Dietary health report for primary school students

Currently, primary school students aged 6 to 12 years old in my country have the common problem of excessive intake of high-oil and high-sugar snacks, and insufficient proportion of cereals, potatoes, and high-quality protein in three meals. There is no universal perfect solution. It needs to be dynamically adjusted based on family eating habits, children's individual tastes, and campus supporting conditions. Extreme "complete ban on snacks" and "indulgent eating" will bring long-term health risks.

A few months ago, I helped the community’s parent committee conduct a three-month meal check-in activity for primary school students. There were 32 children in second to fourth grade who participated. When I first collected the statistics, I was shocked: 21 children had to buy at least one bag of bulk snacks at the canteen at the school gate every day after school, either a 50-cent bag of spicy sticks or fruity soda with fructose syrup. The breakfast of 8 children was bread with jam or sweet soy milk, and they could hardly eat high-quality protein.

Let’s talk about the two practices that are currently causing fierce quarrels among parents. They are completely two extremes. One group is the "Strict Control Party". Even the birthday cakes at home are made without sucrose, and the drinks are not allowed to be touched. The most exaggerated thing I have ever seen is a second-grade child who picked up a fruit candy wrapper thrown by a classmate while the teacher was not paying attention and licked it because he had never eaten candy before. The other group is the "free-stocking party", which believes that children are blessed to be able to eat long and healthy, and arrange every meal of fried chicken legs and sweet and sour pork ribs. Last year, a third-grade boy's physical examination revealed that his blood lipids were high, which was uglier than many middle-aged people's indicators. According to the 2022 dietary guidelines of the Chinese Nutrition Society, it is best for primary school students to consume no more than 25g of free sugar per day, which is about half a bottle of ordinary Coke. If you do the math, if you eat a bag of candied fruits and a cup of sweet milk tea every day, your sugar intake will more than double.

It's really not alarmist. The harm of long-term excessive sugar intake is not only weight gain and dental caries. Studies have shown that excessive sugar can also affect children's attention. Many children who cannot sit still in class and make many small movements are likely to have eaten a lot of candies and sweet drinks the day before.

Interestingly, we tried a small method with little technical content during the check-in event, and the effect was unexpectedly good. We have set up a "healthy snack exchange corner" in the community activity room. Children can bring home-made freeze-dried fruits, original nuts, and additive-free steamed buns. As long as they do not buy bulk snacks at the school gate for three consecutive days, they can exchange for a small stationery or a qualification to participate in a weekend baking class. After three months, only four children still insist on buying snacks outside of school. Most of the children are willing to bring home-made snacks to school and exchange them with each other.

When it comes to this, we have to talk about the misunderstanding of many parents: they always think that children are picky eaters because they are not sensible. In fact, it is mostly because adults do not pay the right attention. There was a mother in the check-in group who used to chase her child to feed broccoli every day. The child ran away when he saw the green vegetables. Later, she chopped the broccoli and mixed it with grated cheese, spread it on toast and baked it into a small pizza. The child ate it three times a week and showed off her "Green Superman Cookie" to her classmates. You see, there is no such thing as a naturally picky eater. It’s just that he hasn’t found a recipe that suits his taste.

There is another very controversial topic right now: can primary school students drink milk tea and eat spicy strips? The standard in the nutritional field is that you should eat these high-oil and high-sugar processed foods at most once a week, and it is fine if the amount is controlled within 300g each time. Many parenting bloggers shout "not to be touched at all", but in fact it is easy to have side effects. Last time I met a little boy in fifth grade. His parents never let him touch milk tea. He saves ten yuan of pocket money every week, takes a detour after school to secretly buy a large cup of full-sugar bubble milk tea with his classmates, and drinks more than anyone else. Instead, it is better to make an agreement with the child to drink it once every two weeks. Each time, he chooses less sugar, and his parents accompany him to buy it, which is much more controllable.

By the way, there’s another detail that many people overlook: the school’s catering settings actually have a great impact on children’s dietary choices. My friend is a primary school teacher. Their school used to have a self-service meal, and half of the children only got fried chicken nuggets and French fries. Later, the cafeteria put healthy meals such as stir-fried shrimps and multi-grain rice in the most conspicuous dining areas, and fried foods in the inner corner. The number of children choosing healthy meals increased by 30%, and the teacher did not need to talk about it every day.

In fact, during the three months of research, my biggest feeling is that the healthy diet of primary school students is never a matter of "just follow the recipe and you will be right." Your child loves to play football and consumes a lot of money every day. Eating an extra piece of cake is nothing. ； Your child is already on the obese side, so he should eat more high-fat snacks. There is no need to set any absolutely correct standards. Occasionally eating a bag of spicy strips or drinking half a cup of Coke will not cause problems. The key is to let the children gradually understand what is nutritious food that can be eaten every day and what is a "happy snack" that can only be eaten occasionally. It is much more useful than chasing after the butt every day to grab snacks.