Healthy Eating for healthy eating

The Age, 20 June 2008

In a bid to promote healthy eating and healthy living, VicHealth, Victoria’s health promotion foundation, has called for food technology and physical education classes to be made compulsory for all students up to Year 10.

VicHealth, in their submission to the Federal Government’s obesity inquiry, has also suggested that junk-food marketing be banned, food portion sizes be reduced and for more ‘public space’ to be made available for ‘physical exercise’.

Ms Kellie-Ann Jolly, director of VicHealth’s Active Communities and Healthy Eating Unit, believes that food technology classes would provide students with a better understanding of healthy eating.

‘Many kids and adults too don't know how to quickly throw together a meal with healthy, fresh ingredients and that makes them more likely to grab something fast and perhaps unhealthy outside of the home,’ Ms Jolly said.

According to Ms Jolly, the idea to make food technology and physical education compulsory subjects comes from Britain’s Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives program, which requires all students up to the age of 15 to participate in food education.

Ms Jolly believes that ‘if children can actually see where their food is coming from and get an understanding and appreciation of it and learn some good skills then perhaps they will grow up to eat more at home and prepare more of their own food.’

 

 

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