A while back I told our 6th grade son’s teachers about a neat experiment they might want to try with the kids. Somehow that turned into me going into school a couple weeks ago to talk to 60 kids about nutrition! What a blast it was, to have such an engaged audience who were truly interested in what I was sharing. Yep, you heard me right. These middle schoolers were so into this presentation that they got in trouble several times for being so talkative! I told the teachers that it was really OK, I loved how obvious it was that they were so excited to interact on the topic of food!
I’ll give you a condensed run down of what I covered…
- Does anyone here like to cook? What kinds of things do you like to cook? (This could’ve gone on for a while, they loved telling me what they like to cook, and if it was eggs I’d say, “That’s awesome, those are SO good for you!” If it was Kraft Macaroni & Cheese or something similar I’d say, “You’re kidding! Have you ever looked at that ingredient label, it’s full of junk!” and they’d all crack up.)
- Who likes to watch sports? I don’t at all, but my husband and teenager do, and there’s always some “big” game on that I just don’t care about. Well, you may feel that way about nutrition, but we all need to eat and no one likes to be sick. How many have grandparents who can’t walk well or who may need to give themselves shots or people you love who are sick or overweight… I want to teach you that it doesn’t have to be that way.
- As you head into your teen years you will have a lot going on in your bodies, and I want to talk to you about how you can avoid or at least drastically reduce things like…
- Acne
- Moodiness/depression (Here I talked to them a little about how it’s ok to feel down sometimes, but if it’s a LOT, or they just don’t feel motivated to do anything – you know when something isn’t right. Be sure to talk to an adult that you trust if you feel that way.)
- Weight or health issues that more and more teens and even little kids are dealing with, like diabetes – a disease where your body can’t regulate the right amount of sugar in your blood, or hyperactivity – trouble concentrating, or maybe trouble falling asleep.
you that Real Food is really good, even better actually than eating all those chemicals, especially once your taste buds recover!”)
Next, what do you spread on your toast in the morning?
Then I wanted to show them how easy it is to make themselves a healthy breakfast in the mornings, so I had some helpers and we made French Toast Frittata! Thankfully everyone loved it because making enough for that many kids was no easy task, good thing it’s a simple recipe! (I had enough for some kids to literally come back for 3rd and 4th helpings!)Me and my big fat mouth
There were only a couple glitches that day, because I’m afraid I offended the teachers, both whom I really like a lot. One teacher is addicted to Mountain Dew, and has to have one a day at lunch. Although after I got on him a bit, with the kids egging me on and loving it, he did say he had white milk for lunch that day! (Not chocolate because we’d talked about how that’s no better.)
Also, since I was trying to hurry to make the French Toast Frittata, I was side-arm-slopping globs of bacon grease into the electric pans and the other teacher said, “Vegetarians might not like this huh…?” I said something like, “Yeah, but unfortunately they won’t feel great for long without enough animal fats in their diet.” Then I saw her face and had an “oh crap” moment (only I didn’t say “crap” in my mind), and asked, “You’re not vegetarian are you?” She nodded slowly and said, “For 30 years and still feeling good.” Then I back-scrambled and we had a chat about what animal products she does eat and she mentioned that she’d have to look into the information I shared about soy not being good for you.
Success!
Besides that it all went great and my son said since then a lot of the kids have been talking about making French Toast Frittata for their breakfasts. He also said later that day at lunch he saw a bunch of kids reading labels in the lunchroom. YES!
A couple posts on vegetarianism:
A couple more you might want to check out if you haven’t already:
$40 worth of Safe Sexy Stainless Steel!
{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
Go you!!!
sounds like you had a fabulous time.
There is nothing quite like a room full of kids ENTHRALLED with what you are saying.
Great job Kelly — I’m so glad you had this opportunity!
LOL about you and your big fat mouth, I would SO get myself into trouble in that situation! But how great that you got a chance to do this, and it sounds like your presentation was AWESOME. I wouldn’t have known where to begin!
Wow, I wonder how many schools would allow such a talk to happen at all. Kudos to this one and for everyone having such a good time.
Well done, Kelly!!
Awesome!
Oh Kelly, you planted 60 seeds along w/ 2 teachers…BRAVO, girlfriend….Let the rest go. You’re done. I’m so delighted. Kids are so hoppin’ cool. I bet they laughed when you said “that’s junk!” because they KNEW it already somewhere deep.
They just need an adult to validate their feelings.
I’m thrilled they got to not only SEE you but to experience your cooking. I probably experienced “satiety” up until margarine was invented, then my Mum would switch back and forth and we even had TAB and Metrecal around. UGH. It wasn’t until I was about 51 when I first experience genuine satiety again and that’s when it was sugggested by my Weston Price mentor to have bratworst and sauerkraut for breakfast. OMGoodness….how Divine was that???!!!!! I’m from German/Scottish descent and was heavenly!!!
Yesterday, I had a 3 egg omelet and didn’t eat again until 8 pm where upon I had a salad before going to bed. I’ve never been so [mentally & spritually]happy.
Your work is crucial and I’m sure you wonder “Why me and why this message?” *chuckle*…But we are fueled not only by our real food but by a Force that is bigger than all of it and that helps us, eh??
BRAVO, Girlfriend. I wish I had been there~ Now do it in the teachers’ lounge. God knows they need your information.
Hugs.
karen
Awesome story Kelly. People don’t give kids enough credit when it comes to “nutrition.” People assume that because kids like to eat junk, that they won’t if educated, make different choice. I believe that in the majority of cases, kids only eat it because they don’t really GET how bad it is for them and because of availability. If it were gone, they knew the dangers AND real food there in it’s place, most kids will dig in.
My big mouth got me called by the principal again too when I tried to teach elementary students that fiber in veggies = good poop = no brain fog = better learning. I shared my “poop” lesson censorship on FB and high school teacher commented that she once gave an extra credit assignment when her class was studying gases for her students to research the make-up of a fart. Almost all the kids did the assignment (a rarity) but she got a slap on the wrist by the principal. So sad that teachers can’t use a topic that makes kids a captive audience to teach chemistry.
oh, one more thing. for all you parents out there delighted that Kelly brought this to her school, you can do the same! Your school may be more willing to have you participate in a health fair, classroom demonstrations, evening all campus events, etc. Look for a window of opportunity and make a pitch. Get involved in the PTA/PTO or wellness committee, start one if there isn’t one, feel your teacher up, ask if food/nutrition/plant life cycle etc is taught in any particular session, and see if they would be open to you presenting on something. Get to know your child’s health/fitness teacher. They do teach nutrition and many would love help from an enthusiastic parent. I’m sure there are plenty of naysayers at every school, but I suspect that between the principal, the teachers, health fitness, the nurse who may offer services/outreach at evening/fund-raiser events etc. there would be a champion for parents getting involved.
If we as parents ask our school to help raise the food IQ of students, it will happen, slowly, one school, one class at a time.
Yeah……Go team Kelly. You are so awesome. That is great the kids were listening and interested. I take every opportunity I get to talk about healthy food and it drives people nuts, but I can’t help it like you.
Glad you were able to do that. It is hard not to fully offend the teachers as many times they are doing the wrong things too. One year my son’s teacher was pregnant and she had different kids go buy her a coke every day in the vending machine… yikes…on so many levels…. I think if you make the comments with a good heart that helps. Although I have permanently offended my son’s 3rd grade teacher because I stood up to say that I don’t think we should have candy for end of grade testing and wrote a letter to the editor about it after I realized it was a school-wide problem and talking to the teacher and principal didn’t help. Apparently I lost a lot of points on that… but you know what… it is the truth and sometimes we just have to say the truth and let the chips fall as they will… Go Kelly Go!
Here’s the article link that is why this teacher won’t speak to me anymore… (I did show her the article and I also tried to resolve it with both the teacher and principal and got nowhere… which is why I wrote it…) I think this group will understand….
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/05/05/467111/all-sugared-up-and-set-to-be-tested.html#ixzz0n3mgeG7z
That’s awesome Kelly! I would not have guessed that a mainstream school would be open to you talking about nutrition. What lucky kids to be in your son’s class!!
Great job Kelly! It is people like you that are making a difference. The children at my daughter’s school have been downright mean about her healthy eating. The teacher’s attitudes have not been much better.
Awesome, Kelly! You’re an inspiration!
I’m glad you’re getting the word out there — and that they let you! With the adults in the building probably all like those teachers (vegetarian, into soy, drink pop daily, etc.) — it’s a surprise that they were open to it. But at least those kids are now paying attention. Did you get any phone calls about it, after the kids went home and lectured their parents about the “junk” in the house? LOL
I have to watch what I tell my kids because we ran to Walmart to get sugar for kombucha and my 3-year-old says “People buy poison. Why do they buy poison?” We were near the cleaning products aisle so I said “Well, sometimes they need it,” and hoped anyone who was listening thought she meant that. Ha…. (She didn’t, she meant the “fake food.” She is convinced anything outside the produce section at Walmart is ‘junk’ or ‘poison.’)
That’s great that you were able to make an impact on such a large group of students.
Senior year in high school was where I learned about nutrition, albeit SAD and started my path towards learning about real food. I was thankful being made aware of how food can affect us in many ways. It makes me wish I could I learned about it even earlier.
What a great story to share with us Kelly! It’s great to hear that the school allowed you to come in and share. I’m sure many kids will remember what you taught them for many years to come. Bravo!!
Great Job! Could you speak to all the 6th grade classes – I would love my son’s class to hear it too!!!
Kelly,
Your french toast recipe is yummy! I made it this morn and it is the best ever. I usually don’t care for it much but my dh loves it so i tried yours and WOW. It is a keeper. Thanks so much.
You go, girl!
Thanks be to God for you doing this!