Whether you’re the parent who said it or the child who had the pleasure to hear it, a variation of these words is familiar to most of us: “Back in my day, I walked uphill eight kilometers in a snowstorm just to get to school every day.”
To most of today’s youth, life without a car is inconceivable and a day without the Internet, satellite television, or iPods seems even more unfathomable.
A sedentary culture made up of couch potatoes and video game junkies has indeed invaded 21st century North America and it’s taking a heavy toll on the health of today’s young Canadians.
Because of this trend toward inactivity, Canada’s younger generation must be particularly conscious of the foods they put into their bodies. But unfortunately, health consciousness among today’s youth hasn’t caught on as quickly as text-messaging or surfing the web.
And if Canada’s youth aren’t going to take their health seriously, then it’s up to their parents to make nutrition a top priority in their own homes.
According to Statistics Canada, about three per cent of children aged two to 12 were considered obese in 1979. By 2004, this number reached nine per cent with another 20 per cent dealing with weight problems.
This means about a third of today’s youth are at risk for cardiovascular disease, type II diabetes, asthma and a whole score of other weight-related health problems.
Because of these alarming statistics, obesity has become a hot-button issue among policy-makers and the general public alike. Government bodies, healthcare officials, employers and other civic groups have taken proactive measures to fight the battle of the bulge.
Parents should take a cue from the public sector and take similar creative approaches to healthy eating when dinner time rolls around in their own homes.
It is the responsibility of today’s parents to instill healthy values in the malleable minds of their children.
The City of Ottawa’s Eat Smart! program is an example of an innovative approach to inspiring nutritious choices in the daily lives of today’s youth.
The Eat Smart! school cafeteria program isn’t just about offering students healthy alternatives — it’s about taking typically unhealthy foods and making them more nutritious.
The Ottawa-Carleton Catholic School Board chose to participate in the program and within about a year, all of its high schools and intermediate schools had made significant changes to their cafeteria menus.
The bottom line is these schools offer more than healthy alternatives to hamburgers and fries. As the age-old saying goes, you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink. You can offer students alternatives to the foods they enjoy, but there’s nothing stopping them from reaching for a grilled cheese sandwich or a bag of potato chips.
By using lean ground beef, whole wheat bread products, low-fat toppings and transfat-free butter in their cafeteria items, these schools are approaching the problem of obesity both realistically and creatively.
While some students may indeed reach for the newly-introduced healthy menu choices such as wraps or pastas, students who continue to opt for pizzas and typically high-calorie Caesar salads are actually getting nutritious whole-wheat vegetarian pizzas and low-calorie dressings on dark leafy greens.
Basically, students can enjoy their junk food without actually eating junk food.
This method of meal preparation should be implemented in the students’ own homes. After all, with sedentary activity replacing games of tag at the park, youth don’t need to be eating healthily in moderation. They need to be treating their bodies with respect beyond the school setting.
Parents have the responsibility to jump on the whole-wheat bandwagon and show their children that healthy eating doesn’t mean giving up all the foods they love.
The point is that getting youth to eat healthily doesn’t have to be a battle — now there’s food for thought.