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Kids' Nutrition and Health Survey Finds Most Want Healthier Food

Diet and exercise

8. Do you think your diet affects your grades?

  • 47.0% of kids said yes, their diet affects their grades,
  • 45.8% said it did not, and
  • 7.2% weren't sure.

9. Is there something you really love to do, a passion? Do you think you could do that if you weren't healthy?

  • 38.4% of kids said that some sort of sport was their passion
  • 22.1% said other physical activities such as dancing, horseback riding, etc., was their passion, and
  • 8.1% didn't have anything they were passionate about.

10. Do you exercise? How often?

  • 90.7% of kids said that they exercised,
  • 5.8% said they did not, and
  • 3.5% had varied responses.
  • 45.3% of kids exercised everyday,
  • 1.3% said six days per week,
  • 12.0% said five days per week,
  • 10.7% said four days per week,
  • 8.0% said three days per week,
  • 9.3% said two days per week,
  • 8.0% said one day per week, and
  • 5.3% were ‘other.'

11. Do you think P.E. should be mandatory in schools?

  • 92.0% of kids said that Physical Education (P.E.) should be mandatory in schools.
  • 2.3% said no it should not be mandatory, and
  • 5.7% said other.
Sometimes James heard from kids that if they were on sports teams, they should not have to do P.E. as well.

12. Do you think the food you eat affects your how you feel; your mood?

  • 54.5% of kids thought that the food they eat affects their mood
  • 35.2% said food did not affect their mood, and
  • 10.2% said ‘other.' Sometimes, ‘other' meant only one certain food, as an example.

Cooking and dining

13. Do you know how to cook? What can you cook?

  • 74.2% of kids said they knew how to cook
  • 18.0% said they did not, and
  • 7.9% were in the ‘other' category, meaning perhaps they could cook one thing.
  • Of these, 26.8% knew how to cook some sort of breakfast food
  • 15.5% said lunch
  • 14.1% said dinner,
  • 18.3% said ‘other,' meaning perhaps they could put milk on cereal, and
  • 25.4% of kids said they knew how to cook ‘everything,' meaning something for each meal.
  • 85.4% of kids wanted to learn how to cook more things
  • 8.3% did not, and
  • 6.3% said ‘other,' which usually meant they wanted to learn how to prepare one certain thing, generally something, ‘fancy.'

14. Do you eat at a table? With whom?

  • 88.8% said they ate dinner at a table
  • 6.7% did not, and
  • 4.5% said once in a while or ‘other.'
  • 90.5% ate dinner with parent(s) or family member
  • 4.8 % ate without parents
  • 3.6% ate alone, and
  • 1.2% was ‘other.'

15. Do you understand how your body works? If not, would you like to learn? Do you think you would you be healthier if you understood?

  • 65.1% did know how their body works
  • 20.9 % did not know
  • 14.0 were in the ‘other' category, generally meaning, they knew a few things.
  • 93.5% learned about their bodies at school
  • 6.5% learned from family.
  • 82.5% of kids said they thought they'd be healthier if they understood more about their body function,
  • 17.5% said they wouldn't be healthier if they knew more.

16. Did you have breakfast today?

  • 91.5% did have breakfast
  • 8.5% did not.

17. What vegetables did you eat yesterday?

  • 76.3% of kids had some sort of vegetable
  • 23.8% did not have any vegetables. As an aside, sometimes that vegetable was simply a piece of lettuce on a sandwich. The vast majority of kids did not come close to consuming enough vegetables.

18. Do you think that where you live affects your health? Why?

  • 62.1 of kids said yes
  • 33.3% said no and
  • 4.6% weren't sure. The answers were varied; the kids who lived in the country said country was healthier because they had better water and air and less trash, as well as less access to junk food. City kids said they had more choices for healthy food, but that air, water and again, trash, were problems. Some kids in both city or country, were concerned about secondhand smoke.

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