Gary Foster, director of the Center for Obesity Research and Education at Temple University and colleagues completed a study at five Philadelphia elementary schools were they replaced sodas with fruit juice over the course of two years. They scaled back snacks and banished candy. They handed out raffle tickets for wise food choices. They spent hours teaching kids, their parents and teachers about good nutrition.
The results were phenomenal. The number of students who became overweight during the two-year experiment was a full 50% less than the number of kids who became overweight in schools that didn’t make these changes. The findings are published in the April, 2008, issue of the journal Pediatrics.
In the five test schools, juice, water and low-fat milk replaced sodas. Snacks had to meet limits for fat, salt and sugar. Students who ate healthy snacks got raffle tickets to win prizes such as bikes and jump ropes.
But the schools can’t do it all on their own – the biggest challenge to schools is that kids drink sodas and eat junk food at home – so they come to school expecting to do the same. As parents, imagine the difference we could make if all of us made these same simple changes in our homes.
Wholefood Farmacy foods taste great, they’re convenient and kids love them. Let the Wholefood Farmacy help you to take that first step in the right direction.
|
