school. Some still start secondary school barely able to read and write.
I have children, I don't expect their school to teach them everything. My son is doing great at reading (he's nearly 6) because I listen to him read every day, and because we've always read to him every day.0 -
I am 100% against teaching the prevailing nutritional beliefs in school. Why? In North America, we use a 'food pyramid' which is complete garbage, and clearly shows the lobbying efforts of big grain and dairy. It's NOT so simple as CICO; macro-ratios are much more important for maintaining good health.
Ex. Consider an individual that requires 1700cal/day for a maintenance diet. Compare ratios of 10% protein, 50% carbs and 40% fat, to 30% protein, 40% carbs and 30% fat. The former diet will cause the body to start breaking down lean body (muscle) mass.
Interesting side-note: Home economics classes are mandatory for all Japanese high school students.0 -
noobletmcnugget wrote: »Umm yeah, it is. We teach about physical, social and emotional health actually.
*mini rant moment*
Why do schools have more and more responsibility chucked at them?! Is it too much to ask parents to parent?!
*rant over over*
Maybe it's different where you are. I was never properly educated on the subject at school.
Do you not have parents? My 10 year old logs (by his choice).
That's why I said "at school".
I was lucky enough to be fed nutritious meals and was encouraged to stay active and so was healthy.
However, my mum struggled with dieting for years because of just how much misinformation there is out there. And I was never taught anything at school about how fad diets were wrong, how it was about CICO, and the effects of restrictive diets, etc.
All I'm saying that every kid should have it laid out for them at school what constitutes a healthy diet and what VERY common myths are lies. Not all kids have informed parents.0 -
bigblondewolf wrote: »My daughter is in first grade. She came home acouple months back and told me about a game they played in PE, it was like hot potato but with "healthy" and "unhealthy" foods. They had to keep the unhealthy stuff out of their little stash of food by passing it to other kids and keeping their healthy stuff. She told me pasta is a bad food and we shouldn't eat it.
See, this would bother me if my child came home saying we could no longer eat pasta because it was "unhealthy." It's all well and good to say that the schools should be teaching healthy eating, but I think this example also shows how many problems it can cause because of the individual opinions of who is teaching the kids.
I was pretty upset about that one. I ended up giving her a little lecture right then that it is not about good food/bad foods, it is about balance and maintaining an active lifestyle. Poor little 6 year old having to ulearn her school lessons.
Edited cause I didn't really make sense
Some school districts are required by law / policy to follow the "My Plate" guidelines.
That is why we now have "good" and "bad" foods.
http://www.choosemyplate.gov/Starting in school year 2014-15, all foods sold at school during the school day will need to meet nutrition standards. The Smart Snacks in School regulation applies to foods sold a la carte, in the school store, and vending machines. Prior to the publishing of the Smart Snacks rule, 39 States already had nutrition standards in place.
http://www.fns.usda.gov/healthierschoolday/tools-schools-focusing-smart-snacks
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