Schools seek healthy choices

In response to a growing trend towards childhood and teen obesity, two new food services directors have recently brought some major changes to their respective school district's lunch programs in an effort to get their students to eat healthier.

Warren Sun, director of Food Services at Lodi Unified School District, and Darla VanWarmerdam, who holds the same position at the Galt Joint Union High School District, have both adopted a structure for their cafeteria programs that is designed to encourage students to eat healthier.

So far the programs seem to be going well.

And both programs are intended to give more choices to students.

"In my opinion all foods are healthy," Sun said. "What's key is moderation and variety."

School lunch

Betty Stahr shows a student the variety of sports drinks to choose from for lunch Friday at Galt High School. (Jennifer M. Howell/News-Sentinel)

Both districts have adopted what is called a nutrition-based school lunch program. The nutrition-based lunch program is one of the five different federal meal plans available for schools. Both LUSD and Galt had been using what is known as a food-based program, which was not as rigid as its food-based counterparts.

However, all of the lunch programs are required to meet set goals for the intake of:

• Calories.



• Calcium.



• Iron.



• Vitamins C and E.



• Protein.

National standards also insist that no more than 30 percent of calories that students eat come from fat. Less than 10 percent of these calories can be saturated fat.

Using a food-based model, schools have their menus planned for them by the state. The schools are required to serve specific portions of breads, fruits, meats and vegetables. But with the nutrition-based program that both districts have adopted, schools are given the flexibility to plan their own menus using special software programs.

In LUSD's case, schools that have so far adopted the program can create their own entrees and allow their students to choose different side dishes.

Warren Sun

"Kids tend to eat more of what they choose," Sun said.

While pizza is still the most popular item on the menu, cafeteria workers at the five elementary schools where the program was initiated this year have reported students were eating more of the other foods offered, Sun said.

Using special menu planning software, Sun and his staff are able to track the weekly nutrient intake from their students.

"It's a more scientifically measured diet," Sun said.

That way students get what they want, but their diet is measured.

The plan has been widely popular at the five schools where it has been implemented, Sun said. So far, five elementary schools in the district have began using the program, and Sun said there has been a 5 percent increase in the number of students eating their meals at those schools. Sun plans to have the whole district on the new plan by next year.

"We're going to do it at every school on every level," he said.

A fresh approach

Galt High School has undergone a similar revamping of its cafeteria program as well. The school has banned soda and candy from its snack bar; started making its burritos and pizzas from scratch; and have replaced fried foods with oven-baked alternatives.

The place definitely has some energy.

"Our deep fryer use to be right here," said Galt High's cafeteria chef Marilyn Frazier, pointing at a now empty space next to the kitchen's stove.

"My pizza is beautiful," said Frazier's co-worker Carmelo Sozinho as she quickly prepared baskets of oven-baked fries for the hoards of summer school students who would soon be lining up outside the cafeteria.

"Pizza is their ultimate total favorite," Sozinho said.

"We always have fruit available to kids," she added. "No fried foods, we're using the last of the cheeseburgers now."

The architect of the new program is VanWarmerdam, who took over the job as the district's head of food services in April.

Darla VanWarmerdam

"Nutrient-based menu planning is an offer versus serve program," said VanWarmerdam, whose background is in the catering business. "Every entree is served with fresh fruit and milk."

Not only did the school district officials want to serve healthier options to their students, they also wanted to increase the food service's profitability.

"When you start selling soda and candy, the state does not recognize that," and therefore the school is not reimbursed, VanWarmerdam said.

The cafeteria has become so popular among staff and locals that the cafeteria is taking on catering jobs.

"We have a $2 million facility, we need to use it," VanWarmerdam said.

Educated eating

The Galt High School program could've been designed using a food-based program as well, said nutrition education specialist Kathy Mackey, at the Nutrition Programs Section of the California Board of Education.

Both of these school district programs are based on the Dietary Guideline for Americans, a set of standards for healthy living by the United States Department of Agriculture. Most schools still use the food-based program, she said.

"(The nutrient-based program) doesn't work out at every school," she said. "There are still one-room school houses in the state."

But for the school districts that have adopted the program, the nutrient-based diet offers more flexibility to schools. Tofu, for example, could not be served under the more rigid food-based program. In general, the state encourages schools to offer meat alternative meals.

"There is less saturated fat, and usually some of the non-meat items are higher in fiber," Mackey said.

Both VanWarmerdam and Sun agree that it is part of the school system's responsibility to educate students about how to lead a healthy life. Part of that healthy life is the way they eat.

"I believe that schools do have a role to influence kids' eating habits," Sun said. "Kids in general, they like pizza ... and society's message with advertising is such a powerful influence on kids' opinions.

"Parents are getting so busy, what they tend to do these days is the drive-through."

VanWarmerdam said obesity is a problem.

"You look on campus and see 14- and 15-year-old kids ... you watch their eating habits and it's unbelievable," she said.

Why send them to nutrition class if the school lunch program doesn't encourage the lessons they learn there, VanWarmerdam said.

"It's a huge challenge because once (students) get in high school, they become really independent," Mackey said.

The school system has to be a business, but also provide a healthy nutritional environment, she said.

"A lot of school districts are attempting to fight the battle of the bulge," Mackey said.

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