running head: SESSION 9

Lancina 1

PPE: 310 Health Literacy for Schools

Session 9
Tabitha Lancina
Course # 79591
Lacey Merritt
22 October 2015

Introduction:
Arizona is ranked the fourth highest in the country for childhood obesity. (Childhood
Obesity Trends) American society has been making it more of a point to increase awareness of
overall health and wellness, specifically targeting weight. There have been many programs put
into place, such as the Get up and play, 60 minutes a day movement that was created by the
NFL, and Michele Obamas reform for school lunches. Todays society has noticed the rise in
childhood obesity that is more often than not a result of a poor diet and lack of exercise, and in
recent years have come up with many ways to combat this problem. The MyPlate online tool
helps adults and students get a better idea of what exactly is going into their body on a daily
basis.

National Standards for School Meals

Littleton Elementary School is not compliant with the National Standards for School
Meals. While they do meet the majority of the requirements, such as providing a fruit with
breakfast and a fruit and vegetable with lunch, it has been observed that they do not change the
portions to fit the suggested calorie intake for the students based on their age. First graders get
the same amount of food as the eighth graders do. This explains why the younger children dont
usually finish all of their meal, and the older students can finish their meal in five minutes and
still be hungry during their next class period. However, the school meets all of the other
requirements which is a very positive thing. Littleton is also part of the free-reduced school lunch
program. The Local School Wellness Policy directly states Include goals for nutrition promotion
and education, physical activity, and other school-based activities that promote student wellness.
Include nutrition guidelines to promote student health and reduce childhood obesity for all foods
available in each school district. Permit parents, students, representatives of the school food
authority, teachers of physical education, school health professionals, the school board, school
administrators, and the general public to participate in the development, implementation, and
review and update of the local wellness policy. Inform and update the public (including parents,
students, and others in the community) about the content and implementation of local wellness
policies. Be measured periodically on the extent to which schools are in compliance with the
local wellness policy, the extent to which the local education agencys local wellness policy
compares to model local school wellness policies, and the progress made in attaining the goals of
the local wellness policy, and make this assessment available to the public. (2010) There are the
exact requirements that the Local School Wellness Policy entails, and Littleton is doing an
excellent job of meeting these requirements.

Dietary Guidelines for Americans

If a student were to eat breakfast and lunch at school and had to meet the Dietary
Guidelines for Americans off of those meals, they would not meet the guidelines. For the
particular meal that was chosen to be used on the data tracker, the students would not meet their
calorie intake for the day. The students would have only eaten 751 calories, which would not be
substantial enough to last through the day. In this particular meal the student would have also
only had 3% of their daily vegetable intake and 2% of their daily protein intake. (2012)
According to the food tracker, a student just eating breakfast and lunch at school would not meet
their daily intake goal. The lunch that was chosen for the tracker was one of the more unhealthy
choices for a main entre, however in reality, this is what most students would have chosen.
Nutritional Improvements
To improve the meals at Littleton, there should be more of an effort to make sure that
each age group is getting the proper calorie intake that they need. This will allow for students to
get the nutrition their body needs, depending on their age and will ensure that students are not
hungry and as a result they will be ready to learn and not distracted by hunger. Another
improvement that could be made is to have more of a salad bar type option for the students.
Many students dont eat the vegetables that they choose because they dont like that they are raw
and plain. Incorporating some sort of salad bar would allow students to decide what they want to
make for themselves, and gives them the option of mixing vegetables and fruits to make
something they might enjoy more. This could also help with the low percentage of vegetable
intake that was evident through the food tracker. Another improvement the school could make
for their meals is to offer two choices for breakfast. Often times for lunch students get two to
three choices for their meal, but with breakfast there is only one. There have been many times

that a child chooses not to have breakfast because they dont like what is being served and as a
result they are too hungry to focus in class. Providing a second option for breakfast meals could
help to eliminate this problem.
Reflection
For a teacher this information is more important than many would think it is. If a students
is hungry they are distracted and not learning. Food fuels the mind for learning. Often times
students do not have much education on what exactly they should be fueling their bodies with
and why. The food tracker website gives teachers the opportunity to teach their students about
nutrition with a hands on approach. After learning about the different food groups and how they
are crucial for their body to function properly, the teacher could have the students use this food
tracker to input what they usually eat in a day. Then the students and the teacher will be aware of
what they need to improve.
This information will help the teacher by informing him/her about which students may
not be receiving the proper nutrition, and the teacher can find ways to assist that students in
getting the nutrition they need. The students can use this information to evaluate themselves.
They can ask themselves questions and research what could happen if they continue their current
eating habits. This would not only be an opportunity for the teacher to teach their students about
nutrition, but it could also trigger lifestyle changes within the students.
Teachers could also get parents involved with the food tracker, once the students have
tracked what they eat and learned about nutrition they could take that knowledge home to their
parents and get their family involved in learning about what exactly they are putting into their
bodies. Seeing the individual results in front of them may be enough for entire families to make

changes to their eating and lifestyle habits. If a teacher took the time to teach their students about
health and wellness with this research, they could be responsible for a positive change in many
lives, both inside and out of their classroom.

References
Team Nutrition. (n.d.). Retrieved October 26, 2015, from http://www.fns.usda.gov/tn/localschool-wellness-policy-requirements
(n.d.). Retrieved October 26, 2015, from http://www.ncsl.org/research/health/childhood-obesitytrends-state-rates.aspx
(n.d.). Retrieved October 26, 2015, from http://www.ncsl.org/research/health/childhood-obesitytrends-state-rates.aspx
Choose MyPlate. (2015, April 3). Retrieved October 26, 2015, from
http://www.choosemyplate.gov/tools-supertracker