NUTRITIONAL INTERVENTION IN A TEENAGE MULTIRACIAL GROUP.
IN THE LAST FEW YEARS immigration has increased in Spain and the Spanish society has changed too since there are people coming from different parts of the world, specially East European countries, North Africa and Latin America. Consequently, primary and secondary public school pupils are quite varied.
The IES CAÑADA REAL is a public Secondary school situated in Galapagar, a town 33km away from the capital city of Spain, Madrid. There is an important number of foreigners living in Galapagar (17 per cent of the inhabitants are from abroad). Therefore, in the IES CAÑADA REAL pupils are rather heterogeneous: 17 per cent of students are from Maghreb and they have a lot of difficulties mostly because of the language and sometimes due to their family, social and cultural scene; a 41 per cent are South American students who have a low academic level and poor parental guidance. Then, 4 per cent of students from East European countries and the rest are Spanish.
On the one hand, pupils’ integration is necessary and we must deal with the issue taking into account several things. We have considered it important to study first their food and exercise habits and then see the connection with their countries of origin considering three areas in particular: Spain, Morocco and Latin America.
On the other hand, sharing experiences with the Spanish teenagers could also bring about their total integration with teenagers from other countries.
Since teenagers undergo a lot of morphological, functional and psychological changes, food is a very important subject to their development. Therefore, an unhealthy diet could lead to some bad habits and end up in pathology.
Just before starting with the project, we will explain it completely to the pupils and their families. Moreover, consent will be asked for both to the students and their parents.
Our aims:
1. Analyse the diet of three groups of teenage students coming from different countries: Spain, Morocco and Latin America.
2. Examine their physical exercise habits.
3. Study in depth the connection between the study parameters and the students’ home and cultural habits.
4. See the connections between their diet and their physical exercise habits.
5. Design a control model in order to improve their nutritional values and their physical activities so that they could follow healthier patterns.
6. Finally judge their changes as far as their food habits and physical exercise are concerned.
WE WILL BE WORKING WITH fourteen-to-sixteen-year-old students from three (or more in the Comenius Project) different countries. We will distinguish four points: Origin / Number / Men / Women. After each diet analysis we will hand in a report both to the families and the School Headmasters as well.
DATA CAPTURE.
AS THE STUDENTS ARE teenagers it is necessary to get the project revised by the teachers (P.E. teachers mostly) and the parents. We suggest the students’ copying down all the food items they have in 3 different days in open questionnaires: 2 working days and 1 holiday. Each student will write down all the food items they have had in their main meals of the day (breakfast, lunch, dinner) and also between meals (brunch, afternoon snack “merienda” and after dinner). The records will be checked with the families.
We will be working with software called DIAL (Alce Engineering) New recipes and food items can be added and their components will be analyzed and distributed according to the group they belong to. We will take into account: calories, proteins, fatty foods, carbohydrates and fibre. All the results will be compared with the daily recommended intake. Vitamins and minerals will also be compared with the reference values named Dietary Reference Intake.
ENERGY SPENDS.
EACH STUDENT WILL record all the exercise they take, their sleep hours, their class time and their rest time too so that they could know their energy spends. Each activity is given an energy spend value in particular.
The data are registered according to the intensity and duration of each exercise and the energy spend is estimated and expressed in MET. Thus, we know the PAL (Physical Activity Level) of each student and can classify them into: sedentary people, low-activity people, active people and very active people. Moreover, we could also see the difference between men and women.
IN EACH SURVEY WE will consider all the information concerning the students’ healthy habits: physical exercise, drug use, alcohol consumption and so on. Socio-cultural aspects will be considered as part of the process too.
We will be working with the students both individually and in groups (in class and at school) so as to guide them in order for them to improve their food habits and daily physical exercise by means of:
Interdisciplinary activities: dealing with the topics in Physical Education and Science –health, nutrition and physical exercise-.
Wall displays at school giving students information about the topic.
Lectures to students, families and teachers showing the results of the first part of the project highlighting the positive aspects of the different groups under control.
Report draft containing an assessment which will be later explained to the students and their families individually.
Comenius activities.
WE, THE IES CAÑADA REAL, AS PART OF THIS COMENIUS project, seek to develop knowledge and understanding among young people, parents and educational staff of the diversity of cultures, languages and values. It should help young people acquire the basic life skills and competences necessary for their personal development and active citizenship as well as enhancing and increasing partnerships between schools in different countries, with as many students as we can, taking part in joint educational activities.
