Communities look for ways to teach kids to eat healthy
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
HEALTHY COOKING: Cameron Mullins, 8, asks to make sure he’s mixing the recipe correctly during a cooking class at the Lide White Boys & Girls Club. Children in the class are learning to cook using healthier options, such as fat-free cream cheese instead of regular. (Staff photo by Julie Kish)
Child obesity is not about fat kids.
It’s about children growing up at a disadvantage — from being ridiculed to being unable to play normally to harboring chronic or life-threatening diseases once reserved for the elderly.
It’s about an entire generation that may not live as long as their parents because of their eating habits and inactivity.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that two-thirds of overweight 5- to 10-year-olds already have at least one risk factor for heart disease, such as elevated blood pressure or insulin levels.
Communities across the U.S. are coming together to find solutions to reverse the trend.
Recently, Surgeon General Richard Carmona, who calls child obesity an epidemic, spoke at an event starting an anti-obesity initiative sponsored by the University of North Carolina and Gatorade.
“We really need to get everybody to get on board and help us make this a healthier United States,” Carmona said.
The initiative, called “Get Kids in Action,” will include research, education and outreach in selected North Carolina communities. Nearly nine million American children, ages 6 to 19, are seriously overweight, according to program organizers.
Locally, King’s Daughters’ Hospital is making its own effort to solve the problem. It hired dietitian technician Michele Maher last year to run a pediatric healthy weight program in an effort to help educate the public about the risks associated with overweight children. The program offers free counseling to help change eating habits and lifestyles, not of just children, but entire families.
“Education is crucial to the success of eliminating child obesity,” Maher said.
She is appalled when she asks young children to name vegetables and many mention only potatoes or French fries.
“They’ve never heard of the food groups,” she said.
Maher was joined last year by KDH fitness coordinator Heather Foy to run FIT KIDS, a seven-week after-school program that teaches proper nutrition and physical activity. They focused on fifth-graders at Rykers’ Ridge, Deputy, Canaan, E.O. Muncie and Eggleston elementary schools.
Maher and Foy teach what used to be part of the school curriculum until budget cuts eliminated many P.E. and health classes.
But some schools are doing an “about face.”
Although government has laid out minimum guidelines for school lunch programs to follow, some proactive school administrators are creating entire wellness policies.
Locally, the Southwestern School Corp. is the first area school district to implement a comprehensive wellness policy, an assault on childhood obesity led by Southwestern Superintendent Steve Telfer.
“The guidelines are comprised of two components which cover nutrition and physical exercise for students,” Telfer said.
Beginning with the coming school year, all K-12 staff will be encouraged to integrate nutritional themes in daily lessons, emphasizing the health benefits of good nutrition.
New nutrition standards to be implemented over the next several years at Southwestern include:
• Limiting the sale and distribution of foods of minimal nutritional value anywhere on school property and offer healthier choices like water, juice and sports drinks.
• Not using food as a reward or punishment
• Refraining from entering into an exclusive soft drink contract that encourages the promotion or greater availability of low-nutrition beverages
• Reducing junk-food marketing on campus.
• Keeping brand-name fast food out of the school cafeteria.
• Offering healthy foods and beverages at school functions, school parties and staff events.
• Ensuring that food will have no more than 30 percent of its total calories derived from fat and no more than 10 percent of its total calories from saturated fates.
• Eliminating frying as a method of on-site preparation for foods served as part of school meals. Phased in by 2009-2010.
• Requesting information regarding presence and amount of trans fat in foods to be sold on site. Beginning in the 2007-2008 school year, Southwestern will reduce and eventually eliminate purchase of any products containing trans fat.
• Making a strong effort to lower total simple carbohydrate (sugar) content of all foods served on site.
• Serving whole-grain/high-fiber food items during lunch and on a la cart lines.
• Providing the Recommended Daily Allowances for protein, calcium, iron, vitamins A and C and calories at school breakfasts.
• Ensuring maximum content of sodium in school breakfasts is 600 mg.
Effective 2009-2010, the following beverages may NOT be sold or served at schools: Soft drinks, sports drinks, iced teas, fruit-based drinks containing less than 50 percent real fruit juice, and drinks containing caffeine — except for low-fat or fat-free chocolate milk.
The Southwestern School Board also requests that parents who have lunch with their children at school refrain from bringing fast food. Instead, it recommends parents eat cafeteria food with their children or bring a healthy sack lunch from home.
Madison schools cater
to savvy lunch crowd
The Madison Consolidated Schools is also making changes in the school lunch program. Judy Brooks, the food service director, said that while school lunches must meet minimal nutritional standards, she is always looking for ways to provide healthier meals.
“We changed from white to wheat bread two years ago and serve turkey ham instead of ham,” she said. “Twenty years ago we were required to serve whole milk, but today we follow the new guidelines on milk, serving either skim, 1 percent or 2 percent milk.”
She added that there is more of a selection in Madison school cafeterias today.
“Kids are savvy,” she said. “They make their own choices. A popular option is a big chef’s salad with tomatoes, chicken or turkey, and cheese. We offer small pre-packaged salad dressings. Light ranch is the favorite. It has no more than 30 percent from fat and 10 percent from saturated fat.”
French fries are still served to junior high students, she said, while the elementary schools serve baked fries. This year, school lunches will have zero trans fat.
Despite the move toward healthier options, Brooks said that 40 percent more students are eating in the cafeteria than 10 years ago.
“Students are aware of eating healthier,” she said. “They like baked potatoes and fresh fruit like apples and watermelon when it’s in season. Veggies like baby carrots served with light ranch dressing are a favorite. At the high school, broccoli and cauliflower are also favorites.”
The high school also offers a fat-free yogurt machine — a popular alternative to ice cream for students, she said.
While in some communities, the lack of social support for healthy eating habits is prolonging poor food choices, Madison’s medical and educational communities are rallying to build healthier lifestyles and healthier children – for this generation and future generations.
“It’s when the children learn good food choices at school and then they are taken to fast food restaurants seven days a week that they get mixed messages,” said Maher, who also teaches healthy cooking classes to children at the Boys & Girls Club.
“Teaching healthy eating habits and regular physical activity takes a community effort. But the entire family working together making good food choices and exercising is key.”
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