How-to Eat Healthy at School: Advice from Novi's Nutrition Experts

Efforts are ongoing to make ' lunches healthier—without sacrificing taste. Novi's Student Nutrition Action Committee (SNAC), which was organized this past school year to help achieve nutrition goals, is continuing to improve school lunch offerings and educate parents and students about nutrition.

JoAnn Clements, director of Novi's nutrition and food service, said that she is working to provide better nutrition than the standards.

"There are new guidelines for school lunches that we will be required to meet in 2013," Clements said. "We're actually working to be ahead of those guidelines in Novi. For instance, we stopped frying food three years ago, we removed soda from our offering to students six years ago, and we offer only low fat milk to students."

Clements spoke at the Wednesday about nutrition for children, wholesome foods parents can prepare for their children's lunches and healthy options that are available for local kids in their school cafeterias.

Local business owner and chef Ina Cheatem and volunteer nutrition professional Michelle Thompson, who are all members of SNAC, also spoke with Clements at the seminar. All of them are passionate about the importance of good nutrition for school children.

"Our goal with SNAC is to expose kids to new foods and healthy food options. 60 percent of today's school children are overweight; 30 percent of them are morbidly obese," Clements said.

SNAC & Chefs Move to Schools

SNAC is a volunteer effort and meshes with the Chefs Move to Schools program spear-headed by First Lady Michelle Obama. The national program provides an opportunity for chefs across the country to adopt a local school to teach kids about good nutrition and to help solve the childhood obesity epidemic.

SNAC was piloted this past year at . Every month, the three women held a presentation about healthy foods for a different class. Students also prepared, cooked and tasted healthy foods that they might not have been exposed to otherwise, Clements said.

"Our goal this year is to have a chef for each elementary school in Novi," stated Clements. "We're doing pretty well; we have five chefs in place so far."

Cheatem, who owns the culinary service business Fresh Delights, was the first chef to "adopt" a school in Novi.

"When I returned from the national meeting [kick-off of the Chefs Move to Schools campaign] in Washington, DC, I was excited and anxious to find a school district to partner with," Cheatem said. "I'm a parent myself, and school nutrition is very important to me. Novi is a perfect fit!"

In addition to working to educate children about good nutrition and to help them make better food choices, Cheatem also has advice for parents who make lunches at home for their children to carry to school.

The Bento Box: A healthy homemade lunch solution

One suggestion for a healthy home-prepared lunch is the Bento Box. Bento (or "obento") is the Japanese word for a packed meal. It's essentially a Japanese-style lunch box, and it features separate compartments or layers for different types of foods.

"You don't have to invest in a Bento Box system to prepare this type of lunch for your child. Anything with separate containers for different foods will work, even something you might find at a dollar store," Cheatem said.

"The beauty is that a Bento Box is easy to pack, offers kids a variety of healthy choices that are appealing to the eye and it's an easy, economical way to use leftovers. What's more, the foods don't get soggy or squashed and you can make sure your child has a healthy variety of food types every day," she said.

How to make a Bento Box:

• Use a variety of food groups.
• Have your child participate in food selection and preparation.
• Use different colors of food to teach kids to "eat from the colors of the rainbow."
• Use foods with different textures.
• Include pleasing or cute shapes. Cut foods into shapes with a knife, vegetable cutter or cookie cutter, or use fun egg molds.
• Include manageable portions—a little of each food is plenty.

New Government Nutrition Standards

At the library seminar, Thompson explained the new government standards for healthy eating and provided take-home "cheat sheets" for attendees.

"We all remember the old food pyramid. Those guidelines have been updated by the Department of Agriculture and the pyramid replaced by the "Choose My Plate" diagram. The new guidelines are detailed on-line at ChoseMyPlate.gov and they're easy to follow and understand," said Thompson.

Here's a summary of the new guidelines:

• The healthy "plate" is divided into four sections: fruits, vegetables, protein and whole grains, with a helping of dairy on the side.
• Make half your plate fruits and vegetables for good health.
• Vary your protein choices by adding seafood and beans to the usual meats.
• Keep meat and poultry portions small—the size of a deck of cards is enough for an adult, even less is sufficient for a child.
• Stick with low-fat dairy products like skim or 1 percent milk.
• Eat whole grain foods rather than processed grains.
• Avoid processed foods and foods high in solid fats, sugars and salt. Read the labels on packaged food.
• Be physically active; the guideline is at least 60 minutes every day for children and 30 minutes every day for adults.
• Keep track of the calories you consume and eat the correct amount for your age and frame.
• Nutrition Facts Labels and ingredient labels are informative. Use them to make better choices when shopping.