See you, french fries. Hello, salad. Goodbye sweet soda. Welcome, fruit juice. Schools are banning popular snacks in favor of nutritious meals.
By JEFFREY S. SOLOCHEK
Published August 1, 2004
As a multisport athlete, Nature Coast Technical High School junior Jayson Nigro appreciates the importance of a rehydrating swig of Powerade.
But the football offensive lineman and weightlifter also sees value in having a Coke every once in a while.
"When you're tired, it wakes you up," Nigro, 16, said last week as he helped pick trash from the school quad. "If you're tired and you need some sugars to wake you up, what else are they going to give you? You can only have so much juice."
When the first day of classes comes for the 2004-05 school year, though, the soda jolt no longer will be an option in Hernando County schools. The School Board has banned the sale of sugared, caffeinated drinks to students effective Aug. 9.
Nigro deemed the ban "dumb," and said he heard many classmates gripe about it before school let out for the summer.
Students might complain more when they get back.
For not only are sodas out, but so are all snack foods that derive more than 30 percent of their calories from fat or 50 percent of their calories from sugar. That means student favorites, such as the 460-calorie iced Honey Bun, no longer will be sold in cafeterias.
Fryers to make french fries are gone from Hernando and Springstead high schools, the last two campuses to have them. Middle school cafeterias will offer only two a la carte entree items daily, rather than the unlimited number available last year.
Elementary school children no longer will be allowed to buy snack items without purchasing a full meal from the cafeteria or showing they brought a lunch from home.
"We're liable to take a pretty hard hit," food services director Lori Drenth said, referring to her department's financial bottom line. "But I think we can encourage kids to make good choices."
And making healthy decisions about food is what these changes are all about.
Along with the major reduction in snack options comes an increase in more nutritious fare on the regular lunch line. Salads will be available every day, and on some days two types of salad will be for sale.
New varieties include antipasto, chicken Caesar and southwest chicken salads.
The salads will be packaged in plastic containers similar to those used in restaurants, in order to make them more appealing.
Other new items include 100 percent fruit-blend juice, black beans and rice, plantains and grits. Fox Chapel and Parrott middle schools will participate in a pilot program to provide nonfat, reduced-sugar milk (chocolate, vanilla, strawberry and unflavored) with lunches.
There's also a possibility of adding made-to-order sub sandwich bars at high schools, to attract students who currently leave campus to buy lunch from nearby fast-food restaurants.
Pizza likely will remain a top draw for students who buy lunch, Drenth acknowledged. But she is hopeful that all the changes, along with nutrition education, such as a planned elementary program called "Fruits and Vegetables Galore," will encourage more students to purchase healthy foods in the cafeteria.
The effort to revamp food choices in the schools will be ongoing; feedback from students and teachers who use the cafeterias will be important.
Ending the demand for junk food will be tough, if not impossible, Drenth acknowledged.
But state and federal officials, facing an increase of obesity among children, have begun talking about taking schools in this direction.
In Florida alone, the Legislature has considered bills that would have set nutritional standards for snacks sold for fundraising, fined schools that sold nonnutritional snacks or drinks to students, and even required nutrition questions on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.
Drenth figured that Hernando could take steps ahead of any government action, perhaps setting the standard, rather than simply waiting for outside agencies to impose rules.
"We've really worked at overhauling the menu," she said.
School Board member Jim Malcolm, who pushed for the soda ban, praised the new food service director and her staff for taking such bold action. He suggested that any initial dip in sales would rebound as students become more accustomed to the new offerings.
"Eventually, they will go for the healthy choices," Malcolm said. "Some districts (that have taken similar steps) report that they're making more (money)."
Board member Gail David was equally enthusiastic. She noted that changing the soda contract met with resistance, and so, too, might the food switches. But it is important, she said, to give children something other than empty calories to consume.
"This will be developing different appetites for kids," David said.
Drenth is hopeful that students will warm quickly to the new menu, paving the way for even more new items.
"Hopefully, this will have impact in little ways," she said, "but not so big that it will be uncomfortable."
