Kids Teaching Kids

In a world of thriving fast food chains and outrageously large entrees, maintaining proper nutrition becomes tricky. Many informed adults continue unhealthy eating patterns, despite the warnings and hazards of obesity. Numerous children and adolescents also gravitate towards poor nutrition, but for different reasons. Often, children do not understand the purpose of a healthy diet; even more, they live in a world that takes advantage of their malleability. (Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation discusses at length the deliberate targeting of the child consumer). Without proper role models and effective instruction, children and adolescents become the next victims of obesity. Preventing this damage is possible: changing both the message and the deliverer of such instruction coaches children towards healthier, safer lifestyles.

Much too often, children and adolescents hear the message “eat what you don’t like because it is good for you.” In the national Gallup survey, 64 percent of adolescents agreed that “foods that are good for you do not taste good,” and a whopping 71 percent believed “your favorite foods are not good for you” (Nutrition Through the Life Cycle). Just these statistics help explain why many young adults ignore nutrition advice. The message—choose foods you dislike because they are healthy—forces kids towards an unhealthy diet. Such a message proves ineffective with the majority of adolescents. Instead, young adults should hear advice like “eat well because it will help you in what you want to do and become” (Nutrition Through the Life Cycle). Generally, teenagers are concerned with physical appearance, body image, energy, and sports performance—all short term benefits of a healthy diet. Communication to adolescents should then focus on these advantages—real reasons to choose a proper diet—not on vague and unwelcome guidance that pushes kids to healthy foods, simply because “they are good for you.”

Who should deliver these messages to adolescents? Many would suggest parents, or perhaps teachers—the standard choices for such a job. But perhaps there is another option, a more effective choice. What if students heard about nutrition from their peers? Such a group, after all, can fully understand kids’ motivations and sensibilities. A paper in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior in 2007 contains a promising study. The study measured the effects of peer-led nutrition education on kids. After four weeks, the majority of “educated” children could properly identify healthy foods and reported plans to eat more vegetables and fruits. Meanwhile, those not involved in the peer-led group experienced no change in eating patterns (ars.usda.gov). Perhaps the students should be the teachers!

This year at Moorestown Friends School, efforts to communicate about nutrition with students—from one peer to another—have successfully begun. Students from the Bionutrition class post signs on cafeteria tables and hallway bulletin boards with questions like “Want energy?” Their messages target adolescents’ desire for short-term benefits, such as feeling healthy and looking good. Every two weeks, the class distributes free fruit during the school day (not during meal times) in a designated location (not the cafeteria). Hoards of hungry students gravitate towards their peers, devouring the bananas and apples within fifteen minutes. Adults come as well, so younger students see adolescents and adults eating fruit.

Still not convinced? One afternoon, a few hours after the high school fruit distribution, a middle school class was offered a reward of candy. Conscious of the older students milling around in the hallways—hands full of healthy food—the normally ravenous middle school students politely refused the sweets, and instead snacked on the left-over fruit.