In a world where social media fuels excessive body and diet awareness, nutrition education can be an extremely difficult topic. Unfortunately, Tualatin’s outdated program seems to be less than helpful for students. 

I became aware of the flaws within the curriculum through a friend whose assignment was to count their sugar intake throughout the day. They had to constantly check the nutrition labels on their food and were afraid to log certain foods for fear of being judged. Assignments like these create a culture of insecurity around food choices and hyper awareness of food consumption and are more likely to lead to disordered eating.

Health teacher Kathy Hollamon gave insight into the processes behind the nutrition program and its assignments.

“For nutrition in particular, we are trying to teach concepts related to nutrition as it pertains to disease prevention and enhancing health.”

I agree that nutrition and disease prevention is extremely important, but should calorie counting be what defines “health”? Nutrition curricula have a history of focusing on weight loss and the fatphobic belief that thin bodies are the only healthy bodies. The Tualatin curriculum, regardless of whether it’s intentional, upholds these stereotypes. Through these curricula, food becomes about numbers, and weight becomes a definition. (I would like to mention that this is solely a critique of the curriculum that has been adopted by TTSD and not any of the teachers.) 

Teaching dieting will not help students better understand their relationship with food. Yes, it is important to know how different food groups affect your body and which vitamins help you to thrive, but this can be achieved without demonizing the dreaded “fats” and “calories.” Milkshakes and chips and fries are delicious and amazing for us for so many more reasons other than their macros. 

I know that I am not the only student who has felt uncomfortable with the way nutrition is taught, so I asked others about their experiences.

Junior Sam Amador recalls that the curriculum was “based on calorie intake and very outdated. The curriculum seems insensitive to important topics like eating disorders.”

With a program so heavily focused on calorie and sugar intake, it’s unlikely that there will be any productive learning about nutrition, especially for students struggling with disordered eating. Eating disorders already affect nine percent of the population, and there has been an even larger jump in hospitalizations and diagnoses of eating disorders during the COVID-19 era. In an average class of 30 students, at least two will have a diagnosed eating disorder; there are also so many students with undiagnosed eating disorders that aren’t a part of that statistic. An entire lesson based around calories and sugar intake will do nothing but harm those students. 

Like I said previously, I do believe that nutrition is important. Programs should focus more on how to properly fuel different lifestyles and give information on how different food groups affect our bodies. Additionally, an updated curriculum should include information on food deserts (areas where there are no convenient, large grocery stores, creating a lack of access to fresh food — typically in low-income areas), as well as sensitivity towards cultural and economic diet differences.

Health looks different on different bodies. As teenagers, we should be focusing on supporting our own growth mentally and physically, while understanding that there is no reason to be scared of food or gaining weight. Knowing how to eat nutritiously is important for teenagers – and people of all ages – to thrive and to learn, but so is a happy and solid relationship with diet and body image.