Despite a national panic about obesity and other nutrition issues in America’s adolescents and children, school administrators and teens themselves are taking steps to ensure that Athens-Clarke County students stay healthy.
According to the Center for Disease Control, nearly one-fifth of adolescents – persons between the ages of 12 and 19 – were obese in 2007-2008, and in that same year an estimated one-third of adults were also said to be obese.
“Most people who see me are concerned with weight management,” said Katherine Ingerson, a registered dietitian for the Food Services Administration at the University of Georgia. As part of her job, she sees university students every day to discuss various health concerns they may face.
Ingerson also said, however, that she often sees the exact opposite problem in students – they aren’t getting the proper nutrients they need in their diet. She said that students’ diets often lack in things like calcium, fiber, and iron.
The National Institution of Health Office of Dietary Supplements suggests that adolescents need more calcium and iron in their diet than any other age group.
Meanwhile, the Clarke County School District recently adopted a new curriculum that is completely focused nutrition and food science.
“Last year, we expanded our Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) courses and adopted an entire Nutrition and Food Science pathway at both high schools that includes the following 3 courses,” said the school district Director of Public Relations and Communications, Anisa Jimenez.
These new courses include Food, Nutrition and Wellness, Food and Nutrition Through the Lifespan, and Food Science.
“Nutrition also is taught as part of the culinary arts pathway,” said Jimenez.
Students, however, credit their healthy eating habits to factors unrelated to their coursework. Jake Schaefer, 15, said that he felt he and his friends all tend to eat fairly well, despite alarm around the nation.
“I have to though because I run cross country,” said Schaefer.
Schaefer also said that he always had dinner with his family each night and that his mother made sure to cook a well balanced meal for the family.
The United States Department of Agriculture makes several suggestions when it comes to keeping a healthy balanced diet including: substituting whole grain products for refined products, eating a variety of fruits and vegetables each today to keep things interesting and maximize nutritional value, consuming fresh ingredients at meals to reduce sodium intake, choosing whole fruits instead of fruit juice, and switching to fat free or low fat dairy products.
Katherine Ingerson:
ingerson@uga.edu
(706)542-7313
Anisa Sullivan Jimenez
jimenezan@clarke.k12.ga.us
706.546.7721, ext.18271
Jake Schaefer
jakedschaefer94@gmai.com
I am still waiting to hear back from Katherine for some follow up questions and from Ms. Vera Giles at Clarke Central. Also I'm planning to interview more students. This copy is very rough, but I'm planning on making several changes.
Overall, I thought the article was very informative and did a great job confronting an issue many teens are interested in. Lane and I agreed that additional quotes from students would add to the overall effectiveness of the piece. We discussed adding a quote from a student that had a difficult time eating healthy food, which would be a nice rebuttal to what the 15-year-old Jake Schaefer said. She also mentioned that she is waiting to hear back from another source. I believe after these changes are made, the article will be ready for publication.
ReplyDeleteWell-written and informative article Lane. One major copy editing note: class titles/subjects are always lower case unless it is a language. Your lead is really strong. The last paragraph is more appropriate for a sidebar. Instead, end on a strong quote.
ReplyDelete