Having two young girls myself, aged 4 and 6, I’m often concerned with the amount of mis-information and advertising bombardment of “junk” foods out there, which result in our younger generations forming unhealthy habits. Childhood obesity in Victoria is a huge problem, with approximately 25% of children being overweight – this is up from 5% back in the 1960’s! I know, hard to believe!
On 15 August 2011, Victorian Health Minister, David Davis announced that the Victorian Government will be funding over $40m to promote the health of young people and children in Victoria. If you’d like to read the full press release, please click HERE now. I think this is an awesome step in the right direction to help our children become fitter and healthier.
Coincidentally, this week I’m launching a Kids Nutrition Program within the primary school network. I’m currently working with two local primary schools to deliver age specific, quality nutritional information to educate children about the foods they eat. The school principals, teachers and students are very excited about the programs and I can’t wait to get started.
It’s so critical that we teach our children the right nutritional habits now so that they can continue to make healthy choices into their adulthood. The research is very clear – obese children move on to become obese adults and are then in high risk categories for health issues later in life. This is why I’m jumping in at Prep and Grade 1 levels to start introducing simple and fun basic concepts of those foods that we should eat every day and those that are our “sometimes” foods.
I love teaching adults about correct nutrition and it’s really exciting to work with kids. I can’t wait to kick it off!
My school programs are completely free, so if you are interested in finding out more about what I can do for your kids at your school, please contact me – the more children we can make healtheir, the better!