Healthy Foods + Exercise =
Better Health
Better Grades
Better Behavior
New York Coalition for Healthy School Foods works to promote optional plant-based entrees, healthy snack foods, farm to school programs, and nutrition education to encourage healthier choices. Plant-based entrees contain no cholesterol, are low in saturated and total fat, and contain fiber. This helps schools to better meet their requirement for meals to meet the US Dietary Guidelines. We encourage schools to apply nutrition standards to meals, snack foods, vending machine items, school stores, snack bars at school events, fund-raisers, and not to use unhealthy food as rewards nor exercise for punishment.
Healthy foods and exercise are both important lifestyle choices that go hand in hand to make a healthy person with a strong mind, strong body, and strong spirit. The New York Coalition for Healthy School Foods focuses on the “healthy foods” aspect of the equation to bring positive change to schools.
Appleton, Wisconsin made drastic changes to food available in their public schools. But first they started by making those changes in their high school for troubled youth. By eliminating junk foods and artificial ingredients, offering plenty of fresh whole foods, and a plant-based option each day, they saw dramatic improvements in attendance, grades and behavior.
Click here to purchase a 15 minute DVD (only $10) that details the program and the effects that it had on the students and the school environment.
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Wellness Wakeup:
Empowering Messages for Morning Announcements
An Easy Way to Fulfill Nutrition Education Goals as mandated by Local Wellness Policies
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Get Involved with creating your schools Local Wellness Policy
All schools are required by federal law to have one in place by July 1, 2006
Get involved with helping to establish your school’s Wellness Policy, a requirement that all schools participating in the federally-funded school meals program develop and implement wellness policies that address nutrition and physical activity by the start of the 2006/2007 school year. Parents, students, representatives of the school food authority, the school board, school administrators, and the public must be involved in the development of the school wellness policy. Read our food guidelines.
Click on the following to see two model policies and policy guidelines:
National Alliance for Nutrition and Activity (http://www.schoolwellnesspolicies.org)
Center for Ecoliteracy (http://www.ecoliteracy.org/programs/wellness_policy.html)
Policy Guidelines from Erie 1 BOCES
(http://www.healthylunches.org/docs/statewellness.doc)
If you would like further guidance, please contact us by email or call us at 607-272-1154.
Nutrition Education
Antonia Demas, PhD, knows that when you teach children about healthy plant-based nutrition, they will choose such foods in the cafeteria at a far greater rate than children who do not have such education. She should know. She has conducted ongoing research in over 200 schools across the United States , and is the author of the “Food is Elementary” Nutrition Curriculum.
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