Nutrition: A Recipe for Student Success

Do you need a simple recipe to improve academic performance, behavior, and focus in your classroom? Take a look at nutrition in your classroom. What our students consume inside and outside the school could have a pivotal effect on their academic success. Simple nutrition education could impact your students more than you know.

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics hosts National Nutrition Month each March to run campaigns that promote healthy eating for people of all ages. And for educators and parents, it’s proven that healthy students are better learners. Data consistently demonstrates a close relationship between health and academic performance.

Recent studies show that 67% of the calories children consume are made up of processed and fast foods, an increase from 1999. The increased access to processed foods most likely caused this increase. Concern around this statistic revolves around children and adolescents being at a critical point for brain development and developing long-term eating habits.

In 2021, 2.3 million US households with children couldn’t put adequate or nutritious food on the table. Unfortunately, many of those children are in our classes, and they may rely on resources provided by the school. Research has found that diets high in fat can negatively affect the brain, hindering learning and memory. Poor nutrition also affects a student's overall wellness, making it more likely that students will become sick, get headaches, and not be able to participate in their classes. And for young students, deficient nutrients can impair their cognitive development altogether.

But students with proper nutrition have proven to have:

Better brain function
Improved behavior
Increased focus
Improved testing results
Higher attendance
Reduced tardiness
Less detention

Healthy lifestyle education can empower students to play an active role in their health by informing them of healthy habits. Some families may rely on schools to provide important lessons about health in addition to their core lessons.

Recommendations

Here are a few ways we recommend supporting healthy learners and helping students better understand their nutrition:

Provide Enough Time to Eat. Eating time should be a break for students, not stressful. Make sure students have enough time to eat a complete meal or snack without rushing.

Host a Field Trip to the Kitchen. Visiting the school’s kitchen is an exciting way to show students how food is prepared for them. They may even ask staff questions about food, nutrition, and cooking methods.

Learn About Plant Science. This is a simple way to blend your science lessons with motivation for a healthy lifestyle. Plant processes and food go hand-in-hand and can excite students to eat foods they know a lot about.

Provide Plenty of Breaks. Quickly help students become refreshed by providing adequate snack breaks and water breaks.

Start a School Vegetable Garden. Vegetable gardens teach students about plant processes, responsibility, teamwork, and so on. The garden’s veggies provide healthy rewards for students and can spark excitement for healthy foods.

Inform Parents. Much of a student’s health relies on the decisions of their guardians. Guardians may not be aware of the negative effects that poor nutrition can have on their families. If appropriate, inform parents about quality nutrition information.

Learn About the Human Body. Another science lesson for you? Yes! Health science is an easy way to learn how the human body works. Easily incorporate information on nutrition into your science lessons.

Set an Example. Students look up to us. Setting an example can prove to students that eating healthier foods and drinks is a desirable choice.

Healthy Lifestyle School Assembly

SK8 4 Life is Mobile Ed’s thrilling skateboarding assembly that informs students about taking care of their minds, body, and spirit while our team puts on a challenging demonstration of our best skateboarding moves. Don’t miss out on this sick assembly program!

SK8 4 Life teaches students about: