There are so many topics we can look at, but one that is often passed by is how nutrition can affect your grades. With homework, sports, clubs, volunteering and all the other things you have to do, who has TIME to worry about nutrition? Everyone is always saying that healthier foods give you a healthier lifestyle - including a healthier GPA. We decided that we wanted to test this theory to see if eating healthy can really improve your grades, or if there is no connection, because as IA students, we are always concerned about our grades being higher. If we find out that eating healthy increases our grades, who would not want to eat healthy? By proving that good grades are linked to good nutrition, and vice versa, we could evoke a school-wide change. This is the primary reason that we chose this topic.
The Problem
Many IA students, including us, care about our grades, and are always looking for ways to improve them. The problem is that many kids' grades are suffering, not because they are not studying hard enough, but because they are eating foods that hurt their ability to do well in school. For example, many kids like to eat chocolate bars during lunch. These are good for a short period of time, but they give you a sugar high, which energizes you and keeps you awake for a short time but eventually leaves you more tired than before.
If we can get this information about ehalthy eating out to IA students, maybe we can increase the GPA of the whole school, and with it, the happiness of the student body.
The Facts
Researchers have proven that doing simple things like keeping one's self well-hydrated and eating healthy portions throughout the day increases one's chance of being more focused, which can increase one's grades
Foods like pizza, fries and pop not only "lack vitamins and minerals that boost brain power", but also reduce the body's uptake of "nutrients that improve concentration".
Students that ate fast food 4 to 6 times a week scored 6.96points below average in reading and 6.55 points below average in math. Students that ate fast food daily scored 16.7 points below average in reading and 14.82 points below average in math. Finally, those students eating fast food for every meal scored 19.34 points below average in reading and 18.48 points below average in math.
In a study by the Oxford University in England, over 100 children with physical coordination problems were "given daily supplements rich in omega-3 essential fats", fats which are essential for the brain's development. Roughly40%of the children made "dramatic improvements in reading and spelling", and there was a survey-wide improvement in concentration and behavior.
Another English study of 117 underachieving children suspected of having conditions affecting their coordination and concentration (which are relatively widespread amongst British children) found that when half of the children were given omega-3 capsules daily forthreemonths and half were given fakes, those children on the real capsules made up totenmonths' progress in reading during the study. When the children receiving the fake capsules were given the real ones, and vice versa, for the next three months, the results remained the same.Halfof the children were "no longer classified as having problems" after the survey. Some even "improved their reading age by up tofouryears."
Zebra finch siblings were "reared on different quality diets" to test if early poor nutrition could have lasting affects. After 20 days, both groups of finches received the same, standard-quality diet. When the finches were adults, both groups were given an "assosciative learning task" to complete. Those finches that began on the lower-quality diet learned the task the slowest, proving that poor early nutrition can havelasting negative consequencesfor finches. This holds true for humans as well, given similar findings with human infants.
According to the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, children who "ate a diet high in processed foods, salt, fat and sugar" at age 3 made less progress in school when ages 6 - 10 than those children that had eaten healthier at age 3.
Health Survey: Oct 2009
Shirley Y., Katherine M., Abby S.
Do you ever feel tired in class, have lack of concentration, or fall asleep?
- if yes, before or after lunch?
What is your current GPA?
3.7-4.0
3.3-3.69
3.3-3.0
3.0 or below
Do you usually eat breakfast?
What would you rather have for lunch, given the following options?
Pizza, fries, and a pop.
Salad, grapes, and juice.
PB sandwich, Sun chips, and chocolate milk.
How much water did you drink today?
0 oz
1-2 8 oz glasses
3-6 8 oz glasses
Over 6 8 oz glasses
Grade/#
1
2
3
4
5
9g
y both
b
y
c
a
9g
y both
a
y
c
c
9g
y both
a
y
c
b
9b
n
a
y
b
c
9b
y both
b
y
c
a
10g
y both
c
y
a
a
10g
n
a
y
b
c
10b
y both
a
n
b
b
10b
y both
b
y
b
b
10b
y both
c
y
c
b
11g
y both
c
y
b
a
11g
y both
a
n
b
b
11g
y both
a
y
b
c
11b
y before
c
y
a
d
11b
y both
d
n
b
a
12g
y both
a
y
b
b
12g
y after
a
n
c
b
12b
y both
a
y
a
c
12b
y both
d
y
a
a
12b
y both
b
y
a
d
Key:
g= girl
b= boy
y=yes
n=no
How nutritional is the food from the IA cafeteria? Our School
Below are the nutrition facts for one slice of pizza from the IA cafeteria.
Serving size: 1 slice/0.8333 large pizza
Amount per serving
Calories: 191. Calories From Fat: 52.
% Daily Value
Total Fat - 5.8g
9%
Saturated Fat - 3.3g
16%
Cholesterol - 16mg
5%
Sodium - 450mg
19%
Total Carbohydrate -23.9g
8%
Dietary Fiber - 0.8g
3%
Protein -11g
22%
Est. Percent of Calories from:
Fat - 27.3%
Carbs - 50.1%
Protein - 23.0%
Below are the nutrition facts for a serving of French fries from the IA cafeteria.
Serving Size: 3 oz.
Amount per serving
Calories: 210. Calories From Fat: 90.
% Daily Value
Total Fat – 10.0g
15%
Saturated Fat – 3.0g
15%
Cholesterol – 0.0mg
0%
Sodium – 220.0mg
9%
Total Carbohydrates – 27.0g
9%
Dietary Fiber – 2.0g
8%
Protein – 2.0g
4%
Est. Percent of Calories from:
Fat - 42.9%
Carbs - 51.4%
Protein - 3.8%
Below are the nutrition facts for one can of pop from the vending machines at the IA.
Serving Size: 1 can/12 fl. oz./335 mL
Amount per serving
Calories: 150. Calories from Fat: 0.
% Daily Value
Total Fat – 0.0g
0%
Saturated Fat – 0.0g
0%
Cholesterol – 0.0mg
0%
Sodium – 37.5mg
1.5%
Total Carbohydrates – 26.0g
9%
Dietary Fiber – 1.0g
4%
Protein – 0.0g
0%
Est. Percent of Calories from:
Fat - 0.0%
Carbs - 69.3%
Protein - 0.0%
Overall:
FOOD
Total Fat (g) (s – sat, t – trans)
Sugar (g)
Sodium (mg)
Pizza (1 slice)
5.8 g (3.3 s., 0 t.)
23.1 g
450 mg
Pop (7 Up; 8 oz.)
0 g
25 g
250 mg
Fries (3 oz.)
10 g (3 s., 0 t.)
25 g
220 mg
The Solution
Our group's research found several sources that said the same things about improving health (and, thus, study habits). For the reader's convenience, we have compiled the most relevant and common advice to the IA student body in the following bulleted list.
Eat breakfast: Yes, we know it's popular to skip actual food until lunch and tide yourself over with coffee or energy drinks. But both of those substitutes cause your blood sugar to spike and then fall, inducing the same change in your insulin shortly after. Basically, if you skip breakfast, you make it harder to maintain stable blood sugar levels and effective functioning - effective functioning includes concentration in class, NOT having hunger pains too soon in the day and being able to process information. Skipping any meal is bad for you, but breakfast is the most important meal of the day. (Yes, the cereal commercials aren't lying to you after all.)
Gradually reduce your caffeine intake: Coffee and pop may wake you up, but their main draw is drawing out you problems. For example, caffeine inhibits the absorption of the hormone adenosine, which keeps you alert but gives you sleep problems later, and injects adrenaline into your system, causing a temporary boost that can fall to depression and fatigue later. It also takes water away from your body, so drinking caffeinated drinks is the same as "undrinking water"! Gradually replacing coffee with green tea (antioxidants!), sparkling fruit juice or just water is the best thing for both your health and your grades.
One More Thing: Another caffeine rule is don't drink it after 2 P.M. Caffeine has a half-life of 6 hours, or more, in the human body; drinking it at 2 or later nearly guarantees tossing and turning that night.
Carry a snack: Eating throughout the day helps you avoid the dreaded blood sugar dips and "the accompanying mood swings and fatigue" ("Stress Management"). Always have a snack teeming with protein and a little water with you to stay happy and healthy.
Healthy munching: If you find yourself eating thoughtlessly or in patterns, try to do so with more healthy foods - in the long run, plain popcorn or celery will make you feel better than the Lays bags you devour at 3:03 each day. Some other foods are carrot sticks, edamame, sunflower seeds, wheat bread, and so on.
Glorious Brown Bags: OK, actually having your lunch in a brown bag isn't what makes you healthier - it's eating out less. As seen above in the nutritional information for our own cafeteria, there's a lot of extra calories and unnecessary sugar in the food you buy. Not only is bringing your own lunch cheaper (think of your parents!), it's healthier - does our cafeteria know YOUR portion size? I doubt it. Plus, after eight years of packing my own lunches, I personally guarantee you will become more responsible and manage your time better if you have to fend for yourself.
Banishing Chips, Welcoming Raisins: If you're very serious about pushing up your GPA and pushing down your BMI, you can (after getting permission from your family) throw away everything tempting and unhealthy. In the case of the stressed and fatigued, to be healthy, the expression "Out of sight, [out of cupboard,] out of mind" easily applies. If you cannot be tempted, you will be forced to make better eating choices. Equally important is filling the newly-emptied cabinets with healthy food, which, yes, you may be tempted by to a small degree. You can even plan your meals if you are dead-set on your improvements.
Exercise: Stress has been reduced for centuries through exercise, either through violent exertion to relieve tension or by calming and relaxing methods. Generally, experts recommend the latter; some of these methods include, laughter, yoga, martial arts and journaling.
Additional Advice - Shopping is a tough job for someone trying to start eating healthy, especially with misleading labels. See how Howcast shops healthy below:
· Lane, Anne. “Junk food can harm children[’s] learning performance.” Good-nutrition.blogspot.com. 25 May 2009. Herbalife Herbal Health Supplements for Health, Weight Control and Sports. 1 Nov. 2009. <http://good-nutrition.blogspot.com/2009/05/junk-food-can-harm-children-learning.html>.
· Scott, Elizabeth, M.S. “Good Nutrition: How to Combat Stress with Good Nutrition.” Stress.about.com. 6 Nov. 2007. 1 Nov. 2009. <http://stress.about.com/od/dietandsupplements/a/goodnutrition.htm>.
· Scott, Elizabeth, M.S. “Stress and Nutrition: The Link Between Stress and Nutrition Deficiencies.” Stress.about.com. 6 Nov. 2007. 1 Nov 2009. <http://stress.about.com/od/dietandsupplments/a/stressnutrition.htm>.
Comments (0)
You don't have permission to comment on this page.