It makes me so angry that CICO etc. isn't taught in schools
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I went to Catholic school grades K-12. Did sex ed, health eduction (where nutrition was taught), biology, evolution, etc. And that was quite a few years ago
My kids are now going to catholic school as well, and again they have health education classes where nutrition is taught daily, sex ed classes when they get to the correct grades, etc.
Basically nutrition is taught in schools, can't speak for every school, but in the provinces I've lived in in Canada, it is.0 -
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*
Too TRUE!!!!!
One of the many reasons I am taking early retirement this year.0 -
I think the reason why CICO isn't taught in schools is because giving a bunch of pre/teens the way to loose weight would be putting the school right on track to be sued for eating disorders.0
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crazyjerseygirl wrote: »I think the reason why CICO isn't taught in schools is because giving a bunch of pre/teens the way to loose weight would be putting the school right on track to be sued for eating disorders.
So, you think that giving young adults the correct information on diet and exercise would make them abuse the truth? Well, I'm afraid the truth is what it is, and what you do with that truth is more influenced by media and parental influences. I very much doubt the bulk of teenagers would abuse this information. Especially if they were taught about TDEE and BMR.
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HappyCampr1 wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »cincysweetheart 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*
I get confused/frustrated by people who say they have no idea how to eat healthy… I often wonder about what kind of school they went to. I remember being taught about basic nutrition and a "balanced diet" in school, but I don't ever remember being taught about CICO in terms of weight management.
However… I had a wonderful mother who also taught me all about that stuff. And I realize that a vast majority of my "education" came from my mother. I didn't follow her advice very well as I grew up… But I always had the information. So once, I made the choice… I already knew what I needed to do.
+1
I actually don't believe for a second that the issue is that anyone doesn't know how to eat healthy. It's not that complicated. I think it's that people want to eat in a certain way, maybe don't know how to cook, and mostly it's just an excuse. People can figure out that eating some protein and veggies and perhaps some fruit and limiting sweets and fried foods and fast food and the like are ways to improve their diets. They just don't want to do those things, so saying they don't know what to do provides a good way to dismiss the idea that they could take responsibility.
And of course lots of people are tired and stressed and have reasons not to want to deal and eliminate what they see as a small pleasure, probably.
There are others like me who never ate poorly to begin with. We just ate too much. There is a huge difference between cooking and knowing what to eat for health and keeping an eye on quantities.
Calorie amounts and counting was a revelation to me... something I'd always considered that only obsessive, sad people did. It's the stigma of counting that we need to get rid of. That stigma would be eased by publicly hearing about calore counting as a weight management tool. Whether that happens in school, magazines, public service announcements...i don't think it matters. It would just be nice to have the information more widely known and accepted as a given that this is how it's done.
Oh, I totally agree with this. Same for me, and I had no idea how many calories I was eating and found understanding about calories and how it was basically just a math problem to be empowering and to strip away the dumb emotional/shame stuff in a way that all the myths that get put out there do not.
I wasn't arguing that that's a bad thing to understand, just addressing the side point about whether people were ignorant (really) about how to eat well.
There ARE tons of confusing mixed messages that I think get people feeling like they might as well throw up their hands--carbs are bad, fat is bad, Americans get too much protein, no too little!, meat is good or bad, eggs, dairy, etc., as wizzybeth said. But, aside from all that, I think the basics of how to eat better (for those for whom that's the issue) are pretty simple. People who actually are eating no veggies (but fried potatoes) or tons of fast food (not the salads), or ridiculous amounts of high calorie sweets know this and know it's not ideal. They aren't idiots.0 -
onehappypickle wrote: »crazyjerseygirl wrote: »I think the reason why CICO isn't taught in schools is because giving a bunch of pre/teens the way to loose weight would be putting the school right on track to be sued for eating disorders.
So, you think that giving young adults the correct information on diet and exercise would make them abuse the truth? Well, I'm afraid the truth is what it is, and what you do with that truth is more influenced by media and parental influences. I very much doubt the bulk of teenagers would abuse this information. Especially if they were taught about TDEE and BMR.
Doesn't need to be the bulk, just one with sue happy parents.0 -
DawnieB1977 wrote: »UK Here - England, Berks.
Got the food pyramid in Reception. At least once a year we'd talk about nutrition in PSHE classes up to year 6 when they talked about nutrition, calories and what a calorie is in Biology. We also did some bunson burner experiments to demonstrate calorie measurements in Year 6 Physics.
Had at least yearly PSHE sessions on eating disorders (over and under eating) and how to regulate the amount you're eating through calories from Year 8 upwards (age 13+ so it was a bit more appropriate). Plus another mention of nutrition in the run up to GCSE (Years 10 and 11 - age 14-16).
I went to several different schools in England as we moved around a lot and this was pretty standard plus part of the curriculum from what I understand. I was at school within the last 10 years though so maybe it's not where you went to school but when?
Also - despite the education, still felt the need to cut everything out to lose weight before a stern nurse at the NHS told me to just eat a balanced diet. Oh, and on the NHS, have you forgotten the Change 4 Life initiative that's been running for the last few years with adverts on telly every few months? http://www.nhs.uk/change4life/pages/be-food-smart.aspx
The education is there! It's just getting people to listen that's the problem!
ETA: Yup, part of the curriculum: http://www.nutrition.org.uk/foodinschools/curriculum/the-curriculum.html
What the hell is PSHE class?
We never learnt about health & fitness at my school, no health classes (80s-90s by the way). We may have had the food pyramid at the start of school but never cico, fitness etc
Personal Social and Health Education. Sometimes we call it PHCSE (any combination of letters lol) and the C stands for Citizenship.
wow schools have changed since my days
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Well if they did that then the students and their parents would realize that the school lunches are total garbage and would be up in arms.0
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I can't imagine two parents agreeing on (and not screaming about) "healthy" food guidelines, much less an entire school full of them. I don't blame schools for only touching on food health topics briefly. They don't want to get sued for recommending "healthy nuts" and having a nut-allergy child require his Epipen during class. Or get sued for recommending poultry as a healthy protein source to vegetarians...for cooking "lean" pork during home ec (if they even still had it) and the Jewish students' parents freaking out...serving whole wheat bread to the gluten-intolerant...and on, and on, and on.
We were taught the Four Basic Food Groups. I believe it changed to the Food Pyramid some time during high school, but I don't really remember that clearly. One thing we DID know was that if you ate too much food, you got fat. It really was that simple. Go figure.0 -
In small town Iowa, USA we had health class that pretty accurately covered the current understanding of nutrition.
I don't think schools are the problem. As long as we have a free market with billions of dollars to be made from dieting loads of misinformation will be out there. It is fueled by droves of people looking for a quick fix for a long term problem. I don't see it changing.
Also, I don't think most children care much about the information so it isn't likely to be retained. Kids remember what is interesting or things that are frequently used and at that time most don't watch calories. Only as adults do most of us start to really care and by that time the information available is muddied by massive quantities of fad diets and wishful thinking.0 -
I can't imagine two parents agreeing on (and not screaming about) "healthy" food guidelines, much less an entire school full of them. I don't blame schools for only touching on food health topics briefly. They don't want to get sued for recommending "healthy nuts" and having a nut-allergy child require his Epipen during class. Or get sued for recommending poultry as a healthy protein source to vegetarians...for cooking "lean" pork during home ec (if they even still had it) and the Jewish students' parents freaking out...serving whole wheat bread to the gluten-intolerant...and on, and on, and on.
We were taught the Four Basic Food Groups. I believe it changed to the Food Pyramid some time during high school, but I don't really remember that clearly. One thing we DID know was that if you ate too much food, you got fat. It really was that simple. Go figure.
The problem is simply that of people with thin skin - those who get offended at the slightest thing. Oh no, you're vegan? You're Jewish? You're (insert hot button topic here)? We all consume calories, all from different sources. Teaching them different healthy caloric intake foods, no matter what the limitations. There is no right "foods" in any given diet style, you just need to have people see beyond their intolerance for those who are different from themselves, and have them tailor their own balanced diet.0 -
mamapeach910 wrote: »DawnieB1977 wrote: »DawnieB1977 wrote: »Lrdoflamancha wrote: »JenniDaisy wrote: »If you can't get some schools to teach sex ed or the theory of evolution, I don't think you're going to get them to teach kids how to nourish their bodies properly.
Maybe because it is the theory of evolution... Not the fact of evolution...
Anyway, that's faith schools. I'm sure it's not against any religion to talk about eating and exercise.
Nope. True story - one of our biology teachers refused to teach the evolution section of the S grades and Highers. She was also one of the RE teachers O.o
(they did get another teacher in, didn't just skip it (as in the case of the above poster XD))
I know Catholic schools don't like kids to know anything except God created us! Plus of course their teaching of sex ed can depend on how strict a school it is. However, I'm sure Catholics believe in healthy eating and exercise
Nope. I went through 12 years of a Catholic education and I learned about the theory of evolution and an old earth and everything scientific. And this was back in the 60's and 70's.
We did get sex ed. Of course on the issue of birth control? That was bad. I have a funny story about that. I flustered the nun with so many logic and biblical questions on the issue that she had to call in the male principal who had to go into an advanced theological explanation for the church's stance on the position on it.
You're thinking of Christian schools. Different animal.
yeah, the Catholic Church has no quarrel with Big Bang or Evolution...when I lived in the South this was often held up to me as proof that we weren't "REAL Christians...." because "REAL Christians are Bobble Buhleevers."
In the US, at least, you need to go to some hardcore Fundamentalist Protestant Churches to get to the crazy. And, in many areas, it's allowed (and sometimes expected) to invade PUBLIC, TAXPAYER FUNDED schools.0 -
onehappypickle wrote: »Teaching them different healthy caloric intake foods, no matter what the limitations. There is no right "foods" in any given diet style, you just need to have people see beyond their intolerance for those who are different from themselves, and have them tailor their own balanced diet.
No problem.
Until the parents of children with eating disorders come down on the school for encouraging calorie-counting.
Then: problem.
I do NOT envy the schools on this issue and I 100% see why most don't want to touch the issue of food, calories and nutrition with a 10-foot pole.
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DawnieB1977 wrote: »DawnieB1977 wrote: »Lrdoflamancha wrote: »JenniDaisy wrote: »If you can't get some schools to teach sex ed or the theory of evolution, I don't think you're going to get them to teach kids how to nourish their bodies properly.
Maybe because it is the theory of evolution... Not the fact of evolution...
Anyway, that's faith schools. I'm sure it's not against any religion to talk about eating and exercise.
Nope. True story - one of our biology teachers refused to teach the evolution section of the S grades and Highers. She was also one of the RE teachers O.o
(they did get another teacher in, didn't just skip it (as in the case of the above poster XD))
I know Catholic schools don't like kids to know anything except God created us! Plus of course their teaching of sex ed can depend on how strict a school it is. However, I'm sure Catholics believe in healthy eating and exercise
I went to Catholic school. 12 lovely years of it. While I have some complaints about my Catholic education, my science education is not one of them. We learned about evolution without conflict. Science class was science class and theology class was theology class. My entire (and very large) family is also Catholic on both sides. I've never heard a Catholic deny evolution or be anti-science.
As for sex ed, what's that?
(Just kidding, I took that class in college and it blew my fragile little sexually repressed mind.) 0 -
I only learned the food pyramid in school. PE was just physical activity, no theory. I agree that nutrition and fitness should be taught, but as how to go about doing that? I'm not sure.0
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mamapeach910 wrote: »DawnieB1977 wrote: »DawnieB1977 wrote: »Lrdoflamancha wrote: »JenniDaisy wrote: »If you can't get some schools to teach sex ed or the theory of evolution, I don't think you're going to get them to teach kids how to nourish their bodies properly.
Maybe because it is the theory of evolution... Not the fact of evolution...
Anyway, that's faith schools. I'm sure it's not against any religion to talk about eating and exercise.
Nope. True story - one of our biology teachers refused to teach the evolution section of the S grades and Highers. She was also one of the RE teachers O.o
(they did get another teacher in, didn't just skip it (as in the case of the above poster XD))
I know Catholic schools don't like kids to know anything except God created us! Plus of course their teaching of sex ed can depend on how strict a school it is. However, I'm sure Catholics believe in healthy eating and exercise
Nope. I went through 12 years of a Catholic education and I learned about the theory of evolution and an old earth and everything scientific. And this was back in the 60's and 70's.
We did get sex ed. Of course on the issue of birth control? That was bad. I have a funny story about that. I flustered the nun with so many logic and biblical questions on the issue that she had to call in the male principal who had to go into an advanced theological explanation for the church's stance on the position on it.
You're thinking of Christian schools. Different animal.
yeah, the Catholic Church has no quarrel with Big Bang or Evolution...when I lived in the South this was often held up to me as proof that we weren't "REAL Christians...." because "REAL Christians are Bobble Buhleevers."
In the US, at least, you need to go to some hardcore Fundamentalist Protestant Churches to get to the crazy. And, in many areas, it's allowed (and sometimes expected) to invade PUBLIC, TAXPAYER FUNDED schools.
What about the travesty of textbooks in Texas?
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If we're really serious about this, why not increase the amount of PE during the school week, put in performance standards for it, have quarterly body composition assessments and those not meeting acceptable standards get extra PE?
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onehappypickle wrote: »Teaching them different healthy caloric intake foods, no matter what the limitations. There is no right "foods" in any given diet style, you just need to have people see beyond their intolerance for those who are different from themselves, and have them tailor their own balanced diet.
No problem.
Until the parents of children with eating disorders come down on the school for encouraging calorie-counting.
Then: problem.
I do NOT envy the schools on this issue and I 100% see why most don't want to touch the issue of food, calories and nutrition with a 10-foot pole.
Strange. When I went to school back in the 80's teaching basic nutrition in Health class was not even slightly a problem. Is this really a thing now where hordes of parents are complaining about teaching nutrition or is it the just usual few gadflies who complain about everything?0 -
I agree that it should at least be touched upon, as a matter of proven science. However what I have a bigger issue with is parents who feel it is solely the education system's responsibility to educate their children in such matters. Parents who pick up their kids from school, go home and put them in front of the TV or video games, allow them free range access to the internet without occasional supervision, and feed their kids crap, are more to blame than the school system.
In my humble opinion of course.0 -
peter56765 wrote: »onehappypickle wrote: »Teaching them different healthy caloric intake foods, no matter what the limitations. There is no right "foods" in any given diet style, you just need to have people see beyond their intolerance for those who are different from themselves, and have them tailor their own balanced diet.
No problem.
Until the parents of children with eating disorders come down on the school for encouraging calorie-counting.
Then: problem.
I do NOT envy the schools on this issue and I 100% see why most don't want to touch the issue of food, calories and nutrition with a 10-foot pole.
Strange. When I went to school back in the 80's teaching basic nutrition in Health class was not even slightly a problem. Is this really a thing now where hordes of parents are complaining about teaching nutrition or is it the just usual few gadflies who complain about everything?
Correct. In the 1980s, it was not a problem.
In 2015, it definitely is.
Born in 1967, graduated high school in 1985, currently have children in the school system.
Yes, it is a thing where parents complain about teaching...all kinds of teaching. Hordes? Maybe, maybe not. Those usual few gadflies, however, can cause a gigantic problem all by themselves. Absolutely. Exactly how many, I can't say, but I can say it's more every year, at least going by the disgruntled, entitled yapping I hear on campus every day. (No, I'm not a teacher, I'm a parent. I've even had other parents attempt to sucker me into "campaigns" against the tiniest perceived slight. It is just unbelievable, but it's a fact. Could I have envisioned parents doing such a thing for us kids in 1975 or 1980? Oh f--- no.)
Perhaps you have fewer gadflies on your children's campuses. If so, I'd love to be on your campus instead of mine (on this score, anyway). However, ask your child's principal whether he's okay with being sued as long as it's only once or twice. Schools are TERRIFIED of their students' parents nowadays, and sadly, I can't blame them. You can't ask Little Johnny to sit on a less comfortable chair than usual and not get repercussions nowadays.
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