Healthy Schools Campaign

Good News for Illinois School Cafeterias!

By Jean Saunders, HSC School Wellness Director

Last week, Governor Quinn announced that the state of Illinois has awarded $3.6 million in Federal Recovery Funds to improve school cafeterias. The grants have been awarded to 254 schools across the state. The Illinois State Board of Education reported that funding priority was given to schools with plans to purchase equipment that:

• Lends itself to improving the quality of nutrition to meet dietary guidelines;

• Improves the safety of food served;

• Improves the overall energy efficiency of the school nutrition operations;

• Allows schools to support expanded participation in a school meal program.

The full report is here. [pdf]

We applaud the words of State Superintendent of Education Christopher A. Koch:

"Good nutrition gives children a better chance to succeed in the classroom... These funds will help schools improve their cafeteria equipment and the quality of the meals served for some of our neediest children across the state."

Friday Kids' Recipe: It's about Thyme!

By Jean Saunders, HSC School Wellness Director

My favorite thing about this recipe is that it's so easy and fun to make with kids. It requires no knives or other sharp objects, and little chefs can do practically every step of the process. I've had great success making this recipe with children as young as three -- they loved snapping the beans, pulling apart the thyme, squeezing the lemon juice. And in the end, they love eating the tasty, crunchy summer salad!

Summer bean salad
½ pound green beans, ends snipped
½ pound yellow beans, ends snipped
Ice water bath
2 tbsp lemon juice
½ tsp mustard
1 tsp garlic, chopped
½ tsp honey
Salt, pepper to taste
6 tbsp olive oil
1tsp garlic, chopped
1 tbsp fresh thyme, chopped
1 tbsp chives, chopped
4 cups leaf lettuce, torn into bite sized pieces

Bring 2 quarts of salted water to boil in saucepan. Add beans. Cook for 4 minutes. Drain. Immerse in ice water bath for 5 minutes. Drain. Whisk lemon juice, mustard, garlic, honey, salt, and pepper, in bowl. Continuing to whisk, slowly pour in olive oil. Adjust seasonings to taste. Toss beans with 2 to 3 tablespoons of dressing. Add chopped herbs, toss again. Mix beans and lettuce together. Add additional dressing to taste.

Enjoy!

 

Child Nutrition Committee Work to Begin This Fall

By Jean Saunders, HSC School Wellness Director 

 

With the current Child Nutrition Act set to expire at the end of September, we have been closely following discussions about when committees in Congress will begin work on the Act’s reauthorization.

Senator Tom Harkin, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, recently announced that he hopes his committee's work on the legislation will begin in October or November. This means that Congress will need to approve an extension of the current Act so it can continue operating at current funding levels until reauthorization.

In addition to this announcement about timing, Harkin shared some insight into his current thinking about how the Act will address the school food environment. He went on to say that the Agriculture Committee would begin with a draft for reauthorization that would give the USDA, which currently oversees the school meals program, authority to regulate all food sold in schools -- not just cafeteria meals, but also vending machines, school stores, a la carte lines and other sales. Harkin said that the USDA's authority over this food would ensure that junk food could not undermine school nutrition programs. 

We look forward to seeing the draft of this legislation and working with our Congressional leaders to ensure that the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act supports schools’ efforts to provide all students with fresh, healthy meals and important lessons about nutrition. To learn more, take action, and stay posted for updates, be sure to visit our Child Nutrition Act resource center. 

Report Gives U.S. Low Marks for High Obesity Rates

By Jean Saunders, HSC School Wellness Director

A new report, F as in Fat, was recently released by the Trust for America’s Health in collaboration with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

In addition to sharing alarming statistics on obesity in both adults and children, the report assesses state and federal policies that address the nation’s growing obesity epidemic.

It also provides recommendations for further action: I was especially interested to see that the report points out the importance of the school environment in addressing childhood obesity.

Obesity prevention should be a high priority in health reform, the report suggests. Recommendations for health reform include:

• Increasing the number of programs available in communities, schools, and childcare settings that help make nutritious foods more affordable and accessible and provide safe and healthy places for people to engage in physical activity;
• Ensuring that every adult and child has access to coverage for preventive medical services, including nutrition and obesity counseling and screening for obesity-related diseases, such as type 2 diabetes; and
• Reducing Medicare expenditures by promoting proven programs that improve nutrition and increase physical activity among adults ages 55 to 64.

The report also calls for a national strategy to combat obesity, with schools very much in focus. It recommends policies that:

• Provide healthy foods and beverages to students at schools;
• Increase the availability of affordable healthy foods in all communities;
• Increase the frequency, intensity, and duration of physical activity at school;
• Improve access to safe and healthy places to live, work, learn, and play;
• Limit screen time; and
• Encourage employers to provide workplace wellness programs.

On their own, the statistics shared in this report are alarming: nearly two-thirds of adult Americans are overweight or obese and nearly one-third of children and adolescents are overweight or obese.

Among adults, obesity rates continued to rise. If there is some good news here though, it is that researchers at the CDC report that there was no statistically significant change in the number of children and adolescents (aged 2 to 19) who were overweight or obese between 2003-2004 and 2005-2006.

This is the first time the rates have not increased in more than 25 years.

To me, this highlights the importance of the work already underway to prevent childhood obesity, and speaks to the need for increased efforts to reduce the rates that are already staggeringly high.

As this report points out, creating a healthy school environment is a critical part of the solution to the complicated problem that our nation faces in addressing the obesity epidemic. As lawmakers roll up their sleeves on health care reform, we urge them to take these recommendations to heart.

Nutrition Facts on Restaurant Menus Could Help Kids Make Healthy Choices

by Jean Saunders, HSC School Wellness Director

A new bill in the Senate would make tallying up nutrition info for your restaurant meal even more straightforward than calculating the tip. A national menu labeling provision [pdf - see page 399] would require restaurant chains with 20 or more outlets to post calories on menus, menu boards (including drive-thrus), and food display tags, with additional information -- fat, saturated fat, carbohydrates, sodium, protein and fiber -- available in writing upon request. Self-serve items, food on display, alcohol, and vending machines would be covered. Specials (on the menu for less than 60 days) and market tests would be exempt.

Like the act which currently requires nutrition facts labeling on packaged foods, this legislation would require national uniformity. This means that states and localities would not be able to require additional nutrient information on menus but would be able to compel things such as food safety warnings, nutrition symbols or sodium warnings. With a uniform national system, the industry will be able to more easily comply with the requirement and consumers will quickly come to expect this information from restaurants.

HSC believes that the menu labeling requirements would help to make nutrition education in schools more actionable: students would be better able to make informed food choices when they purchase food away from school. While that may seem like a small benefit, it is actually quite important. As Rochelle discussed in a Sept. 2008 blog, we often hear from principals and others who work in schools that they are frustrated to see students visit nearby restaurants (often fast-food stops) to pick up unhealthy snacks and drinks before and after school. The school environment must support healthy eating, both by providing healthy food choices and the nutrition education that helps students make healthy choices outside of school. This menu labeling act would support students’ ability to put their nutrition education to good use and do just that.

How Universal Meals Could Revolutionize School Food

by Jean Saunders, HSC School Wellness Director

The challenges of serving a healthy school meal are numerous – logistics, cost, and even the paperwork all create barriers to providing healthy meals to the students who need them.  

One source of paperwork is the requirements around providing free and reduced-cost meals to students whose families qualify. Currently, 10 percent of the federal reimbursement for school lunches goes toward administration and oversight of the program. If this amount is reduced – by, say, increasing efficiency and reducing the amount of paperwork and administration – school food directors could spend more of that money on higher quality and more nutritious food.   

Fortunately, several bills have been introduced to address this very issue. A "universal meals" program would reduce paperwork while promoting broad access to school food. In such a program, schools wouldn't have to fill out the tedious paperwork to apply for federal reimbursements. Rather, “the government reimburses schools based on the percentage of eligible students. The school absorbs the costs of the remaining free meals, which… evens out because of the money saved on administrative costs.” As explained in one recent AP story: 

Universal meals mean better nutrition and a better educational experience for a greater percentage of low-income children, said Wilson, who is also president of School Nutrition Association. "We have all the science that shows good nutrition helps kids succeed in the classroom," she said. "We need to look at it as part of the school day." 

Recently Sen. Sherrod Brown (D. Ohio) introduced legislation to improve and expand the universal meals program. This is a no-brainer. Rather than spending our education dollars on paperwork, let’s spend it on making better food programs. 

To learn more and take action:

• Check out our past blogs on how Philadelphia provides kids with free breakfast or lunch thanks to universal meals, and how the stigma of traditional free lunch programs makes some students skip eating. 
• Visit our partner, the Food Resource and Action Center (FRAC) to learn more and contact your legislators in support of this bill. 

New Bill Asks: How Does Food Marketing in Schools Affect Kids?

By Amanda Chablani, HSC policy intern

As we gear up for Child Nutrition Act reauthorization later this year, we’re keeping a particularly close eye on any legislation that concerns nutrition, school and kids.  Recently, we spotted the Food Marketing in Schools Assessment Act, to be introduced by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, which will require that the Secretary of Education, along with the Division of Adolescent and School Health and the Centers for Disease Control, study the effect of marketing foods and beverages in elementary and secondary schools.

Specifically, the bill calls for an assessment of the nutritional quality of the types of food being marketed to kids and the media (brands and logos on posters, book covers, school supplies, etc.) being used to deliver the messages, as well as an examination of any educational incentive programs, television, radio, newsprint, and even podcast marketing, or market research studies being conducted within school facilities.

If this bill passes, I can imagine what this report will find.  The variety of ways our kids are subjected to marketing in school (for instance, Channel One, a TV program broadcast to schools around the country and owned by a marketing company) is particularly insidious given that students are a captive audience. And, they are in their institution of learning where they are being taught skills, habits, and behaviors meant to last a lifetime. To paraphrase one parent advocate we work with: because schools hold a respected place in our culture, we assume that the messages coming from schools must be good ones.

But in reality, I don’t have to imagine what the report will find because California has already done the research [PDF]  and made clear recommendations to eliminate the marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages at school.

In terms of national legislation, it is great to see progress in such an important area. While we all have a responsibility to teach our own kids how to make smart food choices, it is easy to forget that the food industry has a huge budget directed toward kids (the Center for Science in the Public Interest has a good summary of the issues here), and they make sure their voices are heard on the same important legislation we care so much about. We hope the additional data from this report will support any forthcoming effort to keep this kind of marketing out of schools.

P.S.:  Back in March, our own Jean Saunders blogged about the influence of food industry lobbyists on the upcoming school food program reauthorization. If a picture is worth a thousand words, the film clip she posted is a Who’s Who of participants in the upcoming debate on the Child Nutrition Act reauthorization. 

Happy, Healthy Fourth of July! And a Festive Picnic Recipe

by Jean Saunders, HSC School Wellness Director

Happy Independence Day! As we prepare for picnics, barbecues and fun celebrations this weekend, the question arises: what to eat?

This simple treat is easy to put together and hits a fun, festive note with bright-colored bounty from the farmer’s market. It’s easy for kids to assemble and for picnic-goers of all ages to enjoy!

Festive Fourth of July Berry Parfait

• 1 cup yogurt (You can use plain and sweeten with 1 tsp honey)
• 1 cup sliced strawberries
• ½ cup blueberries
• ½ tsp sugar

Divide strawberries in half. Sprinkle half with sugar and crush. Spoon ¼ cup yogurt into a parfait glass or other cup. Add ¼ cup of the crushed strawberries to each. Cover the crushed strawberries with the remaining yogurt. Top with blueberries and sliced strawberries.

Enjoy!

With Child Nutrition Act Reauthorization, Schools Need More Money for Better Food

by Jean Saunders, HSC School Wellness Director

Whew: school is out for summer! And for many of us, one of the (many) great things about summer is that we don’t have to think about what to send for school lunch. Well, maybe not all of us. Just as school ended for most students around the country, members of Congress are starting to work on the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act.

This law provides the funding and guidance for the Federal child nutrition programs, to ensure that low-income children have access to healthy and nutritious foods. Every day, more than 30 million children participate in these programs, eating lunch and breakfast at school. Every five years, Congress reviews the child nutrition programs through the reauthorization process, which provides an important opportunity to improve and strengthen these programs. The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 is set to expire on September 30, 2009.

 

Earlier this month, Chicago Tribune reporter Monica Eng wrote about her impressions of school lunch in Chicago. Eng wrote a lot about nachos; she also shared some important information about the challenges that school districts face in running their school meal programs. Schools have a dwindling number of working kitchens, minimally trained labor and -- most significantly -- the current level of funding for the national school lunch program is insufficient to cover the full costs of serving a school meal that meets the USDA nutrition standards that school must follow.

Eng writes, “Districts are still given only $2.57 to pay for each meal. After covering labor, overhead, and equipment, that leaves only about $1 for food.”

 

With this situation in mind, HSC is urging members of Congress to reauthorize the Child Nutrition Act with more money for better food. Increased funding will allow school food service operations to allocate more of their meal budgets to the food ingredients, so that they can include more fresh fruit and vegetables, more whole grains and fewer high fat, high sodium, highly processed foods. HSC is also calling on the USDA to improve the quality and variety of the food available to schools through the USDA Foods (commodities) program so that more fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables are available for schools to choose from.

Get involved now by supporting a strong and well-funded Child Nutrition Act!

Michelle Obama Speaks Up for School Food at White House Garden Harvest Day

Yesterday was harvest day at the White House kitchen garden, and Michelle Obama took the opportunity to raise awareness of the particular challenges and opportunities ahead for children’s health. Mrs. Obama celebrated harvest day with the fifth graders from Bancroft Elementary School who have been helping her look after the garden and spoke with them in detail about school food.

Here at HSC, we were very encouraged to hear what the First Lady had to say about child nutrition:

And the USDA’s National School Lunch Program serves approximately 30 million meals each year to low-income children.  And because these meals are the main source of consistent nourishment for these kids, we need to make sure we offer them the healthiest meals possible.

So to make sure that we give all our kids a good start to their day and to their future, we need to improve the quality and nutrition of the food served in schools.  We're approaching the first big opportunity to move this to the top of the agenda with the upcoming reauthorization of the child nutrition programs.  In doing so, we can go a long way towards creating a healthier generation for our kids.

We couldn’t agree more with Mrs. Obama’s statement about the importance of serving the healthiest school meals possible.

We were also thrilled to see the First Lady, who has spoken in general about the value of healthy eating, speak in specific terms about the Child Nutrition Act and the role of legislation in bringing that value to the nation’s children at school.

HSC urges Congress to reauthorize the Child Nutrition Act with increased funding for better food in schools. You can lend your voice to this campaign by sending a letter at our Child Nutrition Act action center.

For a detailed account of the harvest day celebration and the political significance of  Mrs. Obama’s remarks, check out Obamafoodorama.