✓ Food education could soon become a school subject

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Food education in schools

We all know how important it is to learn how to eat right from an early age. We get stuck a lot following very strict diets for our children, being careful not to use salt, sugar, packaged foods, but then something breaks somewhere because eating disorders are more and more frequent, already in girls and boys. That's why it might be important to introduce food education in schools.

Why talk about food education in schools

Just shop around: the adults you are being followed by nutritionists, coach and other figures, as well as those who continually self-prescribe diets, are just the last link in a chain of bad habits which, apparently, already triggers during childhood. In Del Paese there are more and more obese children, and eating disorders - such as bulimia and anorexia not only - are more and more frequent, involving even the youngest regardless of their gender. Worrying data, which add up to the bulk waste of food which is done every year in our country. For this the Guido Carli Foundation, which aims to enhance the excellence of Del Paesene, has launched a campaign to ask Parliament and the Government to include thenutrition education like subject of study in schools across the country, of all levels and grades up to university.

Read also: Think twice before "stressing" your baby who doesn't want to eat

The importance of food in Del Paese

All over the world of course the food it is a fundamental, primary question, but in our country we spend 24% of our GDP on supply, more than for transport and clothes which, if you think about it, are much more expensive. Precisely for this point, what we eat differentiates us, unfortunately, too socially: the difference in spending possibilities between the regions of the north of the country and those of the south is 20%.

Why teach food education

In all this, one billion and 722 million inhabitants of the world is in overweight, almost half obese. The same figure, around 850 million people, is instead undernourished.

For this reason it is important that the new citizens of the world become aware of theimportance of food, how it is consumed, of the waste, of the resources energy used to produce and export it.

It is on this point that the president of the Guido Carli Foundation insists, who argues that "food education, the fight against food waste and an agreement on the use of resources must be the basis of the teaching of any society that wants to project itself towards a future. sustainable".

Read also: Why dads are important for preventing eating disorders in their daughters

Tips for educating about food in the family

But you know, early education is born at home. It is therefore important to set a good example and teach your children to eating properly, but also to see food from other perspectives, for example that of its production, of the journey it takes to get to us and of its quality. Here are some tips:

do not large supplies of food, always check what you have at home before buying anything else, and consume what is in the fridge first
make a weekly menu, it will help you not to waste
don't buy often exotic foods: check the origin of what you buy, possibly choose at km0
avoid, as far as possible, packaged products: prefer a fresh baked product to snacks
not forced neither children nor young people to eat, if they do not eat today they will eat tomorrow
be uncompromising on wastei: if they ask for something and then don't eat it, don't give them alternatives
fate shopping together preferring the market and loose products, there are now many supermarkets that allow you to buy pasta, cereals, rice and other non-packaged food

It is important that children learnnutrition education from an early age, in order to have a healthy relationship with food, avoid waste, recognize the quality of food and avoid eating disorders as much as possible.