While covering a story about two staff members of the Pearl River County School District cafeteria system winning awards during a recent conference held at the Mississippi Gulf Coast Convention Center in Biloxi, I thought back to a time when I was in school.

While attending grade school, it was very common for me to see my peers eating pizza, burgers, donuts and sodas during mealtime. Even mandatory science programs that provided information about how to eat healthy didn’t seem encouraging to my fellow students to make better meal choices.

The same can be said across the country, especially this year because Mississippi was ranked as having the worst obesity rates in America.

So, when I heard that these cafeteria managers were working toward encouraging students in the Pearl River County School District to practice healthier eating habits I was reassured that steps are being taken.

What these women learned was how to bridge the gap between child nutrition and academics to act like a wake up call to our students as to how unhealthy eating habits could result in children slipping into sedentary lifestyles.

These days you are more often to find a child choosing unhealthy food over something such as fruit because they find the former more appealing than the latter.

But we shouldn’t rely on our schools to fix this problem.

Habits are also determined by what children are exposed to at home

We are in a day and age where children would benefit greatly by eating healthy and subsequently leading a better life for years to come.

In order for that process to start, we need to help them make those healthy choices now.