We can learn about healthy foods and what will help fuel people throughout the day by reading books and trying to learn from others as well as from your body. Access to education is online and in public libraries but for those without availability to those places, it can be found through community and through signs and labels. It is important to not shame people for their food choices, but to educate them in hopes to try to make them feel better through what they are putting in their body. Eating too much, too little, or of the wrong thing can lead to people feeling undernourished, overweight, and at risk for diseases and conditions. It is important to have balanced meals that can offer all the nutrients you need to function at your best.

Having carbs (like pasta, potatoes, rice, bread), fruits (bananas, apples, strawberries), vegetables (carrots, green beans, corn), and fats (avocado, nuts, eggs) can create for a balanced diet that fuels your body to do what you need it to. There are different benefits for all types of foods but it is important to not have too much of one type of food, especially when it is high in fat and sugar (which can lead feeling sluggish or unmotivated). 

Children are impacted by this as well as high school students. Younger children need good food to fuel their brains and allow them to focus and have energy to learn and grow. It is important that everyone gets food education and it is especially important that healthy food is actually being eaten. Access to healthy food should be for everybody not just people in rural areas.

In a study they found that 63% of 4th grade students in nonurban school areas in the nation reach the basic reading level but in urban areas only 43% of students reach the reading level (Ravitch, 1998).  In high-poverty urban schools, only 23% of 4th graders can meet that minimum. The difference between the rates are so large and concerning, we should be working a lot harder as a community to make sure that everyone is provided with proper education, which includes access to fuel (food) to do that. 

Performance in urban schools across the nation are low, especially in the schools that have high enrollments in poor students. Those in non-urban areas do comparably better than students in urban schools (Ravitch, 1998). Due to poor education, students don’t get the access to learn about what foods are good and what will help fuel their body and brains. 

Urban schools enroll 24% of all public students in the U.S,

35% of the students being poor students and 43% of minority (Ravitch, 1998). These urban schools aren’t preparing the students with the information and skills that they need to live. Students need to know how to support their body’s and minds as they grow and learn and without this they aren’t able to do well or even graduate high school. In no means are our communities in urban areas uneducated or should be shamed for not knowing, most of it is due to lack of access. There is a lack of access to education about good food as well as lack of access to the good food that should be eaten.

Ravitch, Diane. “A New Era in Urban Education?” Brookings, Brookings, 28 July 2016, https://www.brookings.edu/research/a-new-era-in-urban-education/.

Schneider, Jack. “Why Parents Are Afraid of City Schools.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 25 Aug. 2017, https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/08/the-urban-school-stigma/537966/.

“Why Education Matters to Health: Exploring the Causes.” Center on Society and Health, 5 Feb. 2013, https://societyhealth.vcu.edu/work/the-projects/why-education-matters-to-health-exploring-the-causes.