By: Catholic Partnership Schools Healthy Courier Staff, St. Cecilia School, Pennsauken Township
Choosing fruits and vegetables at snack time can help you meet your daily nutritional needs of about 1.5 cups of fruit and 2 cups of vegetables for kids ages 9 to 13. But most kids aren’t getting that amount, according to healthychildren.org. Tricia Yeo, senior manager of health and wellness at the Food Bank of South Jersey, spoke recently about her work and why kids should choose healthy snacks in an interview with Catholic Partnership Schools Healthy Courier reporters from St. Cecilia School. This interview has been shortened and lightly edited.
Q: What is the purpose of the Food Bank? A: Our main mission is to help our neighbors get the food they need to live healthy lives. We also go out and teach nutrition and cooking skills through hands-on lessons.
Q: What inspired you to become a nutritionist? A: I was inspired by a teacher when I had my first son. I decided to take a college course and I took one nutrition course. The teacher was fantastic, and I knew it was something I wanted to do for the rest of my life.
Q: What is your favorite part of your job? A: I really enjoy working with young people. I can start molding minds to have a good nutritional background and education.
Q: Why is it important for kids to have nutritious snacks? A: Kids are still growing. You need all the nutrients to make all the cells in your body work together.
Q: Please define a nutritious snack. How is it different from other snacks? A: There is a difference between junk food and a nutritious snack. When you think about a snack, don’t just think about opening a bag of chips. That, to me, is considered “sometimes” food like cookies, chips, and candy. Try to have two of the five food groups in your snack like apples and peanut butter or a banana and yogurt. Smoothies can also be healthy snacks.
Q: What should kids do if it’s hard to find these kinds of nutritious snacks? A: One of my suggestions would be to talk to the adults in your house. Tell them about the healthy discussions you are having and maybe write down a list of foods you like so the next time an adult goes to the grocery store, they can pick up those healthy snacks.
Q: What is the recommended size for a healthy snack? How often can we eat snacks? A: It depends on what you are eating. Snacks are small and should not be the size of a full meal. Make sure you are reading the serving size and the nutritional facts on the label. Snacks should be just enough to tide you over until your next meal.
Q: What happens if you eat unhealthy snacks every day? A: If you eat unhealthy snacks every day, that is setting you up through adulthood to eat unhealthy snacks as an adult. Though you may not be worried about it in the fifth grade, you might know somebody in your family who has diabetes, heart disease, or high blood pressure. Eating healthfully at a young age can help prevent you from getting those diseases. If you are consistently eating unhealthy snacks every day, that could lead to different diseases later in life.
To see the students’ process for writing this article and to find out more information about Healthy NewsWorks, check out the video by clicking here.
Healthy NewsWorks (www.healthynewsworks.org) partners with classroom teachers in the Philadelphia region to deliver programs that engage children ages 5 to 14 in health-focused journalism. The student reporters deliver relevant, accurate health information through school newspapers, community magazines, videos, and digital media for their school communities and beyond.
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