Poll: Should they teach nutrition in school?

[Gwarr]

Heya , a little background story . I used to be overweight in my teens ( I was 1.75 cm in height and weighted 87 kg .). At the age of 16 I started jogging , going to the gym and in 2 years I was down to 65 kg . I lost a LOT of muscle in the process so I was extremely weak , so I started going to the gym to get heavier . Now everything is good , I am at 75 kg and I'm on what they call in the bodybuilding community , a "bulk" , meaning I'm eating more to gain mass .

With that little story in mind , I cannot help but realize I could have saved 4 years of my life if only I was educated how I should eat , how important it is to get your protein and fat intake , how carbs should not be your prime source of calories unless you're doing heavy work/activities etc . There's no doubt I'll teach my children from an early age how important it is to eat right and not go the same route I did as a kid and eat 1 kg of icecream a day.

Do you think this is a good idea? I honestly cannot find anything against it , maybe they could fit it with sports class? Opinions

 

[aPod]

Nutrition is a relatively new science.

We're still learning so much about it and there's a lot of pseudo-science and conflicting information.

I'd say it's probably a good idea, and I know in my high school we had to take semester of 'health' where we briefly skimmed over the subject. However, it wasn't until long after high school where I delved into the information for the same reasons as you. Lucky for me I'd been doing most of the right things on my own without that knowledge.

Since you mention the importance of protein let me just kind of start the whole conflicting information deal...

There are those who say your primary source of protein should come from vegetables and those who say protein from meat with the added animal fats are the greater source. Then there are those who say animal fats in milk negate the calcium and actually cause our bones to weaken over time.

Finally, since you're a lifter, we get people who argue about dirty bulks vs clean bulks. Is it fine to be on a bulk and eat junk food or should you just eat more of the 'better' foods during your bulk. I've never done a dirty bulk but that's just because I find increasing the amount of food I eat on a bulk an easier habit to change once I'm cutting. Once you start eating icecream and drinking juice it's hard to cut it out again, but more broccoli... psssh no problem i'll eat a little less.

Still would a nutrition course be beneficial overall even with all the inconclusiveness? Absolutely, people ought to be aware of their dietary habits.

 

[Nickolai77]

In general i think more needs to be done to promote a health ethic in kids- healthy food, and plenty of sports to promote exercise. Of course the healthy food parts the most challenging because kids will simply eat what's most tasty to them- which is meat and chips most of the time. They tend not to appreciate healthy foods like adults do.

In general, more PE lessons might be an idea and more allocation of sports equipment to schools to allow kids to try out a greater variety of sports. Schools in the UK could also make more use out after-school activities and set up various after-school clubs.

 

[Gwarr]

Snip

I agree with everything you said , except the Clean and Dirty bulk . The difference between the two is that in one you count calories and in the other you don't . You can very well Clean bulk on fast food ( if you hit your macros , in theory it's possible) or you could Dirty bulk on broccoli and skinless chicken if you eat like a horse .

Anyway , that's the problem , you cannot learn from the internet . For every good information out there there are 100 Bro-science materials that tell people stupid stuff like ( Doing Squats can stop your growth , protein rich diets give you cancer and other hilarious stuff that isn't backed up by ANYTHING but is also spread in newspapers , videos etc)>

 

[manic_depressive13]

I don't know where you live, but where I'm from they do teach nutrition in Physical Education classes in high school. So yes, of course.

 

[Gwarr]

I don't know where you live, but where I'm from they do teach nutrition in Physical Education classes in high school. So yes, of course.

Yeah , but those were kinda of a joke here . I don't know how seriously they do it there , but our teacher had no idea wtf he was talking about . That's the main " problem " I see . I doubt we have enough people ready for the job , people that actually know what they're talking about.

 

[Stu35]

Yep. Also, there should be a lot more P.E (IIRC, way back I was in school, we did P.E once a week, I think it's still the same) - needs to be 3 times a week. (Also kids should play sports in their spare time, but that's got to remain a personal choice - some people just don't like sport).

 

[manic_depressive13]

I don't know where you live, but where I'm from they do teach nutrition in Physical Education classes in high school. So yes, of course.

Yeah , but those were kinda of a joke here . I don't know how seriously they do it there , but our teacher had no idea wtf he was talking about . That's the main " problem " I see . I doubt we have enough people ready for the job , people that actually know what they're talking about.

It's kind of a joke here as well, but it's still compulsory for 4 years. The stuff they taught us was pretty basic. They showed us the food pyramid and which foods fit into which categories. They told us to eat lots of fruits and vegetables. They explained why protein is important, and from what sources we can get various vitamins. They told us to limit carbs and avoid sweets, sodas and processed foods as much as possible. Not hugely comprehensive, but it didn't need to be. It's pretty obvious to be honest. I don't know anyone who is under the illusion that eating a kilogram of ice-cream each day is healthy. Some people just choose to do it anyway.