Nutrition Summit Serves School Lunch Directors Food for Thought

The Sweetwater Union High School District (SUHSD) convened a Nutrition Summit Tuesday at Otay Ranch High School (ORHS) with regional food services directors to exchange ideas about the future of healthy eating in the region's schools. 

Representatives from Chula Vista, South Bay Union, National City and San Ysidro school districts toured the newly remodeled food court at ORHS and sampled foods made by healthy school lunch purveyor Green Bellies.

ORHS is the first school in SUHSD to remodel its traditional lunch line cafeteria into a food court, a design that encourages children to make healthy choices, according to Nancy Stewart, food services director at ORHS. 

Click here for a video on the Otay Ranch High School cafeteria remodel.

“I'd like to think that we might start something that will move across the county. If the [Sweetwater] school district can collaborate and share, everyone can benefit,” said Stewart.

At ORHS, vegetables are packaged in wraps, as salad "shakers" in plastic containers, and flat screen TVs show fresh vegetables from local growers.

Attractive presentation is important, said Lillian Leopold, SUHSD representative, because “first, we eat with our eyes, second with our mouth.”

Federal law requires schools to provide nutritional lunch options, but making vegetables and low-fat foods attractive to students can be a challenge, according to Leopold.

The goal is “to share these ideas with our feeder districts”—the K-6 primary districts that teach SUHSD's future students, according to Leopold.

Green Bellies, a food purveyor that specializes in creating healthy school lunch menu items from a school's existing ingredient options, served the school representatives a ranch-flavored hummus dip and raw vegetables, and strawberry yogurt under oatmeal granola sweetened with agave syrup, among other items.

At this point, Green Bellies' foods are too expensive for some school districts, according to Jon Hansen, National City School District director of business.

“The price point, we're still working on,” said Hansen.

In line with federal goals to decrease child obesity, the summit will hopefully lead to school lunch choices other than “the traditional gross foodline with food plopped onto the plate,” said Manuel Rubio, a program manager for SUHSD.

The SUHSD convenes a Wellness Committee every month to discuss issues within food services, a collaboration of the district, the Chula Vista Collaborative Health Association, representatives from UCSD, a doctor from Scripps, and other community health representatives, according to Rubio.