Creating Healthy Attitudes

I just want to share how vitally important it is to teach children to have a positive relationship with food. It constantly frustrates me to see young women who hate their bodies and go to great lengths to slim down. I know that boys and men also have body woes, but they hide it so incredibly well that even if they are having active struggles with their diet, they keep it a secret. Boys generally tend to hide their emotions so well that young women become the face (and body) of eating disorders.

In contrast, I have pretty darn good self-esteem when it comes to my body. I am a lucky one. I was blessed with not only a speedy metabolism, but also with a family that frequently compliments me. They also seem to be psychic. Their emotional intellegence amazes me! I was a very private child and adolescent, and although I have never really allowed them the opportunity to talk in great lengths about my emotions or relationships, they notice and support me. That makes all the difference in the world!

So I have a phenomenal professor that models how to model things to students, and it got me thinking. I LOVE food. I enjoy eating so very much. It would be simple for me to show students how to make smart food choices and change habits. I am attempting to take all the MSG out of my diet to reduce my headaches. I could show them during one of our first weeks together how to look at the ingredients on the food label and how I know what MSG stands for, so I don't buy those items. I could take that opportunity to talk about food allergies. Most importantly I would show them the order of ingredients on the food label & how that relates to quantity.

There are lots of things that I could do to model a healthy lifestyle- like showing how delicious healthy foods can be or how much fun it is to exercise. Demonstrating these attitudes as a teacher is powerful. I read all over the place that the most important thing is to not just show them what to do to stay healthy, but rather show confidence in yourself. I have a great advantage as a role model because I love my body. As soon as I stop eating all these unhealthy foods I will also be able to be genuine about the joy of healthy habits.


A couple links for teachers/parents/coaches:
"It's My Life" Discussion Guide from PBS
"Prevention of Eating Disorders" from Toronto's National Eating Disorder Information Centre
Healthy Within for Teachers ********This one is FABULOUS********