During September, Somerset Member of Youth Parliament Ellie Bealing has been working hard on her campaign – Young People Strong, Healthy Lives. Ellie was able to have a conversation with Tamara Bennett, a public health nutritionist where Ellie learned a lot.
In September I was able to continue my research into the topic of food and nutrition by speaking to Tamara Bennett, a public health nutritionist, who shared her current initiatives to improve young people’s diets, along with her insights into the difficulties of changing our attitudes towards health.
Within this article, I’ll provide a glimpse into our conversation, along with the next steps in my campaign, as I begin to build upon the connections I have made and hear from young people themselves.
What I was particularly interested in delving into was the experiences of misconceptions towards food, and so I was glad to hear that Tamara had too noticed the impact of social media. As well as being a hub for misinformation around nutrition and positive body image, what did surprise me was the ways in which social media has indirectly affected us. We have become so used to absorbing information in quick bursts that organisations, such as Public Health, have to craft their messages to deliver the necessary information in line with these shifted attention spans. To add, the peer pressure of those around you may also lead you to make a rushed decision of what food to eat, with the attractiveness of processed food sometimes trumping the fruit and vegetables on offer.
When speaking towards the topic of school meals, it was clear that there’s great difficulty in achieving a consistent standard across Somerset. With different caterers per school, there is no way to ensure cohesion, leading to inequalities based on location and school type. Tamara also discussed the quality of private school meals in our county, which can deliver good produce for cheaper prices, and so I wonder why there is such little partnership between food providers to share ideas and keep equal access to food!?! As more pupils require a hot meal each lunchtime, we also noted that there isn’t the creativity or freedom to choose what to prepare, making it appear rather bland and repetitive on the whole. Linking to this, it would be advantageous for student bodies to be able to scrutinise their provision for lunch, with the opportunity to suggest ideas for improvement, as well as current positives.
The social element of our eating time forms an additional part of our development, therefore the length of time young people receive to properly digest their food should represent this. A rushed mealtime does little to improve the focus and concentration during lessons, and it’s important that all pupils feel relaxed enough to properly enjoy the food they eat and to build the bonds that are vital to a happy school career.
A further misconception around eating is the gender divide towards eating disorders, which forms an integral link to our school dinners. I discussed my own experiences seeing the impact of young boys, perhaps still hidden under the shadows of taboo, who are absorbing images of perfect bodies fuelled by protein powders and energy drinks. There also appears to be a culture in which the ridicule of fellow men is largely accepted, forming a double standard, as no matter our gender we can all still feel the burden of self-consciousness and disordered ideas. It is no secret that Eating Disorders are playing havoc on the development of teenagers, and so a positive lunchtime experience forms a necessary step to healing the destruction.
My conversation with Tamara Bennett gave me the opportunity to enquire about the work she is currently undertaking, including future interactions with school meal providers, beginning in Somerset’s primary schools. One of the most significant parts of her work, is putting into practise the ‘compassionate approach’, in which every individual is treated with equal respect and value. There is not a focus on being obese, instead treating it as something you live with, while weight loss is not the ultimate goal; instead feeling better personally should be the aim. She phrases it as “health gain, not weight loss”, and this view of treating the cause instead of the symptoms makes me feel incredibly optimistic about the attitudes of those who deal with the most fragile of topics in our society. We also acknowledged the difficulty of self-motivation, so making one prolonged, sustainable change should act as the starting point for a lifetime of improved behaviour.
I am incredibly grateful to have met with Tamara to hear her valuable wisdom, and as I begin to move onto consultation with young people, I feel more equipped with the data and knowledge towards food and body image. In the coming months, I hope to be able to collate my research with professionals, in order to produce resources to promote better classroom conversations and early intervention, along with encouraging school pupils to run sessions to suggest improvements with their meals.
Ellie
Somerset Youth Parliament campaigns
Each Member of Youth Parliament works on a campaign during their term, which is supported by their Deputies and the Advisory Group. It allows us to understand what changes young people want to see in the communities they live in and makes sure that those views are heard by Somerset’s decision makers.
To find out more about our Member of Youth Parliament’s campaigns visit our Campaigns page.
