‘You are what you eat.” This is a familiar slogan used to advise people to be careful of what they sink their teeth into.
Nutritionists have warned, on several occasions, that people should refrain from eating ‘junk food”, as this could expose them to chronic diseases such as hypertension, sugar diabetes and obesity, to mention a few.
There have also been several media reports about the increasing number of young schoolchildren who are either obese or overweight, and it is said that these conditions affect their concentration levels during lessons.
But Kauai, one of the leaders in the health food market has taken up the challenge to change this. It has launched an awareness campaign to educate schoolchildren about healthy and nutritious meals as well as encourage them to lead healthy lifestyles.
Kauai’s corporate solutions manager, Shelley Webb, said: ‘As a leading health food provider, we always wanted to educate people about what kinds of food they should eat, especially young schoolchildren.”
Webb said they also wanted to teach people about how food could be functional in helping to deal with certain emotional or psychological problems. She said children who eat healthy and nutritious meals perform well as they are more attentive and active in class and their retention level is also enhanced.
The campaign was launched in the first term of this year’s school calendar in Reddam House Schools in Cape Town. Webb said they chose Reddam House Schools because there was a meeting of minds as the school was also concerned about the problem of obesity. Reddam House School’s director, Sheena Crawford-Kempster said teachers have already reported that ‘after lunch breaks, they have noticed that students are more attentive and studious”.
Webb said Kauai had taken over the Reddam House School’s canteen and have got rid of all the ‘traditional tuck shop foods such as fizzy drinks, sweets, chocolate and other fatty food snacks”. Some of the tasty and healthy offerings that Kauai provides are baked potato wedges, chicken sausages, chicken kebabs, fresh veggie sticks with yoghurt dip and chicken and tuna toast grillers.
The project would be extended to other parts of the province including some Gauteng schools in July, said Webb. She said the programme is currently piloted at private schools, but their long-term objective is to collaborate with the national education department so that public schools could also benefit.
Teachers and parents in poor public schools have hailed the introduction of the feeding scheme as it boosts learner attendance, but some people also expressed reservations about the nutrition value of the food offered. Last year, the South African Democratic Teachers Union in North West highlighted this as one of the key issues it would take up.
The union said it would conduct research into the quality of food that is being provided at schools and see if there were ways of fortifying them with necessary nutrients.