Step Up for a Healthier School

1. Step Up for a Healthier School Christy Manso The Alliance for a Healthier Generation Christy.manso@healthiergeneration.org

2. Agenda • About the Alliance • The Issue • Competitive Food and Beverages • Meaningful Student Involvement

3. About the Alliance Joint Partnership • William J. Clinton Foundation • American Heart Association Mission • To eliminate childhood obesity and to inspire all young people in the United States to develop lifelong, healthy habits. Goals • To stop the nationwide increase in childhood obesity by 2010 and to empower kids nationwide to make healthy lifestyle choices. • To positively affect the places that can make a difference to a child’s health: homes, schools, restaurants, doctor’s offices, and the community.

4. About the Alliance Four Pillars: • Kids Movement • Motivating kids to take charge of their health and to lead their own Go Healthy movement. • www.igohugo.org • Healthcare Program • Giving tools to healthcare providers so that they can better diagnose, prevent and treat obesity.

5. About the Alliance Four Pillars: • Healthy Schools Program • The HSP helps all schools become healthier places to learn, work, eat, and play. • Help create healthier school environments by offering resources, support, and opportunities to celebrate successes. • The HSP is designed to create a nationwide paradigm shift…in which the perception that a school environment that promotes healthy eating and physical activity is the norm and not the exception. • Industry Program • Working with industry to provide more options for physical activity and to change the food and beverage options offered to students in schools and other environments.

6. The Issue • Whether overweight or not, children in the U.S. are often overfed, but undernourished. • Eating 8% more than they were less than 30 years ago.[i] • Under-consumption of nutrients needed to survive and over-consumption of foods that can lead to conditions such as high cholesterol and high blood pressure. • Optimal nutrition is necessary for optimal cognitive functioning. [i] Enns CW, Mickle SJ, Goldman JD. Trends in food and nutrient intakes by adolescents in the United States. Fam Econ Nutr Rev 2003; 15 (2) 15-27

7. The Issue • Kids consume about 35 to 50% of their daily calories during the school day.[ii] • An extra 100 calories a day can lead to weight gain of 10 pounds in one year. • Limiting availability of excess calories in school environment helps prevent childhood overweight and obesity. • Even if at normal weight, healthy environments benefit all children. [ii] Neumark-Sztainer D, French S, Hanna P, Story M, Fulkerson J. “School Lunch and Snacking Patterns among High School Students: Associations with School Food Environment and Policies.” International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and PhysicalActivity 2005, vol. 2, published on-line at <www.ijbnpa.org/content/2/1/14>.

8. Competitive Food and Beverages • Food and beverages offered outside of the school reimbursable meals program such as products sold in school vending machines, a la carte lines, snack bars, fundraisers, and school stores. • Alliance Competitive Food and Beverage Guidelines. • Science-based and age appropriate. • By adjusting the environment surrounding them, Guidelines can move children and teens to choose differently and consume fewer calories and healthier options.

9. Meaningful Student Involvement • Adult-initiated, shared decision making with students. • Student-initiated and directed action by adults. • Student-initiated, shared decision-making with adults.

10. Meaningful Student Involvement • Mobilizing change at the grassroots level leads to creative and sustainable solutions. • Listen to the voices of those whose behavior you want to change – the students. Get their feedback. • Students tend to resist changes they view as being “imposed” on them by school administrators, so seek their input. • Schools that successfully made the changes noted that obtaining student acceptance was particularly important.

11. Meaningful Student Involvement

12. Meaningful Student Involvement • Student-led action research and assessment • Engage secondary school student groups (clubs, student councils, etc.) • Students survey their peers and conduct focus groups. • To identify barriers to change and ways to reduce them. • A sample question could be, “how often does price prohibit you from buying healthier items?” • Use this information to shape messaging on the changes. • Students develop a plan of action. • Advocacy • Students interface with decision-makers to discuss the changes. • Students develop their own marketing campaigns to promote a change in snacks and beverages at their schools. • Develop tactics (posters, flyers, articles in the student paper, debates, etc.)

13. For more information on the Alliance School Beverage and Competitive Foods Guidelines, visit www.healthiergeneration.org/beverages and www.healthiergeneration.org/snacks For more information on The Go Healthy Kids Movement, visit www.igohugo.org To download the “Step Up for a Healthier School” Student Toolkit, visit http://www.channelone.com/news/2007/06/01/better_schools/ Christy Manso Business Development Manager Alliance for a Healthier Generation christy.manso@healthiergeneration.org 646-775-9153