Healthy Habits is coming to a school near you!
By Lauren Cohen and Laura Cipullo Whole Nutrition Services Team
Starting in early March, members of the Laura Cipullo Whole Nutrition Services Team have been heading out to share our nutrition education program, Healthy Habits, with New York City students. It has already proved to be an incredibly rewarding experience for both the students and teachers.
Over the past few weeks, we have been heading out to Schools and Day Cares around NYC and it’s boroughs to spend some time with students. With ages ranging from 5-9, we really have our hands full! It was thrilling to see the amount of nutrition knowledge students in this age range already had. The younger students were full of great information and even better questions while the older students were explaining the benefits of protein and exercise and asking questions about metabolism!
Here are some of the highlights:
1. Meeting the students and finding out what they know.
The students at our first two locations have a nutrition program already and we quickly learned that all their hard work paid off. The students were able to name all of the food groups from MyPlate and were even able to categorize their lunch foods. They told us all about the lunch they had that day—there was something from every food group! They were eager to display their knowledge and learn more. Needless to say, we were very impressed!
2. Learning about Sometimes and Everyday foods.
After we learned what the students had that day, we asked them what they liked to eat. They named a ton of healthy foods but also a lot of snacks and treats. Sometimes and Everyday foods are a big and exciting philosophy that Healthy Habits teaches. The students seemed happy to learn that chocolate chip cookies and cupcakes fit in the sometimes category. This is an important part of Healthy Habits’ lesson plan and the students were very taken to this concept.
3. Learning about the Hunger and Fullness scale.
How hungry are you now? How hungry are you after you eat? Before you eat? Sometimes these questions are hard to answer. It’s a precious skill to be able to listen to your body’s hunger and fullness needs. We asked the students how to identify what hunger and fullness felt like and if that was how they felt now. It can be a big challenge to tune into your body that way and it was exciting to see the students pick up on this quickly. Some of them were hungry and some of them were not but their ability to gage their hunger/ fullness needs worked out well for the next part of our lesson!
4. Learning how to eat mindfully.
Have you ever thought about your senses while you eat? What does your food look like, sound like, and feel like? How does it smell? How about the taste? Have you ever thought about the food you’re eating while you’re eating it, or taken three slow breathes to enjoy your meal before chowing down? All of these factors have a huge impact on how we feel about our food and eating. It’s a valuable skill to incorporate into your daily habits. This was the student’s favorite part! Maybe it was the snacks or perhaps because we were playing with food—either way, it was a blast!
We wanted to say a very big thank you to the students and faculty at the various locations we have been working with for welcoming us into your school and allowing us to have such a wonderfully positive experience learning with you.
If you are interested in having members of the Laura Cipullo Whole Nutrition Services Team come teach Healthy Habits at your school, please contact us at newyork@lauracipullollc.com.
For more information on the Healthy Habits curriculum or to purchase it, please visit http://momdishesitout.wpengine.com/resources/healthy-habits-for-children/.
For a FREE download of one of our Healthy Habits worksheets click the photo below!
