WEEK 11 - "I think that parents have a right to expect that their kids will be served fresh, healthy food that meets high nutritional standards." - Michelle Obama

The past few years I have been busy a full time job, volunteerism and life in general.  I felt like I did not have enough time to investigate the many changes in the field of nutrition and kinesiology.  With that in mind, one of the  main goals of my sabbatical was to gain current examples and bring them back to the classroom and community.  I just returned from a School Nutrition Association conference in South Carolina.  My sabbatical activities this week demonstrated that I had a lot that I needed to learn with respect to the powerful and positive changes that have occurred in the school lunch programs in the very recent past.  

The topic of school lunches hits close to home for me as I am mother of two children who participate in the school lunch program.  It has always been something that I have been passionate about and speak on the topic through the Parkland Speaker's Bureau.  In 2008 was when both my kids started eating school lunch.  I saw what they kids were eating in school cafeterias and was inspired to redesign my BIO 120 (Fundamentals of Nutrition) class at Parkland College to take on the challenge of making a healthy lunch for under $3 that elementary school students would gladly eat.  I provided my Parkland students with the nutrition guidelines, taught them healthy food handling, demonstrated calculations needed for them to determine if their meal met the guidelines and then created a forum for an Iron Chef type competition with the elementary school kids as the judges. 

http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2008-11-19/parkland-students-try-make-healthy-lunches-kids.html

 From the News Gazette article highlighting the nutrition competition, "Finding something kids like is important", said Washington art teacher Shauna Carey.  "I can't believe how much food these kids throw away," Carey said. "They look at the plate and they may eat one thing and throw the rest away. Then they spend the rest of the day hungry. The whole idea of making stuff that's visually attractive to them and that they like is huge."

  
So it is more complex than just making a healthy lunch!  Individuals involved in the school lunch programs need to think about many things.  A short list of things to consider when introducing a new meal or snack at a school:

• student acceptance of the food (if they don't like it, they won't eat it)
• cost (even it it is healthy, if it costs too much, it can't be served)
• preparation time (some schools have very short lunches...less than 30 minutes)
• nutrition guidelines 

With respect to nutrition guidelines, Michelle Obama is one of many influential individuals pressing for positive change in the school lunch options available for children.  As posted on the USDA website, "Through the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act championed by the First Lady and signed by President Obama, USDA made the first major changes in school meals in 15 years, which will help us raise a healthier generation of children.  The new standards align school meals with the latest nutrition science and the real world circumstances of America's schools.  These responsible reforms do what's right for children's health in a way that is achievable in schools across the Nation."  I am impressed at how quickly change has happened and I was excited to go to the conference to learn more! 

I had the unique pleasure of attending the School Nutrition Association conference with a friend who works for a food manufacturing company.  It was thought provoking to see the conference from both sides: as an attendee learning alongside school decision makers and helping on the showroom floor with the food production companies.  Although media hype sensationalizes school lunch options, honestly things have come a long way from when I was in school eating the rectangle pizza, french fries and a warm chocolate milk for lunch.  The conference was a wonderful forum for school officials, those interested in nutritional health of children and producers to gather and learn together.  I learned about the specific cost nutrition and other guidelines in place with schools for both meals and snacks.  For example, this academic year was huge as the USDA began requiring schools who were selling snacks a la carte to meet all Smart Snack guidelines.  In the past, students could easily purchase donuts, fruit flavored candies and regular colas to "fuel" their growing bodies.  Now that the new standards are in place, better choices such as roasted nuts, granola bars and fruit cups are readily available for students.  

http://www.fns.usda.gov/healthierschoolday/tools-schools-focusing-smart-snacks

But, the question still remains for some...will they like or even prefer the healthier food options?  I have the guts to say, YES THEY WILL!  That is if we get them involved and bring them to the table.  I have a presentation entitled: Fun With Food.  The target audience is children between 6 and 13 years old.  The presentation is in actuality a game show that gets kids involved on several levels.  I begin by sharing strange facts, poems, songs and more about the food they eat.  We move on to questions like, "what fruit juice contains fat?" where the kids have multiple choice options presented to them and they get to use iClickers to record in their answer.  Once we discuss the question and what their responses were, I explain that coconut juice is the correct answer and the kids get brought a small tasting cup with coconut juice.  When they get involved in the question, discuss the answer, curiosity peaks about a new food, they see me get excited about consuming the foodstuff (and sharing how delicious I think it is), they try it, and repeatedly I have observed over 90% acceptance of foods like soynuts, mangoes, coconut milk.  Kids even enjoy prunes if they are presented properly.  I have had kids say that prunes taste like cinnamon apple butter in an easy to eat package and many ask to have second helpings (I stop them at third helpings as I don't want a prune filled kid sent home and me getting a letter about their bowels the next day).   

Traditionally, I teach college nutrition in a standard classroom setting.  Many semesters I teach primarily using PPT presentations, videos, discussions and a white board....and that is what is happening in the elementary schools.  Nutrition is taught in health classes while the kids sit in a desk taking notes.  Teachers discuss the human body while watching videos about how it works.  But, what if we could instead challenge ourselves to think outside the box and look at how we make nutrition education fun and meaningful?  Could we teach about nutrition through experiential learning during lunch allowing students to try new foods at little or no cost to them?  What if kids were prompted to critically evaluate their lunch choices through discussion as they eat?  Why can't we use the new Smart Snack guidelines to introduce math during the lunch hour and demonstrate how to read a nutrition label?  These are critical skills in life.  Few subjects in school affect a person daily and have lifelong implications....nutrition is one of them.  Let's teach it as if it matters.  We should get into the lunch rooms of those kids at a young age and really make an impact.  Who is with me?