Queston 1
The
USDA recently revamped requirements for NSLP, and they have addressed all of
the suggestions made by the CDC and IOM regarding school meals. Given that the new guidelines require schools
to meet many of the SFE criteria for school meals, how should the health of
the SFE be measured in the future?
posted by Angela V @ 6:16 AM
15 comments
15 Comments:
A way to measure the school food environment is through assessment of nutrition education. Because the meal guidelines have been altered, I think nutrition education is needed to support these changes. Immediately what comes to mind are the different vegetable groups that are now required. Those working in schools are not always familiar with what categorizes as a “starchy” or “other” vegetable. It would be interesting to see the implementation of consistent nutrition education and how this would affect SFE scores in later studies. Nutrition education would encompass all areas of the SFE and would also be likely to decrease competitive food scores.
I think that school food environment could be measured by participation of students, plate waste, and other such factors. If the schools are meeting all of the guidelines and providing good healthy food then seeing how many kids are taking the health food and how much they are eating it would be good means to measure this success or failure of the SFE.
Another way to measure the school food environment is to start tracking the health of the students and their academic achievements. The goal of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act was to deliver wholesome meals that mirror the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Clear indicators of the SFE would be shown by well nourished students who perform better in the classroom and show improvements in over all health.
Molly-I really like that idea! Overall health and academic success go hand in hand.
I think nutrition education is severely lacking in schools. I don't even remember learning about it in grade school. Because the students' education of nutrition does not directly affect school lunch I think it is important to have education of the staff, particularly the dietary staff. I think that the number of nutrition education hours each student and kitchen staff receives would be another way to measure SFE.
Molly, I love your idea about tracking students' health. Although their health may not be a reflection of the food provided at school because they spend 1-2 other meals not at school, I think it could be representative of the overall progress of children's health.
I believe that the school food environment should be measured by both the faculty and the students. The kids are the ones who have to eat these meals and by knowing what they think as well as testing them on their nutrition education, we could get a better picture of their current knowledge and where we can improve in the future.
Molly, I also love the idea of looking at students' health and academic success! I know that many more schools are implementing health screenings such as blood pressure. The more that the students know their own information, the better prepared they are for the future.
I think there should be a specific checklist of School Food Environment Factors, along with academic and physical activity measures, that are measured on a yearly basis and evaluated for trends. This checklist could be translated into a score and then we could use the data to study what works and what doesn't work.
I think it would be useful to track what the students are actually eating. Obviously, this would take some man power (I'm having flashbacks to meal time at Diabetes Camp)...that would be a good project for several interns at once. We know what the kids are receiving, but what are they actually eating?
Nate, I like your suggestions of objective, measurable outcomes.
Molly, I totally agree with what you said about nutrition and academic success--that's why I included GPA as a variable in my thesis! However, I agree with Kelsey that we could not draw a direct correlation between the SFE and the health outcomes of the children. It would interesting to see if there was a correlation, but we would definitely need other direct correlates to support the SFE.
I think a good way to measure a school food environment is through the effectiveness of nutrition education. Last year for my journal critique I remember reviewing an article about nutrition education implemented in a 2 week summer camp and its overall usefulness. This seems like something similar that can be done in schools to not only provide feedback on the knowledge learned but also what nutrition concepts may be lacking.
I agree with all the suggestions so far. I think something that would also help would be to use all those measurements to continue to make small improvements. The new NSLP requirements are a great step in the right direction, but I can see many schools fulfilling these requirements without changing much. Continuing to make small goals would allow school lunches to continue to improve. Schools could set dates for a set amount of small goals and work to meet them. For example, if a new vegetable does not go over well, a small goal could be to try a few new recipes with the vegetable by a certain date and gather feedback from the students or to cook it differently, provide further education about its benefits to their health, etc.
Nate, I think using plate waste is a great idea to measure SFE health. However, I am always curious why students throw away what they do as well. While I was at Unit 5 I really payed attention to how social kids are. If the person in front of them in line does not want broccoli, they likely will not want broccoli. If they overhear a classmate talk about how the bread looks funny/different, they likely won't eat it either. I think school foodservice staff can make a big difference in what kids choose to eat if they are encouraging, knowledgable, and patient with the kids.
Taylor, I think that figuring out what the kids are actually eating is big step in the right direction(even though it would be a lot of work!). From there, nutrition education can be implemented based on the foods that are not being received as well as others. Maybe recipes could be altered as well. I don’t think that just knowing what was served is enough information; we need to know what foods these kids are actually consuming.
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