Comments on: Grow Your Own Food So Your Kids Will Eat Healthily

By: Best Fruits, Vegetables and Herbs to Grow for Beginners

Best Fruits, Vegetables and Herbs to Grow for Beginners — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 07:10:58 +0000

[...] Grow Your Own Food So Kids Will Eat Healthily [...]

By: Fern

Fern — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 02:57:24 +0000

Nats–I can’t say I’m shocked, but it is rather disappointing that schools are serving fast food for lunch.

By: Nats

Nats — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 23:50:10 +0000

Great site! I couldn’t agree with you more. I was shocked to find that local companies like A&W and the local Pizza company deliver hot meals to some schools a couple of times a week – i.e. you can order a wrap with a carton of orange juice – or a slice of pizza etc….surely we shouldn’t be promoting these companies in our schools?

Yes they are yummy (on occasions) but surely we should be promoting tasty healthy treats/gardening and cooking – rather than fast food as a meal?

Maybe i’m going mad but it just shocked me they were in with the schools on this!

Im growing a veggie garden for the kids to a) learn whats good for the season, b) to have the joy of picking to the pan and c) for saving costs.

I hope it rubs off on them – I won’t force it – we’ll have the odd treat but education I guess on this subject begins at home.

Thanks for a great site.

Nats

By: Fern

Fern — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 18:53:45 +0000

Kaci — Good point about the taste bud acclimation. Sugar is another “flavor” that we get desensitized to and then eat way more than we need. Once I cut out a bunch of candy and junk food, I was able to appreciate more naturally sweet tastes, like tomatoes, which used to taste bland.

By: Kaci

Kaci — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 09:30:38 +0000

Fern, you are full of all kinds of amazing ideas! The other problem I’m sure you’ve heard of is how our taste buds acclimate to what we’re eating. So if you eat a lot of salt in your food, everything tastes bland without it. But if you ween yourself off salt, your taste buds re-adjust and everything is delicious without it. I think this probably applies to our kids too. (I wish I could remember where I read this, so I can send a link… I’ll look around for it and get back to you!)

Not only do we have to adjust their food palate, but we have to make them appreciate the science and nature behind our food. Thumbs up to that!

By: Fern

Fern — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 17:35:56 +0000

Jen — It certainly would be a useful skill to learn. Parents don’t have to wait for the school to educate their kids about gardening though. I used to garden with my grandma and I learned so much from her, not to mention how much I enjoyed the extra attention.

By: jen

jen — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 16:40:03 +0000

You know, gardening really should be a required part of the school curriculum, not just a “unit” that they do for a month or two in 4th grade. We’re trying to make an edible schoolyard, but have run up against unbelievable obstacles with the administration. Teachers resist because they’re under pressure to prepare students for standardized tests. It’s too bad.

By: Fern

Fern — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 19:46:34 +0000

Nancy — Thanks for sharing that link! I think if parents and teachers think creatively, this is a problem that can be easily solved.

By: Nancy Bond

Nancy Bond — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:51:14 +0000

I couldn’t agree with you more! I wrote an article a while back about a local elementary school that has a wonderful gardening program for their students; it’s been a great success. (http://tinyurl.com/57bouw if you care to read it) I’m sure these students took some of that enthusiasm home with them at night, too. You’ve certainly shown that you don’t need a lot of space to have a healthy veggie garden.