School lunches: working to provide healthful alternatives

Kimberly Lord Stewart

From the first day of kindergarten to the last day of high school, parents place an inordinate amount of faith and trust in the school system to nourish their children in mind and body. Gary Hirshberg's faith in the system was tarnished one afternoon when he innocently asked his teenage son: "What did you have for lunch?" The answer: "Skittles, pizza ... and chocolate milk."

Hirshberg, champion of good health and president and CEO of the New Hampshire-based Stonyfield Farm yogurt company, had already taken on monumental issues such as the National Organic Standards and bovine growth hormones in milk. So when the issue of school lunches hit close to home, he used the same passion to create a program called Menu for Change, a grassroots effort to get healthful food choices in school lunch programs.

Uphill Battle

Taking on the American school lunch system is no small feat. Every day, more than 27 million children line up in school cafeterias to be served lunch that might include cheeseburgers and fries, pizza sticks with marinara sauce, pigs in a blanket or perhaps triangle-shaped fish. In high schools with open campuses where students are allowed to leave the grounds for lunch, school cafeterias compete with fast food restaurants. And for time-crunched students, there are always in-school vending machines loaded with potato chips, candy bars and Hirshberg's son's favorite, Skittles.

Changing the contents of those vending machines was Hirshberg's first target, but he couldn't do it alone. He garnered the help of his peers and Dorothy Hebert, executive director of Kids First, a Rhode Island training institute for healthy cafeterias and health education in schools, Hebert developed a set of nutritional guidelines and found three pilot schools willing to participate. When Hirshberg had more than a dozen products that fit Hebert's profile and had a distributor, United Natural Foods, a prototype vending machine was born.

To make the program really work, three obstacles had to be overcome: The food had to be affordable, the vending machines had to provide some revenue for the schools, and most of all, the food had to taste good, says Cathleen Toomey, vice president of Communications for Stonyfield. "Organic and natural [foods] carry a price," Toomey said, but everyone involved agreed to drop margins, keeping most items under a dollar, never exceeding $1.50. In addition, profits were shared between the schools and the contractors that fill the machines. Students solved the third hurdle by taste testing and deciding what to put in the machines. Students even came up with their own marketing and sampling program to get other kids interested in the program.

Pilot program vending machines have been placed in select California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and New York schools. And Stonyfield Farm is currently sponsoring a contest for a free healthy vending machine (see www.stonyfield.com for details).

School Lunch Report Card

Ask any parent and they'll tell you getting junk food out of schools is the first step to repairing a broken system. A Time/ABC poll showed that 64 percent of respondents believed that high calorie snacks and sweets in schools are equally responsible for childhood obesity as fast food restaurants. Research from Children's Hospital Boston links the rising rates of childhood obesity in part to soft drinks in school vending machines, citing statistics that a typical teenager gets 10 percent to 15 percent of daily calories from soft drinks, thus raising a child's risk of developing obesity by 60 percent.

"Soda machines are an easy way to distract kids away from eating healthy meals," says Michael Leidig, RD, LDN clinical research coordinator at Children's Hospital Boston.

In his practice, Leidig says that once kids are. educated and have both good-tasting and healthful foods available, they often make the right choice. Leidig's and his colleague's research challenges the notion that vending machines are in schools because junk food is all that kids will eat. The more likely reason that vending machines are so prevalent is the money they make. Toomey calls the relationship between junk food vendors and schools "a dance with the devil" because of the thousands of dollars they add to already low school coffers. For this reason, the healthful vending program doesn't demand that schools get rid of the usual junk food fare, just offer a choice--although five case studies analyzed by the Center for Science in the Public Interest show that schools that offer only healthful vending machines report double sales figures and reduced disciplinary actions.

Who Is Responsible?

If both students and parents want healthier foods in schools, then what's the holdup? An outdated system say school lunch activists. The United States Department of Agriculture's National School Lunch Program was designed in the 1940s to prevent childhood malnutrition due to a lack of available healthful foods following World War II.

Some cite a lack of oversight for the poor quality of school lunches. For the first time since its inception, the National School Lunch Program will follow the national Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and cafeteria staff are being trained to follow the policy.

Others place the blame on an overabundance of unhealthful foods as the reason for childhood obesity. According to reports issued by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), the USDA dumps hundreds of millions of pounds of surplus beef, chicken, cheese and pork on the National School Lunch Program. "The meat industry has used the National School Lunch Program as a gravy train, and our kids are paying the price," says Jennifer Keller, RD, the author of PCRM's annual school lunch report. "By feeding kids high-fat, high-cholesterol foods such as chicken nuggets and pepperoni pizza, the agency is clearly contributing to our nationwide obesity and diabetes epidemics," Keller says.

The PCRM grades school systems on the quality of their lunch programs; last year, Detroit was awarded a grade A, Washington, DC an F. The organization is urging the USDA to revamp school lunches to offer vegetarian meals and non-dairy calcium beverages.

Hungry for Change

Toomey and Hirshberg want parents and school officials to believe that hope exists for change. Even if the federal government doesn't change its policies, individual school districts can be led toward healthier choices. "The first step toward improving the system," Hebert says, "is to get past the adults." Once she convinces the school board that change is possible and profitable, her organization offers a soup-to-nuts solution including education grants, staff training and budgeting plans.

Hebert, a former chef, says that often cafeteria workers aren't trained in culinary techniques, especially regarding fresh and healthful foods. With the help of chefs at Johnson & Wales University, she teaches cafeteria workers during the summer break how to buy and prepare fresh foods while staying within a budget. "Many cafeteria supervisors are fearful of preparing different foods, for fear that they will lose money," she says. But once they see otherwise, the changes can be exciting.

When the kids return to school in September, students and teachers can see and taste the difference--healthful breakfasts, lunches and after-school treats. Hebert also instructs teachers on how to weave nutrition into math, language and science curriculums by growing gardens, calculating nutritional values for foods and learning to cook.

"The real changes take more effort than dollars," Toomey says.

Get Involved

Cathleen Toomey of Stonyfield Farm wants that efforts to promote changes in school lunches are often met with skepticism because school employees often feel threatened. "They either think that we [food companies] are trying to get something out of it," she says, "or they think that parents are trying to tell them how to do their jobs." So, she says, it's important for partnerships made up of parents, school officials, teachers, students and food service workers to work together.

Here are some words of wisdom and experience from Kids First and Stonyfield Farm to help you get started toward making changes in your schools.

1. Visit Your School

Check out what snack foods are currently served to students; talk to teachers and the principal about your interest in improving the nutritional value of foods in the school.

2. Build Support & Include Students

Solicit the support of other parents and students to develop a diverse group and to share the workload. Students, as well as teachers, food service staff members, a local pediatrician, a nutritionist, PTA members, local business persons and children's advocacy groups can play a vital role.

3. Set Early Goals

Define goals and priorities, and learn about what other schools have done. Use existing programs such as the USDA's Team Nutrition program, Menu for Change or individual school or state programs.

4. Meet with Vending Machine Decision Makers

In some schools, administrators manage the vending machine program; in others, the program might be run by the students. Be prepared to answer questions about cost.

5. Scout Out the School Board

School hoard members are very busy, but providing a healthful learning environment for students is their job. Decide which members are likely allies, and meet with them personally before presenting your ideas to the school board.

6. Create a Strategy for Success

Include a step-by-step process that identifies tasks and deadlines. Make it realistic, and take into consideration seasonal variables such as holidays and summer breaks.

7. Talk to the Media

Develop relationships with reporters, distribute press releases and write letters to your newspaper.

8. Watchdog the Policy

A workable school food policy must be maintained. Budgets are always tight, and for some, old habits may be hard to kick, so track and attend important meetings, and develop good relations with food service professionals.

9. Start Small

If changing the whole system is more than you want to take on, start small. Encourage kids to replace one unhealthful lunchbox item with a wholesome one; start a classroom garden; offer to arrange for chefs to visit your child's classroom for a cooking demonstration.

10. Make Changes at Home

Nutrition and physical education at home can help your children fend off peer pressure to eat junk food and skip PE. More and more, food products are designed to be both "cool" and healthful, and activity is good for adults and kids alike.

For further information, contact: Stonyfield Farm, www.stonyfield.com, 1.800.PRO.COWS (776.2697)

Kids First, www.kidsfirstri.org, 401.751.4503

USDA Team Nutrition, www.fns.usda.gov/tn/, 703.305.1624

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, www.pcrm.org, 202.686.2210

Quick & Healthful Lunch Ideas

* Indian Tacos--Wrap a tortilla around cooked chicken and lettuce with a tablespoon each of yogurt and chutney.

* Banana Split--Slice a banana down the middle, fill the crevice with chocolate chips, peanut butter and nuts, and cat cold or microwave for 30 seconds,

* Salmon Dip--Mix cooked salmon with chopped onions, capers, lemon juice and dill, and serve with bagel chips.

* Parfait--Layer yogurt, granola and chopped fruit in a single-serving container.

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