Tag: school health

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Fighting the Good (Food) Fight

One-third of children and over fifty-percent of adults in the United States are either overweight or obese. Each day 3,000 Americans die from heart disease or other diet-related illnesses. These are just a few of the hard facts that motivated former school teachers Carolyn Cohen and Deborah Lewison-Grant to start FoodFight. This non-profit revolution based in New York City, equips teachers, parents, students, and school staff with the information and instruments needed to model change for healthier eating. The founders’ mission spurred from watching their students sink into the realm of unhealthiness and inability to focus, yet always in possession of chips and soda. The correlation was too evident to ignore.

Rather than preaching the rights of broccoli and the wrongs of ding-dongs, FoodFight aims to arm students with the most powerful weapon there is: Knowledge. By giving students information, evidence, and facts, they become the true makers of their choices and the drivers behind their own health.

FoodFight’s Teacher Wellness Program shows faculty and staff how critical health and wellness is to the performance and happiness of both students and teachers. The message is in a sense for teachers to eat their own apples first, before relaying the benefits to their students. Nutrition education, supermarket skills, portion control, cooking, and food policies are just some of the topics covered in the Teacher Wellness Program. One teacher claimed to be a FoodFight “groupie” after her motivated efforts lost her and her daughter thirty pounds and significantly decreased her asthma attacks.

Media analysis is a significant component of FoodFight courses, particularly analyzing advertisements and marketing campaigns. It’s incredible to watch the transfer of power from corporation to student as kids explore the persuasive forces behind the words and pictures. Lewison-Grant hopes to teach students that as consumers, they have an opportunity to vote every time they choose a healthy meal, and that they can alter the societal, systemic health crisis.

FoodFight’s 3-part curriculum arms teachers with guiding steps to fight for the noble cause. Part 1 focuses on media literacy and student involvement in the world of consumerism. Part 2 is strictly nutrition-based. Part 3 hones in on the social responsibility that students have to their families, friends, and communities. Such a simple recipe for student empowerment.

FoodFight even spreads seed to parents through the Parent Wellness Program. Topics include supermarket skills, why diets don’t work, simple cooking, and marketing. Parents play a role as crucial as teachers in this battle.

This fantastic association creates the opportunity for a guaranteed win against stale health. It’s evident that all key team members are provided with proper gear to fight the food fight. Chips and soda are sure to tap out when they see what they are up against.

If that’s not enough, check out these awesome apps that are sure to put your decision-making skills on  the healthy fast track.

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Change, Change, and More Change

Baked antibiotic-free chicken, fresh sautéed kale, and sweet potato salad sounds like a recipe for deliciously good health, which can be a rare occasion for most. It’s also a meal that Rochelle Davis, president and CEO of Healthy Schools Campaign, hopes to bring to school cafeterias. Davis started HSC in 2002, with a vision for environmental health and wellness in schools. Her plan engages students, parents, teachers, and other faculty members in a various programs guaranteed to spark empowerment and change. Though centered and focused around Chicago public schools, Healthy Schools Campaign is a model for all.  Their approach is holistic and comprehensive: “Wellness is not relegated to an occasional health lesson or physical education class—it is part of math, science, lunch and everything in between. It means providing teachers with professional development related to children’s physical and emotional development, and integrating health into every subject, reward system and classroom management strategy. In this environment, good nutrition, physical activity, basic safety, clean air and water, access to care and education about how to make healthy choices allow students to thrive.”

Change for Good calls upon school infrastructures, as well as district and community leaders to promote nutrition education, healthy eating, and physical activity. The components for making lasting changes include increasing whole foods and minimizing processed foods in school cafeterias. Another element is an increase in Physical Education and strengthening the PE curriculum; not to mention sustainable outdoor schoolyards that encourage outdoor play.

Talented students across the country are sharpening their knives for the next Cooking up Change competition. The competition challenges teams to create a new healthy school lunch for under $1.50 per meal, using a limited number of ingredients and strict nutritional guidelines. Empowerment pours into each dish as students gain their voice in what can be served in school cafeterias.

Parents United for Healthy Schools/Padres Unidos para Escuelas specifically calls parents to lead the coalition for healthier schools and communities. By bringing responsibility close to home, HSC suggests various avenues for leading by example including forming wellness teams, creating healthy versions of family recipes, and leading fun exercise classes. HSC has provided training to over 200 parents in Chicago. It has also hosted two fantastic webinars in a determined effort to empower parents to live up to the healthy standards they emit to their children. These webinars are available on the HSC website.

Other inspiring programs that Healthy Schools Campaign fosters are Fit to Learn, Green Clean Schools, Health in Mind, Indoor Air Quality in Schools, School Nurse Leadership, Space to Grow, and Through Your Lens. Updates,  news, and tangible resources are available via simple subscription. Connect with this organization and you will soon realize, the sky truly is the limit.