Fat Food In School

Fast ways to break the fast

Sumita Gupta, 35, thought she had a healthy lifestyle. She jogged every evening, watched what she ate, and counted the calories. Yet her BMI (body mass index, which is the ratio of weight to height) hovered over 25; she continued to be borderline overweight. It took the Gurgaon-based HR manager and mother of a six-year-old nearly two years to figure out that the problem lay in her skipping breakfast.

“I don’t think I had had breakfast since the day I left school. Since I’ve always taken care to eat right throughout the day, I thought that was fine. Some time ago, I came across an article on how long food gaps stimulate the body’s insulin response, which then increases fat storage. I realized that all my calorie-consciousness at lunch or dinner did not make much sense if I was not having breakfast,” Gupta says. That was about six months ago. The busy executive now makes it a point to eat a healthy meal in the mornings and her BMI ratio has already dipped below 25.

Benefits of breakfast

Healthy start: The Breakfast Burger at Eggspectation in New Delhi combines the goodness of eggs and vegetables like mushrooms, lettuce and tomatoes. Pradeep Gaur/Mint

According to Ritika Samaddar, the regional head of dietetics at Max Healthcare, New Delhi, a proper breakfast helps you stay fitter, more active and alert, and lose weight as it stimulates the basal metabolic rate (BMR). BMR is the rate at which the body uses calories while at rest. The higher the BMR, the faster you burn calories.

One way to stimulate BMR is to have a hearty breakfast. “It’s like filling up your car with petrol. You want to tank up before you set off on a long drive, not after. Breakfast is the refuelling your body needs after going without food for 8-10 hours. You need it to kick-start your metabolism,” explains Suman Agarwal, founder of Selfcare, a Mumbai-based organization that works in the field of promoting healthy nutrition.

“People who eat proper breakfast also maintain cholesterol and triglyceride levels better. And for children it’s a must. The human brain needs constant supply of energy. Research has shown that children who eat a healthy breakfast are more active and alert in school,” Samaddar adds.

Ideally, a proper breakfast should provide between one-fourth and one-third of the daily requirement of calories and proteins. “Breakfast should provide not only the macronutrients, that is carbohydrates, proteins, minerals and vitamins, but also micronutrients. And fibres too. Complex carbohydrates provide a steady supply of glucose to the brain over a certain period of time rather than just peaks and lows that simple carbohydrates like sugar give,” says Samaddar. Cereals such as oats, wheat, etc., are a good source of complex carbohydrates while milk is the best source of calcium.

Does Proximity to Fast Food Make Kids Fat?

, Tracked the eating habits of 552 students, located in various areas throughout Maine, using questionnaires. They then compared the kids’ food choices (as well as their height and weight) with the proximity of “bad” food options to the school building.

Contrary to what the researchers had predicted, the proximity of the schools to fast food restaurants and other unhealthy food options had little bearing on children’s BMIs. However, prior research on this topic has produced quite opposite results — such as a study that looked at 3 million ninth-graders in southern California, reports The Huffington Post .

Although some feel that this study could shift the focus of fighting childhood obesity more towards behavior-based programs — rather than focusing on the external environment — others feel that the study isn’t relevant to the country at large because of its Maine setting. “I don’t put very much weight behind this study,” Michael Goran, director of the Childhood Obesity Research Center at the University of Southern California, told NPR .

So, does this study mean that community legislators and educators should stop thinking about the restaurants and stores that surround a school when designing programming to combat childhood obesity? From personal experience, do the food choices that surround you make a difference in your eating habits? What SHOULD schools be focusing on when it comes to student health?

We asked our readers and here’s what some of them had to say:

Shelly R. We switched from processed-food lunches to organic, hot lunches prepared on-site this year at our school and the kids loved it! We now have a fresh vegetable and herb garden and will be planting our fruit orchard very soon. The kids have begun eating more fruits and vegetables and even parents are taking note that the kids are eating better and making healthier choices at home.

Nakia D. I think child nutrition starts at home. Now I’m all for schools having healthier food because a lot of parents don’t have time — or the money — to provide that for them … but it shouldn’t be because of the schools that kids are eating healthier. As for the businesses, if the parents don’t buy it the kids won’t get it and by high school, kids should have been taught about food and nutrition.

Molly M.