Importance of Taking Meals Before

Class Starts to the Students of

City College of Tagaytay
 Chapter 1

Introduction

1.1 Background of the Study

Without eating meals, it is not possible to have enough energy to accomplish any task.

Meals are important to students because it helps student to have focus, increase

concentration, and gives enough energy to accomplish any task given to them. Skipping

meals can cause distraction of the students to the lesson, because it is hard to listen to the

professors if students’ stomach is aching. Distraction can cause failure to come up to the

lesson that may lead students to fail that specific subject, and gives them a failing grade.

According to “Tru Health Medicine” (2018), eating in time helps you energized. Eating

meals in time gives our body a fuel which students can use in studying. Since eating in time

gives us energy, it can also prevent feeling drowsy which helps students to focus on the

topic. Eating meals in time can also increase our self control. Why is it important? Because

eating meals helps students to make decision accurately. Eating chocolates can also increase

student’s memory, and it is the recommended food for studying Graham (2016). It is proven

by Psychologist Merill Elias. She test 1000 people in the state of New York in the 1970’s,

and she found out that eating chocolates was strongly linked to superior brain function.

Chocolates are not the only food which increases brain performance. According to Jennings

(2017), fatty fish also helps brain to function well, because brain uses omega 3 to build brain

and cells that are essential for learning and memory, coffee which increase alertness,

improved mood, and sharpened concentration.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

This research is to study the importance of taking meals before the class starts to the

students of City College of Tagaytay. This study is to determine if eating meals in time affects

the academic performance of the students of City College of Tagaytay.

1.3 Significance of the Study

The study focuses on explaining the effects of not taking meals in time before the classes

starts which affects the academic performance of the students. This research will be beneficial to

the following:

Students: This research will help students to give information about the goods of eating meals

before the classes’ starts, which improve their brain performance, and gives them enough

knowledge on what to eat on their meals, or before the classes’ starts.

Parents: This research helps parents what food they need to give to their son/daughter and tell

their son/ daughter to eat meals in time to improve their memory and increase brain function

while studying.

Teachers: This research helps teachers to be aware of what should they tell to their students

what to eat when they were studying, and give students enough time to eat their meals in time.

Future Researchers: This research gives ideas to the benefits of eating meals in time which

helps students in studying.

1.4 Assumption of the Study

The Study is based on the following assumption:

1. Every Student can’t focus on what they are doing if they are hungry.

2. Meals can gives you enough energy to finish specific task.

3. Breakfast is the most important meal.

4. Eating in time makes us healthy physically and mentally.

1.5 Scope and Limitation

The scope area of the study is City College of Tagaytay. The researcher will conduct a

survey on the students of City College of Tagaytay.

The limitation of the study is the importance of taking meals in time which affects

students’ academic performance.

1.5 Definition of Terms

Professors – the one who instruct students. A teacher of the highest rank in a college or

university. Professor can also call instructor.

Skipping – means not doing the task or work in time.

Drowsy – feeling sleepy or tired.

Self Control – the ability to control self in particular one's emotions and desires or the

expression of them in one's behavior, especially in difficult situations.

Accurate – do things or work correctly, in details, or exact.

Academic Performance – is the ability of the students to come up with the lesson in

specific topic.
 Chapter 2

Review of Related Literature

According to Krueger (n,d), There are 7 foods that can help kids stay sharp and affect

how their brains develop well into the future. This are eggs, Greek yogurt, green vegetables, fish,

nuts and seeds, oatmeal, and apples and plums. Egg gives protein and nutrients that can greatly

help for the concentration. Greek yogurt contains fats which are important to brain; it can help

brain cells in good form for sending and receiving information. Green vegetables are full of

foliate and vitamins, spinach and kale are linked to lower odds of getting dementia later in life.

Kale is a super food, packed with antioxidants and other things that help new brain cells grow.

Fish is a good source of vitamin D and omega-3s, which protect the brain from declining mental

skills and memory loss. Salmon, tuna, and sardines are all rich in omega-3s. Nuts and seeds are

packed with protein, essential fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals, nuts and seeds may boost

mood and keep your nervous system in check. Oatmeal is protein- and fiber-rich oatmeal helps

keep heart and brain arteries clear. In one study, kids who ate sweetened oatmeal did better on

memory-related school tasks than those who ate a sugary cereal. Apples are an antioxidant that

may fight decline in mental skills.

According to Barnes (2016), Eating regularly throughout the day keeps

your metabolism running at full speed, prevents dips in your energy, keeps you alert and focused,

and [can help keep] your weight steady by preventing overeating at later meals. “The main fuel

for your brain is glucose, which you get from eating foods—predominantly carbohydrate-rich

ones,” Rachele Pojednic, Ph.D., assistant professor in the nutrition department at Simmons
College and professor at the Harvard Extension School, tells SELF. Complex carbohydrates, like

fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, are the most nutritious sources of glucose because they take

a longer time to digest than refined carbohydrates (plus they’re often loaded with other beneficial

nutrients). Without a frequent carbohydrate supply, your blood sugar can dip too low, leaving

you feeling sluggish, irritated, and like you can’t concentrate, says Zeitlin. Pincus (n,d), states

that when people are super hungry, they tend to go for the carbohydrates and sweets because

those will raise their blood sugar. Carbo-loading without nutrients like fat and protein to temper

the rise in glucose can make your blood sugar spike, then crash—not ideal. Also, when you don't

eat often enough, you may not get enough protein to keep up muscle mass—which helps rev

your metabolism—and you probably won’t have enough energy to work out and either build

more muscle or maintain what you’ve got. “Skipping meals doesn’t only affect the nutrients you

consume, but your ability to exercise and lead a healthy life, Pincus (n,d).

According to Harvard Medical School (2015), eating meals more than three times a day

can cause decrease in hunger and an increase in fullness, which can potentially prevent

overeating. In fact, when people become very hungry the risk increases that they will choose

unhealthy high-calorie foods, such as pizza and soda. This can lead to eating too much at one

sitting. More opportunities to consume healthy foods such as fruit, vegetables and whole grains.

But there are also bad benefits these are: Choosing snacks that do not leave us satisfied, which

can lead to overeating later in the day. And more mindless eating. Unhealthy food options are

everywhere to tempt us. We learn to respond to cues, such as food availability, rather than

hunger and fullness. This can lead to overeating. Eating three meals a day can help us resist

tempting foods and overeating. This helps promote weight loss.

 Chapter 3

Methodology

This chapter focuses on the methods, instruments, population, procedure and statistical

treatment used to gather the necessary data needed in this study.

3.1 Method of Research

This study used descriptive method with correlation approach. In descriptive studies, the

researchers interact with the respondents that may involve survey or interviews to collect the

necessary information.

The researchers also used correlation because they wanted to know if there is a

significant relationship between the academic performance of the students and the importance of

taking meals before class.

In this research, quantitative research method was used and the data was collected to

survey form. Since the quantitative research is concerned with numbers, relationship between

events and examines the cause and effect relationship. This will help the researchers to be able to

grasp the percentage of the factors that influence their choice of strand.

3.2 Population, sample size, and sampling technique description/ criteria for selecting

respondents

The researcher will conduct a survey on all students of City College of Tagaytay, in all

sections in different department.

3.3 Research Instrument

The researcher used self-made survey questionnaire. It consists of 2 parts: on the first

part, the researcher will include the department, the age, and the gender. The second part of the

survey questionnaire consists of the 4-point linker scale questionnaire about the importance to

taking meals before the class starts in which the respondents had to answer according to how

often they have considered the said factor. The scale refers to 4- Always, 3- Often, 2-

Sometimes, 1- Never.

3.4 Data Gathering Procedure

The procedure began by designing a questionnaire. As there was no existing

questionnaire to match the threefold objectives of the study, the researchers had to design one.

Due to vast geography and population of the locale where the study was conducted, it was

decided that the participants would be students of City College of Tagaytay. Closely related to

the aforementioned point was the consideration that the questionnaires were distributed among

the participants according to the population of the students in each department, and section. That

is to say, for each section, the researchers will use 100% of the population to be their

respondents.

The data where then encoded into Microsoft Office Excel 2007 and analyzed by applying

appropriate statistical techniques. Specifically, descriptive statistics such as mean, frequencies,

and percentage were calculated.

3.5 Statistical Treatment

A quantitative method that was applied in this study required statistical and numerical

analysis of data collected through survey questionnaire with the help of computational

techniques and formulas.

In order to get the average of the responses in the 4-point Likert scale, the researchers

determined the Mean.

X= Mean

∑ 𝒇 = sum of all scores

N= Number of cases

∑𝒇
X=
𝑵