Showing posts with label nutritious food for children. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nutritious food for children. Show all posts

Thursday, October 5, 2017

How Children in Telangana Benefit from the Mid-Day Meal Scheme

The menu of the mid-day meal being served in Telangana schools is a formidable example of how healthy food catered to children should be. Nutritious meals help children in fighting hidden hunger because they take care of essential minerals and vitamins that are important for the growth of a child.

The Mid-Day Meal Scheme is run by The Akshaya Patra Foundation in Telangana. The menu of the mid-day meal comprises of pulses such as toor dal, fortified soy dal, green gram whole, urad dal, peas, moong dal, cow pea, green gram sprouts, soy products like- chunks, flakes, gram dal, bengal gram whole, channa dal, etc.

These are high in fibre, low in fat and have complex carbohydrates which is healthy for the body. Pulses provide folate that is known for lowering homocysteine levels. It has been proven that high homocysteine levels damage the lining of arteries and promotes plaque build-up and blood clots. Eventually, this kind of damage can block blood flow to the heart or brain. Thus, when pulses are served to children from an early age, they develop stronger folate levels that fight the risk of heart attack as the children grow.

Food for education

Children charity The Akshaya Patra Foundation is observing Hunger Action Month, as part of which, they are aiming at fighting against hidden hunger. In India, many children are deprived of nutritious meal. As a result, their growth remains stunted. A child is known to be suffering from hidden hunger when he is deprived of a wholesome meal.

At Akshaya Patra, the menu of mid-day meal is designed with utmost care, in order to make the food tasty and healthy. The menu is changed every day so that the children relish it with equal enthusiasm. Pulses form an integral part of the mid-day meal scheme in Telangana. They are also a rich source of iron, calcium, magnesium, zinc and potassium.

While serving these mid-day meals to children in Telengana, the Foundation ensures that the food is cooked in hygienic conditions. The Foundation’s state-of-the-art kitchens which are equipped with latest technology enable the employees to cook food using a systematic procedure. It currently has 33 kitchens across the country. Over 1.6 million children benefit from this initiative.

Children need a lot of energy in their adolescence as they participate in a lot of sports. A meal that’s rich in pulses helps regulate the energy levels and manage digestive system. The meals served to children have enough nutritious value to ensure that the body gets a slow-burning and steady energy supply. The iron content in these diets helps transporting oxygen into the body which in turn boosts energy production and metabolism.

The mid-day meal scheme in Telengana aims at providing considerable amount of wholesome lunch to school children. The children’s charity is ensuring that children coming to Government and Government-aided schools don’t go home hungry.

If you wish to join hands in the mission, be a part of this cause and donate to charity today.

Friday, September 4, 2015

Nutrition for Children on Nutrition Week

Today India is a one of the fastest developing economy in the world. But for the progress, it is stained by malnutrition of millions of its people especially children. India is home to 400 million children, out of which every second child is malnourished due to lack of proper nutrition. Nutritious food is essential for children’s growth and health. Food nutrition and health are connected to the core.

National Nutrition Week

Classroom hunger is a serious issue in India. Hunger keeps children away from school. They cannot concentrate or analyse information when their bellies are starved of food. The solution is to provide food for children in school and ensure that they get nutrition in schools. The mid-day meal programme of the Government of India, taken up by NGOs across the country aims to food nutrition and ensuring health. The Akshaya Patra Foundation in aegis with governments provides the free, tasty and nutritious mid-day meal at government, and government aided schools.

This food for children acts as an incentive for parents to send their children to school. It combats malnutrition in children and provides access to education too. By gaining regular access to sufficient nutrition in schools, the children have shown better concentration in class and academic progress; attendance have improved as well as school enrolment and school dropout rates have decreased.

Mid day meal Scheme

The Akshaya Patra Kitchen maintains proper quality and food safety. At every stage of the operations process quality measures are implemented to make the Akshaya Patra food safe, nutritious and tasty.

With the determined efforts of the Government of India, corporates, donors and other well-wishers, India can one day achieve a hunger free society.

This Nutrition week provides all an opportunity to donate to charity and help the children. One can make adonation this week and ensure children to get proper nutrition. Donate to ngo, Akshaya Patra which is implementing the Mid-Day Meal Programme in order to eliminate classroom hunger.

Let’s make a pledge to donate to help children get proper nutrition and education today!