"So I think that's something that needs to be addressed with the parent if it's a problem." But what about the childhood obesity epidemic? "You'd be hard-pressed to find a parent who has capacity to send something else, but is choosing to do that. "Every parent is doing the best they can for their kids," Dr Smith said. She also urges compassion and empathy for children who are attending school with highly processed foods, suggesting there are likely other issues at play. Adding the extra pressure on top of this is just misguided." "We're also forgetting that there are heaps of kids with challenges eating difficulties with anxiety at school. "In fact, they're low in energy, they're nutritious, they don't have enough in them to keep kids going.
"Fruit and veggies are nutritious, but they're not more nutritious than other food groups. It appears the rule has crept in following the introduction of the Crunch and Sip program run by the WA Cancer Council. One of the trends Dr Smith is particularly concerned about is schools dictating that children only eat fruit and vegetables for morning tea. "I don't want to blame teachers for what's happening … I totally get that all the things that they're doing are well-intentioned, but there are so many little problems with telling kids how much they have to eat, or telling kids what order they have to eat things in." The problem with fruit and veg She was sympathetic to the notion that schools are doing what they think is best for children, but insisted there was a better way to go about it. It's really not the way that we're heading now." "That's not trusting your body, listening to your internal cues, you know, growing up to eat a variety of things. "This idea that you have to eat certain food before you're allowed to eat other foods … you have to eat a certain amount, all those are signs of disordered eating. "What I want to be able to do is encourage confident, adventurous eaters who feel good about food, rather than trying to push kids into healthy eating through fear, or shame, or worry, or any of those kinds of forced behaviours," Dr Smith said. Dr Smith says children should be encouraged to listen to their bodies when it comes to food.
0 kommentar(er)
