School Gardens Could Help Children Try More Vegetables

It’s not always enjoyable for children to eat vegetables. But what if a garden is built in the school? New research suggests that a gardening program in schools can increase children’s vegetable intake(摄入量) .

How the Study Was Carried Out

The study was carried out in eight schools. Each school was in the gardening program for one school year. Every child in grades 3-5 received a total of eighteen 60-minute lessons across the school year. In the program, each school built a garden, where children learned to grow their own fresh produce, like fruit and vegetables.

The Benefits Children Could Get

The study found that vegetable intake if the children who grew their own produce increased greatly across the year. Related studies show that increased vegetable intake can improve health and cut the risk of chronic diseases(慢性疾病). Not only are there benefits to health, increasing the variety of vegetables children are exposed(接触)to may also make mealtimes much easier.” Children who are often exposed to a variety of vegetables are more likely to try new foods,” explains Dr. Kerry Jones. For children, growing their own food is a powerful tool to increase their intake of the food.

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Any opportunity to expose children to more vegetables is meaningful. “If children are learning about vegetables at school, it’s important to encourage this interest,” says Jones. Parents can listen to their children about what they have learned and read the handouts they bring home from school. Parents and children can also read books together.   Younger children can enjoy reading stories about vegetables with parents who offer useful messages. Older children may enjoy searching through cookbooks with parents to find new dinner ideas to cook vegetables in a tasty way. Besides, a small planter box in a sunny part at home can encourage children to understand more about where their food comes from.

Teaching children to grow their own produce is a great way to increase their preference for the produce. If children are taught to enjoy vegetables early in life, they will probably continue eating vegetables in the long term.

4 . As people all over the world struggled with higher levels of stress, depression and anxiety this past year, many turned to their favorite comfort foods: ice cream, pizza, hamburgers. But studies in recent years suggest that the high-sugar and high-fat foods when we are stressed or depressed, as comforting as they may seem, are the least likely to be good for our mental (精神上的) health. Instead, whole foods such as vegetables, fruit, fish, eggs, nuts may be a better bet.

Historically, nutrition research has paid much attention to how the foods we eat influence our physical (身体上的) health, rather than our mental health, though. Over the years, large population studies have found that people who are asked to follow a Mediterranean diet for three months had greater reductions in symptoms of depression after three months compared to a control group. Public health professors around the world have started encouraging people to take and use lifestyle behaviors like exercise, sound sleep, a heart-healthy diet and avoiding smoking that may reduce inflammation (发炎) and have advantages for the brain. Individual clinicians (临床医师) are already including nutrition into their work with patients. Dr. Drew Ramsey, a clinical professor at the Columbia University, begins his meetings with new patients by exploring their diet. He asks what they eat, learns their favorite foods, and finds out if foods that he considers important for the connection are missing from their diets, such as plants, seafood.

Dr. Ramsey said he didn’t want people to think that the only factor involved in brain health is food. “Lots of people get their food exactly right, live very active lives, and still have many troubles with their mental health,” he said. But he also teaches people that food can be empowering. “We can’t control our genes,” he said. “But we can control how we eat, and that gives people actionable things that they can do to take care of their brain health on a daily basis.”

8 . People didn’t pay much attention to their health in the past, but now more and more people try to make sure that they are healthy.     1    

Do exercise every day. There are many ways to do exercise in daily life.     2     Some people think that doing simple things like cleaning the house is helpful. Other people think that doing exercise such as running or playing ball games is good.

Eat healthy food. It is good for your health to eat healthy food. You should eat more vegetables and fruits but less junk food every day.     3    

    4     Today many people have stress (压力) in their life, but we should try to relax ourselves. In fact, you can never keep yourself away from stress in life.     5     So you need to know the reason for the stress and find ways to feel better. Thinking about things in an active way can also reduce stress. Try to live for now, and don’t worry about the future.

9 . ①Walk or drive to work? Which way is lower in carbon（碳）? To be friendly to the environment, you may choose to walk. Have you ever tried to live a low-carbon life through your diet（日常饮食）?

②A new study from the University of Oxford has looked into the health and environmental influences of 15 foods common in western diets. Among these, plant-based（基于植物的）foods included fruits, vegetables, nuts and potatoes. It also studied animal-based foods, including red meat, chicken, milk products, eggs and fish.

③According to the study’s lead researcher, Michael Clark, “Choosing better and greener diets is one of the main ways people can improve their health and protect the environment.” That is to say, plant-based diets are much healthier for us and kinder to the environment.

④To get this result, researchers compared the influence of eating another portion（一份）of each food with the increased risk of a few illnesses. They also find out the environmental harm for each animal-based food and each plant-based food.

⑤By using this method, the study found that red meats were the most unfriendly foods to the environment. Keeping farm animals produces a large number of methane（甲烷）that keeps 30 times more heat than CO₂. As well as making the earth warmer, eating too much red meat is known to increase the risk of a few illnesses, such as heart trouble.

⑥Plant-based diets can give us the same health benefits in a much greener way. According to the study, without eating or using meat and milk products, global farmland use could be cut down by more than 75% and still feed the world.

⑦Speaking to the Guardian, Tim Benton of Chatham House said, “If we can give people reasonable official advice of what a healthy and green diet is, the world and its people would be in a much better place.”