July 1st marked the date
public schools were required to be in compliance with the new nutrition
standards in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Program. Recently, the New York Times reported at the
annual conference held by the School Nutrition Association and explored some of
the innovative menus being served in our nation’s public schools (for more
information see http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/18/us/school-menus-get-a-fresh-look.html?ref=education). With many children eating two, even three
meals a day at school, the need for better nutrition standards is dire. However, filling students’ plates with
servings of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains will be useless unless they
are educated about the healthful effects their changing lunch menus.. How do we educate our students about the
benefits of good nutrition so that they are making healthy choices outside the
walls of the school building and into their adult lives?
One answer
to this question is the University of Maryland’s Text2BHealthy program, tested
in eight Maryland public schools this past school year. Utilizing ubiquitous technology to target
parents, Text2BHealthy sends text messages to parents with practical
suggestions on how to improve their children’s diets and keep them active. As one of the eight test schools, my school,
Moravia Park Elementary Middle welcomed educators from the program who cooked
with students and taught them about the importance of eating fruits and
vegetable Now in its second year of
operation, Text2BHealth will be studied by University of Maryland Department of
Family scholars Stephanie Grutzmacher and Katherine spheres to test the efficacy
of the project. With grass roots
programs like Text2BHealthy and a new set of nutrition standards aimed at
improving our students’ health, there is hope that education about healthy and
active lifestyles will be re-integrated into the public school system.
To keep updated with this study, see:http://sph.umd.edu/news/whats_new.cfm?id=18221
2 comments:
As a nutrition buff, both of these initiatives warm my heart, but the combination of the two seems truly visionary. In the referenced NYT article, of the the quoted experts makes the point that "putting things on a plate doesn’t make it a nutritious meal," which reminds us yet again that policy without implementation is rather useless. However, the Text2BHealthy program seems like a wonderful first response to this issue. One of the challenges that I see to the new nutrition standards is that students are more likely to eat things at school that they are used to eating at home. The prevalence of "food deserts" in many major cities (including Baltimore) makes it unlikely that many of our most at-risk students will be eating the whole-grains, fruits, and vegetables that they will now be seeing in the cafeteria. This is where it seems to me that Text2BHealthy can make such a difference. By helping families eat healthier at home, it seems likely that they will be also helping children to eat healthier at school, thereby compounding the positive effects. It seems to me that the combination of these programs is a precursor to some sort of Harlem Children's Zone-esque nutritional umbrella program. If Michelle Obama can keep rolling with the agenda that brought about these new nutrition standards then I will be even more hopeful about the future of our students.
I remember the first day walking into our school's cafeteria and being absolutely shocked by the meal options provided to students. After documentaries about the importance of healthy choice and nutrition, I was surprised to hear that more schools, especially in Baltimore City and Baltimore County, were not making the movement towards bringing healthy food options to the schools.
Michelle Obama's strongest movement is fighting against youth obesity and making sure that students are educated about the importance of health and participating in daily sport activities. Yet, why are schools not being mandated to throw away the unhealthy lunch choices and being forced to take in healthy and fresh options?
It unfortunately comes down to money. And I believe the systems are not able to dedicate enough resources to get the fresh ingredients and healthy options to spend the time and money making these healthy options readily available to our schools.
I look forward to seeing what improvements are made after this bill is passed, and hope that I can be shocked in a good way next time I look into a school cafeteria.
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