Most parents would surely agree that our nation’s number 1 priority should be the health of our children. But if the old saying that “you are what you eat” is true, then our kids are in a lot of trouble. Many children are eating unhealthy, non-organic foods at home, at school and at fast food restaurants.
It’s one of the main reasons why we’ve seen an alarming rise in illnesses such as obesity and Type 2 diabetes in Canadian children. These illnesses drastically reduce the quality of life for a growing number of children and hinder their ability to learn. They also cost our health-care system millions of dollars each year.
The universal hope and prayer of Canadian parents is that their children grow up healthy and happy. And since schools are where children spend much of their time, that’s where we should focus our efforts in order to help our children lead healthy lives. It’s one reason why the U.S.-based Institute of Medicine has called schools “the heart of health.”
I believe Canadian schools should provide healthy meals to our children — meals that are all natural, organic and free from chemicals and pesticides.
By requiring schools in Canada to serve healthy, organic meals, we can reduce the health risks associated with poor diets. The other benefit to providing healthy organic school meals is ensuring that no child goes to school hungry or returns home hungry at a time when a growing number of children are not getting adequate nutrition.
A 2022 Statistics Canada survey found that 1.8 million households reported having insufficient access to food as a result of financial hardship at some point over the previous year. Many kids from well-to-do homes eat healthy, organic foods. But do we want a country where access to healthier foods is based on income?
In addition to providing organic meals in schools, governments should introduce programs that enable children to learn about the importance of healthy foods and the benefits of proper nutrition.
As part of the proposed school program, younger children — those in grades 1-6 — would learn about the nutritional benefits of various foods and the critical role that food plays in human health. Students in grades 7-12, meanwhile, would spend one entire day per week studying both in class and at farms and greenhouses near their schools.
Although organic foods still tend to cost a bit more than foods that come from industrial farms that use pesticides, the long-term cost savings associated with better health is far greater. As Dr. Mark Hyman, a leading advocate of organic food and author of the book “Food Fix,” rightly noted: “We need to change our food system if we want to change our health.”
But that change isn’t happening fast enough — especially where the health of our children is concerned. If we can ensure that our children eat healthy food, we can fix a lot of the other problems in society — everything from reduced spending on health care and higher levels of learning to greater economic productivity.
Food is the basic building block of life, the fuel that supplies our bodies and our brains with the energy to work and think. With the right food — with pure, natural, organic food — our children stand a much better chance of leading happy and productive lives.