School s giving students better variety of healthy food
Students will return to school on Monday with a variety of healthy choices on cafeteria menus. In the Laurel Highlands School District, Gene Doria, food service director and co-chair of the districtwide wellness committee, is busy making sure cafeteria food meets nutritional requirements.
He said students this school year will be served whole wheat pizza crusts, homemade buns with five-grain flour, while a lighter whole wheat bread is in the works.
Doria, who will retire from his post this October, said between the whole wheat bread and the former bread, kids “can’t notice the difference. And it’s better for them.
“We didn’t want great changes, we wanted subtle changes. We wanted to give them more healthy options,” said Doria.
Students are offered peaches and pears, peas and bagged raw carrots with dip – two kinds of fruits or vegetables instead of one, Doria added.
Potato chips are baked instead of fried, while the district may take advantage of the Lays Potato Chip company’s new line of baked chips.
The high school has a smorgasbord of food every school day, including choices of a turkey sandwich or tacos with turkey burger meat. Quality chicken with no trans fat and baked French fries also are offered. Chicken patties are grilled instead of breaded.
In the Laurel Highlands Middle School, students have the option of a salad topped with chicken strips.
Doria said plans are in the works to invite parents to the school to see and taste first-hand what their kids are eating in school cafeterias – and to see the schools are not the reason some kids are obese.
Even the cafeteria milk’s fat percentage has been cut. Cafeterias will offer 1 percent hand-skimmed milk as well as 2 percent, said Doria. Doria said kids took to the less fatty milk last year.
“We keep doing these changes and hopefully we all will be healthier in the next 20 years,” he added.
Ben Neil and Kelly Loomis, school health and project coordinator, respectively, with Steps to a Healthier Fayette County, have been an asset to all school districts in Fayette County.
Neil and Loomis said tons of research points to enhanced physical activity and healthy eating habits lead to students being more responsive and alert, physically and socially active, and performing better academically.
District wellness committees formed over a year ago have helped school districts develop ideas and receive input into implementing positive changes.
Part of the push for more nutritional foods in the schools is to have parents send in a healthy afternoon snack such as fresh vegetables and fruit instead of cupcakes. Bake sales are no longer permitted in the schools.
Cooperation from top soda makers such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi are making vending machine switchovers easy for districts by offering new, lower-calorie drinks. Sugary sodas in school vending machines are being replaced with flavored water and fruit juices, while most machines no longer sell regular sodas, but diet pop instead.
Suzanne E. Boni, cafeteria coordinator for the Frazier School District, said new items added to the school cafeteria menu this year include whole grain breads and pasta, more fresh fruit and vegetables, and no deep-fried food, although baked French fries are served at least twice a week.
As for snacks in vending machines, Boni said she is looking at purchasing the 100-calorie snacks from Nabisco or Keebler
and are going to offer pretzels, popcorn or baked potato chips.
Vending machines at Frazier contain Pepsi products, including Gatorade and flavored and unflavored water, while another machine has Tropicana juices, Propel water, Gatorade and Lipton and diet iced tea.
Once school starts, Boni plans to meet with Steps to a Healthier Fayette to make sure what is in the vending machines is in compliance with the district’s wellness policy.
Because Fayette County has high obesity rates, the urgency exists to incorporate not only healthy eating habits, but also increased physical fitness into the schools.
The Laurel Highlands School District has been phasing in healthier eating habits for at least a year as well as implementing new creative, physical activities into schools. At Hatfield Elementary, students take a lap around the school before class starts. At R.W. Clark Elementary School, a walking trail is in the works.
In the Albert Gallatin Area School District, Federal Funds/Grants Coordinator Dr. Denise Martin said the school district is taking an active approach to alternatives for physical education as well as nutrition.
A Dance Revolution machine was purchased with a grant from Scottdale Bank & Trust for elementary and secondary level schools, while students at D. Ferd Swaney were recognized by the state this year for a 10-minute walk they perform before each school day. An after-school high school fitness club lets students bowl and do yoga as alternatives to sports.
“We’re meeting the trend now. We see it as a necessity,” said Martin, noting the school board has been proactive in supporting new options for school nutrition and wellness.
Martin noted the district’s active wellness committee developed a wellness policy approved by the school board in July that includes guidelines for healthy snacks parents can send to the schools. Sending baked chips or granola bars is a better choice than cake or cookies, according to the guidelines.
Also, at Albert Gallatin schools, all carbonated beverages were removed from the schools, replaced with iced teas, sports drinks and water, while no fried food will be offered and french fries will not be served more than three times per week, a substantial change from when the district offered fries to students every day, said Martin.
The effort being done locally to increase nutritional food choices and physical activity in schools is a reflection of efforts throughout the state and the nation.
Though various programs are in place to encourage healthier eating habits, education and health officials say the habits need to continue at home where parents take the lead role in encouraging healthy eating habits in their children.
Laurel Highlands School District Superintendent Dr. Ronald Sheba said the district is taking a proactive approach to wellness – at school and at home.
“If the adults are championing these efforts at home, we have a better chance of succeeding and of children developing a wise attitude about not smoking and being healthy,” said Sheba. “These efforts will lead children to an overall awareness of being a healthier person.
“We’re going to make it work if we work hard at it,” he added. “This is a work in progress.”
Loomis said while last year was the time for planning local efforts, this year will be the time to carry out those plans. Districts are on board and plans are in the works to coordinate efforts throughout the county.
Editor’s note: Herald-Standard staff writer Joyce Koballa contributed to this report.