The following blog post was written by Abigail, a member of the Embrace Kids Youth Crew and a student of a Bachelor of Health Sciences (Nutrition) at the University of Queensland. It reflects her personal experiences and perspectives and does not necessarily represent the views of The Embrace Collective.
Content warning: This blog post discusses disordered eating behaviours.
One of the important parts of having positive body image is about appreciating your body’s function over its form. As a nutrition student, I have learned that a key component of this is your relationship with food. This begins very early on and is particularly influenced in a child’s formative years. Nutrition education in schools is an opportunity to show students from prep to year 12 the benefits of a balanced diet.
My experience with food and nutrition education
When I was in school, our nutrition education relied heavily on outdated textbooks that equated healthy eating with manifesting a certain physical appearance. We often discussed the food pyramid in conjunction with body mass index (BMI), and the need to restrict consumption of certain foods in order to maintain a ‘healthy’ weight. Although that seems like a good idea, as young impressionable teenagers, many of us took that ‘education’ to the next level. BMI calculator websites and calorie tracking apps were introduced to us as part of lesson content, and for an assignment, we had to identify which of the ectomorphic, endomorphic or mesomorphic body types we were, and why. I distinctly remember my friends and I feeling incredibly uncomfortable about this. The development of disordered eating is complex, but I know that these lessons contributed directly to members of my cohort forming unhealthy relationships with food. I remember seeing the change in what friends brought in their lunch boxes — if they brought anything at all. There was a level of fear of becoming like the examples of those body types shown to us in the health textbook. Multiple people in my class started to use calorie tracking apps to make sure they weren’t going to gain weight. We went back to those BMI websites every few months to make sure we were still at the lower side of the scale.
Despite the good intentions, I don’t think it appropriately introduced us to nutrition. It inadvertently introduced us to diets, disordered eating, and a fear of fatness. I know there are multiple factors to this, but the nutrition education interface is a great opportunity to amend these issues and create positive change. I would love to see nutrition education help children understand food as a way to thrive. Different foods can support different aspects of a child’s development, such as sleep, sustained energy levels and immune function. Prioritising learning how bodies work and feel can help children cultivate positive relationships with food and their bodies.
Why we need to talk about food and nutrition with young people
I feel that food and nutrition should be discussed more with young people in an age-appropriate way. Children are already exposed to modern media and adult conversations which inform their understanding of food and food choices. They will often hear that a biscuit is “naughty” or a TV show character is going on a diet as a New Year’s resolution. We can’t control the rhetoric that young people are exposed to, but we can guide positive classroom conversations to combat it.
My nutrition education at school focused on eating more fruits and vegetables and cutting back on processed foods. This is a good start, but it was focused on changing what we ate as a means to achieving an ‘optimal’ BMI, rather than a healthy, fulfilling lifestyle. A more positive approach for the classroom might have been to focus on energy, concentration, and feeling good in your body.
Great nutrition education could help kids understand the power of different foods. For example, your belly has lots of little bugs, called the gut microbiome. In order to feed them, they need to eat their veggies! Rather than focusing on restriction and what to take out of our diets, we should teach young people what we can add to our diets. This helps to make our plates, and hence our diets, more diverse. In doing this, we feel better and grow stronger.
Practical tips for teachers
I have learned in my studies that nutrition education is most effective when it matches the nutrition requirements and developmental stage of the age group. I understand that teachers have a lot to fit in with their curriculum, but here are some suggestions that can be implemented in the classroom.
In early primary school, a great start is a lesson about increasing the colours on their plates. Children are likely to bring what they’ve learned about colourful eating into the home, which can create positive changes at the dinner table. Teaching about colourful plates is an engaging, age-appropriate way to talk about food and nutrition in early primary school. This also allows for ideas of variety to be built upon in later year levels.
In middle school years, children grow a lot and generally need more energy as they enter puberty. A positive and age-appropriate lesson may be about after school snacks that can give them sustained energy. For example, they could learn about the difference in energy between plain crackers, versus crackers with hummus, carrot sticks and cheese. This aligns with the age group’s developmental stage, as they likely don’t control their meals, but they are learning food independence. For example, food groups could be introduced with a snack time formula, such as dairy + grain + fruit and/or vegetable = snack! This is a great way to encourage children to select a broad range of nutritious foods and ties back to early years.
In high school, the focus can shift to meal planning and food literacy. Older students are likely taking on increased household responsibilities. Tasks like making dinner and packing lunches is a great time to discuss building and budgeting for nutritious meals. An example is that students could compare spaghetti bolognaise recipes based on price and nutrition. Including more vegetables, such as red kidney beans, is beneficial not just for added iron, protein and fibre, but also to reduce the cost per serve. This is a valuable toolkit for making nutritious meals and setting positive habits for life.
While each age group has its own requirements, the messaging is consistent: variety in your diet is important, fruits and vegetables are always a good idea, and food gives us energy to live our lives. These lessons also don’t call for labelling foods or food choices. Instead, they help to inform children and young people about nutrition whilst promoting a positive relationship with food.
Looking ahead
My hope is that nutrition education helps children and young people associate eating well with feeling good — not with changing their appearance. By supporting the areas where kids live, learn and play, we can help the next generation develop lifelong positive relationships with food and their bodies.
For an introduction on how to talk about food, bodies and movement in safe and appropriate ways with school children, check out the Embrace Kids Teacher Masterclass.
