Today’s teenagers aren’t eating particularly well, and it’s not just those in cities.
In fact, according to a recently released study of Grade 9 students by the University of Manitoba, rural kids might be eating worse in terms of things like sugars and saturated fats.
And when it came to veggies or certain major nutrients, the news was bad all around. A whopping 94 per cent of kids aren’t getting enough fruits and vegetables and a majority were short on proteins. Vitamin D, calcium, fibre; the list of shortcomings goes on.
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In terms of solutions, the need for better education is one of the big ones.
University of Manitoba professor Joyce Slater says that we, as a society, “are not equipping youth to really thrive” in an environment that exposes them to marketing campaign salvos from every direction.
It’s an important point. Take a scroll through Instagram or YouTube some time, particularly if you’ve even slightly interacted with posts on fitness, exercise or any recipe with the keyword “healthy.”
It doesn’t take much to be suddenly drowning in wellness influencer content — a few clicks, and the algorithm does the rest. The paid advertisements that accompany this kind of content only add to the barrage.
I have never sought weight loss ideas through social media. But, as an active person, I have watched content from science-focused, accredited fitness trainers. As a foodie, I’ve looked for cooking tips and recipe ideas.
In response, I sort through a lot of “fitfluencer” murk. Eat “x” food. Buy “this” supplement. Pay for “this” workout plan. Eat veggies — but not “these” veggies. All this other stuff is junk, do “this” instead.
The messages are often contradictory or come from sources without any formal credentials, yet they have lots of followers. It goes without saying that social media should not be the go-to source of food information for teens.
The study’s final report noted that 82 per cent of students surveyed felt that it was important to learn this kind of thing in school, but only 62 per cent had taken a class covering it.
Adding school programming may be easier said than done when governments are trying to tighten their belts. Even a recent 2.5 per cent funding boost isn’t keeping pace with inflation.
The overall tone of the government since 2016 has been about savings, finding efficiencies and the Holy Grail of a balanced budget.
In the process, school divisions have repeatedly found themselves scrambling to reduce spending. Specialty programs, including home economics, where nutrition is an easy fit, can be prey for that kind of reduction.
Even if funding is there, bringing programs to rural schools, which often don’t have the resources or numbers for in-house instruction, comes with its own challenges. Alternatively, more social media literacy and diet culture discourse could be rolled into health classes.
But there’s another potentially powerful tool available, one that doesn’t require fighting a school division budget or waiting on curriculum changes. It already has a long and trusted history in rural areas across the country.
Maybe more teens should join their local 4-H club.
If you’re among those who can still repeat the 4-H pledge from memory, you’ll recall that one of those Hs stands for health. Another promises your “head to clearer thinking.”
Both of those dovetail with creating the kind of well-educated eaters that the University of Manitoba study would like to see.
4-H Canada has already established a Healthy Living Initiative, which provides resources, activity guides and leader training on mental health, physical health and a program dubbed My Plate and the Planet. That program aims to connect members with the food system, tackles topics like food security and food literacy and includes veggie gardening among its prepped activities.
Within activity clubs, food covers some of the most established topics in the project repertoire, from progressively more advanced cooking programs to gardening.
Furthermore, 4-H is inherently linked to agriculture and includes programs that introduce concepts like soil health or that promote innovation. As examples, last year’s winners of the 4-H Canada Science Fair ranged from cattle impact on grasslands to post-hatch chick stress to hydroponic food production.
If the goal is critical thinking when it comes to food, agriculture knowledge can help.
Long-time 4-H members will also remember the organization’s motto: Learn to do by doing.
When it comes to developing healthy eating habits for life, it’s hard to imagine a better starting philosophy.
