Good nutrition is vital!

Photographs: Pexels

Text: Monika Pedersen

In May, the weather is warming up, and the desire to be outside and enjoying the fresh air grows. With this comes a yearning to eat outside and to return to entertaining more salads and lighter dishes. The comfort foods of the winter months are no longer as appealing, as the body craves new seasonal produce. The joy of being outside provides far more energy as well as the blessing of the sun and more light that provides more vitamin D and stimulates our serotonin and dopamine levels, which helps our overall well-being.

The correlation between our health and wellness is connected to the amount of sleep we have nightly, the exercise we take, and the food we consume. This is especially important for young people, who tend to be very active and burn up a lot of energy; thus, their bodies need to be well-fuelled.

At school

In primary school, students, on average, eat three times a day. There is a morning snack, lunch, and, if staying for after-school activities, there is an afternoon snack. Often, three separate food boxes are to be found in a child’s backpack. The children bring food boxes, as very few schools have canteens.

It is extremely interesting to note what they contain. An international student’s food box contains a diverse range of tasty treats.

As these are children from more privileged families, there are no economic constraints, and the options are plentiful. However, having the funds to buy food does not mean that the contents are always healthy. This is the key point, as highly processed foods do not give the nourishment children need. Instead, they are usually packed with preservatives and are highly calorific, both of which are not ideal for children.

Many students consume yoghurt or fresh fruit along with water as an ideal morning snack. Fizzy drinks are not permitted, and fruit juice is also not encouraged.

Lunch box contents vary a lot. Those students with some Danish heritage have rugbrød or rye bread with cut meats or cheese slices and/or cold frikadellen, which are pork meatballs as we know them, as well as sliced vegetables. The children from the Asian Pacific have rice, noodles, prawns, dumplings, or sushi. While Italian children have pasta-based dishes or homemade pizza; it is never shop-bought! The children from Indian countries have rice, special breads, dips, eggs, and vegetables. The offerings tend to be full of spices! While children from the Middle East have a range of flat breads, pulses and grains, and often they enjoy sweet treats.

The third snack box tends to include more fruit, healthy snacks, or whole wheat bread rolls.

"The correlation between our health and wellness is connected to the amount of sleep we have nightly, the exercise we take, and the food we consume."

Positives

The point to rejoice in is that there is no white, processed bread, cheap processed baked goods, chocolate, or potato chips!

Consequently, the children are full of energy, good humour, and well nourished! Sickness, other than seasonal colds, tends to be limited. The biggest issue then is if a child has not slept well and is feeling tired, as the necessary hours of sleep have not been had.

Research concurs that sleep and a healthy diet are essential to maintain a well-functioning body.

Moving forward

As stated before, these children are in economically stable households, and sadly, this is not the case for all young people. In such circumstances, financial constraints mean that the possibility of fresh, nutritious food is not such an easy feat. However, it is encouraging to note that Denmark has a promising record and is much ahead of other countries. There are also a number of government, university, and industry-led incentives to improve the current situation and encourage more healthy eating.