Students` Eating Habits and Their Attitude Towards School Meals

Vsako živo bitje za svoj obstoj potrebuje hrano, ki mu daje energijo in potrebne snovi za rast, razvoj in obstoj. V obdobju po rojstvu za primerno prehranjevanje skrbijo starši, z odraščanjem pa posameznik oblikuje svoje prehranjevalne navade. Med slednje pa ne sodi zgolj tisto kar radi jemo ali ne, temveč na primer tudi kako si hrano pripravimo, kje jo zaužijemo in koliko obrokov dnevno pojemo. Ob tem se vzporedno razvija tudi odnos do hrane, ki je lahko bolj ali manj brezbrižen, ali pa hrana postane vrednota, ki uživa določeno mero spoštovanja. V razvoju prehranjevalnih navad in odnosa do hrane pomembno vlogo igrajo tudi vzgojno-izobraževalne ustanove, kjer posamezni učenci zaužijejo tudi do tri obroke hrane dnevno. V teoretičnem delu magistrske naloge smo podrobneje predstavili hrano in različne prehranjevalne navade ter vlogo staršev pri oblikovanju le-teh pri svojih otrocih, organizacijo šolske prehrane v osnovnih šolah ter nekatere vidike prehranjevalnih navad mladostnikov. V empiričnem delu predstavljamo rezultate raziskave, izvedene preko anketnih vprašalnikov na šestih osnovnih šolah. Ugotovili smo, da je teoretično znanje o zdravih prehranjevalnih navadah učencev zadovoljivo, a ga premalo upoštevajo v vsakdanjem življenju. Dobra polovica vseh vprašanih vsak dan zajtrkuje, kosilo pa večina učencev zaužije v šoli. Sadje vsakodnevno vsaj enkrat uživa skoraj tri četrtine vprašanih. Raziskava je sicer pokazala boljše prehranjevalne navade pri mlajših učencih, dekletih in učencih podeželskih šol.Every living being needs food which gives him energy and substances needed for growth, development and living. After birth parents are the ones who provide proper nutrition, by growing up every individual develops his own eating habits. Eating habits do not represent just what we eat or do not eat, but also how we prepare our food, where do we eat it and how many meals do we have per day. By doing all these things we develop our relationship towards food. The attitude can be more or less careless, or food can become a value which enjoys a certain degree of respect. The educational institutions also play a very important part in developing students’ eating habits, since some of them have up to three meals a day. In the theoretical part of the master’s thesis the food and different eating habits, as well as the role of parents in shaping of these habits have been presented. Also the organization of school meals and some of the aspects of adolescents’ eating habits have been studied. In the empirical part the results of a survey conducted through questionnaires at six elementary schools have been presented. It has been found that theoretical knowledge about healthy eating habits among pupils is satisfactory, but has not been taken into an account enough in their everyday life. More than half of the respondents have breakfast dailymost of the students have lunch at school. Fruit is consumed by one third of the respondents. Research has shown better eating habits among younger students, girls and students of rural schools