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Why do we give apples to teachers?

These days, it’s more likely for a teacher to be seen with an Apple iPad on her desk than a Golden Delicious. But it wasn’t that long ago that giving a crisp, shiny apple to a teacher on the first day of school was common practice. But where did this tasty tradition start? The true origin is mostly a mystery, though we do know that the apples have long served as a symbol of knowledge and education. From Greek references to a divine fruit that helped Hippomenes win a race for Atalanta’s hand, to Adam and Eve’s lesson of right and wrong, apples have been at the core of human history for a very long time. So how did they wind up on the desk of teachers in America? Gifting fruit has long been associated with surviving hardships throughout history. In the 1700s, poor families in Denmark and Sweden gave…

5 health and nutrition facts you learned in school that are ridiculously outdated

In many ways, high school is still the same as it was when you were a student. The homework still sucks, the dances are still  awkward, and the lunches are still terrible. But — thankfully — a lot has also changed, particularly when it comes to what kids learn in health class. Some nutrition tips you were probably taught by your teachers have since been declared bogus. If you haven’t been to high school in a while, here are some updated health and nutrition facts for the myths you may still have lingering in your brain. BMI is a good health indicator Body Mass Index, or BMI, takes a person’s body mass then divides it by their height to determine if they are “underweight,” “normal weight,” “overweight,” or “obese.” Prior to the 2000s, school nurses and gym teachers routinely checked children’s measurements against this scale, and everyone was told this…

6 Tips for packing back-to-school lunches on a budget

It’s the start of a new school year, and that means new teachers, new friends, and new lunchtime struggles. While it’s easy to fill your kids’ lunchboxes with pre-packaged snacks, that doesn’t do much in the way of keeping their growing bodies healthy. Sending kids to school with healthy lunches each day doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive. “School lunches may not seem significant in a child’s life, but when you add up that they are eating them five days per week, it’s quite a lot of their calorie consumption,” said Dr. Nimali Fernando, a Fredericksburg, Virginia-based pediatrician and founder of The Doctor Yum Project. “Teaching them healthy lunch habits from a young age will give them the tools to build lifelong healthy habits.” Many pediatricians are concerned that children simply do not get the amount of healthy foods they need to begin with. The Centers for Disease Control…

Fall in love with these 5 Easy Valentine’s Day snack ideas

Can you believe Valentine’s Day is right around the corner? Whether you’re looking for a healthy treat that’s classroom ready or something sweet to snack on with your S.O., here are 5 easy Valentine’s Day snacks to share with your loves this Feb. 14. Crush-worthy clementines Just cut your clementine sections at an angle and skewer two together to make cupids bow. Tomato togetherness Cut your cherry tomatoes at an angle about 1/3 of the way down. Then cut the larger piece in half, longways. Skewer the two sides together to make a terrific tasting tomato heart. Sentimental Cinnamon rolls Open a can of cinnamon rolls. Carefully uncoil one cinnamon roll at a time and reform into a heart. Bake at temperature packaging suggests, but notice the time will have to be cut. Hearts are typically ready in about 5 minutes less that packaging suggests. Partial to Pizza Roll out pizza…

Study shows picky eaters care how food is presented on a plate

If you have a picky eater at home, there might be one more thing you can try. A recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Copenhagen’s Department of Food Science found that kids do actually notice — and care — how their food is presented to them, and this can influence how much of the food they eat. It turns out, that young children are more inclined to eat when food items are kept separate from one another. Researchers asked 100 children ages 7 to 8 and 12 to 14 to prioritize six different photos of dishes of food plated three different ways: one with food items separated; one with the food separate but ingredients mixed (like chicken with gravy touching the rice, but vegetables on the side); and another with food all mixed together. Among the youngest age group, girls preferred foods to be separated, while the…

Back-to-school food safety for parents, kids

Chances are you’ll worry more about finding foods for your child’s lunchbox that they’ll actually eat, than you will about whether those foods will be safe to eat by the time they get there. More than 48 million Americans will become stricken with food poisoning this year. That’s nearly 1 in every six people resulting in 128,000 hospitalizations and more than 3000 deaths. Children are the most vulnerable to foodborne illnesses, so it’s worth taking extra precautions when packing their lunches. “One thing parents might want to do before school starts is pack a simple lunch with a cold source, and leave it on the counter,” said Marianne H. Gravely, Senior Technical Information Specialist of the Food Safety Education Staff at the USDA. “Wait the amount of time the child has to wait until lunch, and see if it’s still cold.” This activity gets the kids involved in their lunch planning but it also starts to teach them to become aware of the…

Teacher’s “Bread Trick” Reminds Kids Hand Washing is important

Flu season is officially here. It’s time to stock up hand sanitizers, antibacterial soap and, of course, Kleenex. If you or your kids ever questioned if maybe our modern obsession with hand washing wasn’t just all a little overboard, just ask Donna Gill Allen, a Health Occupation teacher at Cape Fear High school in Fayetteville, North Carolina. A shocking experiment Allen did with her students has gone viral. “You let all the kids see you put a piece of bread in a baggy with a glove on, hence “controlled,” then you wash your hands and put a piece of bread in a baggy for “clean.” Last, but definitely not least, you pass a piece of bread around and let every kid in class touch it, then you put it in a baggy and label it dirty,” Allen said in a Facebook post. Then you let the bags sit in a place where…