faulker053

Nutrition education in schools worries me. My sentiments have been echoed on the Academy for Eating Disorders list serve and among peers from SCAN--the Academy for Nutrition and Dietetics (AND) subgroup populated by progressive thinkers. A very different path. To change the direction of how kids are being taught, I've written this piece. Share this locally, in your schools, and virtually. Use it, and use it fully, including my name, please. Thanks for spreading the word and working for change. Good food, bad food and calorie counting? What kids really need to learn. By Lori Lieberman, RD, MPH, CDE, LDN In an attempt to tackle the “obesity epidemic” kids, educators and parents often receive well-intentioned but potentially harmful messages to manage eating. (1)Calorie-counting apps and black and white messages about what’s healthy to eat can be problematic. Kids, parents and educators need practical, realistic strategies to add to their toolbox. Help kids learn to self-regulate thei...

Should they start weighing and measuring everything they eat? This scares me . Really it does. The US government, the FDA more specifically, has decided to encourage kids and their educators and families—i.e. everyone—to start tracking their calories, because, you know, doesn’t that solve the ‘obesity epidemic’? Well, no, it doesn’t—and it may cause more harm than good. Their stated goal is to get kids and families to start reading labels and think more about what and how much they eat. Innocent enough, right? Well I don’t think so. Maybe I’m biased because I see far too many kids and adults, stuck in their heads with too much information; they spend time calorie counting, and limit their choices to single portions of foods because that’s what the label says is the ‘right’ amount. They allow the label to define their personal need, as if serving size was one-size-fits-all, when really it’s designed to provide information about nutritional value per serving, based on “usual” por...