A study by JAMA Pediatrics, researching three years of meal data from 1.7 million meal records within the Renton School District, showed a consistent rate of students choosing healthier foods and school meals. The nutritional quality of the meals was reviewed through the new standards put out by the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act. The study reported about 47 percent of students bought school lunches before the standards were put in place and 46 percent continued to buy school lunches. According to a recent article, many education experts showed concern to the new standards put in school meals, believing that students would not eat the healthier meals, but the study shows that many students are still choosing school lunches. Another study from 2014 by the Harvard School of ...
Chef Ann Cooper founder of the Chef Ann Foundation (CAF) has created an online resource called The Lunch Box, to help support schools who want to change their food environment. In a recent interview Emily Miller, from CAF told Food Tank that they want to help create a healthier food system for kids in today's world, where kids can learn the importance of nourishing their bodies and where their food comes from. Miller explains that the best way to teach kids about healthier foods is through school, where kids are already in a learning environment. The Lunch Box resource is an in-depth school food resource, where school food professionals can use free tools to help transition from processed foods to scratch-made plates, that are sustainable. Including over 200 recipes that are ...
New funding has been awarded to train school staff to prepare and procure fresh farm foods for school districts across New York state. Funding from farm-to-school program grants helps develop and strengthen connections between local farms and schools. This in turns helps increase access to fresh fruits and vegetables for students through various programming like student gardens, farm field trips, or even hands-on cooking lessons. The communities receiving funding are Buffalo School District, Cooperative Extension in Schoharie and Otsego Counties, Rensselaer County schools, Saranac Lake schools, Seneca County Cooperative Extension and Broome-Delaware-Tioga BOCES. Daily consuming fresh fruits and vegetables are a great way to sustain a healthy diet for kids in ...
A movement for healthier school lunches called, "National Take Your Parents to Lunch Day", is all about helping parents have the resources and tools to make sure their child is getting the nutrition needed in their school lunches. Kiwi, a magazine that promotes health for families, covering organic products, nutrition and wellness, helps support the initiative along with the School Nutrition Association. The weeklong initiative is held in October and helps parents connect with school officials, opening the doors for movements toward healthier school lunches. Parents and school officials can learn more about why healthy lunches are important by downloading a checklist for a healthier school lunch or downloading the free Lunch Day Toolkit. Parents can also enjoy a free ...
The School District of Onalaska is starting a new and healthier way to fundraise through the high schools concessions stands. The new concession stands will still offer the usual options of candy, popcorn and hot dogs, but now they will also offer consumers new healthier options, called "Freddy's Food's. Named after the school's Mascot Freddy, the new food options will consist of freshly made sandwiches, salads, fruit cups, and cheese sticks. The YMCA will be studying this new program initiative, through a Pioneering Healthier Communities study. The study will review how offering new healthier options into schools local fundraising concession stands impacts the health of the school and the overall health of the community. Zach Thomas, one of the students that runs the high ...
"Sugary beverages are the number one source of sugar in our diets", stated May Okihiro, a local Pediatrician speaking in a film about the need for the new water bottle filling stations in the state of Hawai'i. The partnership between the University of Hawai'i Manoa John A. Burns School of Medicine and Kaiser Permanente Hawai'i has provided a water bottle filling station to 25 schools in the state and reusable water bottles for the students. The partnership hopes to incorporate educational awareness about healthier beverage consumption as a part of the school's wellness policies. All students received a colorful new water bottle, encouraging them to use it daily at the water bottle refilling station. The Be Well @ School project is an initiative for the Hawaiian schools to offer ...
In Palm Desert, Calif. (22.8% Latino) the Desert Sands School Districts are encouraging students to have a hands-on education about agriculture, gardening, health benefits of plants and more. Incorporating science, math, nutrition, language arts and art, students are learning integral lessons about gardens, farming, and how to incorporate farm-to-table solutions for a healthier lifestyle. Starting in elementary schools like Ford Elementary School, where each class has their own gardens, to middle schools like La Quinta Middle school where students go on farm field trips, all the way up to high school like Palm Desert High School, where handicap students have had a garden for over six years. Incorporating a culture of health, students have been encouraged to use the vegetables, ...
Some Members of Congress, food companies, and trade organizations are urging Congress to roll back school nutrition. Have they considered what that would mean for kids’ health? Here are 9 reasons rolling back school nutrition is a bad idea. ...
Children in elementary schools all over the nation are following a 3rd to 5th-grade health curriculum called, Energy Balance 101, part of Together Counts, funded by Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation. The Healthy Weight Foundation has some very familiar CEO's funding the program from companies including PepsiCo, Kellogg, Hershey, Nestle, Coca-Cola, Unilever, Smucker and General Mills. Questions about the curriculum have come up in a recent article, as the educational materials do not point out the need to eat healthy foods, but instead encourages kids that they can eat whatever they like, as long as they "balance" their food choices with exercise. Unfortunately, many Latino kids are already dealing with obesity and possible health risks like pre-diabetes. Kids need information ...
