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Amber Barlow
PPE 310: Health Literacy / Dr. Lynn Miller
September 13, 2015

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Introduction

This is a record and an evaluation on a sample of the breakfast and lunch options at Deer Valley
High school in the Deer Valluy Unifed School District. This study is utilizing the Food Tracker
program provided by the United States Department of Agriculture where you enter the food that
you ate and it provides you the nutrional information on your meals. With this program you can
log your meals to maintain, lose, or gain wait depending on your needs. This is an evaluation on
if Deer Valley High Schools meals meet the government mandates.

Breakfast

The students were given a few options for breakfast but I chose the option with whole
wheat mini bagels with cinnamon cream cheese, fruit choice, milk, and a juice. The caloric
intake was 621 calories for breakfast.

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Lunch

Lunch at Deer Valley is restaurant style where they have many options for the students to choose
from, I chose the main meal of the day which was hand tossed pizza. Every lunch you are given
flavored or non-flavored nonfat milk, a vegetable choice, and fruit. The caloric intake was 515
calories for lunch.

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Evaluations

Does your school meet the requirements for the National Standards for School Meals? Why
or why not? Is your school on a free-reduced policy, if so what are the requirements of the
Local School Wellness Policy (visit NSLP website above)? The menu options meet a great deal
of the standards. The breakfast menu and the lunch menu offer fruit each meal, the lunch menu
offers a choice of vegetables but the breakfast menu does not (National Standards for School
Meals, 2012). They offer whole grains in the breakfast and lunch menu, breakfast they offer a
whole grain bagel and every lunch menu offers a hand tossed whole grain pizza (National
Standards for School Meals, 2012). The lunch menu offers three different entrees, not everyone
has meat with it but at least one entre offers meat. Such as the day I chose had a chicken
sandwich (National Standards for School Meals, 2012). The lunch menus offer flavored or nonflavored nonfat milk but the breakfast menu just says milk, so an inference would be it is
nonfat as well (National Standards for School Meals, 2012). The menu is pretty sparse, they do
not tell you the exact sodium or caloric intake but the Food Tracker estimates the caloric intake
(National Standards for School Meals, 2012).
Deer Valley offers free and reduced lunches, the reduced lunch price $.40 and breakfast is $.30
but there is no guidelines for these in their Wellness Policy (Student Wellness Policy, 2011).
Would a child consuming this breakfast and lunch at school meet the Dietary Guidelines
for Americans? Why or why not? Be specific and use details from your food tracker results.
A female 14-18 1800/2000/2400 and needs 450-600 calories for breakfast and 750-850 for lunch

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(Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010). According to the day and meals I chose the breakfast
portion was 621 calories so the meal was just a little too high. The lunch portion 515 calories
which was under the minimum amount of calories for a school lunch. There are minimal details
that could be changed such as the breakfast portion actually had cinnamon cream cheese and the
pizza was hand tossed and doesnt give the exact vegetable or fruit they offer. These details could
change the calories a little higher or lower.
What changes would you make to improve the food the students at your school eat to
improve their nutritional intake? Be specific and use at least three examples. At least one of
the breakfast options is a little too high in calories. I would suggest switching to a low calorie
cream cheese such as low fat or maybe an option between orange juice and milk. The lunch
option I chose was too low in calories. The school could offer two slices of pizza or alongside
with the veggies and/or fruit they could offer a starchier and carbohydrate filled side such as
fries, mashed potatoes, etc.

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Reflection

The Food Tracker is a useful tool for people who are trying to watch what they eat and
maximize healthy eating habits. This program would be really useful and beneficial in a health or
physical education class or maybe even a science class when they are going over calories or
nutrition. As an instructor for a world history class, I could have the students use this program
and have them record what they eat on a day to day basis and do further research on what other
people eat in different countries, religion, or in the past. They could compare the eating habits
and meals. I want to be a resource for students if they are looking for a healthier lifestyle so if
they are looking for a way to record what theyre eating and measuring it to what they should be
eating, I could recommend this free and useful program.
Looking at the nutritional value of a given day of the school I work at could give me
lucrative knowledge on my students. If my students are continuously tired or sluggish I could
inspect their meals and if their breakfast or lunches are not providing them the government
mandated caloric intake or nutrition I could assess the situation better. Or I could use the
program or the wellness policy to decide on the snacks I could hand out to my students for a
treat, a prize, or praise for good behavior.
There is very minimal fast food or restaurant establishments in the surrounding area.
Directly across the road is a Subway and Barros Pizza. About two or three blocks east is a Sonic,

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Quiznos, Starbucks, and other pizza and sushi restaurants but that plaza is a little out of the
way. Deer Valley is a closed campus so students are not allowed to walk out or order in outside
food.

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References

Dietary Guidelines for Americans. (2010). Retrieved September 13, 2015, from
http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/sites/default/files/dietary_guidelines_for_americans/ExecSum
m.pdf

National Standards for School Meals. (2012, January 26). Retrieved September 13, 2015, from
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-01-26/pdf/2012-1010.pdf

Student Wellness Policy. (2011). Retrieved September 13, 2015, from

http://www.dvusd.org/Page/31027

SuperTracker: My Foods. My Fitness. My Health. (n.d.). Retrieved September 13, 2015, from
https://www.supertracker.usda.gov/foodtracker.aspx

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