Need for Promoting Vegetables, Fruit & Water

1. The purpose of this resource is to encourage school staff to support increased vegetables, fruit and water consumption among youth by adopting school & classroom policies

2. Need for Promoting Vegetables, Fruit & Water • Recommended # of vegetable & fruit servings per day: • Children aged 9 – 13: 6 • Youth aged 14-18: 7-8 A recent study found that over half of children are not adequately hydrated (Kenney, Long, Cradock & Gortmaker, 2015).

3. Why should schools play a role in healthy eating? • Healthy eating is crucial to overall health and wellbeing • Student health and wellbeing is necessary to help students reach their full potential • Studies demonstrate that promoting student health and wellbeing can help schools meet their educational goals, such as reduced absenteeism, fewer behaviouralproblems, and higher school-wide test scores and grades. • The adoption of Healthy Eating policies demonstrates that our school is committed to reinforcing what is being taught in our curriculum Source: http://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/health_and_academics/pdf/health-academic-achievement.pdf

4. 3. • Rethink Celebrations • 1. • Promote Water • 2. • Rethink Rewards • 4. • Fundraising How Schools can Play a Role: 4 effective policies

5. HEALTHY School Policy: 1. Promote Water

6. 1. Promote Water • Example Policy Statement: “Our school encourages students to drink water throughout the school day and commits to providing cold drinking water at all events, programs or meetings”. • Policy Rationale: Water is essential for good health. It is also a simple, convenient, and low-cost option for quenching thirst. Let’s encourage kids and families to make water their first choice to drink throughout the day. • To support the adoption of the policy: • Ensure that all existing water fountains are in good working condition. • Consider installing new fountains or retrofitting current fountains so they have water bottle filling capabilities. • Encourage students to keep a water bottle at their desk or in an easily accessible location. • Encourage students to drink water throughout the school day. • Do not offer any sugary drinks and juices as part of the hot lunch program.

7. 1. Promote Water • WHY? • Youth need lots of water to stay hydrated and healthy. A steady supply is necessary to keep bodies working properly. • Water is involved in many important functions: • Carries nutrients (like vitamins and minerals) to different parts of our bodies • Moves waste (like carbon dioxide) out of our bodies • Helps to digests food, maintain fluid balance, blood pressure and kidney health • Allows our muscles to work • Reduces risk of dental caries • Improves attention, memory, and cognition in children • Water contains no sugar, calories, additives or caffeine. It is the smart choice to sip on throughout the day.  Sugar in most other drinks adds up quickly …

8. How much are Canadian youth consuming? • The average youth in Canada drinks 578 ml of sugary drinks each day which can contain up to 16 teaspoons or 64 grams of sugar. 

9. What kinds of Sugary Drinks? • Pop sales have been decreasing over the years, BUT there has been a growth in sales of newer products that offset these reductions: • Energy drinks +638% • Sweetened coffees +579% • Flavoured water +527% • Drinkable yogurt +283% • Sweetened teas +36% • Flavoured milk +21% • Sports drinks +4%

11. Water Research Hydration, Nutrition and Cognition Research Unit Dr. Caroline Edmonds • Hydration during school hours is low • Giving children a drink of water improved their cognitive performance on tests of memory, attention, and visual search tasks • Children who have free access to water, on their desk, drink more water than children who have limited access • References • Booth, P., Taylor, B., Edmonds, C.J. (2012). Water supplementation improves visual attention and fine motor skills in schoolchildren. Education and Health, 30 (3), 75-79. • Edmonds, C.J. (2010). Does having a drink of water help children think? A summary of some recent findings. School Health, 6(5), 58–60. • Edmonds, C.J. & Burford, D. (2009).  Should children drink more water? The effects of drinking water on cognition in children. Appetite, 52, 776-779 • Edmonds, C.J. & Jeffes, B. (2009). Does having a drink help you think? 6–7 year old children show improvements in cognitive performance from baseline to test after having a drink of water. Appetite, 53, 469-472.

12. Research • Teachers thought that water on the desk may cause disruption in the classroom and an increase in toilet trips • Teachers who did allow water on the desk did initially notice an increase in trips to the toilet but this increase did subside quickly • Additionally, teachers did suggest that if they could be convinced that drinking water had a positive effect on classroom performance they would be more likely to consider allowing children to have easier access to drinking water

13. HEALTHY School Policy: 2. Rethink Rewards

14. 2. Rethink Rewards • 2. Rethink Rewards • Example Policy Statement: “Our school/classroom commits to acknowledging the successes of children by using praise and/or rewards such as pencils, erasers, physical activity breaks, teacher’s helper, principal’s helper, etc.” • Policy Rationale: Rewarding children with less healthy choices/foods can undermine what is taught in the classroom about healthy eating, may foster a desire for sweets, and/or may create an emotional link between food and accomplishment. • To support the adoption of the policy: • Keep a list of inexpensive rewards for children in your classroom. • Have students think, pair and share their ideas to be recognized without using food. • Create a wall of “Recognition Ideas” in the classroom or share school wide. • Constructive Classroom Rewards; see https://cspinet.org/resource/constructive-classroom-rewards-fact-sheet

15. HEALTHY School Policy: 3. Rethink Celebrations

16. 3. Rethink Celebrations • To support the adoption of the policy: • Limit classroom celebration days that include “treats” to once per month. If having more than one celebration in a particular month offer/serve vegetables and fruit or no food – just focus on fun or the reason for the celebration. • At classroom celebrations, if food is going to be served, please also offer vegetables and fruit in addition to the “treat(s)”. • Applies to food brought from home or food supplied by the school or teacher. • Vegetables and fruit can be served in creative and fun ways, or celebrations can take place in other ways that do not include food. • Water is served as the beverage. • Example Policy Statement: “When celebrating with food, our school/classroom commits to using healthy snacks, with a strong emphasis on vegetables, fruit and water”. • Policy Rationale: Less nutritious food served at school events or celebrations undermines health teaching in the classroom and may send the message that fun and ‘treats’ naturally go together.

17. True story: Last week my daughter was excited to tell me that her class won the door decorating contest. Then she exclaimed “And we all got a mini chocolate bars!” So what’s the problem?

18. Rewards & Celebrations • WHY? • It undermines curriculum efforts that address healthy eating. • “It’s like teaching children a lesson on the importance of not smoking, and then handing out ashtrays and lighters to the kids who did the best job listening” (cited in Puhl and Schwartz, 2003). • When we provide children with candy or other non-nutritive foods as rewards, we are fostering their desire for sweet and unhealthy foods (Baxter, 1997). • Food rewards interfere with children’s natural ability to regulate their eating (Fedewa & Courtney, 2014). • Using food as a reward in schools is inappropriate because it creates an emotional connection between foods and accomplishments (Institute of Medicine, 2007). • Students who attend schools where vending machines, school stores, fundraising, and rewards are pervasive have higher caloric intakes and higher Body Mass Indices (BMI) (Fox, Dodd, Wilson, & Gleason, 2009). • Between-meal snacks are linked to increased dental caries (Marshall et. al, 2005), particularly when it is a sugary snack.

19. Rewards & Celebrations • Using food: • Connects food to mood by teaching children to eat even when they are not hungry • Confuses children by contradicting the classroom lessons about healthy eating • Discourages positive attitudes towards food and lifelong healthy eating habits • Encourages eating outside of meal or snack times, which interferes with natural internal hunger and satiety cues • Harms children’s dental health since frequent sugary treats can lead to cavities • Puts children with food allergies or other dietary constraints at risk, or excludes them Source: http://brightbites.ca/rethinking-rewards/

20. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DC2ezZ7yyOg&feature=youtu.be

21. HEALTHY School Policy: 4. Fundraising

22. 4. Fundraising • Example Policy Statement: “The school, for purposes of all fundraising, will, sell healthy food items or non-food related items for all fundraisers”. • Policy Rationale: A healthy approach to fundraising demonstrates that your school values and promotes healthy eating. Less nutritious food served for the purpose of fundraising undermines health teaching in the classroom. • To support the adoption of the policy: • Inform parents about your schools’ healthy approach to fundraising • Generate a list of other fundraising options such as: Fresh from the Farm, Norcard wrapping paper, Funscript, QSP Magazine, Citrus, plant sales, garden pots etc.

23. 4. Fundraising • WHY? • Fundraising has been dominated by the food companies (e.g., chocolate bars, pizza). It is unfortunate that the majority of school fundraising products don't contribute to our kids' development or well-being. • Often times fundraising efforts do not align with our schools’ missions and values. • Unhealthy fundraising undermines curriculum efforts that address healthy eating.

24. Four Action Steps for a Healthier School Environment 2 Engage your school community to identify non-food alternatives for rewards, celebrations and fundraising. 4 Reflect. 3 Promote the policy. Use letters, school website, and social media. Be sure to explain the rationale for policy change. 1 Establish your policy statements with stakeholders.

25. Helpful Resources 1. Centre for Disease Control Source: http://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/npao/pdf/tips-for-teachers.pdf

26. Helpful Resources 2. BriteBites Website http://brightbites.ca/

27. Helpful Resources 3. Healthy Schools Campaign Website https://healthyschoolscampaign.org/

28. References Caparosa, S., et al. (2013). Fundraising, celebrations and classroom rewards are substantial sources of unhealthy foods and beverages on public school campuses. Public Health Nutrition: 17(6), 1205–1213 Fedewa, A., et al. (2015). How food as a reward is detrimental to children's health, learning, and behavior. Journal of School Health 85(9):648-58. DOI: 10.1111/josh.12294 · Fedewa, A., & Courtney, A., (2014). White Paper: The use of food as a reward in classrooms: The disadvantages and the alternatives. Retrieved on Dec. 12, 2016 from https://kyhealthykids.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/whitepaper.pdf. School Fundraising Takes a Healthy Turn. CCNMatthews Newswire (Jan 11, 2007): 1.