LUNCH BOX PURITY BLOG SERIES 10:
LUNCH BOX PURITY: Some parents are beginning to appreciate the idea of eliminating junks says Mrs Adakole Isabella
QUESTION
Is it actually possible for a school to eliminate completely junk in the lunch box of our children as opposed to having a few days a week where junk is not allowed? If no, why?
Answer
It is not really possible to eliminate junk completely from the lunch box of our children. I remember when we had a (P.T.A) Parents Teachers Association Meeting, an issue of giving junks to children was raised, parents were told to minimize the way they give junks to their children, most of the parents complained that it was tiresome for them to be cooking everytime, they said snacks is the easiest thing they can give to the children to go to school with.
Read her full blog feature here and please create your own customized flier here to help spread the LUNCH BOX PURITY blog series.
LUNCH BOX PURITY BLOG SERIES 9:
LUNCH BOX PURITY:Involvement in cooking activities can make children more open to trying new and healthy foods says Favour Okachi Ezebuchi
Question
Have you ever been a part of a transitioning process in the school? By this, I mean where the school decides that we would have junk-free days a few times a week, or even junk-free days everyday. If yes, how was that transition process and what was the outcome like? What impact did you see in the children? And if you were to help another school transition, what are the best practices you would recommend to make it seamless?
Answer
Yes, I have. The transition process wasn’t difficult as such. On Thursdays they could come in with Juice and every other day would be cooked food and Snacks. Some of them still came with some junks as snacks but we kept on sending it back. The acceptable snacks is fruits.
What I noticed is that the school is usually calm whenever it’s not a Juice day. This is because sugar has a way of increasing children’s energy. If I am to help a school transition, the best practice will be to call for a parent meeting and organize a talk show on this. We must make them understand what junk really is, it impact on children and even they as adults.
Read her full blog feature here and please create your own customized flier here to help spread the LUNCH BOX PURITY blog series.
LUNCH BOX PURITY BLOG SERIES 8:
LUNCH BOX PURITY: Parents prefer to simply put “something” in the lunch box due to early morning rush says Wioleta Emmanuel Nnabue
QUESTION
Is it actually possible for a school to eliminate junk in the lunch box of our children as opposed to having a few days a week where junk is not allowed? If no, why?
Answer
I think it is impossible to completely eliminate junk food from children’s lunch boxes. This is because there are many parents in Poland who, due to the rush that accompanies parents in the morning, would still prefer to take the easy way and simply put “something” in the lunch box.
Read her full blog feature here and please create your own customized flier here to help spread the LUNCH BOX PURITY blog series.
LUNCH BOX PURITY BLOG SERIES 7
Lunch Box Purity: SPECIAL NEEDS EDUCATOR, SPEAKS ABOUT THE IMPACT OF FOOD food AND A CHILD’S ABILITY TO LEARN
QUESTION
Do you have any cool stories on how a child’s diet can directly impact learning and contribute to creating a more conducive learning environment for students? How does what a child eat for breakfast and at lunch, snacks inclusive, affect how they show up in the classroom
ANSWER
Yes, food has a negative or positive effect on children. For instance, lots of fatty foods and protein-rich foods make a down syndrome child susceptible to obesity. On the other hand, foods with high sugar content have negative effects on autistic children because lots of sugar makes them more energetic and hyperactive, so they’ll be unable to concentrate in class.
Read his full blog feature here and please create your own customized flier here to help spread the LUNCH BOX PURITY blog series.
LUNCH BOX PURITY BLOG SERIES 6:
Lunch Box Purity: LUNCH BOX PURITY SERIES WITH 18+ YEARS EDUCATOR, THEODORA AYENI
What role can parents play in supporting your efforts to promote healthy eating? How best should we communicate with parents about the importance of nutritious lunches? Do you have any practical success stories on this?
Answer
Parents have a role to play in making sure their children have healthy meals and as simple as it is, parents can only play their role well when they are educated as to the importance. The parents have to provide healthier snacks or sign up for a school lunch program that is healthy. If you are in a school like ours, send in healthy food to be prepared for your child but parents can only play their role when they are properly educated.
Go here to enjoy her full feature and please create your own customized flier here to help spread the LUNCH BOX PURITY blog series.
LUNCH BOX PURITY BLOG SERIES 5:
Lunch Box Purity: It’s very possible to eliminate junks completely in Lunchboxes says Educator with 28+ years experience
I got connected to Mrs Noyenum Emafo through a dear friend of mine whose kid attends her school. She had shared with me how in December the school decided that they were going to completely in eliminate junks from lunch boxes for children and they’ll only be accepting food, water and fruits and that really intrigued me. So, when Lunch Box Purity series came to me, I knew I wanted to get into her head to know why they were thinking that way. And now that they are few weeks down the line, it’ll be nice to see how it’s going.
Go here to enjoy her full feature and please create your own customized flier here to help spread the LUNCH BOX PURITY blog series.
QUESTION: it actually possible for a school to eliminate completely junk in the lunch box of our children as opposed to having a few days a week where junk is not allowed? If no, why?
Answer
I want to say it is actually very possible to eliminate junks completely in the Lunchbox. I don’t believe in a few days a week. Many years ago, I tried it in a period where we had healthy eating as our science topic and one of the things we immediately noticed was the noise level in the class went down dramatically- the shouting, the over excitement, the running around. I think that was a shock to all of us and over the years of course we’ve lost track and then we came back but at the end of last school year, I am a Montessori teacher and AMI (a Montessori organization I am registered with) started a global movement for healthy eating and they asked people who wanted to subscribe and I did subscribe to it and that’s where this idea came from.
Go here to enjoy her full feature and please create your own customized flier here to help spread the LUNCH BOX PURITY blog series.
…………………………………………………………………
LUNCH BOX PURITY BLOG SERIES 4:
Special Needs Educator, Eben, tells us why FOOD matters if learning must happen in LunchBox Purity Blog series
Oh I am so excited for you to dive deep into this absolutely brilliant interview that I will right now step aside elegantly! Honestly, it was too good. WOW! Even if you are not a special needs parent, I can assure you that you will learn many things so get comfortable and enjoy this healthy ride!
QUESTION: If you are a special needs Educator, what have you noticed about the impact of food and a child’s ability to learn or otherwise? Do you have any experiences to share?
Answer
The impact of food on a child’s ability to learn, retain and recall is a big one. The first process is for the child to even be calm enough to learn and sometimes teachers can relate to this. On Monday, you find out that your classroom is mostly disorganized. They are running up and down, shouting and doing things they were not doing on Friday. It’s like you are starting all over and even for us in Special Education, it’s the same. Mondays greet us with shorter attention spans. Every Monday you have to do a reset. You have to prime the child all over again because over the weekend, some of the structures you have put in place would be lost. Some of these kids when they go home are over indulged. Over the weekend, they had unlimited ice cream, juice, pizza and more. Some parents just want the kids to be free over the weekend after a week of careful dieting. All of these tell us that whatever the child is eating has a big impact on the attention span.
His full feature is here. Click and enjoy!!!
………………………………………………………………………..
LUNCH BOX PURITY BLOG SERIES 3;
From China with LOVE: ESL Teacher Koko Chen adds her voice to the LUNCH BOXPURITY movement!
This week, the train takes us to Shenyang, Chinaaaaaaa, and we have the sweet and lovely Koko Chen. My friend and Sister Ugonne, who lives in China did the connection .as I really wanted this LBP to have a global feel. Koko gave me no issues at all I recall getting her first email and being shocked at the Sender language because it was new to me, then it dawned on me that her name had to show in Chinese.
Despite English not being her first language, she did such a phenomenal job. Let me allow you dive into it and enjoy…
Q: Are there times when you have had to intervene per the content of a child’s lunch box, especially when you can see that the frequency and volume can negatively impact on the child’s health both short term and especially long term? What role can parents play in supporting your efforts to promote healthy eating? How best should we communicate with parents about the importance of nutritious lunches? Do you have any practical success stories on this?
I would make the interval time between when the kids consume the junk in the boxes longer and then introduce weekly junk-free challenges, such as JUNK-FREE STAR of the week. For example, if a kid has a junk-free lunch box today, he or she would win a star. When they collect 5 or 10 stars, they would win a trophy and become the JUNK-FREE STAR with some kid-friendly benefits to follow. Fun activities like this will help to encourage eating healthy food and if this is successful, it will be the kids’ duty to ask parents for junk-free lunchboxes daily. When parents see and hear how happy and proud kids are when they win the trophies for junk-free lunchboxes, they would do something to make this a culture at home. Ideally,
parents should be the example but in some cases, even they need help!
ESL Teacher Koko Chen adds her voice to the LUNCH BOXPURITY movement!
Click the link above to enjoy her full feature and please create your own customized flier here to help spread the LUNCH BOX PURITY blog series
Create yours here
…………………………………………………….
LUNCH BOX PURITY BLOG SERIES 2: Sheila Tagbo takes us all to SCHOOL!
Despite childhood obesity being a global challenge, wins have been almost non-existent when it comes to pushing it back. However, Brighton, a city in England has experienced a downward trend in childhood obesity rates compared to national figures. This beautiful study gives us some insight as to how their multi-faceted approach including like checking physical activity and school meals including provision of higher quantities of fresh vegetables, raising awareness about sugar in food using a concept called ‘Sugar smart’ and incorporating all of these into school meals. Furthermore, several of the identified actions and ways of working in Brighton are also reflected in recent food systems policy recommendations to deliver healthier diets for all, particularly concerning actions around school meals… and nutrition education.
In sum, schools matter too. Actually, everyone matters in this fight, including Educators. Which is why we are collaborating with Educators on this Lunchbox Purity Blog series as part of the WELLNESS REVIVAL movement!
And on the second edition of the LBP blog series, we have Sheila Tagbo who is currently the absolutely amazing and selfless Head Teacher at my Kiddos’ school!
PREVIEW
Is it actually possible for a school to eliminate completely junk in the lunch boxes of our children as opposed to having a few days a week where junk is not allowed? If no, why?
Answer
Yes, it is possible for a school to implement a policy that restricts or eliminates completely junk food from lunch boxes. Schools can establish clear guidelines for what types of food are allowed, encourage healthier options, and educate both pupils/students and parents on the importance of nutritious meals.
Also, collaborating with parents, providing meal plans, healthy alternatives in school cafeterias, and promoting sensitization programmes can contribute to creating a healthier food environment.
Her full feature is here. Click and enjoy!!!
………………………………………………………
Welcome to the LUNCH BOX PURITY series with Eziaha. I am supremely excited about this because I know that as a result of this series, we will get to see UNCOUNTABLE junk-free Lunch boxes.
I am excited to delve into this and I am kicking this off with my Friend and Sister of now over 20years, Dumebi. I have seen passionate people, and can truthfully say that Dumebi is one of the most passionate about her craft that I have seen. Having been a major part of her educational career from the start, it has been beautiful to watch her success, first from being a Teacher and Librarian to now owning her own group of schools!
Q. “How can the Government, Federal or state, throw their weight behind schools (in terms of policies for example) in the fight to ensure that at least within schools, child nutrition is front and centre!“
What a laugh. Healthy food ain’t cheap. Public school kids are being sent to school with N50,
some less. Oranges are not even N50. Let Government fix the economy, then they can focus
on eliminating junk foods in school by restricting commercial marketing of low nutrition
foods and beverages, as well as brands associated with unhealthy products, on school
property. But again, one can argue that the Government cannot tell people what to eat. For now, it is the
least of their concerns to be very honest.
Lunchbox Purity Interview with Dumebi
Create yours here
It sure is time for UNCOUNTABLE JUNK-FREE LUNCH BOXES!
Keep a date with us next week for the second interview
……………………………………
I’m flippin’ excited to bring this to you. Moms, Dads, Grandparents, Aunties, Uncles, Older siblings, Teachers and School owners this is all for you. The goal? To raise Healthy Wellness Champions who are free from diet related sicknesses and set to flourish in future.
For 10 weeks we will have conversations with educators across the globe who will go DEEP into how we can prepare JUNK FREE Lunch Boxes for our precious kiddos as they go off to school.
So, if you’ve been struggling in this area DO NOT MISS THIS SERIES. #anticipate
We had the Wellness Revival in November 2023. You can get more details about it here and yes, the replay is available too. The lunch box purity series is in keeping with the revival of wellness which we ignited in November last year.
So mark the dates in February, March and April when The Lunch Box Purity Series will be released. We launch on Monday 12th February 2024.
You can create your own customised flyer here, like the one below, share it and help us spread word. Thank you!
See you then!
Cheers to our Healthy and Flourishing kids.
Your Health Coach,
Eziaha.