According to research, one in six American teenagers is obese. This epidemic has rapidly affected millions of young people today in various ways. Although hereditary factors can lead to obesity, poor diet and sedentary lifestyle are the main determinants that cause obesity.
Depending on their behavior at home, some children may be taught that consuming junk food is not that harmful to their health in the long run. Moreover, fast food is also suitable for busy families who cannot cook healthy meals for their children every day.
Given these factors, it is clear that all children in America should receive some level of mandatory nutrition education. Many middle and high schools across the country already use similar programs. Students are required to take a hybrid course that teaches them about nutrition and their growing bodies.
These lessons are great ways to provide additional nutritional information to children, but should not be used as a framework for creating healthy adults. Young people need to learn about nutrition at an earlier age, ideally in primary school. It should be the duty of school systems to teach young children lifelong habits to protect their health and make smart dietary choices. This is especially true because many children do not have parents teaching them these things at home.
Another component that should be included in mandatory primary nutrition education is culinary skills. Learning about the food pyramid and what a healthy plate looks like is helpful, but culinary skills are equally important to ensure children eat healthy.
Home economics electives offered to middle school and high school students teach these culinary skills. However, primary school children are not provided with the same learning opportunity as their abilities may be less developed. However, mandatory nutrition education programs can teach the same skills to elementary school children as long as they use safe equipment. This has previously been done in numerous primary schools across the country with the help of culinary expert Ann Butler, who teaches children.
Edible Education is a company that aims to provide children with hands-on lessons in healthy living. The company gets kids excited about real food through cooking classes, enrichment programs, camps, birthday parties and other events. They’ve partnered with hundreds of schools and community centers and are working to collaborate with more. Teaching children that cooking and nutrition can be fun is important to improving the health of children around the world.
Ann Butler, Founder of Edible Education, founded the company to empower young children to choose healthy foods and prepare delicious meals for themselves and others. Ann, a culinary expert with many years of experience working in fine restaurants, eventually decided to teach children about cooking and nutrition. She taught preschool, middle school and high school students until she realized that her dream as a public school teacher would not come true.
Since students who have completed primary school have already developed their eating habits, it is very difficult to change them. With this in mind, Ann founded Edible Education, a company committed to teaching young children culinary skills and nutritional principles at an early age.
It has taken many years for Edible Education to become a recognized provider of Kid-friendly recipes and cooking lessons, as well as Kitchen a la Cart products. Ann is grateful to partner with many schools and non-profit organizations because all of this success means more children with strong culinary skills and understanding of nutrition. Ann feels that children’s nutrition has not been discussed enough over the years. Teaching children culinary skills is overlooked as many people underestimate a child’s abilities to understand complex concepts. In Ann’s experience, children are excited to learn and are often asked for ideas on how to make a dish delicious. She states that children should be able to direct their learning process through hands-on experiences. This increases their confidence and allows them to be more creative with what they learn. Ann’s techniques have inspired more than one student to participate in youth TV competitions and pursue careers as chefs.
Additionally, the CDC says American students receive fewer than eight hours of nutrition education per year, which is significantly less than the number of hours needed to create behavioral changes. Studies have shown that nutrition education can positively influence children’s food-related preferences and behaviors, highlighting the importance of creating more of these necessary programs.
“As a mother of three, I know it can be difficult to put healthy, fresh food on the table every night,” says Butler. “However, I know that the long-term consequences of neglecting to teach your children healthy eating habits can lead to life-threatening health problems. That is why it is so important that your children learn how to cook and consume foods that are good for them before they need to make them independently. “By teaching them the nutritional values behind them, you prepare them for a healthier life.”
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Name: Ann Butler
Email: Info@edibleedu.com