Much has been written about the health benefits of children eating breakfast. Some of the key benefits of breakfast for school children include:

• Students who eat breakfast are in class more often, have improved behavior and better brain functioning.
• Effective school breakfast programs are associated with higher achievement test scores, better grades, and positive learning environments. Successful school breakfast programs are also associated with lower rates of absenteeism and tardiness, as well as fewer visits to the school nurse.

It is also important to remember that some children need school-sponsored meals in order to avoid hunger. During our long recession, participation in the school meals program has skyrocketed. Fortunately, school breakfast and lunch meals offer reliable and consistent sources of food, assuring that our children get the nutrients they need.

Beyond the obvious benefits of academics and health, school breakfast meals can also provide a positive environment that help to build a sense of community. To learn more about this aspect of school breakfast, I interviewed Dayle Hayes, MS, RD, creator of School Meals That Rock  on Facebook.  Dayle has devoted her career to child nutrition and developing effective healthy school environments. As you’ll see from her responses to my questions below, lately she has been focusing not only on what children eat at school but also on how they are eating.

Can school meals be fashioned into a type of “family meal?”

Eating school breakfast in the classroom can easily be a good model for positive communal mealtimes. Some states mandate school breakfast in high risk areas and four (California, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Indiana) consider the time children are eating in the classroom as instructional time. While children are eating the teacher can:

• Discuss the expectations for the day, i.e. helping the class get organized
• Read or tell a story
• Encourage children to converse in small groups

What do teachers think about breakfast in the classroom?

Teachers with experience in providing breakfast in their classroom recognize the social benefits of this time together. Breakfast time brings a calming atmosphere to the classroom – centering the students’ attention on what is to occur next. Students work as a classroom community to help with set up and clean up which helps to teach responsibility. In many ways this experience parallels what we encourage families to provide during meals at home.

Why should schools strive to support pleasant and positive mealtimes vs. just getting the students fed?

Mealtime should be a time for students to relax, socialize and nourish their bodies and minds. When the eating environment is pleasant, students eat and behave better. More positive environments included trained adults supervising the cafeteria or classroom and schedules that allow adequate time for students to eat.

Since the beginning of human culture, eating together has been important to families and communities – and provides rituals that bind us together. School breakfast in the classroom can also help to fulfill this role. What are your schools doing to create a family-like, positive mealtime eating experience?

Maureen Bligh, RD
Project Manager

Halloween may be synonymous with candy and sugary sweets, but that is no reason to give up on healthy eating. Serving a balanced family meal before heading out to Halloween festivities can help to keep your ghouls from gobbling up all their candy before they get home.

Start with a festive family meal of Dinner in a Pumpkin, Spiced Hot Chocolate and Baked Pears. Be sure to save the seeds when scooping out your pumpkin and enjoy Spicy Roasted Pumpkin Seeds later in the week. Enjoy Pumpkin, Potato and Leek Soup, Cauldron of Chili with Spider Bread and Cauliflower Gratin with Prosciutto to Eat Better, Eat Together all week long.

Visit Facebook to take the Eat Better, Eat Together family meal pledge and follow the Twitter hashtag #EatBetter2Gether for family meal updates. Then register at MealsMatter.org to add these and other recipes to your personalized family meal plan and shopping list.

“Family Meals Matter” features registered dietitian-approved recipes from the thousands of user-contributed recipes available at the free family-nutrition and meal-planning website, Meals Matter, maintained by registered dietitian moms with Dairy Council of California. Healthy Eating Made Easier™

Happy Halloween from the Dairy Council of California

 Photo Caption:  Spiced Hot Chocolate, EatingWell.

Halloween conjures up fond memories of my two grown daughters – finding or making the perfect costume…debating the look that our carved jack-o-lantern should sport…and, of course, trick-or-treating.  Some people might think that with a mother who is a dietitian and a father who is a dentist, Halloween wouldn’t be celebrated in our household, or that we’d be giving out sugar-free gum or floss and confiscate all of daughters’ goodies.

Wrong! My husband and I wanted them to experience this kids’ tradition to the fullest…and that included candy. Sure, there are substitutes that kids like – stickers, small plastic toys, bubbles. One year a dental colleague gave out Flintstone toothbrushes that were a big hit! But in no way do these items negate the allure of candy.

My advice to parents is just relax…lighten up…and use a touch of common sense. Indulging in candy treats on this one special night (and maybe a handful of days after) is not going to condemn a child to a life sentence of sugar addiction. The more focus you put on forbidding children to have candy, the stronger their desire to have it.

With our own daughters we held a typical goodie bag inspection at the end of the evening, primarily a safety check. Then they could each pick about 15 of the pieces they most wanted to keep. The rest of the candy made its way to Dad’s golf buddies or Mom’s tap dance class colleagues. I always suggested to my girls that they eat one, maybe two pieces a day, but I didn’t monitor that. They could eat the candy as quickly or slowly as they chose. My younger daughter, a slave to instant gratification, usually depleted her supply within three days. But then she was done – no begging for more or splurging her allowance on candy bars, licorice whips, etc. And she was fine with that. My older daughter, the planner/saver, would stretch her supply out over about three weeks. She liked to savor. And once I even found a few pieces in a drawer in December – she’d forgotten about them! 

If you don’t make the candy a major issue, it’s likely your children won’t either. Keep Halloween in perspective – in no way will you undermine the everyday healthy habits you’re trying to nurture in your children. Kids recognize this is a special occasion and not the norm. I suggest you take pressure off of your kids and yourself – just enjoy a delightful, guilt-free day!

What are some of the ways you handle the Halloween “loot” collected by your children? 
 
Mary Anne Burkman, MPH, R.D.
Director, Program Services

This week we are celebrating the important role the National School Lunch Program has played in child nutrition. Our previous blog post shared the reason for its being, which was to provide hungry children the foods needed to be optimally nourished so they can learn and grow healthy. The National School Lunch Program has a long history of helping achieve this goal, and since the early 1900’s the dairy industry has also played a pivotal role supporting this effort. In fact, it was around this time that the founders of the Dairy Council of California, Sam Greene and Chester Earl Grey, saw the opportunity to bring the nutrition inherent in dairy products to California schools. They knew that they could provide a much needed service to the public that would benefit generations to come.

The Beginning of the School Milk Program: In the early 1920’s, Greene surveyed California schools to get a clear picture of the state of school nutrition. This survey found that on average 36% of children did not receive milk on a regular basis. This meant a significant number of children were missing out on milk's critically important nutrients needed for optimal growth and health, such as calcium, protein, vitamin A and D. The results of this survey were instrumental in adding milk to the school lunch menu. As a result of milk being served in the California school lunch program, by 1950 per capita milk consumption had increased 25%. And with the inauguration of the Child Nutrition Act and its Special Milk program, milk consumption in schools increased nearly 10-fold over the 23 year period from 1947-1970.

Dairy Industry's Commitment to Child Nutrition: The dairy industry has been committed not only to providing milk and dairy foods to students as part of a balanced, nutritious meal, but also to teaching them how to eat healthfully from all five food groups. Providing nutrition education about the health value of milk and dairy products was at the core of Greene’s vision for the creation of the Dairy Council of California. He believed that you could make a lifelong impact on the health of children if you taught them how to include nutrient-rich foods, like milk, into their everyday choices. This commitment to nutrition education and the desire to contribute to community health is the reason the California dairy industry has continued to support the Dairy Council of California for over 90 years.

Let’s continue to celebrate this commitment by supporting the efforts made on behalf of the National School Lunch Program and take the time to teach nutrition education in schools.

Ashley Rosales, RD
Project Manager

There has been a lot of attention on the national school lunch program recently, and for good reason. School lunches play an integral part of child nutrition, nourishment, and helping children to grow healthy. The week of October 10-14 marks the celebration of National School Lunch Week. One of our longstanding partners, the School Nutrition Association (SNA), has announced the theme, “School Lunch: Let’s Grow Healthy” in partnership with the Milk Processor Education Program (MilkPEP). In order to honor the accomplishments of the National School Lunch Program, let’s reflect briefly on its reason for being, look at the strides that have been made to improve the health of children through school lunches, and lastly, reinforce the positive direction all of us are taking to ensure children grow up healthy.

History of the School Lunch Program: In 1904 Robert Hunter published a book called Poverty, which had a very strong influence on the U.S. effort to feed hungry, needy children in schools. Hunter shed light on the epidemic of hunger plaguing American children from impoverished families. He brought attention to the fact that “learning is difficult because hungry stomachs…are not able to feed the brain. The lack of learning among so many poor children is certainly due, to an important extent, to this cause.” In the years that followed, and with motivation to resolve this problem, cities around the country began experimenting with school feeding programs.

School Lunches Help Children ‘Grow Healthy’: Since President Truman began the National School Lunch Program in 1946 it has served our nation admirably for over 60 years through advanced practices and nutrition education. Every day, the National School Lunch Program serves over 31 million children with nutritionally balanced, healthy meals. And just like 60 years ago, they are addressing major public health concerns through this program. We have watched as school lunches helped diminish an epidemic of rickets caused by malnutrition back in the early 1900’s, and we are now helping address an epidemic of childhood obesity. Today, all meals provided are based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which means they are served in appropriate portions and limited in the amount of calories from fat. They also provide one-third the Recommended Daily Allowances of protein, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, iron, calcium, and calories. But for all that the National School Lunch Program is doing to help address childhood obesity, they are still fulfilling their founding mission, to provide hungry children the foods needed to be optimally nourished so they can learn and grow healthy. For that let us all say “thank you”, as feeding our nation’s children is one of the most important jobs there is.

Ashley Rosales, RD
Project Manager

Eat Better, Eat Together is a blog series by registered dietitians, educators and parents whose stories and advice help families start or strengthen a commitment to balanced family meals. Take the Eat Better, Eat Together Family Meal Pledge at Facebook.com/DairyCouncilofCalifornia.

Children love to share what they learn in school with their families, especially when the topic is nutrition. I frequently hear parents say their children ask for healthier foods as a result of nutrition education. At the Dairy Council of California, we want to help parents engage in the discussion and continue this conversation at their family meals.

Recognizing the importance of communication with families, we include a home connection piece with each of our curriculums. Included is a brief overview of what their child will learn in class, such as “I will learn the main nutrients in each food group” and “I will learn to read the nutrition facts label on food packages”. We also provide activities that the teacher can send home for the family to do together.

Students and families love the homework piece of our school programs. We provide this connection because it:

• Engages families to be involved with student learning
• Provides students the opportunity to practice the skills they learn in the classroom
• Encourages families to make healthy choices

In what ways can you reinforce nutrition messages at home? Here are some suggestions taken from our classroom programs:

• Take your child with you to grocery shop. Engage in conversation about the foods in your basket like which food groups are there and which foods are your child’s favorite.
• Encourage your child to help plan and prepare meals at home.
• Discuss as a family: how will breakfast help us during the day? Which food groups do each of our dinner foods belong in?

Family meals are an excellent way to stay connected and enhance the development of your child. Your family meal can be any time of day, not just dinner. Start or strengthen a commitment to family meals by taking the Eat Better, Eat Together pledge.

The first and most important place where children learn healthful attitudes about food is in the home. Children learn best by doing, so get them involved! That is, if they don't get you involved first.

Subscribe to the Dairy Council of California blog, follow @Dairy_Council and #EatBetter2Gether on Twitter for more tips and the latest on healthy family meals.

Tracy Witmer, R.D.
Territory Manager

Since USDA’s MyPlate was introduced in June 2011, many educators are asking if they should throw out their MyPyramid materials or if those materials can be used with the MyPlate icon. I get the impression that most educators think MyPyramid is now invalid, so I wanted to clear up the confusion.

Both MyPlate and MyPyramid are based on the same information, i.e. the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. They are different visual representations of the same nutrition information. Each serves a unique purpose and both remain available for educators.

To help clarify, I enlisted the help of Health Educator and Dairy Council Schools Supervisor, Debbie Asada. Here she shares a few key points:

• MyPlate is a great visual icon for students and adults. It serves as a quick reminder of what food groups should be on our plates at every meal. Though MyPlate is a helpful visual in the lunch room, the education behind it is fundamentally important.
• Both icons are based on a food-grouping system, so either visual is a valid form of representing the 2010 Dietary Guidelines. A food-grouping system simplifies students’ choices and allows them to easily grasp nutrition concepts by answering the “why”. Educators will have more success teaching nutrition by continuing to use this approach.
• The three main concepts students need to conceptually grasp at their respective age levels are: balance, variety and moderation. These ideas overlap and are critical in learning to make healthy choices. Once this is accomplished through a nutrition curriculum, MyPlate serves as a great visual reminder to make those choices at each meal.

Dairy Council continually updates our materials to reflect current dietary guidelines and effective educational strategies. We will retain the food group approach as it is the most effective in the learning process.

Try our new My Plate Match Game to see how your food group knowledge stacks up!

Also, the MyPlate icon is a great depiction of a balanced meal, i.e. one food from each food group. Eating balanced meals together as a family is a strategy for improved health and well being. Learn more about the Eat Better, Eat Together Family Meals Campaign. 

Tracy Witmer, R.D.

Stories are easily relatable and can help children make important connections to bigger concepts. Parents and teachers often point out how nutrition and literature reinforce each other. As part of language-arts curriculum, for example, many second grade classrooms read Dragon Goes Shopping by Dav Pilkey. Besides building language skills, it excites children to talk about food and nutrition. They learn about the food groups as the main character eats too many “extras”.

Many favorite books can open a discussion on nutrition outside of school, maybe at your dinner table or at bed time. With some of your favorite food stories you can even extend learning with a kid-friendly cooking activity or interactive online tools.

Here is a short list of books, recommended by school librarians, that help teach children about good nutrition:

Motivational Books for Children: Health & Nutrition by Jeff Gottlieb and Martha Gottlieb (Ages 4-8)
Fun rhymes teach the importance of balancing meals and build animal vocabulary, "Eat a balanced meal, Seal". It also touches on good hygiene,"Take a bath, Giraffe".

The Berenstain Bears and Too Much Junk Food by Stan Berenstain and Jan Berenstain (Ages 4-8)
The Berenstain Bear kids are not taking advantage of all of the wonderful healthy foods in Bear County. With the help of Dr. Grizzly's slide show on how the body works, the Bear family makes a healthful adjustment in their diet and fitness habits.

We Like To Eat Well by Elyse April (Ages Infant-8)
Cheerful rhymes remind parents and children to eat fresh and whole foods. Based on the USDA food groups, it promotes a wide variety and a proper balance of healthy foods, including different ways to eat them.

I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato (Charlie and Lola) by Lauren Child (Ages Baby-Preschool)
Lola is a picky eater and won’t eat her mashed potatoes until Charlie explains that they’re cloud fluff and peas are rare "green drops" from Greenland and more! Will she end up eating tomatoes?

Good Enough to Eat: A Kid's Guide to Food and Nutrition by Lizzy Rockwell (Ages 4-9)
This book shows, in a kid-friendly way, the importance of eating a balanced diet, the process of digestion, nutrients and their functions. Plus, it includes a handful of nutritious recipes at the end.

The Monster Health Book: A Guide to Eating Healthy, Being Active & Feeling Great for Monsters & Kids! By Edward Miller (Ages 7+)
Covers your basics: readers learn about nutrients, food illnesses and disorders, how to read foods labels, how to make time for breakfast, tips for packing the best lunch, the benefits of having a sit down dinner, and the importance of sleep and exercise.

Have you read any of these? Tell us some of your favorite children's books that make the nutrition connection!

Tracy Witmer, R.D.
Territory Manager

Children see right through us when our actions don't match our words. They look to parents, grandparents, teachers and other adults as role models. The back-to-school time of year is a good time to remember how influential adults are in the lives of children in regard to healthy behaviors. Parents are a child's primary teachers and role models, yet teachers and school personnel play a key role by modeling healthy behaviors.

A few thoughts on being a healthy role model for school children:

• Do you emphasize to your children the importance of breakfast for each school day?
• Are the food and drinks on your desk the same ones you encourage your students to choose?
• Are classroom party foods healthy & balanced? If not, try a food-group party; it can be creative, fun and tasty!
• Do you celebrate success with non-food rewards? Rewarding behaviors with food teaches children to associate food choices with emotion; instead try offering fun activities or privileges to facilitate a healthy relationship with food.
• Can you encourage nutrition education as a regular component of your child's school day, not an “extra”? See how our curriculum meets required content standards and what teachers say about our lessons.

Parents, you can use these tips to be a healthy role model with your kids at home. Not only does modeling healthy behaviors encourage others around you, but it also instills those healthy habits into your daily routine. Before you know it, it becomes a normal part of your lifestyle.

Share with us how you act as a healthy role model.

Tracy Witmer, R.D.
Territory Manager

The 6th Biennial Childhood Obesity Conference was held in San Diego, California, June 28 – 30, 2011. It was my privilege to attend this exciting event.

With almost 2,000 participants from across the country this was a great venue to build new relationships and reacquaint ourselves with friends and colleagues that share our passion and determination to help make a difference in the future of our children’s health and well-being. This year’s theme was Celebrating Success and Moving Toward Health in All Policies. It underscored the importance of working together in a cohesive direction to successfully make an impact; it was invigorating to hear all of the success stories from efforts that have already been implemented and sustained throughout the state such as: breakfast in the classroom, joint-use facilities, and creating safe parks, sidewalks and communities. It was reassuring to learn how districts have strengthened their Local School Wellness Policies and are incorporating an emphasis on nutrition education and physical education through research-based practices. The sessions also provided insight into how new policies such as the Healthy & Hunger Free Kids Act and the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans will impact change in schools.

One highlight from the conference was Dairy Council of California partnering with California Department of Education’s Nutrition Services Division to sponsor breakfast during the pre-conference session, Nutrition Education That Works! which included hands-on activities on how to choose the right nutrition education curriculum and how to become an expert in using the 2010 Nutrition Competencies. In addition to providing a healthy, balanced breakfast, Dairy Council of California distributed the new interactive fact sheet, Boost Brainpower with Breakfast!, and highlighted the breakfast lessons from each of the Dairy Council of California grades K-8 curriculums. This pre-conference session was so popular the attendees were overflowing into the halls hoping to still be able to walk away with every bit of information that was shared. It was a great start to a great conference.

Be sure to save the date for the 7th Biennial Childhood Obesity Conference, June 18–20, 2013, in Long Beach, California. I am sure the conference in 2013 will be even bigger and better!

Tracy Conkey, Territory Manager
Dairy Council of California