Children – along with adults – should ideally eat 5 fruits or vegetables daily. ECINS is supporting student health and nutrition by ensuring that as many children as possible are getting their 5 a day.
4 in 5 children in the UK don’t eat the daily recommended amount of fruit and vegetables. Worse still, around 1 in 3 US children do not eat a daily fruit and nearly half do not consume a daily vegetable.
The causes of unhealthy diets vary, but many cases can be attributed to the economy raising the costs of fresh produce. For many, fruit and vegetables are too expensive. Food in general is unaffordable for many families.
Food insecurity in the US and UK has rocketed in recent years. 3 million UK children live in food insecure households, a figure which grows to 14 million children in the United States.
This equates to approximately 20% of US children having an insufficient amount of food.
Socioeconomic factors aren’t always the cause of an inadequate diet.
Educating children on making informed food decisions is valuable. Young people with an awareness of the food groups and nutrition, for example, may feel more inclined to make healthier choices. Maintaining a healthy diet boosts:
| • Mood and mental health | • Brain function |
| • Immune function | • Bone and teeth strength |
| • Heart health | • Immunity to diseases like diabetes and cancer |
Supporting student health and nutrition involves educating students about food. Teaching children how their diet can impact their short-term and long-term health is important and encourages them to be mindful with their food choices.
How ECINS Helps
ECINS gives schools wraparound support, helping them tackle the large-scale issue of food insecurity among students. It is vital to identify vulnerable students and connect them with support services.
Our Case Management Module (CMM) enables users across different services to share case notes about students. Once a referral comes in regarding a child from a food insecure household, school and social workers can compile an extensive case about the support a student is receiving. CMM users can use pre-loaded assessments or create new assessmentsthat are specific to a child’s needs. Moreover, the system’s data capture tools (wheel assessments, mapping, charts and graphs) enables users to identify and track the progress of at-risk students.
Our software also supports student health and nutrition for those from food secure households. ECINS helps young people make informed food choices and improve their diet.
The Student Engagement Module (SEM) can be accessed via app or web browser by logging in to MyPortal360. It gives students access to a variety of features that provide academic support, but also functions that boost student wellbeing:
- Help + advice documents offer nutritional information and show students how to make healthier food choices. The same documents also give contact details for support services regarding food insecurity or eating disorders.
- Students and staff can set nutritional goals with the task setting function . Tasks like ‘eat 5 fruits or vegetables today’ remind students to be health conscious and encourage healthier eating.
- Our mood tracking function can be used as a student’s personal food diary. Logging food consumed throughout the day supports young people in tracking their food choices; it may highlight where improvements can be made.
Sources
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7207a1.htm
https://www.sustainablefoodplaces.org/events/ending-child-food-poverty-in-the-uk
https://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/child-hunger-facts
