Childhood obesity is a growing problem around the globe. It is known that maintaining an active and healthy lifestyle during childhood is the best way to prevent many future illnesses and diseases. In addition, research shows that students who eat well, receive enough sleep and are physically active, almost always learn better.
At Sekolah Buin Batu we believe that good nutritional habits established during a child’s early and teenage years can improve attention span, work capacity and classroom behaviour. For this reason, we have developed our Healthy Eating Policy.
Together with parents, SBB has an important role to play in helping children and teenagers fulfil their healthy growth and development potential by promoting a healthy lifestyle as well as healthy eating habits.
There are five key healthy eating messages that SBB supports and promotes including:
- eating healthy snacks comprising of fruit and vegetables (no nuts – some students have allergies to nuts)
- appropriate portion sizes (bigger is not better)
- promoting exercise and diet to maintain a healthy weight
- drinking fresh clean tap water, (no sugary drinks are allowed at SBB)
- regular eating times
Healthy Snacks
Recess and Lunch times are important meal breaks for our students. Parents can support the school by providing healthy snacks for their children. Here are some suggestions for parents to follow:
- Utilize Fresh Fruit – Sweet, tasty, healthy and kids love it. Whole, sliced, cubed or wedges. Fruit salad. Fruit Kabobs.
- Dried fruit – raisins, apricots, apples, cranberries, pineapples, mango and
- others with little or no added sugar
- Frozen fruit – freeze grapes, blueberries,
- strawberries, melon, peaches etc.
- Fruit leather or other all-fruit roll-ups – no added sugar
- Homemade fruit slice/tray bake – date and apple/apricot crumble slice
- Popsicles – with 100% fruit juice and no sugar
- Whole wheat English muffins, pita or tortillas – stuff or dip in bean dip
- Crackers – whole grain crackers such as Triscuits, Kalvi Rye crackers, whole wheat matzos, served alone or with toppings such as low-fat cheese.
- Baked tortilla chips, Pretzels, breadsticks and flatbreads
- Rice cakes – (made with whole grain or brown rice)
- Vegetables with dip – carrot and celery sticks, cucumber, red and yellow pepper, broccoli etc., with low-fat salad dressing (Ranch or Thousand Island), light dips, bean dips, guacamole, salsa
- Salad – prepare a salad or set out a salad bar for students to make their own salad
- Edamame – soybeans in the shell, usually steamed and lightly salted… yummy and fun to eat!
- Veggie pockets – cut whole-wheat pita in half and add vegetables with dressing.
- Popcorn – low-fat popcorn in a bag or microwave popcorn. Air popped popcorn seasoned by spraying with vegetable oil spray and adding parmesan cheese, garlic powder or non-salt spice.
Beverages
- Water – should be the main drink served at snack times
Special Events and Celebrations
There are many occasions in the lives of our students that warrant celebration. Birthdays and holidays are great examples of special events that prompt us to want to bring a treat into the classroom for the children to enjoy. Whilst we want to support and recognize these memorable moments we also don’t want to overload the students with sugar, disrupt productivity in the class or ruin a child’s appetite for lunch or dinner. As a result, we kindly ask that you do not send food to school with minimal nutritional value such as frosted cupcakes, sugary cookies, cakes, jellies etc.
Ramadan
This is an important fasting time for our Islamic families. During Ramadan, the needs of students who are fasting should to be considered, and so the school will adjust its schedule accordingly. However, for those very young students in Early Childhood and Lower Elementary, we encourage parents to consider introducing the concept of fasting gradually.
Please remember that all food brought into school to share should not contain peanuts, tree nuts or their by-products!
It is also recommended that for a healthy lifestyle, children should brush their teeth twice a day for two minutes – once before school, and again before bed.
Approved, December 2018