What to Teach Kids about Nutrition

We all want the children in our lives to grow up to learn to take care of themselves, including eating well. All too often, as parents and educators, we get the message that the way to teach nutrition to kids is to tell our children what to eat and why they should and should not eat certain foods.

This isn’t how young children learn best; they learn from modeling and experiences. Telling children certain foods are “good” and certain foods are “bad” leads to confusion, fear, and shame.   

How to Teach Kids Healthy Eating Habits

Currently, we teach nutrition to kids in the same way whether they are 3 years old or 13 years old. It’s important to teach children about food and nutrition how we teach them other subjects, in a developmentally appropriate way.

You can read more about developmentally appropriate nutrition education in last week’s blog post and why it can cause harm to teach young children in a way that doesn’t match their cognitive development.  

Nutrition Lesson Plans for Preschoolers and Elementary School Students:  

Check out our 100+ page Nutrition Education workbook with over 25 lesson plans to learn more. This workbook is for educators, parents, or health professionals interested in teaching preschool through elementary school all about food and nutrition in a developmentally appropriate way.  

What To Teach Kids About Food and Nutrition

So, developmentally appropriate nutrition education is how we should teach kids about food and nutrition. The next question is what should we be teaching kids? 

What do you want children to learn about food and nutrition? 

Currently, nutrition education is taught in a way that focuses on not eating “too much” and categorizing foods as “good” or “bad.” What if we zoomed out and thought about what we want our children to know about food and nutrition when they are grown? 

What to Teach Kids About Nutrition:  

1. Basic cooking and food preparation skills: Ideally, a young adult entering college or the workforce could shop for groceries and coordinate the planning and preparation of their meals. 

2. Basic knowledge of food science and agriculture: An essential skill set in self-feeding is understanding balance, which requires some knowledge of the different components of food.

In early childhood, this can begin with exposure to various foods and modeling variety and balance, allowing children to observe and experience what these concepts look like without attempting to explain them verbally. 

3. Flexible, balanced approach to food: A practical approach to nutrition education must support flexibility and balance. Rigid food rules and a one-size-fits-all message do not allow students to develop the ability to adapt and respond to variations in food availability, time constraints, socioeconomic factors, cultural values, and other factors. 

4. Self-regulation of intake: Research has overwhelmingly demonstrated that intuitive eaters have better self-esteem and life satisfaction. Intuitive Eaters are less likely to have disordered eating behaviors, lower body mass index, and better psychological wellbeing.^{1, 2} 

Children are born with the innate ability to self-regulate intake without conscious intention.^3,4,5,6 What if nutrition education aimed to meticulously avoid messages that undermine kids’ natural ability to trust and respond to their bodies? 

In our workbook, we consider these goals of what to teach kids about nutrition and divide food and nutrition education into the following categories: 

Teaching Nutrition to Preschoolers – 2nd grade: 

• Offer calm eating opportunities with adequate food. 
• Gardening/Agriculture – Where does food come from? 
• Cooking/Food Science – Simple food preparation.
• Neutral Exposure to Food – Offer no pressure taste tests at non-meal times.
• Respect for Diversity/Culture – Families eat differently.

Teaching Nutrition to 3rd – 5th graders:

In addition to the categories above, for upper elementary school grades, add:

• The basic food groups and how foods are categorized. Avoid labeling foods as “good” or “bad,” but simply what groups we put them in: fruits, vegetables, grains, protein, dairy, and fats. 

Nutrition Education for Middle School and up: 

In addition to the categories above, older abstract thinkers can start to understand the complexity of nutrition. Discussing the links between food and health at this age is more appropriate. 

• Nutrients/Physiology – What roles do nutrients play in our bodies’ functions? 
• How to Put Together Balanced Meals/Snacks
• Societal Pressures/Media Literacy

Looking for more about how to teach nutrition to kids? 

Still curious about what to teach kids about nutrition? In addition to our Educator Workbook with nutrition lesson plans for preschool and elementary school, we have other resources about how to talk to and teach children about nutrition: 

• Nutrition Education for Kids
• 5 Anti-Diet Resources to Give Teachers and Schools
• A School Lesson: The Edible Parts of a Plant
• Teaching Children Nutrition – What’s In Season?
• We also dive deeper into our membership: Take the Frenzy Out of Feeding.

References:

1. Tribole, E., & Resch, E. (2020). Intuitive eating: A revolutionary program that works. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin. 
2. Tylka T.L., & Kroon Van Diest A.M. (2013). The Intuitive Eating Scale-2: Item refinement and psychometric evaluation with college women and men. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 60(1), 137-53. 
3. Kral, T.V., Stunkard, A.J., Berkowitz, R.I., Stallings, V.A., Brown, D.D., Myles S Faith (2007). Daily food intake in relation to dietary energy density in the free‐living environment: a prospective analysis of children born at different risk of obesity. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 86, 41–47. 
4. Birch, L.L., Deysher, M. (1986). Calorie compensation and sensory specific satiety: Evidence for self regulation of food intake by young children. Appetite, 7(4), 323-331. 
5. Blundell, J., de Graaf, C., Hulshof, T., Jebb, S. Livingstone, B., Lluch, A., Mela, D., Salah, S., Schuring, E., van der Knaap, H., Westerterp, M. (2010). Appetite control: Methodological aspects of the evaluation of foods. Obesity Review, 11, 251-270. 
6. Hughes, S.O., Frazier-Wood, A.C. (2016). Satiety and the self-regulation of food take in children: A potential role for gene-environment interplay. Current Obesity Report, 5, 81-87.