Reply To: Gary Roberts: The importance of nutrition in hockey

[hockeygod]

Eating habits rest on plates of the parents

Michael Platt ,Calgary Sun, September 24, 2011

There are those who believe banning condoms and sex-ed from high schools is the secret to keeping kids safe from STDs and teen pregnancy.

Of no surprise, it’s in those places, including many southern U.S. states, where disease and unwanted birthrates tend to soar — because you can’t teach responsibility by avoiding an issue.

Ignorance is no cure, and it makes for a pretty poor excuse when your child starts piling on the pounds, whether it’s from carrying a child, or from eating like Julia Child.

The latter is apparently a problem in Calgary, given the decision to ban low-nutrient junk food from public schools, starting in 2012.

It’ll probably feel like the end of the world for some kids, but as of next year, sweet, salty and deep fried snacks will no longer be sold on school property.

The list is long, and unarguably tasty: French fries, potatoes chips, chocolate bars and instant noodles are gone, along with pretty much anything with high-fat, high-sugar ingredients.

“Children spend much of their day in our schools and therefore we must model, in all the ways we can, how to be health-conscious citizens,” Naomi Johnson, CBE chief superintendent, told the Sun last week.

“Our standards will equal the highest standards for students in Alberta and we are really excited about that.”

And that’s all very admirable, to set an example to students by making healthier food the norm on school property.

But the problem, as always, is what’s happens off the school grounds — and more importantly, what isn’t happening at home, where the root of this issue really lies.

No one can be naive enough to think yanking pop and chips from the school vending machine is going to stop kids from consuming crap when they get a junk food hankering.

Corner stores and the food students tote from home will more than fill the gap left when carrots finally replace cheezies in the school cafeteria.

The deep fryers may be gone, but an abundance of fast food outlets means a craving for grease and salt is never more than a few blocks from being satisfied.

And satisfy the cravings, Canadians kids do.

Just hours after Calgary’s school board announced the junk food ban, Statistics Canada had released a very timely report on eating habits, showing Canadians consume 26 teaspoons of sugar every day.

That amounts to one in every five calories stemming from sugar.

In youth ages 9 to 18, the top source of that sugar is from soft drinks.

Ban junk food in our schools, and it sets a good example, but it won’t improve eating habits.

That lesson isn’t for our education system to teach — it’s for the parents at home.

Rather than expecting the school system to babysit their kids through snacks and lunch, parents need to take responsibility, by teaching their offspring about nutrition and healthy choices.

Steering young people away from a life of poor eating and future heart attacks isn’t the job of teachers and school staff, who have more to worry about than what kids are nibbling between classes.

To ban junk food might be a sound gesture, but the only way this move will have any impact — other than on vending machine sales — is if parents also take the time to encourage healthy eating at home.

To judge by the number of children headed towards an early death, too many parents are getting a failing grade on that front by allowing their children to wallow in a poor diet.

The most recent statistics on Canadian flab shows one-quarter of Canadians aged two to 17 are overweight or obese, and are expected to live shorter lives than their parents.

Part of it is the sedentary lifestyle marked by hours of couches and computer games, but plenty of blame can be placed on the same foods which will soon vanish from Calgary schools.

When parents fail to explain to their children the consequences of poor choices, you end up dealing with the repercussions — but unlike pregnancy, this fallout will take years to manifest.

Thus, the junk food may be gone from public schools, but the poor eating habits continue, so long as ignorance remains.

That problem is still very much on the plates of parents.

Dean
M.Ed (Coaching)
Ch.P.C. (Chartered Professional Coach)
Game Intelligence Training
"Great education depends on great teaching."