Running head: Choose My Plate

Adrian Chang
PPE 310: Health Literacy for Schools
Vance Miller
9/13/2015

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Introduction
Obesity is at an alarmingly high level in America, particularly in our youth. In order to
stop this problem, it is important to realize that nowadays, children are eating two out of three
meals every day at school. The responsibility to look out for their nutritional well-being, then,
falls on the schools and educators. There are several tools for teachers as they take on this battle
against the obesity epidemic. More and more programs are being released to help track and
monitor nutrition, including software like ChooseMyPlate. Websites online also have very
useful information, such as the National Standards for School Meals, and the Dietary Guidelines
for Americans. Armed with all of these resources, it becomes the teachers duty to help keep
students healthy.
National Standards for School Meals & Local School Wellness Policy

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Arcadia High School does meet the requirements set forth by the National Standards for
School Meals. Fruits and vegetables are provided at each meal, as are fat-free and reduced-fat
milk and whole grains. Arcadia High successfully provides these options at each breakfast and
lunch. For example, a fresh fruit basket or whole grain cereals are among the breakfast options,
while fruits and/or vegetables are offered as a possible side with every lunch meal. Milk and
100% fruit juice are available with every meal.
Arcadia High is on a free-reduced meal policy, which means that, as mandated by the
USDA, they must have a school wellness policy implemented. This policy is in place to ensure
student wellness, while reducing childhood obesity and guaranteeing that the nutritional
guidelines of the school match the national standards (National School Lunch Program, 2015).
Dietary Guidelines for Americans
In order to meet the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, students should focus on a few
major areas. These are balancing calories with adequate physical activity, consuming more of
foods such as fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and consuming fewer foods with sodium,
trans fats, cholesterol, and added sugars. As shown in the images above, it is unlikely that
students at Arcadia High are meeting these guidelines. While there are some healthier options,
there is no guarantee that students will choose what is best for them from the plethora of
selections available. As seen above, the students choices can drastically impact whether they are
meeting their requirements in the various areas of nutrition. Where one student chose to have a
fruit basket for breakfast, the other student finished breakfast and lunch with 0% of their daily
fruit requirements. The student who consumed enough fruit, however, had much less dairy and
protein than the other student. Neither student consumed any whole grains, only refined. Both

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students consumed more sodium in two meals than is recommended for an entire day. While
whole grains are available, refined grain products are much more abundant. Some fruit options
exist, but juices are much more prevalent. In addition to diet, each student should be partaking in
at least 150 minutes of physical activity per day, which is definitely not met in the brief minutes
between classes or the limited amount of time available during lunch.
On a positive note, oil was not featured much in either students diet. In comparing the
two, it becomes evident that depending on the choices the student makes, empty calories can be
minimized or avoided altogether. Perhaps if better informed on important aspects of nutrition,
each student could have made better choices throughout the day.
Recommended Nutritional Improvements
One major change to Arcadia Highs dining options would be to decrease the large
number of choices students have on a daily basis. While having lots of options for students to
choose from may seem ideal, the end result is that students can choose whatever looks tastiest,
which typically does not bode well for nutritional value. Too many of the plentiful choices seem
to appeal more to taste than nutrition. Fewer breakfast sandwiches and toaster pastries and more
oatmeal and fruits would greatly benefit the students. While the transition might be difficult at
first, reducing the vast number of options should make it easier for cafeteria staff to focus on the
few healthy options they do have to prepare.
A second change could be in the variety of salads and their dressings. While it is great to
offer students salads as a lighter, healthier alternative to greasy pizza, most students end up using
Caesar or ranch dressings that are heavy in fats and oils, and skimpy on nutritional value. With

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the great availability of healthy and tasty salad dressings these days, it could be a quick and easy
fix to provide these better options to students.
A third option to improve nutrition in campus dining might be to reduce the amount of
processed/packaged foods served. There seems to be a huge problem with high sodium intake
from meals, and this could be prevented through preparing fresh meals instead of pre-made
sandwiches or canned vegetable medleys. In the above examples, the first student attempted to
eat slightly more healthily in consuming a fruit drink instead of soda with their lunch.
Unfortunately, the juice they consumed was from a processed powder mix that contained no real
fruit.
Reflection
The food tracker tool is very useful, and could be quite helpful to a teacher. Right off the
bat, this can tell teachers whether their students are getting the nutrition in their diets that the
national standards deem necessary. Based on these results, teachers can advocate for better
nutritional care for their students, or ensure that the positives in the school nutrition stay that
way. This will not only give teachers peace of mind knowing what healthy options there already
are, but also allow them to promote change if need be.
The information from this tool can also be helpful inside of classrooms. Teachers can
take this as an opportunity to better educate students so that they can help themselves lead
healthy lives. Students can compare what national standards say they should be eating to what
options they have at their own schools. A project could be used to have students track their daily
nutritional intake, then even come up with their own suggestions as to how the school can
improve for them. At Arcadia High School, a desire to ensure students were eating what they

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were supposed to (along with several other reasons such as traffic safety) has led to a closed
campus, with students not allowed to travel to surrounding fast food options for meals.
Outside of the classroom, students can be encouraged to extend their knowledge from this
tool to their lives at home. Daily nutrition comes from a balance between cafeteria food as well
as meals at home. Students could have their parents take part in the project and get a better sense
of how to plan out meals throughout the day for a more balanced diet.

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References
Dietary Guidelines for Americans. (2010, January). Retrieved from
http://www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines/2010.asp
Food Tracker. Retrieved from https://www.supertracker.usda.gov/foodtracker.aspx
National School Lunch Program (NSLP). (2015). USDA. Retrieved from
http://www.fns.usda.gov/nslp/national-school-lunch-program-nslp
Nutrition Standards in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. (2012).
Federal Registrar, 77(17), 4088-4089. Retrieved from
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-01-26/pdf/2012-1010.pdf

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