What Are the Benefits of Eating Healthy for Students?
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Food is a vital part of student life. It’s the source of energy a student utilizes to absorb all the nutrition to learn things. Not only does food help as a good source of energy, but it also helps in the proper development of the brain and physical strength. For students, eating healthy is not an option, it is a necessity!
Students And Healthy Eating
There is a direct relationship with students eating healthy foods. According to nutritionists, students who are prone to healthy eating habits score well in academics than to those who adopt a poor diet.
Student life is pretty much busy with loads of lectures to comprehend, working on different assignments and projects and ultimately getting prepared for the final assessment. Being so absorbed in today’s fast tech era, they adopt an eating style which is quick. This is the main reason most of the students prefer to eat junk or fast food as it is a quick way to get full without breaking their wallet!
Consequences Of Not Eating Healthy
The consequences of eating junk or fast food are far greater than we can imagine. A poor diet can lead to:
- Poor academic performance
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Obesity
- Overweight
- Insomnia
- Heart disease
- Hypertension
- Cancer
- Diabetes
- Physical and mental disabilities
Obesity And Overweight
The Importance Of Eating Healthy For Students
Students are becoming obese and overweight by not having healthy eating habits. The more junk you eat, the more you are prone to getting obese to the extent that it is a threat to your life.
According to the research of the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, 39.8% of adults aged 20 and over are obese and 71.6% of adults aged 20 and over are overweight, including obesity (2015-2016). The stats for children and adolescents are alarmingly high with 20.6% obesity ratio in 12-19 year olds (2015-2016), 18.4% obesity ratio in 6-11 year old kids (2015-2016) and 13.9% in 2-5 years kids (2015-2016).
Poor Academic Performance
We all know how hyperactive our kids can become due to the consumption of sugar and sugary products. Excessive sugar intake in the form of soda drinks and trying to satisfy that sweet tooth also leads to fast decaying of our teeth. One research at “The Journal of School Health” proves this point by observing students to see if their academic performance was affected or not.
According to the research, they eliminated the consumption of soda drinks for the sixth graders and exposed them to more physical activities and exercise. The academic performance of these sixth graders was higher as compared to the other students in the class who were using soda drinks.
The study concluded that if the students are given a healthy diet and more exposure to physical activities like exercise and other outdoor sports, they will learn more.
Depression
In talking about healthy foods, researchers were amazed to know that students who didn’t consume a healthier diet and were Trans fat (processed food) addictive faced depression by 48%. The research was performed over the course of 6 years and 12,059 people participated in order to find the relation between depression and Trans fats intake (Sánchez-Villegas, January 26, 2011).
The research was published in the Public Library of Science and Almudena Sanchez-Villegas, an associate professor of preventive medicine at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria was the first author of the research.
According to the professor, Trans fats are a major source of inflammation in the neurotransmitters of our body resulting in a bad mood. If students can adopt a healthier diet on a daily basis, they can help fight depression better.
Benefits Of Eating Healthy For Students
In order to reverse this alarmingly disturbing situation, we need to help our kids adopt healthy eating habits. Eating healthy can only be possible if you can start practicing today.
Students need all the necessary vitamins and nutrients for good academic performance. The “eat the rainbow” rule is an important and easier task to start if you want to score high by eating healthy. If you are a parent and are constantly fighting a battle of what to pack for your kid’s lunch, you can benefit from following this simple healthy rule:
Eat The Rainbow
Eat The Rainbow Nutrition Concept
Eat the rainbow refers to eating fruits and vegetables of the colors of a rainbow. It means that if a person eats the shades of yellow, green, red, blue, purple and white, he/she will get all the necessary vitamins, minerals and nutrition to be a competitive student.
Let me explain how beneficial some fruits and vegetables can be for your child’s school performance:
Fruits and Vegetables of:
- White color:
- Good immune system
- Healthy Colon
- Prevents ulcers
- Lowers cholesterol
- Healthy heart
- Yellow color:
- Healthy bones and joints
- Healthy heart
- Lowers cholesterol
- Supports good eyesight
- Prevents cancer
- Red color:
- Decrease blood pressure
- Skin protection
- Healthy heart
- Helps cell removal
- Prevents cancer
- Purple color:
- Helps in good memory
- Anti-aging
- Healthy blood vessels
- Healthy urinary system
- Healthy heart
- Green color:
- Improves digestion
- Healthy Bones
- Strong immune system
- Supports eyesight
- Prevents cancer
You will be amazed to know about the benefits a healthy diet can achieve in the life of an active student. A well-balanced diet with all the necessary nutrients, minerals and vitamins can have a positive impact on their physical and mental strength. Some of the benefits are given below:
Helps In The Prevention Of Cancer
With cancer, cancerous cells damage other healthy cells around them. Fruits and vegetables, which are rich in antioxidants, can help you fight against cancer. The antioxidants are responsible for stabilizing the free radicals which are unstable and constantly trying to damage other cells. A healthy diet for students can prevent them from getting cancer, and who wants cancer? NO ONE!
Helps In The Prevention Of Heart Disease
Healthy eating habits for students can prevent students from getting heart disease. Heart attack, heart stroke or any other heart-related diseases are caused by consuming loads of bad cholesterol rich in triglycerides. If these triglyceride levels increase due to continuous bad eating habits, it will cause your arteries to block and potentially welcoming a fatal attack or stroke.
A well balanced healthy diet for students can help them fight heart diseases. Eating healthy doesn’t mean that you have to shut off all the fats from your meals. You can always adopt good fats which have low cholesterol levels and are highly nutritious. Examples of good fats are fish, nuts, olive oil, and seeds.
Helps Maintain Good Mental Health
How can a student perform well when he/she can’t even focus properly?
It is very important to have a sound mind in a healthy body if one wants to succeed in their academic career. Certain nutrients and vitamins helps your brain to function more efficiently. They not only strengthen your brain but also help you in learning things faster than those who are lacking nutrients and vitamins.
Helps Provide Your Body With Physical Strength
What is that one thing by which your body keeps on getting energy?
Of course, food!
Food gives you the energy to perform all of your tasks, but a healthy well-balanced diet helps you to stay in shape, become proactive, perform tasks more efficiently, think more clearly and stay active all day long!
There are simply no cons of a healthy diet for students. No matter if you like certain groups of foods or not, you must try to add them to your meals in order to give your body its full nutrition.
5 Quick Healthy Eating Tips For Students!
Students have a busy schedule, especially if they are going through assessments, presentations, final year projects or exams! They are more likely to not find the time to eat healthy and end up eating junk or processed foods which can cause certain consequences. Here, we are presenting a few of the quick tips to help students from maintaining bad eating habits.
- Never skip your morning meal. While being busy in your studies, you can always have fruit, a juice, an egg or even some oatmeal! But never ever miss your breakfast!
- Always buy some healthy snacks for your busy day. You got no time to go out so be prepared to store a few things for your late night study sessions. Have some rice cakes, unbuttered popcorn, raw vegetables, fresh fruits, dried fruits, and/or smoothies!
- Stop drinking! Yes, if you want to stay sane during exams, you need to quit drinking. Even an ounce of liquor can cost you a 100 calories and no one wants that, right?
- Avoid sugary foods. Reduced sugar intake can help you stay healthy and more focused towards your work. Soda drinks, cakes, brownies, muffins, sweetened tea, and coffee are all things which you should avoid taking excessively.
- Water, water, water! Drink plenty of water to keep your body hydrated which will help in keeping your mind focused on the task at hand. A dehydrated student can never focus on his/her projects at hand and can be more prone to headaches, stress, insomnia, and have a lack of interest.
References And Resources
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Obesity and Overweight
PLOS One: Dietary Fat Intake and the Risk of Depression: The SUN Project.