One Choice - The RIGHT Choice!

A few months ago there was an interview on NPR about placing salad bars in Los Angeles Elementary schools. The story said that, although schools did have to educate kids about nutrition and the different fruits and veggies in the salad bar, the kids liked making their own choices AND increased fruits and veggies in their diets by one full serving per day. Huge!

Last November, the Chicago Tribune ran an article on Chicago Public School's breakfast program. While I definitely support students eating breakfast at school if they aren't able to at home, the options of CPS's breakfast program were, shall we say, not the best. One standout quote from the article came with supporting research from a Yale University study done by Dr. Brownell and his colleagues that showed if kids were only given healthy options, they would eat them - AND eat the correct portion size!

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation did an investigation into how well schools are implementing the new standards (Child Nutrition Act of 2004) for establishing goals for increasing nutrition and exercise for children in schools. While it is quite a long report (find it here, and, okay, no I have not finished reading it yet), it is full of great information, including this gem of a quote:

"An intervention conducted in three Connecticut middle schools found that student consumption of unhealthy foods and beverages decreased when these items were removed from school, and there was no compensatory increase in consumption of those foods or beverages at home."

What I hope people take away from research-supported articles like these is that of course there is no easy answer to getting kids to eat healthier at school - but that doesn't mean it has to be difficult! Elimination of unhealthy options and simple solutions such as providing a salad bar make a world of difference for young children. Supporting school nutrition involves educating young children to make the right choice, encouraging them to make the right choice, and providing them with the right choice. Which, of course, should be the only choice!

Resources:
Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity: Dr. Brownell's research on children's cereals
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: Local School Wellness Policies

CNBC Special

Just a quick note to say that CNBC has released a special on obesity in America. One Nation Overweight reports on a range of issues and gathers data from a number of sources, including interviews with people struggling with obesity and interviews with heads of influential companies int he food industry. While I haven't seen the entire thing, I am looking forward to finishing it - it was highly educational, pretty depressing, and provided startling statistics. Check it out!

School Lunch, From the Top Down

One of the major points made in Jamie Oliver's show Food Revolution was that schools are not in control over what is served in their cafeterias.

Show Example: Schools are mandated to give children a choice of white, chocolate or strawberry milk, even though the flavored milks had more sugar in them than soda. When the chocolate and strawberry milks were removed, children drank the white milk instead.
Lesson: Give kids only one choice - the right choice. (This will be the topic of my next post)

While there are obviously numerous kinks in policy that need to be worked out at state and district levels, the Federal government has taken a pro-active (ha!) and healthy stance on nutrition and exercise.

Through programs like the HealthierUS School Challenge and Michelle Obama's Let's Move! anti-obesity campaign, the federal government is incentivizing (yes, this is a word, i looked it up) the change toward a healthier educational environment for all students. Legislation, such as the currently-in-the-House-to-be-reauthorized Child Nutrition Act, would give the USDA more say in all aspects of school food - from lunchroom standards to what items are allowed in vending machines. Additionally, in March President Obama created the Task Force on Childhood Obesity and presented a comprehensive plan for the overhaul of our children's health within one generation - an ambitious and commendable goal.

Similarly to the WVA district in which Food Revolution was shot, parents in the Chicago suburb of Evanston are finding that changing what's on the menu in their children's schools does not come as easy as one might think. The parental protest to eliminate pancakes as a lunch option did not go over very well, simply because it is a popular choice with kids (i.e. funding). Hopefully, once the new CNA is through, regulations will nip these kind of situations in the bud by creating a cohesive federal mandate for the nutritional levels of all food served in schools - but until then, parents in Evanston and everywhere, keep up the good fight!

Resources:
Tribune article on Evanston, by Monica Eng
School Health Index: Self-assess your school's School Health!
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Obesity Publications and Research Center

Good Food = Good Learning

One of the most important consequences of the food students are fed at school is the way that it affects how children behave. With the skyrocketing diagnoses of ADHD, ODD and other behavior-related disorders, it is high time to look into how the food children are eating is impacting their learning.

At the end of the last episode of Jamie Oliver's 'Food Revolution' there were clips of Jamie interacting with teachers at Central Elementary, asking how the children had been in class since the changeover of the cafeteria. Teachers reported that students were no longer falling asleep in class, and that they were more able to pay attention to the task at hand. Now these might seem like small steps, but teachers know that the impact of even one or two kids being able to stay on task without creating disruptions is HUGE.

While I was trying to find quotes from the teachers, I came across this article: Jamie's food fuels pupils' brain power. Nutritional food being linked to school improvement - fantastic! To me it just seems like a no-brainer - if feeding our children healthy school meals will make them leaner AND improve their test scores, we have absolutely no reason not to feed them well.

Resources:
Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution (plus, check out full episodes on hulu!)
Sign Jamie's Petition for Better School Lunches

Yo Chunk, what's up with your food?

Yes, this is a reference to Goonies and the young candy bar-loving boy whose extra weight makes his character more endearing. I work in schools and am beginning a lifelong career of working with young students. Unfortunately, I've seen far too many kids who look like Chunk and possibly weigh more than I do (which is no easy feat these days).

Here's what I know about childhood obesity:

• Childhood obesity rates are on the rise. Kids are chunky!
• Malnutrition is completely different from undernutrition.
• Bad foods are easily accessible and cheap, AND foods that many people think are healthy are really contributing to the obesity epidemic in the U.S.
• Some efforts are being made towards education, prevention, and awareness.
• This is not going to be an easy change for U.S. schools, students, and families.

Here's what we WANT to know about childhood obesity and healthy diets in the schools:

• Investigate and report the current status of school diet in Chicago Public Schools (CPS)
• Federal policies and positions regarding school nutrition and health
• Various organizations that are helping to make schools healthy (both in CPS and nationwide)
• How our current budget crisis is contributing to the lack of student health
• The deal with junk food contracts in schools

Join us in our Nutrition Inquisition into the dietary habits of America's schools!