Texas students learn about portion sizes
IRVING - With a tennis ball and a yo-yo as props, first-grade teacher Kristy Brooks in Irving (Texas, USA) helped her class understand the correct portion sizes for vegetables.
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„About how many yo-yos do you think would fit on this potato?” she asked during the nutrition lesson, prompting students to measure the potatoes against the yo-yos. For the lesson, Brooks uses a colorful state-issued booklet that offers advice on correct portion sizes called ”A Serving of Fun”, which is among the recent measures Texas has taken to combat childhood obesity.
The state also has issued stricter guidelines for school lunches in recent years. „To get a change in lifestyle, you’ve got to start young”, said Texas Department of Agriculture spokeswoman Beverly Boyd.
The booklets targeting first- and fourth-graders went out to about 7,300 schools across Texas this spring, reaching about 662,000 students. And it was so popular that the department plans to send them to second- and third-graders in May, she said.
In a world where food is regularly ”super-sized” and restaurants serve oversized portions, experts say giving young children a perspective on portion size is important. More than twice as many children and almost three times as many teens are overweight now compared to 1980, according American Heart Association. Being overweight increases the risk for health problems including diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnea and high cholesterol. (AP)
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