Health and wellness are essential to support our students’ educational successes. With the current national childhood obesity crises, physical health, diet, and exercise are vital to healthy lifestyles for all youth.  Research shows that if students are introduced to healthy lifestyles at a young age, a higher percentage of them will maintain healthy habits both into and throughout adulthood.
Eating Habits
“Hidden” Reasons for the Obesity Epidemic of Our Generation
Multiple factors affect teens and adults alike today as they navigate the territory of food, and all things associated with it, especially caloric intake.
Subtle differences in foods, packaging, and portions add more daily calories to our diet than that of our parents’ generation without us realizing it.
Eating Habits… Then and Now
- In the 1950’s…
- The average hamburger weighed 2.8 oz. Today it is 4.3 oz.
- A bottle of soda was 8 oz. Today it is 16 oz.
- A chocolate bar was just 4 oz. Today it is 7 oz.
- A snack consisting of potato chips and a soda averaged 140 calories less than the same snack today.
The Foods Today Are Different Than Those of 20 or 30 Years Ago…
- Many of today’s foods have high fructose corn syrup as an ingredient to replace sugar.
- “Supersizing” takes place at the grocery store as well as at the drive-thru.
- Trans Fat helps baked goods last on the supermarket shelves but also increases cholesterol and the risk of heart disease.
- Fruits and Vegetables don’t contain all the nutrients that they once did due to efforts to achieve higher yields and faster production.
- Today’s chicken is higher in fat than in protein.
- The average person drinks 450 calories per day (and much of that has high fructose corn syrup)
- The FDA has approved over 3,000 “safe” food additives.
Fighting the Portion Distortion of Today…
- Unless you are using Grandma’s good china that is already small because of the era in which it was made, buy, and then use, smaller plates. You will eat less but still be full.
- Use the small 100 calorie snack bags. If you eat from a larger one and “stop” on your own, you will eat an average of 20 % more.
- Use tall, thin glasses instead of short wide ones. You will pour less into it.
- When dining out, either divide the entrée in half and ask for a take-out box immediately or eat half and then drink a glass of water and wait about ten minutes to eat the rest. Your stomach will have had time to digest the food and see if you have had enough or not.
Recommended Caloric Intake…
- For men, the recommended daily caloric intake for weight maintenance is between 2,000 and 2,500 calories per day
- For women, the recommended daily caloric intake for weight maintenance is between 1,500 and 2,000 calories per day
- For children, the recommended daily caloric intake for weight maintenance is between 1,500 and 1,800 calories per day
In order to lose just one pound…
- To lose one pound of body weight, consume 3,500 calories less. Over the course of one week, this means reducing your intake by about 500 calories per day.
- If you exercise and burn another 500 calories per day, then you will reduce your intake by 1,000 calories.
- Too much? Try a different approach. Try 250 calories less and combine it with 250 calories burned while exercising.
- Over the course of a year, climb two extra flights of stairs per day (3500 calories), manually change the TV, park an extra 200 yards away from the office, eat 5 fewer tablespoons of salad dressing per week.
When Shopping at the Supermarket…
- Look at the product label and see what is listed first.
- If trying to decide between two similar products, pick the one with fewer ingredients.
- Understand the not so subtle differences between verbiage such as whole grain and multigrain.
- Avoid foods that have been stripped of their natural ingredients. Vegetable powder is not the same as actual vegetables.
- While shopping, look at the top shelf and the bottom shelf, as well as along the outer walls of the store. You are likely to find the healthiest products in these areas.
Think Before you Purchase…
- Good food serves as fuel for your body and gives you energy. Do you really need that bag of cookies on Aisle 3?
- Eat before you go shopping at the grocery store so that you are concentrating on purchasing only what you need.
- Step out of the center aisles of the store and look over the fresh produce on the outer aisles.
- Remember to look at the contents of the product you wish to purchase. Are they good for you?
Lastly….
- Focus on what is possible on a daily basis, not impossible.
- Little changes can make big differences over the course of time.
- Successful weight loss or maintenance takes monitoring and patience. Don’t give up if you don’t succeed on your first attempt.