Nutrition in Schools

1. Nutrition in Schools Ashley Reid and Erich Jegier

2. Students Need Nutritional Lunches • School – students must be sharp and alert • Extracurricular activities – require a substantial amount of energy that students must receive from their lunches • Health – long term effects • Education – students must learn about healthy eating and good nutritional decisions

3. Problems of Unhealthy Lunches • Are unable to provide students with the energy they need • Food contains additives, preservatives, and chemicals that are toxic to students • Lead to poor dietary habits as students grow up to become adults

4. Students Need Energy • Wholesome food is essential to allow the body to function properly • Teenagers are growing and need to consume more calories than most people think • http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

5. Nutrition Facts

6. Chemicals and Additives • Number of free and reduced lunches is high • Food needs to be produced and distributed in a cost effective manner • The easiest way to make a profit off food is through the use of chemicals and additives • The FDA has approved over 3,000 additives, but these chemicals are still toxic to your body

7. Students Learn Young • People grow accustomed to how they live, so students who live with bad nutritional choices will grow up to make those same detrimental decisions • Students need to be influenced early by good dietary choices and nutritional food; which can be done by providing them with a wholesome lunch each day

8. Current State of School Lunches: • About 31% of all children between ages 6 and 19 are overweight • A typical elementary school menu includes entrees such as pizza, nachos, hamburgers, cheese sticks, and Sloppy Joe’s

9. Pink Slime • scraps of meat and connective tissue swept up from slaughterhouse floors that are doused with a pink chemical to kill dangerous pathogens School cafeterias receive part of the ground beef they serve from the USDA, which is providing 7 million pounds to schools this year

10. What is Being Done? • Nearly 70% of school districts are reducing or eliminating sodium in foods • In 2004, the National School Lunch Act authorized the use of the Farm to Cafeteria Program which sponsored school gardens and brought in local foods from small farms • 42 states have proposed nutritional guidelines for elementary and middle schools

11. What is Being Done? cont. • Two-thirds of districts are reducing added sugar and half are increasing meatless options such as salads and fruit • A third has started incorporating locally sourced items

12. Organizations Get Involved • Whole Foods • Great American Salad Bar Project supplies a free salad bar kit to cafeterias in 300 schools nationwide • Farm to School Programs • Pinewood Elementary School • Over 17 CMS schools have introduced school gardens

13. What About CMS? • High number of free and reduced lunch programs • Food must be made and delivered in bulk to be economical, but this requires the use of preservatives • CMS is doing things to change their lunches for the better

14. Problems in CMS • The number of students on free and reduced lunch is increasing • Myers Park: 748 students on first week of school • So many students in CMS means bulk orders and set monthly menus are the most economical

15. Improvements in CMS • Providence removed French fries from the menu two years ago • Four CMS high schools ( including Providence and Myers Park) have introduced new items to their menus

16. What else can be done? • Programs that not only give students healthier options for lunch, but also educate students on good eating habits • Potentially, high school students could visit middle and elementary schools to promote good nutrition • It is important that students in CMS learn how crucial healthy eating is to a good lifestyle