Are you interested in having breakfast or lunch provided for your child in middle school? What kind of foods would you like to be served? And how much would you be willing to pay for your child's meals? These are a few of the questions parents are being asked in a survey titled `What Do You Think? A Questionnaire for Parents on the Food and Nutrition Service and After School Care in Middle Schools.' The survey put together by the Department of Health, Education, Youth Development, Sport and Recreation is not to state that these are the changes that will be implemented in the middle school programme but to investigate the interest.

Betsy Baillie of Nutrition Services, who is on the committee, said research shows that well-designed, well implemented school-based nutrition education programmes can improve the eating habits of young people.

"Many of Bermuda's preschools and primary schools have established healthful food guidelines for their students. Traditionally, they bring their lunch to school,'' Ms Baillie said.

She added: "Many secondary school students stop bringing lunch from home and buy food from school tuck shops. The types of foods sold in tuck shops include snack foods such as chips, chocolates, and sodas as well as fast foods such as burgers and fries. These foods tend to be high in calories and fat.

"We have a food and nutrition committee which has been exploring the options of increasing the availability of healthful foods. The committee includes a principal Mrs. Patricia Holder from Warwick Secondary, a teacher from Northlands, Joanne Anderson, a school nurse, Winifred DeAllie, a school dental nurse, Joanne Fox, KEMH dietitian, Ann Marie Mackinnon, Department of Health dietitians Mellonie Barnum and Louisa Showers while Ms Baillie and Cordell Riley of the Government Statistics helped develop the questionnaire.'' Ms Baillie said the objective of the questionnaire is to investigate the interest of parents to have meals provided for their child, determine the type of food they would like offered, the price and how often they would want their child to have meals.

She added: "In order to look at the feasibility and explore the options we need to first establish if there is interest. We are looking at breakfast to determine if there is a need here.

"Additionally we are asking questions about the need for after school programmes for our young people. So we encourage parents and guardians of students to fill in these forms and put them in the post or if your child's teacher suggested, send it back to school with the child.

"All this information will help us to determine what the need is before we can determine the most suitable options over the long term. Such changes will take time to implement. We have also sought input from students through focus groups.'' Ms Baillie also said there is a need to raise the value students put on health. This requires a comprehensive school health programme that includes: classroom nutrition education, a healthful nutrition policy, school environment that provides opportunity and reinforcement for healthful eating and physical activity, provisions of healthy foods that students will eat, and parent and community involvement.

"Students need to learn specific nutrition-related skills, such as planning healthy meals and comparing food labels, as well as general health promotion skills, such as self-assessment, goal-setting and self monitoring.

"Schools should give students opportunities to practice skills they learn in class by making healthy foods available wherever food is available in schools and by providing tastes of delicious, low-fat, low-sodium foods as part of family studies.

"Most importantly the food available to students must match the message they are hearing in the classroom. Whether it is at home, the soccer field or at restaurants. Students don't get proficient at math or playing the piano or scoring soccer goals without a lot of practice -- the same is true of good eating habits.'' Ms Baillie added: "Things have changed a lot from when we went to school when we took our own lunch -- a paradigm shift. The time has come for us to look at the whole picture and do what is best for all concerned -- factors to consider include: Parents with long working hours who do not have the time or the desire to prepare meals.

Many students being responsible for making their own lunches without the knowledge or the skills to do so.

Students having access to money which they haven't been taught to spend wisely, (so spending on foods that appeal to their taste but not necessarily their health).

School tuck shops that do not have a healthful selection of foods to select from and the media where non-nutritious goodies are the big spenders in advertising.

"We have an opportunity to make a positive difference in the health and lives of Bermuda's young people.'' She added: "In this information age we know about the critical role that proper nutrition and exercise plays in the health and development of children.

But this knowledge does not seem to be translating into action! "Parents complain because schools don't teach enough about nutrition, schools complain because parents don't reinforce the nutrition messages taught in school. Both parents and teachers complain that the media and Government should do more to promote healthy eating.

"Clearly, getting children and adolescents to eat right is a big job that should be shared by all of us -- parents, schools, teachers, the community, the media and Government. Now is the time to stop pointing fingers and work together to make a positive difference in our children's health.'' Ms Baillie also said research indicates that good nutrition promotes optimal health and intellectual development resulting in healthier students who are better academic achievers.

She said: "So how can we achieve this for all young people in Bermuda? The ultimate goal is to have Bermuda's youth eating in a health-promoting manner for academic success.

"This is a tall order! The efforts of many are required to achieve this goal -- there are many factors influencing a student's eating habits -- food choices are influenced by what children learn to prefer from parents, friends, school experiences and television,'' Ms Baillie said.

She added: "Students choose foods on the basis of quality, the cost and whether or not their friends eat the food or whether or not it's cool to eat the food.

"Consequently there are many factors that need to be addressed in order to change eating habits -- it is not enough just to teach about nutrition in the health education curriculum to affect lasting changes in eating behaviour; students also need access to healthy foods and a supportive environment.

"The messages children receive about nutrition should be clear, consistent and constant. Only then will they begin to internalise the information and make changes in their eating and activity.''