With numerous of different fast food restaurants just around the corner, along with the variety of sugar filled snacks in the cabinet, junk food is seems to be everywhere. More appealing than a juicy apple or any other fruit or vegetable, stealth health is an academic field that studies how certain methods yield a child to make a healthy or unhealthy decision at the lunch line. Instead of banning junk food the field of stealth health focuses on ways of tricking a child to eat healthy without realizing it. By giving meals creative names, asking every child if they want fruit, or even providing easy access to healthier foods in the "grab and go" section, researchers claim that these methods provide plentiful opportunity for making the health foods more appealing.In my opinion, tricking a child into eating healthier food is insufficient and fails to provide long term solutions for bad eating habits of children. When children leave the elementary school lunch lines and grow up, there is not going to be somebody at McDonald's asking if they want fresh medley apples with their Big Mac. The foundation of good eating habits should start at home where parents encourage there children why eating healthy is best and what the consequences are for not doing so. This way children learn how to be disciplined and begin to be accustomed to making healthier decisions.
Like WebMD says, http://children.webmd.com/guide/kids-healthy-eating-habits
"By teaching your children healthy eating habits, you can keep them at a healthy weight . Also, the eating habits your children pick up when they are young will help them maintain a healthy lifestyle when they are adults."
Sure telling kindergartners that carrots give you x-ray vision may get them to eat them. However, after a few days they will figure it out and will not buy that "this week's celery will make you fly.
Eating healthy is a decision we all have to make. Yes, schools should provide healthier foods instead of junk food for lunch but having to trick someone into eating healthy is only a short term solution. Before they know it previous bad eating habits will return, and cakes and pies will be desired once more.
i don't think it's necessarily wrong to "trick" a child into eating healthy foods. i think it makes them familiar with the food, and they'll get used to it. i wouldn't want to tell my children "eat this and it'll make you walk through walls". but personally, if i had gotten used to eating healthier foods when i was younger, i'd be a lot more healthier now. i wouldn't stray away from those healthier foods because i would've been used to them growing up.
ReplyDeletebut i agree that this all starts at home.
-daisyfriend
I agree. Tricking a child into eating their vegetables is not a long-term solution. Personally, I think the only way to get kids to eat their vegetables is to make them eat their vegetables. Not force-feeding it to them, I mean, I don't want kids to have food tubes pumping the stuff straight to their stomachs. But some sort of reward system in which them eating their vegetables offers the most benefit. Like they don't have to finish everything but if they finish the vegetables and some of their steak then they get to have dessert. No vegetables, no desert. Or something to that effect.
ReplyDeleteAlso, teaching them that junk food isn't bad so long as you have it in moderation would probably be effective. Or even giving them snacks and desserts that are healthy but at the same time taste good.
-theeconomist
As a child, my parents always tried to get me to eat fruits and vegetables, but I resisted. It has only been recently that I will opt to eat vegetables at all. My parents never forced me, and maybe they should have. What my parents did instead was to disguise the vegetables with toppings such as ranch dressing or loads of butter. I guess they figured eating vegetables laden with fat was better than no vegetables at all... My family has always been health-conscious, and we rarely have junk food in the house. We don't eat fast-food and we exercise every day. I think the bottom line is that families can encourage a healthy life style without resorting to lying to the child. Ultimately, if these lessons have been taught consistently, they will be incorporated into the child’s lifestyle as an adult.
ReplyDeletehaha, i remember that simpsons episode.
ReplyDeletei think i saw it in a class sometime in the past.
I'm quite thankful that my mom is the health-freak in the family. If it weren't for her refusals to buy sugar-coated cereal and Fruit by the Foot, my health habits would not be like what they are now. Today, I'm making sure the food I eat totally benefits me. Now that I think about it, all of this started right in the home. When I was younger, I always bugged my mom if we could get some of the junk food that my friends always had, then I later realized that she was only taking watch of my health. Now I'm consuming organic crackers for snacks and my mom always makes sure I have either a fruit or a vegetable (or even BOTH) in my lunch for school.
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteTricking a child to eat healthy food is a short term solution that will ultimately provide a good base for the child in the future. As the child develops a liking for healthy foods the more the child will want to eat these foods. You will find that tricking him or her will not be necessary anymore. When the child grows up they will make healthy decisions about what they eat.