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Growing Citizens for Tomorrow: How Childhood Development and Nutrition Affect National Security Jamie Barnett Rear Admiral, USN (Retired). The ‘Expanding’ Epidemic.
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Growing Citizens for Tomorrow: How Childhood Development and Nutrition Affect National Security Jamie Barnett Rear Admiral, USN (Retired)
National Security Issues: Pre-K and Nutrition • We must expand and improve early childhood development and we must expand our thinking to include Pre-Kindergarten, not just Kindergarten. • 2. We must make sure that the calories that our kids get in school have high quality nutrition and meet nutrition standards, and • 3. We need to do more to encourage our children to become physically fit. Students get up to 50% of their daily calorie intake at school 4
Early Childhood Investments Pay Dividends Research shows we must start early 90% of a child’s brain is developed in the first 5 years 5
ScienceDaily (Feb. 4, 2011) — For every $1 invested in a Chicago early childhood education program, nearly $11 is projected to return to society over the children's lifetimes -- equivalent to an 18 percent annual return on program investment --according to a study led by University of Minnesota professor of child development Arthur Reynolds 6
Young Obesity in Perspective Americans between the ages of 17-24 need to lose a collective 390 MILLION pounds!
What We Can Do • Support for Pre-K programs not just K-12. • Support the Dept of Agriculture to implement the science-based meal standards required by the Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act. • Financial support for schools to meet those standards, to train school nutritionists and cafeteria managers and to buy kitchen equipment to make healthy, appetizing meals. • Find ways for effective physical education in schools. …and we must 12
Growing Citizens for Tomorrow: How Childhood Development and Nutrition Affect National Security Jamie Barnett Rear Admiral, USN (Retired) 202-997-3591 jamiebarnett76@gmail.com http://missionreadiness.org/ 13