Step Up for a Healthier School

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Step Up for a Healthier School
Christy Manso The Alliance for a Healthier
Generation Christy.manso_at_healthiergeneration.org
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Agenda

• About the Alliance
• The Issue
• Competitive Food and Beverages
• Meaningful Student Involvement

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About the Alliance

• Joint Partnership
• William J. Clinton Foundation
• American Heart Association
• Mission
• To eliminate childhood obesity and to inspire all
  young people in the United States to develop
  lifelong, healthy habits.
• Goals
• To stop the nationwide increase in childhood
  obesity by 2010 and to empower kids nationwide to
  make healthy lifestyle choices.
• To positively affect the places that can make a
  difference to a childs health homes, schools,
  restaurants, doctors offices, and the community.

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About the Alliance

• Four Pillars
• Kids Movement
• Motivating kids to take charge of their health
  and to lead their own Go Healthy movement.
• www.igohugo.org
• Healthcare Program
• Giving tools to healthcare providers so that they
  can better diagnose, prevent and treat obesity.

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About the Alliance

• Four Pillars
• Healthy Schools Program
• The HSP helps all schools become healthier places
  to learn, work, eat, and play.
• Help create healthier school environments by
  offering resources, support, and opportunities to
  celebrate successes.
• The HSP is designed to create a nationwide
  paradigm shiftin which the perception that a
  school environment that promotes healthy eating
  and physical activity is the norm and not the
  exception.
• Industry Program
• Working with industry to provide more options for
  physical activity and to change the food and
  beverage options offered to students in schools
  and other environments.

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The Issue

• Whether overweight or not, children in the U.S.
  are often overfed, but undernourished.
• Eating 8 more than they were less than 30 years
  ago.i
• Under-consumption of nutrients needed to survive
  and over-consumption of foods that can lead to
  conditions such as high cholesterol and high
  blood pressure.
• Optimal nutrition is necessary for optimal
  cognitive functioning.
• i Enns CW, Mickle SJ, Goldman JD. Trends in
  food and nutrient intakes by adolescents in the
  United States. Fam Econ Nutr Rev 2003 15 (2)
  15-27

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The Issue

• Kids consume about 35 to 50 of their daily
  calories during the school day.ii
• An extra 100 calories a day can lead to weight
  gain of 10 pounds in one year.
• Limiting availability of excess calories in
  school environment helps prevent childhood
  overweight and obesity.
• Even if at normal weight, healthy environments
  benefit all children.
• ii Neumark-Sztainer D, French S, Hanna P, Story
  M, Fulkerson J. School Lunch and Snacking
  Patterns among High School Students Associations
  with School Food Environment and Policies.
  International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and
  Physical Activity 2005, vol. 2, published on-line
  at ltwww.ijbnpa.org/content/2/1/14gt.

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Competitive Food and Beverages

• Food and beverages offered outside of the school
  reimbursable meals program such as products sold
  in school vending machines, a la carte lines,
  snack bars, fundraisers, and school stores.
• Alliance Competitive Food and Beverage
  Guidelines.
• Science-based and age appropriate.
• By adjusting the environment surrounding them,
  Guidelines can move children and teens to choose
  differently and consume fewer calories and
  healthier options.

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Meaningful Student Involvement

• Adult-initiated, shared decision making with
  students.
• Student-initiated and directed action by adults.
• Student-initiated, shared decision-making with
  adults.

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Meaningful Student Involvement

• Mobilizing change at the grassroots level leads
  to creative and sustainable solutions.
• Listen to the voices of those whose behavior you
  want to change the students. Get their
  feedback.
• Students tend to resist changes they view as
  being imposed on them by school administrators,
  so seek their input.
• Schools that successfully made the changes noted
  that obtaining student acceptance was
  particularly important.

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Meaningful Student Involvement
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Meaningful Student Involvement

• Student-led action research and assessment
• Engage secondary school student groups (clubs,
  student councils, etc.)
• Students survey their peers and conduct focus
  groups.
• To identify barriers to change and ways to reduce
  them.
• A sample question could be, how often does price
  prohibit you from buying healthier items?
• Use this information to shape messaging on the
  changes.
• Students develop a plan of action.
• Advocacy
• Students interface with decision-makers to
  discuss the changes.
• Students develop their own marketing campaigns to
  promote a change in snacks and beverages at their
  schools.
• Develop tactics (posters, flyers, articles in the
  student paper, debates, etc.)

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For more information on the Alliance School
Beverage and Competitive Foods Guidelines, visit
www.healthiergeneration.org/beverages and
www.healthiergeneration.org/snacks For more
information on The Go Healthy Kids Movement,
visit www.igohugo.org To download the Step Up
for a Healthier School Student Toolkit, visit
http//www.channelone.com/news/2007/06/01/better_s
chools/

Christy Manso Business Development
Manager Alliance for a Healthier
Generation christy.manso_at_healthiergeneration.org 6
46-775-9153