Amie got a taste of the food her kids were getting at school and decided it was time to teach the lunch ladies some healthy new tricks.
Amie's Story
"Good nutrition is something I care passionately about, especially for children."
My inspiration for healthy eating didn't just come from concern for my own son and daughter. It was for all children. All children deserve a chance to have a healthy start. They are stuck with the foods that adults offer them, and it's our responsibility to give them healthy food. Food is our fuel, and if you're not eating the right food, you can't be your best.
Since food preferences are developed early in life, schools should be practicing the good nutrition that they teach. In reality, the whole school food environment is completely inconsistent with what we teach kids about good nutrition.
"What kids are being fed in schools is really a crime."
The average that schools pay for food is $0.90 for lunch and maybe $0.60 for breakfast. Because the meals have to have a number of components, it's almost impossible to do something with good quality food for that amount of money. As a result, schools have to depend on the commodity foods, which are supplied for free by the federal government. These include some of the worst foods, like cheeseburgers, deep-fried mozzarella sticks, chicken nuggets and pepperoni pizza.
Right now, only about two percent of children have diets that are in line with the U.S. dietary guidelines. A third of the children born in the year 2000 will develop Type 2 diabetes. Fifty percent of 2 to 15 year olds already have fatty streaks in their arteries, meaning that some toddlers are already in the beginning stages of heart disease. These facts scare me.
"I work to eliminate the unhealthy junk foods in schools and to create students who are health and nutrition literate."
I'm the executive director of the New York Coalition for Healthy School Food. We're a statewide non-profit organization and we work to improve the foods in schools by working with a number of people, like food service directors, school nurses and parent-teacher organizations. We help schools transition to healthier menus and get kids excited about nutritious foods. Here's how we do it:
- Have kids grow food in a garden.
Even if you don't have access to a garden, grow sprouts in a jar, or if you have a window, grow some herbs on the windowsill. Getting kids to grow food or visit farms where they grow food is really fantastic. This past weekend my organization took 15 students from an economically disadvantaged school to an organic farm. They ate sugar snap peas and strawberries from the garden. They helped plant pumpkins, and they were very, very excited about it.
- Make healthy substitutions for typical lunchtime foods.
If you make a sandwich, make it on whole grain bread. We recommend peanut butters that don't have any trans fats in them. You can also use a dip like hummus. Kids love hummus. You can use it in a sandwich or as a dip for sliced veggies. A vegetable sushi made with short grain brown rice is also a hit with kids. Most people think that sushi means raw fish, but in fact, sushi means vinegared rice. You can take all kinds of cut up vegetables -- shredded carrots, slices of avocado, slices of cucumber, maybe some tofu - and you have a nutritious, delicious lunch.
- Have special treats, but limit them to special occasions.
You don't have to deprive your child of special treats, you just have to make sure they are occasional. The reason there is an obesity epidemic in our country is that people eat "special" treats, like soda, cookies and ice cream, multiple times a day. And if you want to extend a healthy attitude to treat time, experiment with soy ice creams, which are delicious and much lower fat than regular ice cream.
- Be a good example.
One of the biggest problems is the adults who say they won't eat healthy. The fact is kids won't starve themselves if you don't make unhealthy foods available; they will eat what you give them eventually. I know it's a cliché, but these kids are our future and they can't really choose what they're eating at a young age. It's our job.
