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The Prime Minister’s son, it turns out, buys the lunches that are served at his primary school. But, if those lunches don’t improve, he’s going to start bringing his own. That’s the word from his mom, Cherie Blair, wife to England’s Tony Blair, after listening to a famous chef bash that country’s school food. The schools aren’t spending enough per child, leading them to opt for re-heating pre-cooked food provided by contractors. The Prime Minister is pledging more money for school food, amid an election campaign. No word on what Mrs. Blair will pack in that lunch bag.
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Apologies from Creating Healthy Kids...if you're a subscriber, you haven't been receiving our entries in your e-mail box for the last couple of weeks, because of a technical problem. But, we've been here all along and chatting, so take a moment to scroll back a few days and see what the buzz was about, including such topics as the British Prime Minister's son considering bringing a bag lunch to school, TV Turn Off Week, and a healthy vending event we had in Pennsylvania.
In Everett, Washington, a ban on the sales of soda pop and junk food in vending machines has resulted in a net loss of $93,000 in this, the first year of the ban. However, the school board, which had vowed to make up the difference and put it into the Associated Study Body Fund (for extra-curricular activities), is making good on its word. Next year, the board will make up half of any losses. Still, the student clubs and sports team participants are paying their own way to conventions and competitions, for example. Students are now trying to come up with other fundraising ideas. There must be a billion ways for students and student activities boards to raise money that don’t involve junk food. Got any good suggestions to send to the good student body of Everett? Use our comment box below and send them along. Or, should the district go back to selling soda? Meanwhile, over in Arizona, the legislature has given the governor a chance to implement a similar ban.
If you do comment, press "Post" only once. You won't see your comment immediately, as we check for spam, but it will appear.
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They say that an American 1-year-old will spend 6 hours a week watching television! Know how many hours are recommended by doctors for children that age? None. Yep. Nada. Zip. Zilch. So what are families doing plopping toddlers in front of the television? Well, they’re trying to get something done. The folks at TV Turn Off Week are hoping to convince parents to make other choices for their children. Too much TV-watching (and other activities involving sitting in front of a screen) is one culprit in the growing size of America’s children. Here are some more disturbing facts about television-watching habits:
· Average time per week that the American child ages 2-17 spends watching television: 19 hours, 40 minutes
· Hours of TV watching per week shown to negatively affect academic achievement: 10 or more
· Amount of daily moderate physical activity recommended for children: 60 minutes
· Percentage of young people who report having had no recent physical activity: 14
· Time per day that TV is on in an average US home: 7 hours, 40 minutes
· Amount of television that the average American watches per day: over 4 hours
For more not-so-fun facts, check out the Fact Sheets offered by the folks at TV Turn week.
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Above: Girls at Springside School in Philadelphia
rally in support of healthy snacking!
Last week we added six more schools to our growing list of schools across the country which now have Stonyfield's healthy vending machines. The free machines debuted at six Pennsylvania schools ----Springside School (Philadelphia), Agnes Irwin School (Rosemont), Westtown School (Westtown), Baldwin School (Bryn Mawr), George School (Newtown) and our Healthy Vending Sweepstakes winner (more about that tomorrow)--Mount Nittany Middle School (State College).
Priscilla Sands, head of the Springside school where a launch event was held last week, said, "We owe it to our children to provide not only intellectual nourishment, but also high quality food in partnership with parents, promoting healthy life choices in many ways."
The machines are stocked with organic and natural snacks that meet nutritional guidelines and were chosen by the students themselves at taste-tests held earlier. Snacks include Organic Valley milk, string cheese, Stacy’s pita chips, Newman’s Own Organics pretzels and, of course, Stonyfield’s organic Smoothies.
The Stonyfield machines are now in seven states and almost 900 schools have contacted us to get a machine of their own. (There's a long waiting list, sorry.)
Above left: Jesse Tordoff, a 6th grader, spoke to her fellow students about how the new vending machines would fit in to the school's other wellness efforts and recycling programs. Above right: Students crowd the new machine for a chance to try out the new healthy snacks.
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The same company that thought up the marketing gimmick of asking consumers to suggest the next color M&M is also going to be deciding the shape of the government’s new nutrition guidelines marketing plan. Porter Novelli is the company hired by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to come up with an icon that can represent the new guidelines that were announced earlier this year. Whatever it is, it will replace the well-known Food Pyramid. Critics such as the Center for Science in the Public Interest are a bit wary of this arrangement. Porter Novelli has built its reputation by marketing food products and representing clients such as McDonald’s and The Snack Food Association. Critics charge that Porter Novelli could easily skew the government’s nutrition marketing plan one way or another toward favoring one or more of its clients, is the theory. Through the criticism, the Ag. Dept. responds with the idea that it’s just that sort of background and experience that makes Porter Novelli the best candidate for undertaking the task of helping Americans eat better. They were the creators of the original food pyramid, and they have experience in food and health marketing.
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Junk food will be banned in elementary schools and be restricted for the upper grades if the governor of that state signs a bill sent over from the legislature recently. The governor is expected to sign it and the ban will take effect in 2007. The legislation was spear-headed by a group called Oklahoma Fit Kids Coalition, a private group made up mostly of health professionals. (Slogan: Stop Super-sizing the Student Body.) While the legislation will prohibit sales in elementary schools (except “special occasions”) and junior highs (except “special occasions and after school”), junk food is allowed in high schools, but healthy alternatives must also be present. We tip our lids to the Coalition and others who worked on this important legislation!
A panel in France has gone so far as to suggest a recommended appropriate level of trans fat in foods—1 gram per 100 grams of product consumed. Trans fats are implicated in raising LDL cholesterol levels, contributing to heart disease. Most processed foods contain some form of it, which is formed from partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, to help extend the shelf life of the product and retain its flavor. Trans fats have replaced natural solid fats and liquid oils over the years. Denmark already restricts trans fats. Conventional wisdom in France and elsewhere is that food manufacturers will first “voluntarily” begin re-formulating their products to reduce trans fats, before any mandatory controls are implemented. Stay up to date on this and other debates with visits to BanTransFat.com, a campaign to ban partially hydrogenated oils.
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The federal government spends a fair amount of time developing guidelines to help us all eat right, but puts very little into promoting the foods we should be eating. One group advocates that a 1-cent tax on sales of cans of soda pop could fund an effort to get the word out. Currently, the Food and Drug Administration is seeking comments on the ways our nutrition labels should be changed to give a clearer understanding of the amount of calories consumed, in a campaign called Calories Count.
Would you support a 1 cent tax on soda pop? Use our comment box below.
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“C” still stands for “Cookie” with The Cookie Monster of Sesame Street, but soon the furry blue guy will also be singing along to “A Cookie Is A Sometimes Food.” The new lyrics coincide with the Cookie Monster’s new eating habits—he’s going to learn “moderation” in his cookie consumption, and be encouraged to try new, healthier cookies beyond his trademark chocolate chip obsessions. So says the Sesame Street folks who are planning a new focus on "Healthy Habits for Life." Each episode will open with a health tip about nutrition, exercise, hygiene and rest. Reportedly, talking eggplants and carrots will join in the healthy fun.
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In England, pediatricians are reporting an increase in the number of pre-school children who are obese, and they are contemplating surgery for older obese children, when other methods of weight reduction haven’t worked. Some children there, who are candidates for surgery, have a body mass index as high as 70! The normal range is 20 to 25. One 11-year-old in Britain has a 54-inch waist. After enrolling in a program that offered nutritional education, support and exercise, he lost only 19 pounds. Now he may have “stomach banding” done, a procedure that reduces the stomach’s capacity, thereby regulating food intake.
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Oregon has joined the growing ranks of states considering or passing bans on junk food sales in public schools. The legislature there is currently debating limits on the sale of soda pop, candy and other junk food. This spring legislative season, 27 states are considering some type of junk food sales ban, according to the National Conference of State Legislators. One bill in Oregon would ban junk food sales in vending machines, school stores and cafeterias. Another bill would ban vending machine sales of foods that have “low nutritional value.” Schools, meanwhile, are quietly pointing out that they would need to have those lost revenues replaced somehow. Also before the Oregon legislature is a bill requiring schools to offer physical education classes.
Learn about Stonyfield Farm's Menu for Change program.
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One editorialist in Arizona, where the state legislature is discussing a proposed ban on junk food sales in public schools, thinks such a ban would not work. The editorial takes a different stand than most opponents of such bans. Usually, school officials object to the bans because they will eat into much-needed revenues for the school’s programs. This writer thinks the ban would lead to a black market of junk food sales.
“Ban junk food sales at school and procuring and consuming it would simply move off campus. Or, as has been noted previously in these pages, a black market could form, with kids bringing banned food to school to sell to classmates at huge markups.” The writer says the state should “junk the junk food ban” idea.
What do you think? Will students start selling their own contraband in the schools, if they are barred from purchasing it on school grounds? Weigh in with your thoughts in our Friday Healthy Kids Poll below.
A study out of Pennsylvania confirms what others suspected: rural children are not immune to the obesity epidemic that is sweeping our country’s youth. While once upon a time, farm and rural children were considered healthier than their more urban counterparts, that is no longer true. Fewer rural families are farming; the farmers are using more machines, and rural children have less access to the kinds of organized fitness opportunities that might give them more chances to move. Like most school-age children, they are watching too much television, playing video games, and surfing the Net. They are not out riding their bikes, as rural youth once did. The roads are too dangerous, and their parents are concerned. The Pennsylvania study confirms trends seen in other rural areas such as West Virginia, Michigan, and New Mexico. More than a quarter of all West Virginia fifth-graders are considered obese, in a state where two-thirds of the entire population is rural.
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Mike Padone, a Perkins student,
reads the product list on the new
healthy vending machine.
Yesterday, students at the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts got to try out their new healthy vending snack machine, filled with organic and all natural snacks. Stonyfield Farm donated the machine to help the school's efforts to improve nutrition choices for the students.
The white panel on the Stonyfield Farm machine above is in Braille, with a map of what's in the machine and the codes for selecting each item. Students taste-tested the items last month and yesterday took part in the machine's official launch.
Perkins student Ali Richardson deposits
her money in the machine after making her selection.
Perkins is the sixth Massachusetts school to receive one of our vending machines. They are part of a larger effort to address the special needs of students who are blind or visually impaired with multiple disabilities. These students are at greater risk of obesity because of limited mobility.
According to the school's nutritionist, Margaret Loeper Vasquez, the vending machines will help teach students about good nutrition and prove that healthy food can taste good too. She counsels students on weight-related issues and oversees a walking club with a small group of students. Perkins students also participate in wrestling, jogging, track, cheerleading, and many other sporting activities.
At the moment, the Perkins machine is stocked with Organic Valley milk and string cheese, Stacy’s pita chips, Newman’s Own Organics pretzels, and Sonyfield organic smoothies.
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Today Stonyfield launched a healthy vending machine at the Perkins School for the Blind near Boston. Perkins becomes the sixth school iin Massachusetts to receive one of our vending machines filled with healthy snacks. The machines are just one part of a larger effort by school officials to pay attention to the increased risk its students have for being overweight. In addition to the challenges of being blind or visually impaired with multiple disabilities, some Perkins students also tend to get less exercise and are more likely to be overweight than their sighted peers.
“Teaching healthy habits such as good nutrition and exercise is somewhat more of a challenge for our students who are blind or visually impaired with multiple disabilities,” says school Nutritionist Margaret Loeper Vasquez. “The new healthy vending machine
will be a high profile aid to teach students that good nutrition can be synonymous with yummy food and beverages.”
In addition to counseling individual students on weight-related issues, Vasquez operates a walking club on a bi-weekly basis with a small group of students. Perkins students also participate in wrestling, jogging, track, cheerleading, and many other sporting activities.
As with all of Stonyfield's healthy vending machines, students at Perkins approved of the new snacks in a taste test last month. TThe snacks featured are organic or all natural, and meet nutrition guidelines. The Perkins machine will feature Organic Valley milk and string cheese, Stacy’s pita chips, Newman’s Own Organics pretzels, and Sonyfield organic smoothies.
Almost 900 schools have contacted us to get a machine since we started the program in 2003.
Perkins is the first school for the blind in the country, where Helen Keller and her teacher, Annie Sullivan were educated. Today Perkins serves 60,000 people who are blind or visually impaired with multiple disabilities.
