Last week, Row New York hosted Nutrition Week, highlighting healthy nutrition habits for our student-athletes. Partnering with nutrition specialists from CHALK (Choosing Healthy and Active Lifestyles for Kids), RNY staff and tutors collaborated to provide workshops and activities throughout the week. Described as “enlightening” by one of RNY’s own staff members, the week gave all those in attendance (whether staff or student) a chance to learn the ins and outs of healthy, mindful, and happy eating!
Titled “Eat Real”, Row New York’s workshops focused on the importance of a whole food diet (fruits, vegetables, and animal products) as opposed to a highly processed food diet. After going over the difference between the two, students formed groups to discuss how foods become processed and explained what processes food might have gone through to get to its current state (e.g., canned corn) and in turn, how that item might differ from the “real thing”.
Using a real life example, workshop leaders asked students to take out their packed snacks (which, in one staff member’s observation, resembled “a corner store”) and showed them how to read nutrition labels. Along with reading labels, workshop leaders demonstrated how daunting and confusing the ingredient lists for students’ favorite snacks can be. With each snack food including many curious (“why is there mineral oil in my gummy bears?”) and unpronounceable ingredients, dissecting the snacks was certainly enlightening. At the end of these sessions, students happily made healthy trail mix from real, whole foods loaded with vitamins and minerals.
In addition to learning about whole food diets, our students covered eating, sleeping, and hydration as an athlete– discovering how to improve athletic performance while feeding their growing and active bodies. The discussion of athletic nutrition led to a critical conversation about sugar. Students often believe that sugar is important for energy, but they quickly learned that it’s quite the opposite. “We taught them the different names of sugar on labels, and demonstrated how much sugar they can actually consume and its harm – especially when they realize products often contain multiple serving sizes,” said Akeelya, RNY staff member and workshop leader.
But the workshops didn’t end there; workshop leaders encouraged students to do experiments – such as, for a day, see how much hidden sugar they could find in their food; or at the supermarket, find a new vegetable or fruit to try.
Akeelya perfectly summed up the purpose of “Eat Real”: “The workshop was trying to show them that food is not only what they know. There’s a lot of new information they can discover about food–it’s infinite. They can always learn more.”
Thank you, CHALK and RNY staff and tutors, for guiding students through the important aspects of nutrition and shedding light on how to make every day a little healthier!
