Think about when you went to school. Were school lunches healthy? Probably not. Upon entering a school cafeteria, you will see a smorgasbord of unhealthy options, such as French fries, tater tots, pizza, soda, chocolate chip cookies, and more. This is what our kids are consuming five days a week. Now, studies have shown that around the world—not just in the US—kids are becoming addicted to salt. EducationNews.org reports “Australian charity Consensus Action on Salt and Health looked at the salt content within 218 children’s meals from 23 restaurants, and discovered that 28 percent of children’s meals in restaurants had at least 2g of salt, if not more. That is the maximum daily recommended amount for toddlers.” Besides cafeterias, the study evaluated restaurants and found them the culprit as well. Again, when parents today grew up, going out to eat was a luxury. Today, it’s a necessity due to time constraints and that more women are out in the workforce.
An interesting part of the study is that meals that are often considered “healthy” for kids had an overabundance of salt, such as a veggie bean burger with small fries from Australia’s Burger King. It actually had 155 percent of the salt intake allowed for a four-to-six-year-old in one day. In the US, childhood obesity is a major health issue, and today children are more sedentary, since they sit behind a phone or computer screen, instead of getting exercise.
As a parent, how are you to monitor your child’s salt intake? If possible, experts recommend home- cooked meals. They should be healthy and intake of salt should be factored into the meal. You can also make a healthy lunch for your child and she can bring it to school. That way, at least she has a healthy option. If you must eat out frequently, choose healthy restaurants or find out what the healthiest meal is for a child in each restaurant.
Keeping children healthy while in school is a top priority. So is education. If you are a private school or education business who wants to increase their student list or business, please contact us at Qthinker. We’ve had years of expertise in search engine optimization (SEO), social media, content creation, and management of websites, especially in regard to top search results in Google. Please contact us at 617-816-2969 or use our contact form.