Cafeteria

How many healthy options are in your school vending machines? Whether the vending machine is available to students or just staff, providing healthy vending options is key to your school’s success in creating a healthier environment and building life-long healthy habits.

If your school participates in the Federal School Meal Program, vending machines that students can access during the school day must provide options that align with the USDA’s Smart Snacks Standards.

Tips to Take Action:

• Complete a vending inventory to determine what healthy items are available and other snacks you would like to add.
• Survey teachers and students to learn about the kinds of healthy snacks they would like to see in vending machines.
• Negotiate with vending companies to increase the number of healthy choices available.
  Educate school staff and students about healthy choices through posters near vending machines, table tents in the staff lounge and cafeteria, and school announcements.
• Work with your vendor to change the pricing structure of vending items to make healthier items more affordable.
• Work with your vendor to change the placement of items in vending machines to make healthier items at eye-level.
• Label the healthiest options with a “Healthy Choice” symbol to help students and staff quickly identify healthy options.
• Host a taste test to sample healthy vending options.
• Institute a “Healthy Snack of the Month” and promote it among students and staff. Place a sticker on the bottom of one of the highlighted snack products and offer a healthy prize to the lucky recipient.

Click on the resources below to download:

• Smart Snacks Infographic Poster
• Snack Swaps
• Power Up on Veggies Poster
• Fruit is the New Fast-Food Poster

Original Source: http://bit.ly/ActionForHealthyKidsHealthyVending

Is your school lunchroom lively and colorful? Does it promote healthy eating? If not, it’s time to make your lunchroom smarter! The Smarter Lunchrooms movement was created in 2009 by the Cornell University Food & Brands Lab. Smarter Lunchrooms reinforce healthy eating and nudge kids toward nutritious foods by using evidence-based, lunchroom-focused principles to promote healthy eating. Smarter Lunchroom makeovers can involve changes as simple as hanging student artwork or rearranging food in your cafeteria to encourage students to eat healthier options (like fruits and veggies).

Tips to Take Action:

• Complete the Smarter Lunchrooms Self-Assessment Scorecard to see what your school is already doing and what could be done better.
• Work with food service staff to review current food displays, from the lunch line all the way to the register. Make note of where healthy food choices could be better highlighted to students.
• When lunchtime rolls around, kids are hungry! Place healthy food options at the beginning of lines. Kids are more likely to order and choose the first item they see.
• Seek approval to move all competitive foods (i.e. snacks students can buy to supplement their meal) behind the serving counter in the regular lunch line so they are available by request only.
• Pick 1, 2, 3+ strategies and implement them, such as:
  • Focus on Fruit: A variety of mixed whole fruits are displayed in attractive bowls or baskets (instead of stainless-steel pans).
  • Highlight the Salad: Pre-packaged salads or a salad bar is available to all students.
  • Move More White Milk: White milk is organized and represents at least 1/3 of all milk in each designated milk cooler.
  • See other ideas.
• Create a Student Nutrition Action Committee (SNAC) to create posters, develop creative names for fruits and veggies, and serve as lunchroom ambassadors.
• Encourage food service staff members to prompt students in line. For example, even saying something as simple as “Try today’s special, it’s delicious!” can increase sales.
• Add Smarter Lunchrooms language to your Local School Wellness Policy using this sample wellness policy language.

Click on the resources below to download:

• Energy Balance Infographic Poster
• Energy Balance Quick Tips
• Fruit Dissection Infographic Poster
• Grow the Rainbow Infographic Poster
• Easy on the Salt Infographic Poster
• Smart Snacks Infographic Poster
• Snack Swaps
• Daily Breakfast Tips
• Healthy Ingredient Substitutions
• Water is the Clear Winner Poster
• Rethink Your Drink Infographic Poster
• Rethink Your Drink version 2.0 Infographic Poster
• Rethink Your Drink Quick Tips
• Portion Distortion Infographic Poster
• Portion Distortion Quick Tips
• Power Up on Veggies Poster
• Fruit is the New Fast-Food Poster

Original Source: http://bit.ly/ActionForHealthyKidsSmartLunchrooms

Take a look around your school cafeteria and hallways. What kinds of foods and beverages does your school market to students? Are you promoting healthy options? While it can be a significant funding source for schools (particularly for athletic programs), advertising less healthy foods and beverages can send conflicting messages to students who have been learning about good nutrition in the classroom.

Tips to Take Action:

• Review your district’s local school wellness policy. These policies are required to include language about restricting food and beverage marketing. Understanding what’s allowable in your district will help you make better decisions.
• Make a list of all healthy and unhealthy food and beverage marketing occurring at your school. Identify 2-3 priorities where you would like to see changes.
• Do your research. Is your school earning money by displaying food and beverage advertisements? If so, how much is your school earning? Is there a particular department or program that benefits from these funds?
• If your school receives funding for displaying advertisements, brainstorm healthier fundraising practices that could be utilized to generate the same amount of funding.
• Promote healthy food and beverage options wherever possible. Work with your school health team to determine areas throughout the school building that have the most student foot traffic or where students are most likely to make food and beverage purchases. Develop a plan to promote healthy marketing in these spaces.
• Market healthy options through taste tests, raffle prizes and other incentives.
• Consider offering and promoting healthy options like water, fruit, and vegetables to students at school events, sport games, after-school activities, concession stands or award ceremonies.
• Require vendors to feature healthier foods and beverages such as water or 100% fruit juice.
• Ask your vending machine vendor if they will place your school logo on the sides of vending machines to limit images of less healthy food and drinks (and to promote school spirit!).

Click on the resources below to download:

• Portion Distortion Infographic Poster
• Power Up on Veggies Poster
• Fruit is the New Fast-Food Poster
• Food and Beverage Marketing in Schools Webinar

Original Source: 

http://bit.ly/FoodAndBeverageSchoolMarketing

You have put time, energy and effort into helping your school be a healthier environment for kids to learn and grow! Maybe you’ve noticed a difference in student behavior. Maybe you’ve seen the physical activity breaks that started in one or two classrooms spread into every room on campus. Maybe you’ve seen students choosing fresh fruit options at lunch. All of your hard work is paying off.

Now, let’s make sure these changes and programs stick. One way is to turn these healthy practices into district policies. A local wellness policy is required in every district or local education agency that participates in the National School Lunch Program or other federal Child Nutrition programs. Local wellness policies are an important tool for parents, local educational agencies (LEAs) and school districts in promoting student wellness, preventing and reducing childhood obesity, and providing assurance that nutrition guidelines meet the minimum federal school meal standards.

In July 2016, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) released four rules that included requirements for what must be included in these local school wellness policies.

• Encourage participation from parents, students and school community members in policy development, review, implementation, and assessment;
• Improve nutrition content of food consumed by students by applying national school nutrition standards for food sold on school property, including school meals, snacks and beverages (Smart Snacks);
• Have schools set evidence-based goals for nutrition promotion, nutrition education, physical activity, and school wellness activities, addressing school district goals and procedures for school fundraisers, healthy celebrations and non-food rewards, and providing ample opportunities for physical activity, quality physical education, and recess; and
• Promote positive food messaging by restricting the advertising and marketing on school property of food and beverages that do not meet Smart Snacks Standards.

If you are ready to make policy changes, contact your district to review the current wellness policies. Then follow these tips for becoming a wellness policy pro.

Click on the resources below to watch:

• School Wellness Councils Webinar
• School Health Assessments: Healthier Schools Start Here

Original Source: https://www.actionforhealthykids.org/revise-district-policy/

Do you know how much sugar is in your drink? A Rethink Your Drink campaign is a great way to teach kids about the amount of sugar that can be found in commonly consumed beverages, as well as their impact on health. Encouraging kids to rethink their drink challenges them to make healthy beverage choices and consume more water.

Tips to Take Action:

• Host a hidden sugars demonstration to provide a visual representation of the amount of sugar in popular sweetened beverages using sugar cubes, sugar packets or teaspoons of sugar.
• Use a stoplight image to teach kids about drinks they should drink rarely (red), occasionally (yellow), and plenty (green).
• Teach students to read the ingredients on food labels to identify common high-calorie sweeteners such as high fructose corn syrup, fruit juice concentrates, dextrose, fructose and sucrose.
• Allow students to bring a water bottle to class to stay hydrate throughout the day.
• Host a taste test with water infused with lemons, limes, berries, cucumbers, mint leaves or other natural flavors.
• Post educational signs near the staff lounge, main office, cafeteria and vending machines to help students, staff and visitors identify the healthiest beverage options.
• Install a water bottle filling station at your school to offer free, cold, filtered water to students and staff.
• Explain the importance of water to students. Adjust your explanation based on the age of the student. Here’s some basic information:
  • Water is an essential nutrient for life—we can’t live without it!
  • Water represents about two-thirds of our body weight.
  • Water is part of every living cell, and it’s a medium for all metabolic changes (digestion, absorption and excretion), as it helps transport nutrients.

Click on the resources below to download:

• Water is the Clear Winner Poster
• Rethink Your Drink Infographic Poster
• Rethink Your Drink version 2.0 Infographic Poster
• Rethink Your Drink Quick Tips
• Water Access in Schools Webinar

Original Source: 

http://bit.ly/ActionForHealthyKidsRethinkDrink