Posts Tagged: Physical activity
Por qué soy la policía de los pastelitos
Ponte por un minuto los zapatos de un niño. Vamos a llamarte Maggie. Cursas el tercer grado de primaria. Tu papá trabaja tiempo completo y te recoge del programa de después de escuela a las 6:00 pm. Tú y tu papá llegan a casa a eso de las 7:00 pm porque tienen que pasar por el QuikMart para comprar algo para la cena y cargar un poco de gasolina en el carro. Cuando llegan a casa papá cocina la pizza congelada y tú te sientas a comer y beber tu refresco gaseoso alrededor de las 7:30 pm. Para la hora que terminas de comer, ducharte y ayudar a papá a limpiar e irse a la cama, son ya las 8:45 pm.
En la mañana te apuras a vestirse, cepillarte los dientes, el cabello y poner todo en la mochila para la escuela. Papá necesita dejarte en la escuela a las 7:30 am para poder llegar al trabajo a tiempo. Tú tomas una bolsa de papitas fritas al salir de la casa, te restriegas los ojos y aseguras que no te has puesto la blusa al revés otra vez.
El algún momento alrededor de las 10 am, tu estómago empieza a gruñir. Sientes que tu boca se te hace agua un poco y tus ojos se cierran. Viendo el reloj, cuentas los minutos para que llegue la hora del almuerzo. A las 11:25 am, el padre de una de tus compañeras de salón llega con una charola de pastelitos para ¡celebrar su cumpleaños! Tu estómago brinca al ver el betún rosa de crema de mantequilla que se apila sobre los pastelitos. La maestra le entrega uno a cada estudiante de la clase y tú te saboreas cada deliciosa mordida.
Quince minutos después suena la campana para la hora del almuerzo. La maestra lleva a todos a la cafetería y te pones en línea para obtener el almuerzo escolar. Te sientes avergonzada de comer el almuerzo escolar y como ya te has comida el pastelito no sientes mucha hambre. Haciendo caras, te sirves algunas cosas en su plato. Una vez sentada, medio picas la comida hasta que el custodio les dice que ya pueden ir a jugar. Dejas en la basura la charola con la mayor parte de la comida y sales corriendo detrás de tus amigos hasta la explanada del patio.
De regreso en clase te sientes energizada después de jugar balonmano. Tu cara está roja y un poco sudada por haber corrido. El maestro anuncia que su grupo ganó el concurso semanal y cada uno de ustedes podrá escoger un dulce de la bolsa de dulces. Eso te parece muy bien a porque has empezado a sentir hambre de nuevo. Te mete varios dulces a la boca. Regresas a trabajar en tus problemas de matemáticas, pero como ya es en la tarde, siempre tienesroblemas para concentrarse a esa hora.
Maggie es solo una de los 30 millones de niños en EUA que califican para obtener almuerzos gratis o a precio reducido a través del programa de comidas escolares de la USDA. Los estudiantes como Maggie suelen depender de los alimentos escolares para satisfacer hasta un 50 por ciento de sus calorías diarias y las comidas escolares representan una mayor porción del consumo calórico y nutritivo en un día escolar para niños que experimentan inseguridad alimentaria. Además, los estudios muestran que el nivel de ingreso, educación obtenida y composición familiar tienen un impacto en la calidad de la alimentación y la actividad física.
El programa nacional de almuerzos escolares, aun cuando no es perfecto, tiene la intención de asegurar que, a estudiantes como Maggie, se les ofrezca una variedad de frutas y verduras y alimentos ricos en granos integrales todos los días. Existen límites sobre la cantidad de sodio, grasa saturada, grasas trans y calorías que se incluyen en las comidas escolares. Los estudios han demostrado que los programas de nutrición infantil mejoran la calidad de la alimentación y el rendimiento de los niños pertenecientes a hogares de recursos limitados y donde prevalece la inseguridad alimentaria. [1]
Cuando ofrecemos a nuestros niños y estudiantes alimentos con poca calidad nutricional como recompensa y pastelitos para celebrar un cumpleaños, estamos impactando en general su alimentación durante ese día. Para Maggie, su problema se agrava debido a que no tiene acceso a una alimentación variada y nutritiva en casa. No tiene nada que la respalde cuando no obtiene una comida nutritiva en la escuela y en su lugar se llena con calorías sin ningún valor nutritivo. La infancia es un periodo importante en el que las personas desarrollan patrones de alimentación y actividad para toda la vida.
Así que cuando me enfrento al dilema, de nuevo, de hablar y convertirme en la policía de los pastelitos o guardar silencio y estar de acuerdo con que se den golosinas en la escuela, pienso en Maggie.
Qué se puede hacer para crear escuelas más saludables para los niños:
- Ver las Políticas para el Bienestar de su escuela. Toda escuela que participa en el Programa de Comidas Escolares cuenta con una. Sin embargo, muchas veces fueron escritas y nunca revisadas. Revisa la página Web de tu distrito escolar o en el buscador (finder) de Políticas para el Bienestar Escolar del Consejo de Lácteos (Dairy Council School Wellness Policies) donde se delinea lo que no está permitido ofrecer en el salón de clases o eventos de recaudación de fondos en la escuela.
- Ofrecer cosas no comestibles como recompensa a una conducta positiva: tiempos extras de actividad física o de recreo, la oportunidad de comer el almuerzo en la cafetería junto al maestro, privilegios especiales como ser “el líder de la fila” por ese día o la oportunidad de visitar el huerto escolar. Para más ideas saludables para usar como recompensa visita Opciones Alimentarias Saludables en las Escuelas (Healthy Food Choices in Schools).
- Celebraciones que apoyen la salud: incluya actividades físicas como una fiesta para bailar en su día de celebración (vea GoNoodle donde encontrará todo tipo de actividades divertidas y brain breaks), pedir a los padres que donen un libro a la clase en lugar de llevar pastelitos (ver Books for Birthdays), si vas a llevar comida, asegúrate de limitar a uno por estudiante todo lo que carezca de valor nutritivo.
- Comer el almuerzo con tus estudiantes(s): si eres un padre de familia, pregunta en tu escuela. Muchas escuelas permiten a los padres comer el almuerzo con sus hijos si avisan con tiempo. Si eres maestro(a), comer con tus alumnos es una buena manera de enseñar y ser un modelo a seguir en cuanto a hábitos alimenticios saludables. ¿Te interesa aprender más sobre la importancia de las comidas escolares? Infórmate aquí.
¿Ofrece la escuela una variedad de frutas y verduras? ¿Pueden los estudiantes ver y servirse los alimentos de manera segura? ¿Hay alimentos locales disponibles? Si no, pide una reunión con el personal de servicios de cafetería para discutir tus ideas y ver cómo puedes ayudarles.
[1]https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/84003/eib-174_summary.pdf?v=42905
Why I'm the cupcake police
In the morning you hurry to put your clothes on, brush your hair, brush your teeth and get everything in your school bag for the day. Dad needs to drop you off at school at 7:30 a.m. so he can get to work on time. You grab a bag of chips as you run out the door, rubbing your eyes and looking to make sure you didn't put your shirt on backwards again.
Somewhere around 10:00 a.m. your tummy starts to growl. You feel your mouth start to water a little and your eyes droop. Looking at the clock you count the minutes until lunch. At 11:25 , one of your classmate's parents comes in with a tray of cupcakes to celebrate her birthday! Your stomach jumps at the sight of pink butter cream frosting piled high on the little cakes. Your teacher hands one to each student in the class and you savor every delicious bite.
Fifteen minutes later the lunch bell rings. Your teacher walks everyone over to the cafeteria and you get in line for school lunch. You feel embarrassed to eat school lunch and since you ate that cupcake you're not really hungry anyway. You plop a few things on your plate making a face. Sitting down you pick at the food until the custodian says you can get up and go play. You dump your tray with most of the food still on it and run outside chasing your friends onto the blacktop.
Back in class you feel energized after your game of handball. Your face is red and you're a little sweaty from all the running around. Your teacher announces that your group won the weekly contest and each of you will get to pick from the candy bag. That sounds great to you because you are starting to get hungry again. You put a few pieces of candy in your mouth. You get back to work on your math problem but it's the afternoon and you always have trouble concentrating in the afternoon…
Maggie is just one of more than 30 million children in the U.S. who qualify for free or reduced-price school meals through the USDA school meal program. Students like Maggie may rely on food at school for up to 50 percent of their daily calories and school meals represent a larger portion of the school-day caloric and nutrient intake for food insecure children. In addition, research shows that income level, educational attainment and family composition impact diet quality and physical activity.
The national school lunch program, while not perfect, is intended to ensure students like Maggie are offered a variety of fruits and vegetables and whole-grain rich foods every day. There are limits to the amount of sodium, saturated fat, trans-fat and calories that are offered as part of a school meal. Studies have shown that child nutrition programs improve diet quality and academic performance for children in low-income and food-insecure households.[1]
When we offer our children and students food with little to no nutritional quality for a reward and cupcakes to celebrate a birthday, we are impacting their overall dietary quality for the day. For Maggie, the problem is compounded by the fact that she does not have access to a varied and nutritious diet at home. She has nothing to fall back on when she doesn't get a nutritious meal at school and she fills up on empty calories instead. Childhood is an important time when people develop lifelong eating and physical activity patterns.
So when I am faced with the dilemma, once again, of speaking up and being the cupcake police or staying silent and going along with treats at school, I think of Maggie.
What can you do to create healthier schools for all children:
- Look up your School Wellness Policy. Every school that participates in the School Meal Program has one. However, many times they were written and never revisited. Check your district web page or go to the Dairy Council finder. School Wellness Policies outline what is and is not allowed to be offered in the classroom or fundraisers during school.
- Offer non-food rewards for positive behaviors: Extra physical activity time or recess, the opportunity to eat lunch in the cafeteria with the teacher, special privileges like “line leader” for the day, or the opportunity to go out to the garden. For more healthy reward ideas visit Healthy Food Choices in Schools.
- Celebrations that reinforce health: Include physical activity like a dance party in your celebration (see GoNoodle for all kinds of fun activities and brain breaks), ask parents to bring in a donated book for the class instead of cupcakes (see Books for Birthdays), if you are going to have food, make sure non-nutritious items are limited to one per student.
- Eat lunch with your student(s): If you're a parent, check-in with your school. Many schools allow parents to eat lunch with their children if notified in advance. If you're a teacher, eating with your students is a great way to teach and model healthy eating behaviors. Interested in learning more about the importance of school meals? Find out here.
- Is the school offering a variety of fruits and vegetables? Can the students all see the food and serve it safely? Are any local foods available? If not, set a meeting with the Food Service staff to discuss your ideas and see how you can help.
[1] https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/84003/eib-174_summary.pdf?v=42905
Partnering for a safe and strong summer
School is back in session and students across the nation are busy in the classroom and cafeteria learning and eating. But what happens to students in the summer months when school is out? Research suggests a summer learning achievement gap occurs between children from low income communities and their higher income peers when school is out. Even more, summer has been called “the hungriest time of the year” for low-income children who rely on school meals to get enough food during the school year.
In response to the summer hunger problem, the USDA created the Summer Food Service Program to give schools, agencies, non-profits, etc., the funding to be able to offer free meals to children 18 years and younger at approved low-income sites. Still, as of summer 2015, the summer meal program remained underutilized when compared to the number of low-income children accessing school meals during the regular school year.
To offer excellent programming and increase participation in the summer food program, partnering agencies in Santa Maria worked to provide physical activity, nutrition education and other summer enrichment programming at local city parks in conjunction with the Summer Food Service Program. The Safe and Strong All Summer Long program was coordinated through the Santa Maria City Recreation and Parks to provide free, drop-in recreation opportunities from 11a.m. to 2 p.m. in parks throughout the city all summer. Meals were brought to the parks and served for one hour by the local food bank and Community Action Commission staff and volunteers.
SNAP-Ed funded agencies have been encouraged to partner with Summer Food Service Programs, though the logistics of working with different agencies and providing education programs in non-traditional settings isn't always easy or clear. During summer 2016, UC CalFresh Nutrition Educators in Santa Barbara County partnered with the Safe and Strong All Summer Long food program to provide staff training and support for family enrichment and physical activities. UC CalFresh staff kicked off the partnership by leading a one-day CATCH (Coordinated Approach to Child Health) Physical Activity training for over 20 Recreation & Parks staff. CATCH focuses on inclusive physical education that keeps youth engaged and active. After the training and throughout the summer, UC staff participated weekly at two park summer meal sites encouraging youth and their families to get physically active, drink water and eat healthy. UC staff continued to provide guidance and training on-site to Recreation & Parks staff on how to engage a variety of youth of all ages in fun physical activities.
Several other partner agencies also provided engaging programming to parents while the youth were eating their lunches. The local hospital and County Public Health Department conducted food demonstrations and distributed healthy recipe food samples to parents at sites throughout the city.
In a focus group conducted in June 2016 with parents from the local school district, parents commented that they would like more information and ideas about how and where to do physical activities as a family. Participants commented that they appreciated that their children were learning how to be physically active at school, but it would be helpful to have information on how to involve the whole family: parents, siblings and all of the family so they could get exercise and enjoy their time together.
By providing free drop-in programming at local parks, in conjunction with free meals for youth, the Safe and Strong All Summer Long partnership was able to provide access to safe spaces for families to come together during the summer to be physically active and reduce food insecurity.
UC CalFresh Nutrition Educator Miguel Dia, commented that the best part of the summer partnership was “engaging the youth in a variety of different games and seeing all the different age groups participating. By the end of the summer, the older youth were actually teaching the younger youth how to do the CATCH activities.”
Walking the talk
Family nutrition educators from University of California CalFresh [UC CalFresh] and Expanded Food Nutrition Education Program [EFNEP], two federally funded nutrition education programs that provide free nutrition workshops to low-income families, have joined together to practice the lessons they teach to their participants in San Joaquin County, including exercising for at least 30 minutes a day.
“I wanted to exercise more regularly,” UC CalFresh nutrition educator Lorena Hoyos said. “But doing it alone wasn't working, so when the idea of working out as a group came about at training, it was the perfect opportunity. Exercising with others is a great motivator, they keep you active.”
Using home-brought exercise videos like T-25, The Firm, Hip Hop Abs and others, the nutrition staff have been sweating to the beat.
“I noticed that my endurance has gone up,” EFNEP nutrition educator Houa Lee said. “I have more confidence at work and in conducting the physical activity breaks at my classes.”
Prior to the videos, the nutrition staff, along with other San Joaquin County UC Cooperative Extension employees, were doing activities like walking around the block or going to the gym together after work. Some educators even participated in weekend races or rides, such as the Color Run, Hit the Street for Hunger Run, The Electric Run, Cinderella Bike Ride and others.
“I think it's important to show participants that we are not just preaching the goals, but living them,” said Raquel Fernandez, a program representative for the UC CalFresh and EFNEP programs. “This makes them seem a lot more attainable and helps us relate better to our participants. It also helps establish trust and credibility to our lessons.”
Participants have been asking for more physical activity,” EFNEP nutrition educator Monica Radrigan said. “It's the main reason they come and they love it! And as a result, we've noticed retention has been increasing too.”
The exercise sessions have also improved team-building efforts.
“I like to be able to come into workplace where we can support each other,” Community Nutrition Action Plan facilitator Tina Her said. “Not only in a work setting, but on a personal basis as well. This helps me connect with my coworkers better.”
UCCE nutrition, family and consumer sciences advisor Anna Martin said after-work exercise program is a win-win situation.
“I am proud that our staff has initiated activities that not only promote their own physical health, but improves their relationship as a team," Martin said.
'Tis the season to balance food with physical activity
For years the news and media have released reports that the holidays mean weight gain and ever-widening waistlines. All the hype leaves me asking: how many holidays between Thanksgiving and New Year’s do we actually have?
There are a few things in life that that we just can’t control: holiday gatherings, office Christmas parties, laughing at a not-so-funny joke, and, did I mention, family? Let’s face it, as much as we would like to control the holiday season, there are times when we just can’t.
What’s completely within our control? Physical activity! I know, I know, the moment I say physical activity we start thinking of the closet of winter clothes we need to organize, the windows that need to be washed (even though it’s going to rain tomorrow), or the dusting that you just haven’t been able to get to all summer (maybe that’s just me).
But if we know that the next month or so is going to be filled with food-related activities, why not counter-balance the darts of despair with shields of activity? Because that my friend, we can control!
Increasing physical activity provides the body and mind with many benefits:
- Increase your chances of living longer
- Feel better about yourself
- Decrease your chances of becoming depressed
- Sleep well at night
- Move around more easily
- Have stronger muscles and bones
- Stay at or get to a healthy weight
- Be with friends or meet new people
- Enjoy yourself and have fun
Why should I move more? According to the USDA guidelines, when we are not physically active, we increase our chances of:
- Heart disease
- Type 2 diabetes
- High blood pressure
- High blood cholesterol
- Stroke
Physical activity can divided into four different types:
- Aerobic activities: this activity can be moderate or vigorous (running, walking, skating)
- Muscle-strengthening activities: makes your muscles stronger (weight lifting, push-ups)
- Bone-strengthening activities: make your bones stronger (jumping)
- Balance and stretching activities: enhance physical stability and flexibility (yoga, dancing, t’ai chi)
This holiday season, lets focus on the parts of the holiday season we can control.
Why wait for New Year’s to start gaining the benefits of physical activity?