Engber

1 Ariela Engber Beth Sherman RWS 305 7 November 2012 New York Times Op Ed: Nutritional Integration With widespread media coverage of the obesity epidemic in the U.S., is no secret that America has a weight problem. However, obese people are not the only ones at risk. Millions of American lives continue to be endangered by unhealthy diets, lacking basic nutritional knowledge necessary in forming healthy eating habits during their formative years. Until about a year ago, I was one of these Americans. I never looked at food labels beyond a quick glance at the calorie content and serving size tips that I was lucky to have learned at home early on. Looking back, I am astounded that I managed to get through 13 years of public school education and 3 years of college without knowing that my regular consumption of diet-sodas and salty foods was causing me to exceed my Sodium intake by 1,000+ mg a day. My years of poor dietary habits are reflected by the Center of Disease Controls 2012 finding that 90% of the U.S. population is consuming too much sodium. According to an earlier report published on their website in 2011, the average daily sodium intake for Americans age 2 years and older [was] 3,436 mg. This is significant, considering the reports recommendation of 150-1,800 mg of Sodium per day with a maximum of 2,300 mg. The CDCs report further, explained that: high sodium consumption raises blood pressure. High blood pressure is a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke, the nation's first and third leading causes of death, respectively. While Sodium is but one nutritional element, Americans excessive daily intake

Engber 2 clearly illustrates that there is a discrepancy between what we should be consuming, and what we are consuming. However, it cannot be assumed that this disparity stems from a conscious choice to ignore nutritional information, as it is much more likely due to a lack of nutritional knowledge. I know that in choosing to drink my daily diet-soda I was only aware of the fact that it was calorie free, completely oblivious to any other nutritional elements. While I had been taught basic nutrition in school, I can barely remember the one semester health class that I took in high school. I vaguely recall covering the food pyramid and learning about how saturated fat clogs arteries amongst the jumble of other health information crammed into the course, including sexual protection, eating disorders, and depression. California Congressman Joe Baca reveals that the average amount of time spent on nutrition in the first four years of U.S. public school education is 13 hours per year. Comparatively, the Center on Education Policy reported that 8 hours were spent on English per week alone, equating to a total of 32 hours a month. Despite the obvious difference between these subjects as English is, and always has been, a core subject that's importance cannot be understated the miniscule amount of time devoted to Nutrition comparatively reflects where schools are focusing their time, money, and energy. To be sure, many schools are attempting to provide their students with the best health education that they can, but in the current economic climate, they simply lack the funds. Given the estimation published by Journal of Principle Leadership in 2013 that two-thirds of school districts across the United States expect to eliminate [staff] positions and a quarter expect to use furloughs to cut costs, it is understandable why schools are not funneling their money towards into an expansive nutrition initiative. However, while the current curriculum supports the U.S.

Engber 3 Department of Educations mission to promote achievement and preparation for global competitiveness, it is failing to equip children with basic information that they need to become healthy adults. With the CDCs report that childhood obesity was 20% in 2008 almost triple the amount since 1980 - we must focus on finding a long-term solution so that American children will have enough nutritional education to become healthy adults. The lack of nutrition curriculum in schools may in part be due to the fact that the role of teaching health and nutrition has traditionally been left at home with parents. However, considering that the CDC has deemed more than 35% of the current U.S. adult population obese, it is clear that many adults are no longer equipped to take care of themselves, much less Americas future generations. For years my brother and I were served homemade Mac and Cheese, which, while delicious, equated to roughly 30 grams of fat per meal (as we lacked proper portion control and ate at least double the serving size). It was only when I was in high school that my mother - fresh with nutrition knowledge from her personal training certification test - decided to cook healthier options and eliminate fatty meals. While my family was lucky that our meals became healthier with my mothers new expertise, I had already formed unhealthy eating habits early on and was resistant to the change. It was only when I was researching a paper during the spring semester of my Junior year of college that I realized my unhealthy eating habits and consciously decided to find out more information and make a change. Can we continue to rely on parents who dont have nutritional knowledge to teach children eating habits? On the hope that children will decide to proactively educate themselves? This is simply unacceptable. While budget and time are the primary concerns associated with focusing attention on nutrition, increasing health education does not have to be expensive

Engber 4 or divert attention from other subjects. Nutrition can be easily integrated K-12 across various subjects such as Math, English and Science. According to a study conducted by Jody Swigris, a program implemented in a Middle School found nutrition integration into math classes resulted in significant increases in nutrition, fitness, and math knowledge. Though the studys nutritional integration was limited to 8th grade math classes, its success has broader implications. An article published in the American Journal of Health Studies suggests ways that nutrition can be seamlessly integrated in science classes studying photosynthesis and food chains while food production, distribution, and availability concepts integrate with lessons in geography and climate, history, and economics. Math integration can be taught across grade levels, starting with basic adding and subtracting of grams of sugar, to calculating daily caloric ratios and BMI (Body Mass Index). The American Journal of Health Studies article also explained that these integrated materials are already widely available in many forms, including lesson plans, textbooks, and online activities. Since these lessons are combined with content from core subjects, current materials can simply be replaced with nutritionally integrated content without incurring additional costs. School Boards should implement nutrition integration into the current curriculum, as it offers an efficient and inexpensive way to enhance students education while improving their overall quality and longevity of life. While it may not be as comprehensive as a full nutrition program, with limited time and money nutrition integration in schools can provide children a basic foundation of knowledge, allowing them to read food labels and actually understand them, to learn that calories are not the only way to assess nutritional value, and to form long-lasting healthy habits. Arent future generations entitled to this knowledge?

Engber 5 Works Cited Adult Obesity Facts. Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity, 13 Aug. 2012. Web. 7 June 2012. <http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html>. Americans Consume Too Much Sodium. National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention, 24 Feb. 2011. Web. 30 Oct. 2012. <http://www.cdc.gov/features/dssodium/index.html>. Baca Introduces Legislation to Require Nutrition Education in Schools. U.S. House of Representatives, 9 Feb. 2011. Web. 29 Oct. 2012. <http://baca.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=17&itemid=139>. Childhood Obesity Facts. National Center for AIDS/HIV, 7 June 2012. Web. 7 June 2012. <http://www.cdc.gov/features/dssodium/index.html>. Choices, Changes, and Challenges Curriculum and Instruction in the NCLB Era. Center on Education Policy, Dec. 2007. ProQuest. Web. 30 Oct. 2012. Eliassen, E.K., & M.W. Wilson. Selecting Appropriate Elementary School Nutrition Education Resources. American Journal of Health Studies 22.4 (2007): 224-7. ProQuest. Web. 30 Oct. 2012. Overview and Mission Statement. U.S. Department of Education. Web. 30 Oct. 2012. School budget blues. Principal Leadership, 13.1 (2012): 4. ProQuest. Web. 29 Oct. 2012. Swigris, Jody Lynn. Wellness Integrated Mathematics. n.p.: 2011. Where's the Sodium? There's Way Too Much in Common Food. . National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention, 7 Feb. 2011. Web. 29 Oct. 2012. <http://www.cdc.gov/features/dssodium/index.html>.