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Newsletter 09.06
Nutrition and Academic Success
Ask most teachers what characteristics they'd like to see in their students while in school and you might get a list like this:
- Eager to learn
- Alert
- Well behaved
Ask them what changes they'd like to see in the activities of their students outside school and you might get a list like this:
- More studying
- More exercise
- Less TV
Would you believe there is research to show that all of the items listed above can improved by implementing one innovative program? The key ingredient to that program is food. And there are plenty of effective and inexpensive programs to choose from. Educators might involve their Parent Teacher Organizations in helping to fund this easily understood component of a productive school curriculum.
Eat Well & Keep Moving was developed by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health and the Department of Education in Baltimore. The program promotes healthy habits in children including low-fat diets, increased fruit and vegetable consumption, increased physical activity and reduced TV viewing.
The researchers found that at the end of the two-year program students significantly increased their consumption of fruits and vegetables and decreased their intake of total and saturated fat. In addition, the students spent approximately four hours less time per week watching TV compared to students in control schools.
Eat Well & Keep Moving enables teachers to promote good health practices in conjunction with math, science, language arts, and social studies.
Many schools are discovering the advantages to healthy eating. Florida Education Commissioner John Winn recently visited Hilda Turner Elementary School (winner of the American's Healthiest School Contest). Turner Elementary believes in "healthy bodies, healthy minds." Winn noted that "research has shown that if you only do health in one class, it has very little impact on student behavior. But if you create a student culture, where the faculty, the parents, the staff and the students are all in this mode together that they're going to attend to nutrition, attend to safety, attend to fitness, and emotional wellness and health in general, you can do that without diverting from academics."
America's Healthiest School Contest is sponsored by Family Energy, a nationally-distributed magazine advocating a fit and healthy lifestyle. Write an essay and perhaps your school can be this year's winner.
In June of 2006 the American College of Sports Medicine issued a press release with the following title:
"NUTRITION, PHYSICAL ACTIVITY BOOST SCHOOL PERFORMANCE: Four-Year Program Improves Test Scores, Discipline, Attendance."
The program "Making the Grade with Diet and Exercise" (MGDE) rose out of concerns that increased focus on academic performance would lead schools to cut opportunities for physical activity. The program consists of three components:
- A 10-20 minute period of physical activity at the beginning of each school day
- A simple but nutritionally sound breakfast for all students
- Recess before lunch, rather than after as is typical in elementary schools
Can such a simple change make a difference?
In academics teachers saw the following increase in scores:
- Reading (+28%)
- Writing (+23%)
- Math (+23%)
- Citizenship (+11%)
- Science (+29%)
Daily attendance increased from 94.3% before the program started to 95.9%. And visits to the school nurse are down 67%.
The Advantage Press is pleased to make available a new program designed to easily fit within the school week and provide all students with the tools necessary to make better eating choices. Healthy Food of the Week is a nutrition program designed by Blue Ribbon Award Winning PE Educators. It has been tried and tested in a number of diverse schools. It encourages students, parents and the school community to make healthy food choices a part of their daily routine.
The Advantage Press, Inc. publishes a number of behavior packets that can help students assess their own social and emotional problems. You are welcome to try our free samples.
This newsletter is freely distributable.
The Advantage Press