Students talk about healthy eating
Drop the Pop health fair helps community learn hazards of harmful foods
April Hudson
Northern News Services
Thursday, February 4, 2016
ACHO DENE KOE/FORT LIARD
Community members in Fort Liard who attended Echo Dene School's Drop The Pop Gut Health Fair on Jan. 22 may think twice before putting high-fructose foods and other health hazards in their mouths.
Echo Dene School student Kali Norn, right, shows her display on the effects of detox tea during the school's Drop the Pop health fair on Jan. 22. - photo courtesy of Deborah Wotherspoon
|
That, at least, was the goal of the health fair, facilitated by teacher Deborah Wotherspoon and presented by students at the school.
The health symposium kicked off as part of the school's Drop the Pop Week. According to principal Brad Carrier, Drop the Pop is a territorial initiative focusing on healthy drinks.
"It aims to get the pop out of schools," he explained.
For the event, Wotherspoon brought in blenders and fruit and had her students put together presentations on gut health.
"It was really good. It was one of the highlights of the school year, and I was really impressed," Carrier said.
Pops regularly found in schools and grocery stores are usually sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup, said Wotherspoon. That syrup has been linked to numerous health concerns including weight gain and strokes.
During the symposium, students had the chance to try an alternative: sugar-free pop sweetened with Stevia, a natural sweetener extracted from a plant. Six different flavours of pop were available.
"We did taste-tests with some of the high school students. Some of them liked some flavours and not others; some didn't like any and some liked them all," she said.
"I'm going to be working further with the kids to do taste-tests out in the community."
During the health symposium, students taste-tested smoothies with spinach, avocado, fruit and yogurt, with a few nuts added.
They also tried coconut ginger turmeric detox tea and learned about the benefits of coconut oil.
Although the symposium did not draw out too many community members, Wotherspoon said it was a learning experience for nearly everyone who showed up, including teachers.
Presentations did not stop at pop, however. Students delved into other ways their diets may be harmful, presenting on topics including serotonin, detox teas and the effects of antibiotics on gut health.
Wotherspoon brought her passion for gut health into action for the fair, researching alongside her students about processed foods, trans fats and even the benefits butter can provide in place of margarine, canola oil or sunflower oil.
The conclusion of that research, Wotherspoon said, was to "put butter back into your diets."
"Get rid of the margarine. Your natural fats are incredibly, incredibly important," she said, noting butter is linked to butyric acid, which is required in order for gut cells to get proper nourishment.
Wotherspoon said some of the research done by her students surprised even her - such as student Abby Duntra's presentation on processed foods.
"She showed that when you process wheat, you remove all your selenium. And when you process rice, that's 95 per cent of your selenium gone. So our diets are really deficient in selenium due to processed foods, and you need selenium to help your liver," Wotherspoon said.
All the research came back to having a healthy gut, she said.
"I've learned so much about how your gut health affects everything."
