Diet and School Children
by Jonathan M. Gransee, Psy.D. Licensed Psychologist
In this day and age, when the school has become increasingly involved in every aspect of school childrens’ life, diet has become an increasingly important issue. There are many reasons to focus on the school child’s diet. Some of these reasons include weight control, increased mental alertness, adaptive emotional health, and adequate energy to complete the tasks of the day. The well-designed school lunch program can go a long ways towards insuring that the children who attend that school will function at optimum levels throughout the school day. Such a program promotes the school as being pro-active and pro-child, and decreases the possibility of liability issues related to poorly designed lunch programs. The Healthy Body-Healthy Brain project proposes to address the needs of the child, dietarily, through a comprehensive, psychologically and nutritionally sophisticated approach. In this approach, all factors are considered when designing a school lunch program, with the goal of improving the child’s overall health, well-being, and academic performance.
In the Health Body-Healthy Brain project, Obesity is considered to be an important issue to focus on. Obesity is one of the leading problems in children and adolescents at this point. As a nation, we are gaining weight, and this is seen no only in adults, but also in children. There have been many attributions given for this problem, including the increased availability of snacks and sugary foods at school, the increased focus on fattening foods that our society has, as a whole, experienced, decreased activity, and other factors, such as stress. The HB/HB project proposes to address obesity through the school lunch program, by:
• Restricting access to unhealthy foods during the school day
• Educating the child, through a poster program, about the causes of obesity
• Coordinating efforts with the teacher, school psychologist/guidance counselor/parents, in regards to the child’s stress level
• Providing a healthy lunch menu, which attempts to address the various causes of diet-related obesity
In the Health Body-Healthy Brain project, Mental Alertness is also thought to be an important goal. As the school curriculums become more and more challenging, mental alertness is essential for the child’s academic success. Medications have been used to address the issue of mental alertness, but they can have unpleasant side effects, including weight problems, increased aggression, and can potentially cause other mental health issues, and thus they are far from ideal in this regard. Addressing mental alertness through diet, on the other hand, is preferable, because of the lack of any side effects. The HB/HB project proposes to address mental alertness through the school lunch program, by:
• Providing food choices that take into consideration research on what causes mental sluggishness, and what causes mental alertness
• Educational posters designed to increase the child’s awareness of the connection between food/drinks and mental alertness
• Coordinating efforts with the school physical education department, to maximize mental alertness and physical stamina
In the Health Body-Healthy Brain project, Emotional Health is thought to be an important part of the child’s successful academic career. A child who is emotionally healthy, happy, and secure, will most likely outperform the child who feels anxious or insecure, angry, hurt, etc. While diet plays only a limited role in the emotional health of the child, there are some actions that can be taken to insure that the role of diet in emotional health is addressed by the school lunch program. What can be done?
• For children determined to be malnourished, and who may be coming to school hungry, steps can be taken to address this as soon as they arrive, so that this will not affect their learning
• Educational pamphlets will be written, in multiple languages, to educate parents on ways they can obtain assistance in insuring their child receives adequate sustenance
• The possibility of communication between parents and the school can be explored, in instances in which the child’s inadequate sustenance is affecting their academic performance
In the Healthy Body-Healthy Brain project, the issue of energy levels, and even of aggressiveness, is thought to be an important area of focus. The school day is long, and children’s energy level may began to wane as the day continues. This, in turn, may affect their motivation to comply, and their ability to complete needed tasks. In addition, some children have the opposite problem: too much energy! This, in turn, can cause disruptions in the class, and may even result in the child becoming aggressive. As such, HB-HB proposes to examine the connection between diet and energy level/aggressiveness, and proposes to make adjustments as needed, to the diet. This may include:
• Individualized dietary plans designed to provide the child with special needs a diet that will help them to maintain an appropriate energy level
• Consideration of foods that are known to maintain a good energy level, and elimination or controlled distribution of foods that have the opposite effect
As can be seen, the HB-HB project is an ambitious project that proposes to maximize the potential effects of diet on the child’s physical and mental health and well-being. Through an organized and thoughtful approach, it is thought that it is possible to have healthier, more focused, happier, and less aggressive children, by modifying diet.
Copyright June 2008. These articles cannot be used in any fashion without the explicit permission of the author, except for individual use.
Disclaimer: This information is not intended to diagnose or treat any condition, and is for the sole purpose of providing alternate perspectives. If you feel that a mental health condition exists in yourself or the person you are reading this article for, you are advised to seek out psychological or psychiatric services.