How do you explain to children from government schools the type of food they need to take and what constitutes healthy food, when they hardly even have 3 meals a day....
The entire talk on Nutrition should revolve around what they can afford despite not having a lot of money. We need to also make it interesting enough and not get too deep into explaining carbo, protein, fats, vitamins, etc.
Unfortunately, the starting itself went wrong. To get the children to maintain silence, the teacher starting hitting little ones with a wooden cane, and when all were silent and a few were crying, they told me I could start. I blame myself for not coming up with some creative way to handle children so that they remain silent. I should have gathered a few of them and started to sing a song aloud or show some magic tricks or have some interesting pictures (the flow chart arrived late!) to get their attention and prevent the caning. I hope to be better prepared for this next time.
Intro - I started the session by asking children what they usually eat and if they knew what it contained. A lot of children were aware that Idlis are made of rice and chapathis of wheat but they did not know what rice and wheat contain. So, I told them that this session is meant to help them understand the food they eat, and how to make sure its healthy and what constitutes a balanced meal.
Using pictures - I then explained in brief what Carbohydrates, Protein, Fats, Vitamins, Minerals and Fibre constitutes and gave them a lot of examples of food that come in these categories. Including food like ragi, jowar, bajra makes it easier for them to relate and these are also easily affordable. Use a lot of pictures. Readily available charts on food can be obtained from any local stationary.
Planning your meal - We then played a game. I wrote three categories on the board - Common Food, Healthy Food and Tasty Food. I asked children to name food(by food, I mean, a meal like dosa, idli, anna-saar, and not milk or vegetables) that comes in each category and listed the same on the board. Then, check to see if any food appears in all three categories, since this will be the best type of food.
For those food items which appear in only one category, ask the children what can be added to it to make it a balanced meal. For Ex: a lot of children name Anna-Saar (rice and rasam) as a healthy food item. But, rice only constitutes carbo and the saar is usually so watery that it has very little nutrients. But if we added a dal (pulses) and some vegetables to it, it would be a healthier meal. Similarly, if we add peanuts (protein) to lemon rice (carbo) and a few vegetables (vitamins), it will be a healthier meal. Also, idli (carbo & protein) along with sambar (vitamins if there are vegetables in the sambar) and chutney (fibre) is a great example of a complete, balanced meal which is commonly available, healthy and tasty.
By the end, children had a clearer idea of how to convert a regular meal to a healthier one by adding a few basic ingredients to it.
Some observations - 70% children said they skip breakfast. The primary reason they gave was that their mother had to rush to work and had no time to cook for them. I suggested that they at least eat a banana before coming to school.
Also, a lot of food gets wasted from the mid-day meal every single day. I have seen them empty almost half the food container into a nearby gutter! Someone told me that the reason is that the school gives Iskon the total expected strength of students at the beginning of every year, and often only around 60% children are present on any given day. Since they cannot change the food order on a day to day basis, this huge wastage occurs. I told the children to carry a tiffin box to school, and take some food home for dinner as well. I'll check next week to see how that goes.
The entire talk on Nutrition should revolve around what they can afford despite not having a lot of money. We need to also make it interesting enough and not get too deep into explaining carbo, protein, fats, vitamins, etc.
Unfortunately, the starting itself went wrong. To get the children to maintain silence, the teacher starting hitting little ones with a wooden cane, and when all were silent and a few were crying, they told me I could start. I blame myself for not coming up with some creative way to handle children so that they remain silent. I should have gathered a few of them and started to sing a song aloud or show some magic tricks or have some interesting pictures (the flow chart arrived late!) to get their attention and prevent the caning. I hope to be better prepared for this next time.
Intro - I started the session by asking children what they usually eat and if they knew what it contained. A lot of children were aware that Idlis are made of rice and chapathis of wheat but they did not know what rice and wheat contain. So, I told them that this session is meant to help them understand the food they eat, and how to make sure its healthy and what constitutes a balanced meal.
Using pictures - I then explained in brief what Carbohydrates, Protein, Fats, Vitamins, Minerals and Fibre constitutes and gave them a lot of examples of food that come in these categories. Including food like ragi, jowar, bajra makes it easier for them to relate and these are also easily affordable. Use a lot of pictures. Readily available charts on food can be obtained from any local stationary.
Planning your meal - We then played a game. I wrote three categories on the board - Common Food, Healthy Food and Tasty Food. I asked children to name food(by food, I mean, a meal like dosa, idli, anna-saar, and not milk or vegetables) that comes in each category and listed the same on the board. Then, check to see if any food appears in all three categories, since this will be the best type of food.
For those food items which appear in only one category, ask the children what can be added to it to make it a balanced meal. For Ex: a lot of children name Anna-Saar (rice and rasam) as a healthy food item. But, rice only constitutes carbo and the saar is usually so watery that it has very little nutrients. But if we added a dal (pulses) and some vegetables to it, it would be a healthier meal. Similarly, if we add peanuts (protein) to lemon rice (carbo) and a few vegetables (vitamins), it will be a healthier meal. Also, idli (carbo & protein) along with sambar (vitamins if there are vegetables in the sambar) and chutney (fibre) is a great example of a complete, balanced meal which is commonly available, healthy and tasty.
By the end, children had a clearer idea of how to convert a regular meal to a healthier one by adding a few basic ingredients to it.
Some observations - 70% children said they skip breakfast. The primary reason they gave was that their mother had to rush to work and had no time to cook for them. I suggested that they at least eat a banana before coming to school.
Also, a lot of food gets wasted from the mid-day meal every single day. I have seen them empty almost half the food container into a nearby gutter! Someone told me that the reason is that the school gives Iskon the total expected strength of students at the beginning of every year, and often only around 60% children are present on any given day. Since they cannot change the food order on a day to day basis, this huge wastage occurs. I told the children to carry a tiffin box to school, and take some food home for dinner as well. I'll check next week to see how that goes.
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