Nutrition in Our Schools - Research Proposal Example

Nutrition in Our Schools Nutritional classes should be stressed and carried out with much attention in the US. This is starting with our location­­-Florida especially among teenagers. This is because, through such an effort, many nutritional and certain diet based diseases will be avoided. Many persons in Florida have the tendency of ignorance which is what has caused serious problems among the society. As a result, this has led to thousands of deaths due to malnutrition related problems (Owen 25). The increased ignorance across the board is a serious problem which has caused many consequences to persons regardless of their age, gender, age, and political affiliations. It is imperative that this problem is dealt with and addressed with the urgency it deserves. We should, therefore, emphasize educating our youth especially teenagers and use them as missionaries to educate the entire community across Florida. This will extend to the rest of America and the world as a whole about the alarming effects of this problem. Due to the lapse of nutritional sense in America, I have taken it as my agenda to champion teaching of nutrition classes among teens in Florida. This is so that we can have a breeding ground where we can get personnel who can tackle this problem in the near future in Florida and across the globe. This will in a great way help get rid our region certain self-inflicting diseases and turn better the health of our future. With this, many people taking poor diets, one has to really ask: who is actually paying attention to what is going on persons taking poor nutritional diets? Currently the negative impacts on health have been predominantly caused by poor nutrition. As a result, the latest statistics are above board and stress further the need for the urgent remedy through teen education. For instance, it has been noted that 11% of high school students suffer from nutritional disorders, and 30% is the percentage of persons who die because of disabilities. It has also been noted that 33% of persons losing their lives due to cancer all trace their way back to poor nutrition. The teenagers that we endeavor to empower have also been revealed by statistics to have very serious problems. This is especially young women whereby 90% of those who suffer from nutritional disorders who are within the range of 12-25 years are actually women. The numbers of child deaths, which are cancer related are about 50% (Caroldo 58). On the other hand, it is very vital to note that, despite the effects of malnutrition affecting a higher number of youths, it has also has been shown to cause low birth weight coupled with increased morbidity and mortality, as well as cases of dental carries among children. Among other various disorders that have been attributed to poor nutritional habits are disorders such as hypertension, type 2 diabetes, hyperinsolinemia, dyslipidemia, atherosclerosis and certain types of cancer (Mudry 73). I want to draw my attention to the case of overweight and obesity to illustrate how grave the situation is. Statistics have indicated that more than one billion adults worldwide are overweight with more than three billion clinically obese. The pandemic of being overweight, as well as obesity impacts by not only reducing quality of life and gigantic healthcare related expenses, but also an augmented risk of death. Trend analysis, in connection to obesity, has shown that a huge section of the populace is not as active as they ought to be. Furthermore, they are still simultaneously eating more than they should (Musser 18). The question here is whether these people informed on the importance of good nutritional habits. Although it has been indicated that poverty has taken its role as a precursor to poor feeding habits, ignorance remains the major challenge among the people of Florida. This is because many persons with the ability of proper access to food still suffer from nutritional related disorders (Williams 92). People in our State have been ignorant about nutritional issues and oblivious of the looming danger they expose themselves to. This has led to many people succumbing to young deaths, and this is something that when proper measures are taken, can be avoided. The alarming numbers of death among parents due to diseases coupled to modern malnutrition is leaving many of our children orphaned. The effects of this are the poor provision of certain needs that come from parents like nurturing and enjoying of parents love. The state government of Florida is carrying out various exercises in an attempt reduce the aftermath of poor diets. For example, it has been trying to tackle food poverty, which has been seen as a key to achieving government targets of reducing inequalities and prior health areas including cancer, CHD, and death rates in both young and older people (Musser 25). However, actions need to be more than what the government is doing of using health professionals to advise individuals. The environment that is currently there is not effective as food is generally neither accessible nor affordable to all persons. Public health professionals are not fully engaged in their mandate of taking the lead and developing strategies and programs of removing the barriers to healthy eating. Therefore, the nutrition of people living in food poverty continues to remain at stake (Williams 38). In my assessment of the current situation, I am convinced that the following steps should be carried out to root out this problem from today onwards. First, it should be made compulsory for nutritional classes to be taught in schools among teenagers. Therefore, if the government stresses the introduction of nutritional classes and make it compulsory in our schools, before one is off teenage, they shall be able to have the basic idea of why and how proper nutrition should be carried out. The sole purpose of these classes would not to test how well student teens are able to grasp the subject, but rather to pass information successfully to persons at their tender age. This is so that they can practice what is being taught early enough. Once taught, the teenagers can now be sent as the nutritional ambassadors in their homes and local areas to be able to convince other people on the importance of good eating habits. However, not all students will prefer these classes, but through pumping sense and utilizing teachers to inculcate the gravity of the problem will definitely change their look of things. As a result, it will be very much possible that the information will reach almost every corner because our society has made it their business to take their children to school. Through such a program, the government will incur less cost in public education since the teachers in the school institutions will carry out the task. This is instead ignoring the subject in school then later making an attempt to reach the populace through an alternative pathway, which will mean a new crop of personnel; hence, a new set of payrolls. In addition to these classes, the government should also take a serious step in ensuring that they change the food environment. This is in terms of accessibility and affordability especially among poor people, as well as the culture in which people live. Public health professionals should also be ideally placed to take the lead on this. This is through developing local strategies and programs to remove the barriers to health eating; thus, improve the nutrition of the people living in food poverty. There will be very many opposing arguments stating that students cannot pass in nutrition as a subject; hence, no need to “waste” time teaching them. The critics may have a point, but we should ask ourselves this simple question, what is more costly, ignoring the spreading consequences of poor nutritional deaths or preventing their occurrence? I do not think that any person will prefer healing to prevention and prevention can only be done through enlightening persons about problems that affect them and how they can be tackled. The critics should also be reminded that passing Nutritional examinations in school is not the sole purpose for calling for its introduction to this institutions, but rather the driving motivation is to bring to a halt the rising cases of ill health brought about by ignorance. Another counter argument that may be raised is that people might not take heed of what they are taught. The question that we should ask ourselves is, do we watch people suffer and refrain from telling them the truth because of the assumption that they will not listen? We should introduce the subject because whoever does not follow the advice is bound to offer will only have themselves to blame. As a result, we will spare ourselves the blame of having known but not telling the truth. In conclusion, the introduction of Nutritional classes especially among teens in Florida remains very crucial if we are to solve the many problems associated with poor nutritional habits. Through these efforts, we shall make sure that the next generation is a well-informed; one which will translate to a reduced number of cases of ill health, deaths among others. The plea I would put across is that persons embrace the proposal and put necessary actions because, if ignored, we are raising a generation ignorant to the real nutritional challenges and deaths and disorders related to poor feeding habits are bound to be the order of the day. Works Cited Caroldo, Bruyne, Whitney. Nutrition and Diet Therapy: Principles and Practice. Belmount, Calif:Wadworth, 2009. Print. Mudry, John. Measured Meals: Nutrition in America. Albany: Suny Press, 2009. Print. Musser, Hungen. Nutrition. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2012. Print. Owen, Anita. Nutrition in the Community. Saint Louis: Mosby, 1978. Print. Williams, Rodwell. Nutrition and Diet Therapy: Principles and Practice. St.Louis: Times Mirror, 2004. Print. Read More