Nutrition Act Lacking
This week the President signed the Healthy, Hunger-free Kids Act of 2010+. The law intends to improve the nutritional quality of school foods and sets standards for school wellness. It contains several important provisions:
- Increase the number of children eligible to receive free school lunches by 115,000
- Give the USDA authority to set nutritional standards for all foods sold by schools, including vending machines
- Improve the nutritional quality of school food, help communities form farm to school networks and build school gardens
- Set standards for nutrition promotion and education and physical activity
- Mandate schools to provide nutritional information about meals to parents
- Give additional funding to schools that meet nutritional standards
Despite these important steps, the law is lacking vital mental health components necessary for wellness. ANAD would like to see the Let’s Move! initiative incorporate the following into school improvement efforts:
- Train teachers in eating disorder awareness and early detection
- Require mental health courses that help students learn healthy ways to cope with stress, bullying, grief and other difficult circumstances
- Require every middle school and secondary school student to have annual appointment with a school social worker
- Mandate schools to provide eating disorder information along with nutritional information sent to parents
Healthy food and nutrition are essential components of wellness. But let’s not forget how important mental health is to wellness, and let’s move toward improving our schools’ mental health grades.
+ To read more about the provisions of this law: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/12/13/president-obama-signs-healthy-hunger-free-kids-act-2010-law