Educating and Gaming Your Way to Nutritional Eating

My experience with school lunches spans decades, as a student and teacher. I understand the thirst from salty food, and the hunger right before the lunch bell rings. Ten years ago, I bought a hamburger, fries and soda combo meal for $2.10 at a different fast food place every day. Teaching, I bought the school lunch like my students. The kids' favorite was Mexican Wednesday: corn chips, nacho cheese, hamburger, salsa and sour cream with a side of white rice and cooked apples. Perfect baseball game fare? Yes. Appropriate school lunch? No.

This diet seemed normal to me years ago, as it does for students now. The public may have enough years to provide distance to see how the school lunch problem developed, and to believe that nutritious food is necessary for optimal learning. The problem now is getting students to eat healthy lunches. Schools can provide fresh food, but students must be involved in the solution. To educate students, Nourish Interactive provides numerous approaches.

Maggie LaBarbera, a former ICU nurse, saw young adults undergoing gastric bypass surgery and had a young family member diagnosed as obese. In both situations, she saw confused and ill-informed parents, as well as desperate children. She knew that prevention was the deterrent to obesity-linked diseases, such as diabetes. So, LaBarbera combined her passion and nursing background to create Nourish Interactive, an organization that teaches children facts about nutrition and works with parents to set positive examples. The organization's activities are based on current government recommendations and are designed with the expertise of pediatric nutritionists, instructional designers, and educational game developers. LaBarbera also made the "website free because I didn't want there to be any barriers for families to have access to this information."

On the website's most popular page, children play age-appropriate games while reading fun food facts.  The game introduces "content in a very systematic, logical manner." For example, children select food for breakfast, lunch and dinner. They receive feedback and corrections. Concepts, such as energy efficiency, show children the importance of balanced diet.  Additionally, the organization provides reports to parents on their children's knowledge and improvements. Speaking points with children and connections to healthy life tips support parents as well. The English/Spanish site has a large section for teachers. Lesson plans, fliers and printables are available along with quizzes and progress reports. The education section is impressive because of its realistic lessons, such as teaching students how to read food labels. Lastly, parents and teachers benefit from the clinical studies section that explains "nutrition education and its impact on children."

Maggie LaBarbera is someone who was inspired and created a program to counteract the youth's belief that proper school lunches are comprised of corn syrup drenched peaches and white bread jelly sandwiches. Nourish Interactive is now tackling this fiasco by engaging the youngest of ages, parents and teachers.

Photo Credit: Flickr