🌿 Folk Prescriptions

Mid-Morning Snacks, Fast Food, and Snacks for Students
Mid-Morning Snacks — Eat According to Your Capacity
Whether students should have mid-morning snacks is a common concern among parents. From a health perspective, having hygienic and scientifically balanced mid-morning snacks would be ideal. Currently, some primary and secondary schools have introduced mid-morning snack programs. The food sources vary widely without a unified management standard. Due to differences among schools and families, mid-morning snacks should be determined based on each school’s and student’s specific circumstances—uniform requirements are impractical.
For each child, whether to have a mid-morning snack depends on individual conditions. If breakfast is nutritious and provides sufficient energy and nutrients, additional snacks may not be necessary. However, in impoverished mountainous areas where breakfast nutrition is poor, providing a glass of fresh soy milk or some nutritious, hygienic food as a mid-morning snack can greatly benefit students’ learning and growth. Schools in cities with adequate resources can also implement mid-morning snacks to improve children’s nutritional status.
Important points for mid-morning snacks: Snacks should be taken between breakfast and lunch, ideally around 10 a.m. Too early, children may lack appetite; too late, it may affect lunch intake. Snack choices should be varied, selecting nutritious, easily digestible, non-greasy foods such as milk, soy milk, or bean milk. Portion sizes should not be too large. Educate students to wash hands before eating and choose hygienic foods to prevent food poisoning.
Fast Food — Not Suitable for Frequent Consumption
In recent years, fast food has quickly become a popular lifestyle choice among young people. Students often visit fast food restaurants during holidays, birthdays, or social gatherings. Especially Western-style fast food, with eye-catching signage, innovative sales methods, relaxed dining environments, and small gifts, makes parents more likely to accompany their children. While enjoying the speed, cleanliness, and novelty of fast food, few realize that frequent consumption harms children’s health.
Currently, fast food is mainly prepared by frying, resulting in high calorie content. A single Western hamburger can provide enough calories for an adult’s entire day, yet other nutrients—especially vitamins and minerals (such as calcium, iron, zinc)—are relatively low. Most fast food beverages are high in sugar and contain almost no nutrients beyond calories, fat, and sugar. Regular fast food consumption leads to excess calorie intake, which converts into subcutaneous fat and causes obesity. Obesity increases the risk of diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol. Therefore, students should avoid frequent fast food consumption and certainly not use it as a daily staple lunch.
Snacks — Choose Wisely
Snacking is widespread among elementary and middle school students. Surveys show about one-quarter of elementary students have a habit of snacking regularly. Common snacks include ice pops, puffed snacks, chocolate, cookies, and candies. Middle schoolers often eat ice cream, candies, yogurt, dried plums, and chocolate.
Should children be allowed to snack? Opinions vary widely.
Nutritionists believe that students are in a special growth phase requiring more energy and nutrients than adults. Eating some healthy snacks outside meals can supply additional energy and nutrients for physical development. Children also gain enjoyment from snacks. Thus, allowing moderate snacking is acceptable.
However, snacks contain nutrients far less balanced and comprehensive than regular meals. Sugar content in snacks is usually significantly higher than in main meals. Regular snacking can lead to tooth decay and inadequate nutrient intake. Therefore, while allowing snacks, they should never replace main meals. Children should obtain all necessary nutrients for growth and development from three regular meals. When buying snacks, parents should choose high-nutritional-value, clean, hygienic items. For older middle school students, parents should teach them to select snacks with relatively balanced and complete nutrition and guide them to control and schedule snack times—so they enjoy snacks while maintaining health.
What should be noted when snacking?
Eat snacks between meals, not close to mealtime, to avoid affecting appetite;
Avoid snacking before bedtime—first, it increases gastrointestinal burden and disrupts sleep; second, if teeth aren’t brushed after snacking, food residue left in teeth can harm dental health long-term, leading to cavities;
Be especially cautious about portion control when watching TV. Without restraint, it’s easy to unconsciously consume too many small snacks. Children who watch a lot of TV tend to gain weight partly because of snacking while watching. Limit snacks to a set amount at a time—once eaten, don’t add more.