Nutrition and Food Habits

Sustainable Systems

Nutrition

Nutrition is the process by which an organism takes food and utilizes it to get energy, for growth, repair, maintenance, etc. and then excreting the waste material from the body. The materials which provide nutrition to living organisms are called nutrients. For example proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, etc. Nutrition is important to consume the above six nutrients on a daily basis to build and maintain healthy bodily function.

9 Must-Eat Nutrients for children1. Protein: Protein helps a child's body build cells, break down food into energy, fight infection, and carry oxygen.

2. Carbohydrates : While the latest diet trend is to "cut the carbs," carbohydrates are actually the body's most important source of energy. They help a child's body to use fat and protein for building and repairing tissue. Carbohydrates come in several different forms (sugars, starches, and fiber), but kids should be eating more of the starches and fibers and less of the sugar.

3. Fats: Fats are a great source of energy for kids and are easily stored in a child's body. They are also important in helping the body to properly use some of the other nutrients it needs.

4. Calcium: Calcium is essential in helping to build a child's healthy bones and teeth. It's also important for blood clotting and for nerve, muscle, and heart function.

5. Iron: Iron is necessary for a child to build healthy blood that carries oxygen to cells all over the body.

6. Folate: Folate, necessary for soon-to-be moms, is also very important for kids. One of the B vitamins, folate is necessary for healthy growth and development of a child's cells.

7. Fiber: Fiber helps produce bowel regularity in a child.

8. Vitamin A: Vitamin A serves a variety of purposes in kids and adults.

9. Vitamin C: Vitamin C does more than just fighting off the common cold. It also holds the body's cells together, strengthens the walls of blood vessels, helps the body heal wounds, and is important for building strong bones and teeth.

Food HabitsThe term eating habits (or food habits) refers to why and how children eat, which foods they eat, and with whom they eat, as well as the ways people obtain, store, use, and discard food. Individual, social, cultural, religious, economic, environmental, and political factors all influence children's eating habits.

10 Good and Bad Food Habits1. Always eat breakfast.2. Eat your fruit and veg. 3. Take time to shop each week.4. Walk for 10,000 steps or exercise for an hour

each day.5. Sit down at the table to eat.6. Always carry a protein-rich snack with you.7. Have a green tea after meals.8. Always carry a water bottle.9. Choose wholegrain, low-GI bread and breakfast

cereal. 10. Always eat carbohydrates and proteins together.

1. Falling for every food fad

2. Eating processed food

3. Thinking of food as a reward

4.. Not eating at home enough

5 . Overlooking herbs

6. Skipping breakfast

7. Making dramatic changes too quickly

8. Being overly strict

9. Drinking fruit out of a bottle

10. Eating too quickly

Why and How Children eat?All humans eat to survive. They also eat to express appreciation, for a sense of belonging, as part of family customs, and for self-realization. A meal is usually defined as the consumption of two or more foods in a structured setting at a set time. Snacks consist of a small amount of food or beverage eaten between meals. A common eating pattern is three meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) per day, with snacks between meals.

Children eat according to learned behaviors regarding etiquette, meal and snack patterns, acceptable foods, food combinations, and portion sizes. Etiquette refers to acceptable behaviors. For example, for some groups it is acceptable to lick one's fingers while eating, while for other groups this is rude behavior. Etiquette and eating rituals also vary depending on whether the meal is formal, informal, or special (such as a meal on a birthday or religious holiday).

Exposure to food for children There are innumerable flavors and food combinations. A liking for some flavors or food combinations is easily acceptable, but others must develop or be learned. Sweetness is a universally acceptable flavor, but a taste for salty, savory, spicy, tart, bitter, and hot flavors must be learned. The more a child is exposed to a food and encouraged to eat it, the greater are the chances that the food will be accepted. As the exposure to a food increases, children become more familiar and less fearful of the food, and acceptance may develop.

Reason for Healthy Food RefusalChildren often refuse food because they have a fear of a food based on its unfamiliar or unusual sensory properties, such as appearance, texture, or smell. Understanding this can help you to approach food refusal from a fresh point of view. Rather than considering a child to be a 'picky eater', they are merely expressing an innate trait that we humans all share.

Any phobia is treated by gradually increasing an individual's exposure to the thing that they fear. The same technique can be applied when encouraging children to accept new foods or re-accept previously liked foods. Repeatedly offering a food has been shown to lead to increased willingness to taste the food and increased liking for the food.

Factors that influence Fast Food ConsumptionFast foods are taking popularity by nuclear families because working parents have less time for meal preparation by themselves. Majority of working parents with school going children are in stress. Children spend most of the time away from home by attending tuition classes after school hours. A positive correlation of increased fast food consumption and increased body mass index was found among adolescents. Socio economic status is an important factor related to fast food consumption. Children from high socioeconomic status prefer fast foods to traditional foods despite their better nutritional knowledge. It has been seen that children who are overweight are significantly more likely to recognize fast food restaurant logos than other food logos. Again, families' socio-demographic characteristics play a role in children's recognition of food logos.

Impact of advertisingNowadays children are mostly around electronic products like laptops, tv, phones and it is one way how advertising is taking an advantage and attracting these childrens by showing all their favorite junk food and adding a little gift with a meal that even attracts them into buying and tasting the new item.

Obesity is one of reason of consuming junk food which also leads an increase in diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and some forms of cancer.

- These are few examples of the ads that comes on tv, social media and since these fast food are cheap it makes it easier for the parents to buy it

Social media influenceOne of the main reason of social influence on teenagers is dieting and keeping the body in shape. Seeing a lot of celebrity posting about their food habits, it influences teenagers to follow the routine which is a good habit but in some cases some teenagers absolutely stop eating so that it is easier for them to fit in society.

1) Leads to mental health problems (emotional, behavioral and hyperkinetic disorders)2) Beauty models have a great impact and that what attracts in our society.3) Becoming anorexic due to not consuming food.

Harmful effects of Junk on Children1) Reduction in comprehension speed2) Issues with Heart Later in Life

3) Growth Retardation

4) Digestion Issues

5) Risk of Obesity

6) Risk of Diabetes

7) Kidney Problems

8) Weak Circulation

9) Lower EQ

10) Risk of Fatigue

Statistics Comparison of eating habits of people in India

A study of the dietary habits of school children in Pune city

Diet and nutrition is important for the health status and the scholastic performance of the children in school. Data on nutritional intake of school children is required by public health policy makers to be able to formulate nutritional intervention and also for nutritionists and general practitioners to be able to advise parents and caregivers regarding the inadequacies in the diet. This study took place in Pune to study the dietary patterns of children in the age group of 5- 11 years.

Methods used in this StudyThis survey was carried out by oral questionnaire method. Through this data was collected for various food habits of children including their likes and dislikes. A database was created in MS Excel and Epi Info was used to analyze data. Appropriate inferential and descriptive statistics were calculated.

Results and conclusion

Around 50% of the children were non-vegetarians and only around 6% were vegetarians. Around 70% of

children consumed milk daily though a majority insisted that milk is their least preferred food item. Only 5%

children

consumed green leafy vegetables daily. A majority of children consumed fruits two to six times. Snacks, fast

food and processed food were the most preferred food by the children.

Food habits acquired during childhood persist into adulthood and form the basis of either good health

or ill health, as the case may be, in the coming years. Hence there is a need to educate parents,

especially in the

middle and higher socioeconomic groups regarding correct dietary habits for the children to ensure that

they can live healthy and productive lives as adults.

Food Habits among children who go to private schools in India

Across various age groups, overweight and obesity is more prevalent in urban areas than it is in rural areas. Overweight among children aged 10–19 years have been calculated at 19.1% in metropolitan cities, 12.7% in other major cities, and 1.7% outside city limits. Students at private schools, who typically come from wealthier families, are 4 times more likely to be overweight and 4–10 times more likely to be obese than those at government schools.

Where was this study conducted?

This study was conducted in Vijayapura, India, a remote, mid-sized city with a population of 326,000 in the southern state of Karnataka.Among students aged 13–16 years in Vijayapura, 69% are normal weight relative to international standards and 7% are overweight or obese; overweight and obesity are more prevalent among girls than boys and among private than government school students

Data and Methods

This study was conducted by identifying 15 girls and 15 boys aged 12-14 years. Each candidate was given a camera and a notebook. They were given few questions for which they had to write about and take a few pictures. These children were also given a brief as to how they had to complete this project. The time period given to them was 4 days. Some of the questions that were given to them were: What activities do you like to do? How often do you do this? What are the common food items available in your house today? Who bought this? Where did it come from? How often do you eat this?

Findings Children in these study frequently described, sports, playing outside, activities related to school, family interactions, chores, transportation and spirituality. Few of the pictures taken by these children:

Findings Physical Activities- More than one third of the entries included activities such as sports, dance and athletics.

Sedentary Pastimes- Reading, homework, watching television, using the computer and playing board games.

Food and Eating: A lot of children had also written about foods that are made on special occasions in their households. Certain children showed interest in healthy foods but the information they provided was not always accurate.

ConclusionIn this study, children’s photo journals offered insight into India’s nutrition transition outside major urban centers, where most research has been conducted. Through their journals, children demonstrated interests in active pastimes, learning, and self-improvement; positive attitudes toward food and their bodies; and a combination of traditional, modern, local, and global influences in their lives. These themes provide context and direction for future research and interventions to promote health and wellbeing.

National Nutrition PolicyThe goal of the National Nutrition Policy is to improve the nutritional status of the people, especially disadvantaged groups, including mothers, adolescent girls and children; to prevent and control malnutrition; and to accelerate national development through raising the standard of living .

National Nutrition WeekThis is initiated by the Food and Nutrition Board in 1982, is an annual event of immense significance. It aims at intensifying nutrition/health related awareness among the masses which can profoundly impact productivity, economic growth and ultimately development of the nation. During this week, major emphasis is laid on nutrition education and training programmes carried out by the governmental/non-governmental organizations.

User group: Children from 8 to 18 yearsIn order to conduct our module and deliver the objectives of our topic, Nutrition and Food habits we want to focus on children upto the age of 18. The reason why we are targeting the youth is because they need to be educated about this crucial topic due to the increasing food trends pertaining towards junk food. Our objective is to target children so that they can positively get influenced and build a routine for themselves. Our main target it to create self awareness among the user group.

A need to educate the youth

Creating awareness due to increasing food trends

Create a positive influence and help them build a routine

Creating self awareness among the youth

What are we designing?For our topic Nutrition and Food Habits we are designing a module for children in orphanages. We will be addressing them through a short video followed by short discussion using infographics by an interactive workshop. This workshop will include games like charades and taboo about nutrition that they can play, to make this workshop more interesting memorable for them. This lecture and workshop will be informative for these children, so that they know how to take care of their nutrition and Food habits. During this module we will also be showing them how to make their own coaster-this coaster will be act as a reminder to them.

VideoDiscussion on Nutrition

Interactive session

Games session

Coaster making workshop

Who and how will it impact?The importance of promoting good nutrition and food habits will impact mainly the minds of the younger population and will help them construct a framework about good health that they could abide by for the rest of their lives. The goal is to inform them about the advantages and importance of good nutrition that indirectly affects the mental health of the students which crucial in today’s times. Our aim is to avoid making it mundane and monotonous, but instead comes up with interactive sessions that they will remember and try to connect with their everyday lives.

Promotion of Nutrition and good food habits

Informing and inspiring the youth using examples and importance

Constructing a framework for them

Avoiding mundane and monotonous discussions

How do we plan to conduct this?In order to conduct this module we will be reaching out to an orphanage that has children upto the age of 18. After which we will be going there to interact with these children and teach them about Nutrition and their Eating habits. We will be keeping the material for their coaster making workshop ready so that we can easily go onto the workshop and hence move onto the games. The materials needed for coaster making sessions will be taken from materials scraps collected for recycling from our neighbourhoods.

Pros 1. Interactive sessions create harmony within the community 2. Community participation motivates one to indulge in a social activity3. Informative for the younger population that help shape their minds4. Inculcation of correct information about nutrition and food habits from

an early age5. Creating a long term vision for promoting nutrition to the future

generation 6. Promoting mental care through good nutrition (important among

children)

Cons1. Promoting it on a social level in an orphanage since healthy eating can be

expensive and hard to find.2. Ignorance of the entire topic by the students based on the new food

trends 3. Social media trends can hamper the promotion of this topic among the

younger population4. Some people have a mundane and boring perception about the whole

idea of healthy eating (myth according to many trends)

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