FOODSERVICE DIRECTOR’S STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO REVERSING OBESITY AND HEALTH-RELATED ISSUES AFFECTING YOUR STUDENTS

This step-by-step guide is designed to assist school foodservice directors in making changes, daily, weekly and monthly that will have a high impact on reversing the surging rates of childhood obesity and related disease. If you have doubts, you are not alone. With your busy schedules and most often little support from vendors, industry reps, administration and parents how is it possible to add in anything more to your agenda? With this guide, you will not only understand the impact of your decisions but also learn how to incorporate these changes and actually make your job more rewarding and of greater importance within your district. These simple changes will lead to sustainable results that allow our students to be stronger, healthier, happier, and to perform better at school and in life. We need to invest now in prevention of disease rather than bankrupting our future by relying on a health care system that provides treatments and cures for preventable diseases. The year, the President’s Cancer Panel released their Executive Summary 2006-2007 that for the first time clearly states that we must make a switch from medicine to prevention to fight cancer. Prevention is not only our financial responsibility to our kids’ future but also our moral responsibility for their futures and society as a whole. Society’s present handling of this crisis not working. Change is imminent and this guide will give you the tools you need to move forward.

  1. Step One: Choose To Be The Hero In This Process Of Change!

    2. There are approximately 1050 school districts in California alone and nationally thousands more. We owe it to the kids and our country to get as many directors as possible onboard with this mission. For whatever reason, you have chosen this profession or it has chosen you. You are a leader of people in your community. Today, your job has never been more important for the future of the United States.
    By committing to make these changes whether you are at the start of your career, the middle of your career or at the sunset of your career, you can make a difference.
    Those who have just taken on this daunting job will be able to offer the students the precious gift of your long service. You will be able to actually see the rewards that these changes make within your community. If you have been at this for a while but plan on sticking around for years to come, you will see the outcome of some of the positive change while being rewarded for making such a bold move. If you have retirement in mind, this change will leave you with a legacy to be proud of and set the course for your new director to continue this mission.
    Foodservice directors regionally need a positive contract of support for each other in order for this change to work. Together, foodservice directors can use their buying power and success stories to reverse present disease epidemics.
    We have come so far into this problem that the time for business as usual has passed. The rising levels of obesity and the increasing presence of Type II diabetes in our children explicitly suggest that our country is headed for an unprecedented health disaster. The time for discussing all the reasons why these changes cannot happen has passed. The time to try new and innovative approaches is here.
    Let us put this in perspective. If 300,000 people died on a bridge collapse or in a flood or from an earthquake, our country would go into emergency mode and respond with a solution immediately – Katrina is not a good example. Well over 9 million children from 6-19 are over-weight or obese. These children now are at risk for developing serious disease, including cancer that will lead to premature death. This fact is grounds for crisis mode. Is it not obvious that it is time for us to change the way we view food and nutrition and then take action?
    Join the growing list of directors who are already putting these “real food” items on their menus. Directors, who are shifting their menus from fast foods to real food, and fully understand this concept, are going to be in high demand in the near future. This skill will be of greater value on a personal and professional level.

  2. Step Two: Education

    3. Get educated about foods by ingredient rather than just analyzing foods by using the nutritional panel. The nutrition panel can be very misleading and presents us with only one perspective of looking at what we eat. As accredited, scientific studies are made available to the public one after another they are proving that only reading the nutrition panel will lead us down the wrong road; the hazardous road which we are currently on.
    One study in particular – The China Study – is the most comprehensive study of its kind that details food and it’s relationship to disease. It discloses myths about what the body really needs to sustain cellular function. In each instance of the study, real, whole, plant-based foods were associated with healthy function while animal-based foods with chronic disease and illness.
    In addition, foods are not what they used to be. The bombardment of pesticides and the use of GMOs, irradiation, antibiotics, hormones and even cloning have greatly lessened the nutrient value of foods. These changes to the food supply are dramatic and not adequately tested.
    Spend time reading as much as possible within your busy lives about how foods are changing our culture and quality of life. You will need this information for your own family. Use your newly acquired wealth of information to create local change. After all, you are what you eat. Studies confirm this.
    “If you are what you eat, then that makes me fast, cheap and easy.” – Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy’s
    Without education, powerful talking points keep us from achieving positive change. Through knowledge you will be able to better decipher whether industry comments are “noise” or credible information or when industry is making an effort to keep things status quo.
    We have included a list of “talking points” that have been hindering progress in this battle to reverse the obesity and disease trend in the U.S. (See attached document: Talking Points – Removing Obstacles to Achieving Your Nutrition Goals).

  3. Step Three: Community Education

    • Use your newly acquired knowledge to inform and mold your community.
    • Work with your district to implement a nutrition education program by ingredient and by nutrients that are vital to basic human body function needs.
    • Work with your Wellness Policy Committee. They are already onboard to assist you in making these changes.
    • Shift away from catering to the cravings of the children in your district by using an educational process that informs students of the benefits of menuing these items.
    • Teach them about why they are having these food cravings and how best to combat these impulses.
    • Reach out to other agencies, non-profits or for-profit entities that are already working to create positive change in this area.
    • Embrace and build partnerships on a local, regional, state or national level.
    Working together is our only hope to create real and lasting change!

  4. Step Four: Consistently Menu New Food Choices by Ingredient AND Nutrition Panel

    • a) Start to target ingredients that give you nutrition panel solutions the way your body needs them not just what is required by the USDA standards.
    • b) Create a Red List of Unacceptable Ingredients and a Green List of Healthful Ingredients. An example list is:

      • The Red Items – The Bad Stuff

      Hydrogenated Oils & Saturated Fats, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Bleached Flour, Artificial Food Colors, Flavors, Preservatives

      The Green Items – The Good Stuff

      Food sources of Omega 3s/Mono and Polyunsaturated Oils (healthy oils and fats) Whole Grains Whole Foods (Fruits, Vegetables, Ocean Safe Fish, Legumes, Nuts, Seeds) Natural Sweeteners, Colors and Flavors Plant-based foods

      Make sure you notify your district and community as to why you will be working on eliminating the Red items from your program and adding in the Green replacement items. Your notifications and handouts should include a reasonable time line and state the cost associated with these changes.

      Give this list to your vendors so they know what you need from them.

      GOOD NEWS: This is possible. KidSmart just did it as a food company. Working with our manufacturers to remove unhealthy ingredients and suggesting healthier alternatives has allowed us the ability to serve America’s schools and the children in them, in a responsible manner.

    • c) Meet the USDA guidelines, by serving real food that is plant-based. Plant-based foods are usually more affordable than animal-based foods. The energy used to create animal-based foods is considerably more than what it takes to produce plant-based foods. Look at this statistic: “If every American had one meat-free meal per week, it would be the same as taking more than 5 million cars off our roads. Having one meat-free day per week would be the same as taking 8 million cars off American roads.” - www.environmentaldefense.org

  5. Step Five: Understanding Corporate Interests vs. Real Food

    6. Real food cost money. Real food goes bad. Chemically processed foods cost a little less money BECAUSE THEY CONTAIN LESS REAL FOOD. Foods laden with chemicals have been scientifically proven to cause disease by activating your bad genes to multiply and suppressing the good genes that fight these diseases.
    Remember even large steps will only partially move us in the right direction. There are a whole host of other political and profit-driven problems that are affecting why our foods are not what they a once were – REAL FOOD. Remember GMOs, remember hormones, remember pesticides, remember radiation and remember cloning? It is IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER that all these additives and processes are designed for profit and not for health.
    Big Business Makes Big Money: Big Agribusiness is like any other corporation. Their main goals are profits. On the other end of the spectrum we have schools and educational institutions whose main mission is to nourish, nurture, mold and educate healthy, vibrant, smart and talented children and provide them with the opportunity of having a bright future.
    In relationship to food, we must be aware of how these two competing interests overlap when feeding our children.
    THE QUESTION YOU MUST ASK YOURSELF: Which party above is winning at your district?

  6. Step Six: Start A Dialogue With Your Manufactures/Vendors

    7. Discuss healthy choices, by ingredient, and find out what’s in their product line. Let them know that ingredients matter to you when choosing your foods. Talk about your new Red List of items that you are not allowing into your foods. Work with them to develop these new products. If a new product doesn’t turn out perfectly the first time, discuss your concerns and work with the supplier to adjust the ingredients. Don’t forget to re-menu the item as a newer version. Healthy (ingredient) alternatives can work in schools and if you help drive that effort.
    If you are willing to menu new products, then you need to be willing to help build new healthy products. Don’t give up on the challenge of the change. Change can be tough. Make sure you work with vendors who are willing to continue the changes you need and request. If a vendor works hard for what you need, then they are a partner in this food change. If they don’t, follow-up by finding a vendor who will. Instruct this vendor as to what you need and are demanding for your students. Encourage and educate them as to why they should encourage their company to change the foods they create and produce. YOU are the customer. YOU drive the demand.

  7. Step Seven: Student/Parent/District Education

    8. Work with the educators at your school district to implement a curriculum that will address ingredients and nutrition panel as well as home economics.
    It is essential that education goes hand in hand with real food. Students will not be able to support your improved food choices without understanding the need for these changes to happen. Each change you have on the menu needs to include informative handouts and advertising throughout your district. The focus needs to be on why the ingredients are good and what ingredients you have replaced to improve their health. Kids won’t eat foods that are different if they don’t know why it makes a difference. You will be surprised about how quickly kids get the message. With this knowledge, students will help you keep your lunch counts up and they will be to make better food choices at home. Nutrition education is a highly valuable but often a lost learning experience. Work with your principal and Wellness Committee to incorporate corresponding nutrition education.
    Address the administration with education in a constant way to support voluntary implementation of a curriculum. When discussing this issue, address the many studies that show the increased attendance, better test scores and improved behavior that come from the addition of real food and the elimination of processed foods.

    If menuing our products, use our supplied tools:

    • Letter to District Superintendent Requesting Nutrition Change and Support – this letter emphasizes your commitment to nutrition intervention
    • Take Home Letter for Parents explaining district’s commitment to real nutrition change. It includes an attached feedback form to help districts measure program effectiveness. Use your Wellness Policy Committee to assist in the evaluation process.
    • Nutrition Junction – Send home note to parents detailing each new menu item and why it is good for their children. It also features optional parent/student interactive homework: fun recipes, puzzles, shopping assignments and more.
    • Feature Monthly Nutrition Highlights on the Back of the Menu with the purpose of achieving support from the parents. You can take these directly from the Nutrition Junction letters
    • Schedule Wellness Seminars Conducted Through the PTA/PTO/PSO. KidSmart offers a 4-Part Series – INNOVATIVE NUTRITION INTERVENTION: A Wellness Seminar Series for Parents, Teachers and Administrators.
    • Share KS Book Club with administration and all other educational materials that will aid your district in understanding your mission to save kids.
    • Work with KS to create a local restaurant program that will not only provide kids with healthy meal choices away from home and school, but also generate money for your district.

  8. Step Eight: Create a Long Term Plan to Cook More Food at School Sites

    9. Look to cook foods at your schools that are real. Get kids involved in the creation of these menu choices. Enroll them as helpers in the foodservice program. They need to learn to cook and bake. We have 1-2 generations that, as a whole, use a microwave to cook/reheat dinner or eat out 1-3 times a day. Your students will teach their parents to cook if you teach them.