For most children, a bag of chips is preferred to a banana, and a glass of soft drink is preferred to a glass of water. In times like that, getting nutrition knowledge to catch on would seem to be an uphill battle. But the folks at ADM are undeterred; for the 7th year, they held the National Secondary School Nutrition Competition. Under the theme the health of our youth is the strength of our nation, 7 high schools gathered at the Princess Hotel this morning to determine which of the schools representatives knows more about nutrition. 7NEWS was there.
Alfonso Noble Reporting,
7 high schools duked it out this morning to select this year's winner of the 7th annual ADM National Secondary School Nutrition competition.
Lorraine Thompson, Advisor PAHO
"One of the big reasons is to get nutrition information out there to the general public and we feel this is a good medium through which it can be done. Another reason is that we feel that there really is a lack of human resources in the area of nutrition, there are very few people who have been trained in nutrition and who have been practicing nutrition and we feel that if we pitch the competition to secondary school students they can develop that interest and hopefully want to take careers in nutrition and hopefully a couple years from now we're going to see more people practicing nutrition in the country."
Sandra Hall, CEO Ministry of Health
"We need to start talking to our young health. As I said in my remarks that our lives have been changed because of cable television invading our homes. Young people, especially at this age, do get into fads and they sit in front of the television and they look at different foods being advertised. For instance where we didn't have pizzas before, they are eating a lot of pizzas because it tastes good and we have to influence them to make right choices."
And those right choices include eating healthy. It's a decision that in these days of cheap and easily accessible fast foods may be easier said than done. Thompson says that events like these and super heroes like Nutri-Power get the message through all those layers of grease.
Lorraine Thompson,
"We feel that with continued exposure over the time that they will be able to practice what they have learnt."
Sandra Hall,
"This is very important for them and they too will become heads households and they too will have children and they need to start now, at a very early age, to understand the importance of good nutrition and a healthy lifestyle. It gets them thinking. We may not always win all of the but I think certainly its food for thought and it gives them knowledge that they wouldn't necessarily acquire in their everyday lives."
Hopefully that will be the outcome of today's competition that if not all, at least some of the young persons in this room will leave knowing a bit more about healthy eating and practicing it even more.
At the end of the competition Stann Creek Ecumenical College walked away with first prize while second place went to Belize Adventist and Orange Walk Technical came out third.
