I love my job teaching children about wellness.
To many parents, spend some time talking about the importance of eating fruits and vegetables, milk products, and perhaps whole grains, becomes more of a battle ground than an information sharing opportunity. Children typically spend more time fighting the system of healthy eating in the household and become gifted at manipulating the situation to their advantage - not having to eat their vegetables or meat. The bargaining abilities of most five year olds to have a sugary snack is paramount to a high paid lawyer in the courtroom. They whine and plead, beg, cry, steal, and pout their way to controlling their dietary pattern.
Perhaps it is due to the thousands of children I have taught in the past 13 years about healthy eating, that allows me to reach children so they will be open to considering their own wellness - or perhaps it is just because I am not their mom or dad. What I have to say, all of a sudden seems very reasonable, despite the fact that parents say the same things. However, I feel it is totally in the delivery and through effective and fun activities and games, that children buy into the reasons why healthy eating is so important.
When they realize the importance of choosing a variety of healthy foods each day - I see the awareness of their own wellness suddenly become alive The knowledge that the foods they eat have a direct impact on their bodies gives them empowerment to make the right choices for a healthy, growing body. They intuitively want to be healthy, after all, survival relies on health, and so their motivation changes.
One of my favorite students told his mother, as he enjoyed a popsicle on a hot day, "you know Mom, this is a moderation food because it has so much sugar and I will enjoy it now but not all the time". Brings tears to my eyes. Children have the ability to take control of their own health and wellness, with the right knowledge. They are bombarded with marketing schemes, parental food issues and dieting misinformation, peer pressure, etc and they need to know the basics of survival by choosing a healthy dietary pattern most often.
It worries me when a group of young girls in my wellness class will come with the idea that carbohydrate rich foods are "bad for you". The whole carb-free lifestyle, although a quick weight loss scheme, is not healthy for children. Furthermore, the information that these children are receiving is completely incorrect. Healthy foods eaten in appropriate amounts each day is what is required to grow and have energy for activities and school.
Inspired Sprouts Wellness classes change lives. I am honored to be a witness to these changes as children learn to live a healthy lifestyle in hopes of preventing disease and conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, and depression. This is a concern for all children and parents. Not only is our adult population increasing in lifestyle based disease, but now our children are being treated for the same conditions but at a much younger age. What is the life expectancy of these children if they are battling heart disease, high blood pressure, non alcohol fatty liver disease, and Type 2 diabetes before they are 14 years old?
