The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : ‘Children rarely eat fruits or homemade snacks’

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 01, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

‘Children rarely eat fruits or homemade snacks’

Bangalore: With reference to the Public Eye feature on obesity published on July 25, Sudha Rao of Banashankari 2nd Stage, says: As a teacher in a school, I have noticed that these days children gorge on junk food all the time. When they are taken out on a field trip or a picnic, they keep munching on chips, fried snacks and bottled drinks. Rarely do we find any of them eating fruits or homemade snacks.

Even lunch boxes at school are supplemented with munchies from the canteen, she adds.

Teachers’ advice

Teachers keep advising them on good eating habits, but it looks like a more concerted effort is needed to overcome this problem, she says.

Physical activity, for most, has taken the back seat. Also, with bad traffic conditions, most of the children travel to school by bus or car. Gone are the days of walking or cycling to school.

Overweight

As a result it is common to see young boys and girls already overweight by a couple of kilos.

It is also a fact that procuring snacks and takeaways from a restaurant has become so convenient.

Little do we realise that such food is loaded with fats, spices and salt.

We just cannot afford to take the easy option of eating out anymore.

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