Newsletter: September 2007

GEI Nutrition in the Schools Newsletter #7

September 2007

The Nutrition in the Schools Network Newsletter provides information on events, activities, and resources that help us to educate and advocate for healthy, nutritional food and beverages in schools.

Table of Contents

1. Monthly Meetings “On the Road”
2. Order Your Healthy Food Fair Guide/Request a Speaker
3. We Have Connections With …
4. New Resources to Get Started or to Enhance Your Efforts!
5. Support Federal Legislation to Improve Foods in Schools
6. Hot Off The Press … Two Articles
7. The School Nutrition Association – Check It Out

1. MONTHLY MEETINGS "ON THE ROAD"

Starting on September 19, we will hold every other meeting at a different location, in order to support local efforts and bring our message of healthy eating to more people. At each meeting, we hope to have a speaker, followed by questions and discussion. NISN members will be there to share resources and to provide suggestions and support for local activities to improve the healthfulness of foods in schools.

Date: September 19
Time: 6:30pm – 8:00pm
Location: Ridge Elementary, 1900 Caton Ridge Drive, Plainfield, IL
Directions: For a map, click here.

The speaker at this meeting will be Philippa Norman, M.D., M.P.H., and author and expert in brain nutrition. Her book, Feed Your Brain: How To Boost Your Brain Power With Food, is an excellent introduction to healthy eating for children in grades 5 to 8. Dr. Norman regularly speaks to parents, teachers, children, and school administrators about nutrition and school performance.

Check the NISN website (click “Next Meeting” in the upper right corner) to find specific information about meetings or to sign up to receive monthly meeting notices.

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2. ORDER YOUR HEALTHY FOOD FAIR GUIDE/REQUEST A SPEAKER

Learn to Eat, Eat to Learn
A Guide to Planning and Coordinating a Healthy Food Fair at Your School
$35.00 (binder + CD w/resources); $25.00 (CD version of binder + resources)

Since our last newsletter, we’ve sold several Guides and two very successful events took place at elementary schools in Wheaton (Carl Sandburg; Lisa McIntyre coordinated) and Plainfield (Ridge; Kris Bruno and Anne Smelser coordinated).

NISN Speakers Bureau
Speakers are available for a variety of audience (kids, parents, teachers, and administrators) and on a variety of topics. Check our website for more information.

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3. WE HAVE CONNECTIONS WITH ...

Over the past year, we have developed connections with several area organizations that provide a variety of resources and support for improving the foods and drinks served and sold in schools. Check them out, and if you want to learn more, please let us know how we can help.

Nutrition Department, Benedictine University (Lisle)
This past year, two faculty members spoke at our monthly meetings, Julie Moreschi (Dietetic Internship Director) and Deepa Handu (MSNW Program Director). Both are very supportive of NISN and we hope to work together this coming year.

Seven Generations Ahead (Oak Park)
Gary Cuneen, Executive Director, spoke at one of our meetings last year, explaining their successful “Fresh From the Farm” program, which brings local, healthy foods to area schools. They also have a curriculum aligned with Illinois learning standards, which incorporates learning about nutrition, earth-friendly agriculture, and global food traditions. Michelle Hickey-Fouts, NISN member, is on staff at Seven Generations.

Healthy Schools Campaign (Chicago)
This summer, two staff members from the Healthy Schools Campaign staff (Jean Saunders and Mark Bishop) joined with NISN members to lobby Representative Judy Biggert’s staff person responsible for nutrition and schools issues. The Healthy Schools campaign is a great source to keep current on school food issues in Illinois. They also released a new “Quick & Easy Guide to School Wellness,” a multi-media how-to guide filled with comprehensive information, practical advice, tools and resources to help you take action to implement a wellness policy in your school or school district.

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4. NEW RESOURCES TO GET STARTED or TO ENHANCE YOUR EFFORTS!

Quick & Easy Guide to School Wellness - FREE
Healthy Schools Campaign is pleased to announce The Quick & Easy Guide to School Wellness, a resource to help schools bring about meaningful changes in student wellness by identifying the many ways to promote student nutrition and fitness. You can access the Guide online, or ask for a hard copy. The Guide is incredibly comprehensive, covering foods available at school, physical and nutrition education, staff wellness and parent involvement. The “Resources and Tools” section is invaluable, with links to a host of useful information.

Nutrition Essentials and Making It Happen! – FREE
Here are two valuable resources from the USDA’s Team Nutrition program, a federally funded program that supports improvements in nutrition education and making more healthful food available in schools.

Nutrition Essentials is a series of lessons will help you make healthful eating and physical activity choices. It provides several tools which give you information you need to make educated choices. Nutrition Essentials contains 5 posters: Food for a Day, How Much Do You Eat, Move It, MyPyramid, and Read It. Nutrition Essentials also includes an interactive CD, NutritionDecision, with games and nutrition education information.

Kris Bruno, a member of NISN, ordered a copy of Nutrition Essentials and says it’s great! The posters, especially, are worth the short amount of time needed to order the resources.

Making It Happen! School Nutrition Success Stories shares stories from 32 schools and school districts that have made innovative changes to improve the nutritional quality of all foods and beverages offered and sold on school campuses. These success stories illustrate the wide variety of approaches used to improve student nutrition. The most consistent theme emerging from these case studies is that students will buy and consume healthful foods and beverages, and schools can make money from healthful options. Making It Happen! includes a variety of materials developed by some of the schools and contact information for each story.

Healthy School Builder – FREE
This tool is aimed at schools. It is an online assessment that provides benchmarks for school wellness. By answering a series of questions about your school’s current efforts related to promoting healthy eating, physical activity, and staff wellness, the Healthy School Builder will lead you through a process to build a customized action plan for you. There is no charge to take the HSB and when you sign up you will become a part of The Alliance for a Healthier Generation’s Healthy Schools Program, giving you access to the Alliance’s tools, resources and awards programs.

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5. SUPPORT FEDERAL LEGISLATION TO IMPROVE FOOD IN SCHOOLS

On July 9, four NISN members (Ellen Wolff, Alka Tyle, Maya Tatineni, Marc Swetlitz) and two staff members from the Healthy Schools Campaign (Jean Saunders and Mark Bishop) met with a staff member for Representative Judy Biggert. We asked her to support HR 1363, the Child Nutrition Promotion and School Lunch Protection Act 2007. This legislation will provide the USDA with the authority to write guidelines for ALL foods and beverage in schools. Right now, federal guidelines are only for the hot breakfast or lunch, and then only for the “meal” – not a la carte.

Go to Improve School Foods online, read more about the legislation, and then click on Take Action to write your senators and representative.

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6. HOT OFF THE PRESS ... TWO ARTICLES

“School Cafeteria, On a Diet,” from the New York Times, September 5, 2007. This short article talks about positive changes happening across the country. It also describes efforts to pass the federal Child Nutrition Promotion and School Lunch Protection Act 2007, referenced above.

“Eating Made Simple,” from Scientific American, September 2007. This article is by Marion Nestle (one of my favorite!), author of Food Politics and Professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University. The article on the Scientific American website is text only – but you can access a PDF version here, which includes a lot of color diagrams, side bars, and references to other resources.

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7. THE SCHOOL NUTRITION ASSOCIATION - CHECK IT OUT

The School Nutrition Association (SNA) is a non-profit professional organization representing more than 55,000 members who provide school breakfast and lunch meals to students in public and private schools around the country. Their members include food service directors and staff, food service providers, and food manufacturers.

I mention this organization because they have a weekly email that provides information stories and information about what’s happening around the country in different schools. You can sign up for the email in the lower right corner of the home page. One item this week, “Farm Fresh School Lunch,” is about Farm to School programs across the country. As mentioned above, Seven Generation Ahead has a Fresh From the Farm program, but it seems to me that more could be done locally and in Illinois.

In addition, SNA just published, “From Cupcakes to Carrots: Local Wellness Policies One Year Later,” based on 1,350 responses from food service directors around the country. WE know that much more needs to be done, but I thought it would be interesting to see what information food service directors are providing about what’s happening.

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