I ask 90 year 5 pupils, why do you need to eat food? And a sea of hands goes up in the air!!

And I used to think this is great, until I got the same 3 answers, no matter what school or what area.

1.       Food tastes good

2.       Because we are hungry

3.       Because we like to eat food

Brilliant I would tell them anything other reasons?

Sometimes I would get, because it has vitamins, excellent I would answer and what do vitamins do for your body?

Not one hand would go up in most schools!

The main answer, answered by a few pupils, was because they are good for your body.

And when I asked how are they good for your body?

No answers!!

If we don’t teach nutrition in our schools, how on earth do we begin to reduce the ever-increasing statistics of our obese children?

We teach English and Maths, to prepare children for their future.

We teach Science, History and geography and to round off a good education.

Billions of pounds in funding is being spent on PE lessons, to teach pupils about exercise.

We even teach relationship education, sex education and religious education.

But we don’t teach them about nutrition, we don’t teach them how and what to eat. Or how to fuel their young bodies correctly, the five important food groups that ensure they eat a healthy balanced diet when they are adults. What foods provide their bodies with and why it is so important to eat fast foods, junk foods and have sugary drinks in moderation only.

55% of obese children go onto become obese adults, many without a clue as to why they have become this way!

Obesity is a complex condition that is not only about overeating and eating the wrong foods. But the World Health Organisation, clearly state that for most people, overweight and obesity result from an imbalance of energy intake (diet) and energy expenditure (physical activity).

And we know that the way we eat and what we eat has significantly changed over the last 30 years. There’s no going back but there is hope.

It’s time to teach nutrition in schools!