With childhood obesity on the increase, many schools have strict rules about the contents of lunchboxes. But teachers can only go some of the way to encourage children to eat healthily
The food police patrol our country's classrooms every day examining the contents of lunchboxes, announcing the start of fruit breaks, preaching the order of the food pyramid and denouncing vending machines and the life of a couch potato.
While the food police - our primary and post-primary teachers - are content to share responsibility for addressing Ireland's escalating obesity epidemic, an increasing number of education experts believe that schools should not have to suffer the burden of all society's problems. The Department of Education itself states that it is important to remember that children spend just 20 per cent of their waking hours in school and schools can therefore only do so much regarding healthy eating practices.
But in the absence of any mandatory guidelines regarding healthy eating policies, some school authorities continue to draw the wrath of parents by banning unhealthy foods, while other cash-strapped schools continue to profit from the sale of crisps and drinks in vending machines.
Studies in the US show that up to 85 per cent of the products in the attractively coloured machines, which are intentionally located in general purpose areas, outside gym halls or at the entrance to the main school building, are unhealthy.
Opposition parties have claimed that until the Department of Education provides adequate funding that cancels out a school's dependency on the receipts of vending machines, Ireland will never be able to operate a campaign such as UK chef Jamie Oliver's "Feed me better".
However, celebrity chef Neven Maguire, who plans to produce a DVD on healthy eating for schools next year, believes that the success of the Northern Ireland school dinners can be mirrored here if the necessary funding is allocated and the subject treated seriously.
In the intervening period, replacing tuck shops with smoothie bars and employing one person in the school to make soup, wraps and sandwiches is an option which should be considered by schools, according to Maguire. "I was in one school last year where 60 per cent of the Leaving Cert students were eating instant noodles. I was shocked. I think I only counted one or two who were eating sandwiches," he said. "We need to make the investment in children's lunches. What you put in you'll get back. Selling healthy lunches will pay for itself. We have got to wake up to the need to look at the issue of what kids are eating."
The challenge facing schools in the so-called "obesity epidemic" is summarised by the conflicting messages of a food pyramid and a food advertising pyramid.
Those well versed on the food pyramid know that grains such as bread, cereal, rice and pasta are best, followed by vegetables, fruit, milk and meat, and then fats, oils and sweets.
However, turn the pyramid upside down and address it from the perspective of the money spent on food advertising to children and you find the fats, oils and sweets that languish at the bottom of our food pyramid chart attract the highest percentage of advertising, estimated at around 62 per cent.
Unsurprisingly, the bread, cereal, rice and pasta occupying pride of place in the food pyramid attract a mere 1 per cent in the food advertising pyramid.
Mary McGlynn, director of the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals (NAPD), believes that the preaching and practices of a school regarding healthy eating often fail to translate into the eating habits of children at home.
"The school can't solve society's problems. People have to realise that children do most of their eating outside school. You only have to look at the number of garages a kid can pass on the way to school where they can buy a coffee, breakfast roll and muffin," she says. "I feel very, very strongly about the fact that we have to stop saying that schools can solve society's problems. We can only do so much."
Where one school might enforce a rigorous healthy eating policy which bans all chocolate, crisps, fizzy drinks and sweets, its physical education classes might use equipment sponsored by a fast-food chain.
The Irish Nutrition and Dietetic Institute has asked all schools to review the type of advertising allowed within their school buildings which might in effect contribute to children's pester power and reinforce unhealthy eating choices. However, since a physical education grant was offered by the Department of Education for only two years, schools will continue to turn to commercial companies in an effort to obtain the resources required.
This confused message to children is further exacerbated by teachers who treat children to sweets on Friday evenings, according to Fionnuala Kilfeather of the National Parents' Council (primary) who describes the practice as "crazy".
She contends that instead of placing increasing responsibility on schools, the recent act of disempowering parents should be reversed. "If parents and children are allowed to become more involved in putting the policies together, the difficulties which have arisen in the past will no longer exist," she says.
This is echoed by Margot Brennan of the Irish Nutrition and Dietetic Institute who says parents need to be better involved in a school's approach to healthy eating in order to address the "huge complacency" that exists among some parents.
"There is something of a denial amongst them. Many parents are concerned about what their children are doing but they just don't know what to do," she says.
Reflective of the changing culture and changing eating habits, some schools in satellite towns of Dublin are known to be providing breakfast to commuter children who ate earlier in the morning but are hungry again on arriving at school.
What hasn't changed, however, is the difficulty of implementing healthy eating policies in second-level schools because of the tendency of students to "go down the town" for lunch.
Moira Leydon of the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) believes a degree of "scepticism" has set in amongst school teachers about the degree of influence they can have regarding exercise and healthy eating when the resources aren't in place.
"Schools continually feel annoyed when society calls on them to address problems of dangerous driving, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, smoking or obesity. We are not adequately funded to deal with such things," she says.
Pack up your nibbles - Healthy lunch boxes
Lunch box combinations
Wholemeal bread with cheese slices and tomato; banana; sugar-free squash
Pitta bread with cooked ham, low fat mayonnaise, lettuce and cucumber; orange segments; milk
Burger bun with chicken, relish, lettuce and grated carrot; dried fruit; yogurt; water to drink
Cooked pasta with tuna, lettuce, tomato, carrot; two mandarins; yoghurt; unsweetened pure fruit juice
Salad box with cooked rice, lettuce, tomato, cheese cubes, celery sticks, carrot sticks; dried fruit; water
White roll with mashed hard boiled egg, lettuce, cucumber; handful of grapes; milk
Wholemeal bap with lean grilled rashers, tomato and sweetcorn; peach; milk
Crackers with cheese slices, sliced peppers, grated carrot; apple and orange segments; water
Cooked rice with peas, carrot and chicken pieces; dried fruit; unsweetened fruit juice
Hummus sandwich; banana; unsweetened fruit juice
Small break suggestions
Fresh fruit
Bread, rolls, baps, pitta bread
Scones, wholemeal, brown, currant or white
Small sandwiches
Crackers with cheese or peanut butter
Brack, malt loaf, banana bread, plain biscuits
Yogurt
Homemade soup
Pancakes with fresh or tinned fruit
Cheese and fruit mix
Vegetable sticks with peanut butter dip
Plain popcorn (not suitable for under-fives)
Homemade milkshake or smoothie
Fluid
It is important that children take enough fluids during the day to avoid dehydration, which could cause them to become tired and weak. They should always drink at lunch and break time. Water and milk are best as they are tooth-friendly and milk provides essential calcium.
Provided by the Irish Nutrition and Dietetic Institute
