Foods and Whole Children
Fabiola Gaines, a nutritionist who codeveloped the Soul Food Pyramid, echoed ASCD's whole child approach. "We need to explain proper eating habits to children, and I think through nutrition education in schools, children will influence their families," she said.
Gaines said it's critical to relate to children on a socioeconomic level. "You have to understand the culture of the community you're trying to work with," said Gaines, a partner with Hebni Nutrition Consultants in Orlando, Fla., and coauthor of cookbooks for diabetics. "With the cookbooks, we're trying to give healthier alternatives for traditional soul foods. Our forefathers needed those foods because you can't work in the fields all day and eat salads. The problem is we're still eating those traditional foods, but we're driving to the mailbox."
Gaines, who runs an after-school program for kids, reports that half of the participants are overweight. To curtail this, she started a cooking class that encompasses nutrition education and exercise. However, she remains realistic about teaching students to eat healthy. "We're not trying to get them to lose weight at first. We're just trying to get them to stop gaining weight—to exercise and burn more calories."
Fairfax County offers a similar program. "We have a wonderful 4th grade cooking class, and the kids are taking the recipes home," McConnell said, noting that the district's Web site offers a nutrition calculator for parents, students, and teachers that encourages them to tally calories and vitamins on food and beverage labels. Fairfax also implemented a food-tasting program in which each school principal selects a focus group of lunch buyers and nonbuyers. Vendors bring in new foods for evaluation, and students rate their favorites.
"Choices are important for children," McConnell said. "It's my job to make sure they are healthy choices."
The Weight of History
After decades of neglecting the overweight problem, everyone seems to have something to say about childhood obesity, a term some psychologists find offensive. Although a lot of children are overweight, they argue it's insensitive and counterproductive to label them as obese.
No matter how students are labeled, Gaines is primarily concerned with changing their behaviors. "We have to get the physical activities back in schools if we want to address the child obesity issue," she insisted. "When I see a 10-year-old diabetic come into my office with type-2 [adult onset] diabetes, I think, 'Wait a minute. This can't be happening to American children.'"
The consequences of ignoring adolescent overweight problems could be dire if recent studies are accurate predictors: The University of California–Berkeley reported that "26–41 percent of overweight preschool children will become overweight adults" (2000, para. 2). Family Economics and Nutrition Review estimated "more than $68 billion" is spent annually on "direct" overweight-related U.S. health care costs (Facts About Childhood Obesity and Overweightness, 1999).
Although the economic costs to society are burdensome, the physical and emotional costs to individuals could be devastating. ASCD's Lewallen believes society has a responsibility to help students develop healthy eating habits and daily physical activities. In fact, she said it's critical if we hope to nurture whole children.
"Each child must have the opportunity to learn and to be physically and emotionally healthy," Lewallen said. "It is the mutual responsibility of schools, families, communities, and governments to make this happen. Our children deserve nothing less."
References
Facts about childhood obesity and overweightness. (1999, January). Family Economics and Nutrition Review, 12(1).
Centers for Disease Control (CDC). (2005). Healthy youth! Coordinated school health program. Retrieved November 13, 2006, from www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/cshp
Child Nutrition Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1771 (1966). Retrieved November 13, 2006, from www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/Governance/Legislation/Historical/CNA-Oct-4-2005.pdf
The Coca-Cola Company. (n.d.). Corporate responsibility. Retrieved November 13, 2006, from www2.coca-cola.com/citizenship
University of California–Berkeley Department of Nutritional Sciences. (2000, January). Childhood overweight: A fact sheet for professionals. Retrieved November 13, 2006, from nature.berkeley.edu/cwh/PDFs/bw_health_prof.pdf
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2006, May). Nutrition and the health of young people. Retrieved November 13, 2006, from www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/nutrition/pdf/facts.pdf
Originally published in the January 2007 issue of Education Update, 49(1).
Sleep: The E-ZZZ Intervention
by Christi A. Bergin and David A. Bergin
The answer to low achievement and misbehavior might just be a good night's sleep.
Nikki is supposed to be working on a lab experiment in her chemistry class. Instead, she is slumped in her seat, twirling a piece of hair, and staring at nothing in particular as she yawns loudly and says, "I'm sooooo tired!" Take a stroll through an average school and you will see students in many classes yawning, "spacing out," or dozing with their heads on their desks. Some students fall asleep before the morning announcements are over. Such sleepy students can be found in any elementary, middle, or high school.
Do some of your students appear sleepy, spacey, or groggy? Do they misbehave or have lower-than-expected achievement? It is common knowledge among parents that when toddlers are irritable, unreasonable, hyper, and unfocused, it must be nap time. Although K–12 students may have outgrown nap time, their achievement and behavior are affected by lack of sleep.
To see how this works, consider the story of one student, as told by Dahl and Lewin (2002). Jay, a 10th grader, routinely stayed up until 3 a.m. and woke up at noon during the summer. When the school year began, he tried to go to bed at 10 p.m. but couldn't fall asleep until 3 a.m. He got up at 6 a.m. for school the first week but was exhausted. When the weekend came, he stayed up late and slept most of the day on Saturday to "catch up." He continued this pattern for several weeks. Sometimes he would oversleep and miss class, or he would fall asleep during class. His teachers and parents became angry, and Jay became irritable, had difficulty paying attention, and began failing his classes. This increased his anxiety, which made it harder for him to sleep. Eventually Jay was diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and depression.
Many students, like Jay, are sleep deprived, and their sleep deprivation has significant implications for the classroom.
What Are the Results of Sleep Deprivation?
Sleep-deprived students tend to be more restless, irritable, and impulsive than other students (Bates, Viken, Alexander, Beyers, & Stockton, 2002). They also may be more depressed and have lower self-esteem than their classmates who sleep more (Fredriksen, Rhodes, Reddy, & Way, 2004). The effect can go in both directions—sleep deprivation may cause emotional disorders such as depression or anxiety, and emotional disorders may cause
