According to Tasa Page, nutrition education should be part of a comprehensive health education curriculum that focuses on understanding the relationship between personal behavior and health. This curriculum should give the students the knowledge and the skills they need to be “health literate”. The comprehensive health education approach is important to nutrition education because unhealthy eating behaviors may be interrelated with other health risk factors like smoking.
Also, nutrition education shares many of the key goals of other key education content areas, like raising value placed on health, taking responsibility of ones health, increasing the ability for one’s health and increasing confidence in one’s ability to make health-enhancing behavioral changes. (Page Tana S. , 2003, Pgs 146) Another importance for colleges to teach the healthy eating habits to the students is because at this stage of growth, the students are most likely to be influenced into eating unhealthy foods.
Furthermore, their parents are no there to watch and direct them on what to eat. Unless the college takes the initiative of educating the students on healthy eating habits, the students will be at a risk of diseases such as stroke and cancer. Also, colleges should include nutritional education in the syllabus because these are the parents of tomorrow. They need to be well equipped with knowledge on what kinds of foods are healthy, not only for themselves but also children.
Furthermore, colleges need to educate the students on factors that influence the eating habits among the youth and the dangers of unhealthy eating. Reasons why colleges need to include nutritional education in the college syllabus a) To surpass the media, which promotes poor eating habits The media has a large influence in shaping the attitudes about eating and physical activity among the youth and children. Statistics show that on average, American youths spend about twenty five hours watching television in a week, not counting the time spent reading magazines or listening to the radio.
Most of the food products advertised through the media are of low nutritional value and contain excessive amounts of sugar, fat or sodium. College students are vulnerable to media messages that define one’s sense of what is physically attractive. They are bombarded by the internet, television, magazines and movies containing distorted images of what make a person physically attractive and sexually desirable- excessive slim females and muscular males. In their attempt to approach these “ideals”, they often engage in poor nutritional habits.
Fad diets, dietary pills, skipping meals (especially breakfast and lunch), and non-nutritious snacking puts many college students at nutritional and psychological risk. (Page Tana S. , 2003, Pgs 129-130) b) To help eliminate diseases and eating disorders caused by poor nutritional habits. Colleges need to educate their students on the consequences of poor eating habits. The occurrence of nutritional diseases among the youth like obesity, anorexia and bulimia could be eliminated. Educating the college students on proper nutrition in order to avoid these diseases is important.