The purpose of this resource is to encourage school staff to support - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

The purpose of this resource is to encourage school staff to support increased vegetables, fruit and water consumption among children by adopting school & classroom policies.Slide2

Need for Promoting Vegetables, Fruit & Water

Recommended # of Vegetables & Fruit Servings per day:

Children aged 4 - 8:

5

Children aged 9 – 13:

6

A recent study found that over half of children are not adequately hydrated

(Kenney, Long, Cradock & Gortmaker, 2015).Slide3

Why should school play a role in Healthy Eating?Healthy Eating is crucial to overall health and wellbeing

.Schools are concerned with student health and wellbeing because it 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

behavioural

problems, 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).Slide4

How Schools can Play a Role:

Four effective policies

1.

Promote Water

2.

Rethink Rewards

3.

Rethink Celebrations

4.

FundraisingSlide5

5H

EALTHY School Policy:

1. Promote WaterSlide6

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 fountains with water bottle filling capabilities or retrofitting current fountains so they have 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.

1. Promote Water Slide7

1. Promote Water

WHY?

Children

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 bodiesHelps to digests food, maintain fluid balance, blood pressure and kidney healthAllows our muscles to work

Reduces risk of dental cariesImproves 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 …Slide8

How many tsps. of sugar does the average child consume?

Age

Average

Tsp of Added Sugar

1 – 3

4 – 8

12

21

9-13 14-1829

34

9

– 13

14-18

23

25

Source: Johnson, K. et al. (2009).

Dietary Sugars Intake and Cardiovascular Health: A Scientific Statement From

the

American Heart

Association.

Circulation,

120: 1011-1020.Slide9

# tsps. of sugar in:

10

5

9

7

Sugary

drinks that are the largest contributor to children's daily sugar intake! Slide10

10Slide11

Hydration, Nutrition and Cognition Research Unit

Dr. Caroline EdmondsHydration 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

accessReferencesBooth, 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.

Water ResearchSlide12

12

Teachers thought that water on the desk may cause disruption in the classroom and an increase in toilet trips

T

eachers 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

ResearchSlide13

13H

EALTHY School Policy:

2. Rethink RewardsSlide14

14To 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

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.

Rethink RewardsSlide15

15Rethink Celebrations

H

EALTHY

School Policy

:Slide16

16To 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.

3. Rethink Celebrations Slide17

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?Slide18

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.

Rewards & CelebrationsSlide19

Using food: Connects food to mood by teaching children to eat even when they are not hungryConfuses children by contradicting the classroom lessons about healthy eatingDiscourages 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 cuesHarms children’s dental health since frequent sugary treats can lead to cavitiesPuts children with food allergies or other dietary constraints at risk, or else excludes them

Source: http

://brightbites.ca/rethinking-rewards/

Rewards &

Celebrations

Slide20

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DC2ezZ7yyOg&feature=youtu.beSlide21

21H

EALTHY School Policy:

FundraisingSlide22

22To support the adoption of the policy:Inform parents about your schools’ healthy approach to fundraising.

Generate a list of other fundraising options such as: Norcard wrapping paper, Fresh from the Farm, Funscript, QSP Magazine, Citrus, plant sales, garden pots etc.

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.

4. Fundraising Slide23

WHY?

4. Fundraising 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.Slide24

Four Action Steps

for a Healthier School Environment2Engage your school community to identify non-food alternatives for rewards, celebrations and fundraising.

3

Promote the

policy

. Use

letters, school website, and social media. Be sure to explain the rationale for policy change.

1Establish your policy statements with stakeholders.

4Reflect.Slide25

Helpful Resources

1. Centre for Disease ControlSource: http://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/npao/pdf/tips-for-teachers.pdfSlide26

Helpful Resources2. BriteBites Websitehttp://brightbites.ca/Slide27

Helpful Resources

3. Healthy Schools Campaign Websitehttps://healthyschoolscampaign.org/Slide28

ReferencesCaparosa, S., et al. (2013). Fundraising, celebrations and classroom rewards aresubstantial sources of unhealthy foods and beverages on public school campusesPublic 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.