focus paper blog

I have always been interested in exercise and nutrition due to the fact that my mom is a personal trainer and lives and breathes fitness. Lily Chang-Chien’s focus paper on Nutrition in Schools interested me because of the relationship between a person’s health and his or her ability to function both physically and mentally. The paper points out the importance of a healthy lifestyle for children in order to maximize their development and success in school.

At the homeless shelter where I volunteered, I saw first-hand how “hunger is less of an issue than malnourishment, which often manifests itself as obesity.” The issue of hunger in the United States puzzled me because I saw people living in poverty with plenty to eat. The shelter received food donations everyday in the forms of non-perishables, recently expired items from supermarkets, and cooked meals.  However, there was an absence of fresh produce and an abundance of processed food and bakery items.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that Mississippi incorporates all of the USDA child nutrition programs. However, as Lily concluded, we cannot fight malnutrition with only the availability of nutritional meals in school. The other part is educating about portion control and regular exercise. Also, it is important to not make the "competitive foods" more accessible and appealing than the meals and snacks offered through the programs. Students need to know that soda and snacks from vending machines do not replace a meal.